Wednesday, January 2, 2013

How I Spent My “Fall” Vacation – Episode 63

Episode 63 – January 1 – I have definitely always liked New Year’s Day better than the night before. Family dinners were always far less stressful than any other holiday get togethers. And January 1, was always my big day to veg out in front of the tube. I would start out with the Tournament of Roses Parade and graduate to the smorgasbord of college football bowl games. We had always a tradition/rule of no TV especially sporting events on Christmas Day and New Year’s was the exact opposite.  I guess I’ll miss out on that today but there is always that tiny thread of hope that I’ll be home by next Monday night to watch the championship game featuring my beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish. *crossing multiple fingers and other body parts*
One Scottish/Irish superstition about the New Year is it is good luck if a dark skinned man was the first visitor through your front door. This was usually the guy that delivered your coal or a chimney sweep. During my time with Version 1.0, it was my duty to go over to her mother’s place each New Year’s morning and knock on the front door. (We normally always went in through the kitchen.) In a family with all lily white skin, beige is dark.
I wanted to vow that this would be the last holiday I’d spend in this joint but being a good Catholic School boy I forget about Epiphany this Sunday marking the twelfth and last day of Christmas. I normally keep my tree up and my lights burning until then. At least I won’t have the headache of packing up the countless boxes of Christmas decorations this year. However, I still have to pack up my Halloween decorations and my Halloween curtains are still up next to the front door. Over the years we had found fabrics commemorating a number of holidays and seasons so I now have over a dozen different sets for that one window. The Christmas curtains caught a break this and got to take the year off.
The...er...um...sparkling apple juice did not have too much of a detrimental effect on my blood sugar. Layla took it at 6:30 AM and it was only 6.2.
Must have been a special day today, they sent up a waffle and scrambled eggs with tropical fruit salad. The waffle was a change from the usual slice of whole wheat toast and it wasn’t quite as chewy as the pancakes they sent up a couple of weeks ago. I think you were in on that tasty repast, Cheryl. ;-)
Before lunch, my good friends and fellow Night Owls, Christine and Tim dropped in and of course the paid the toll and brought some goodies. We took turns verbally ganging up on each and rehashing old war stories. They get better and funnier every time.
This brings to mind another thing. How many of you have seen that eye roll and bored look on your son or daughter’s face and heard “Dad/Mom, we’ve already heard that story.” Crap, we are not just becoming our mothers and fathers we are becoming our grandparents.
Speaking of sons, the Crown Prince came in again today and we chatted away for a couple of hours. That’s two days in a row just because he was in the neighbourhood. His mom raised him well. :-)
This is the time of year that we all sit back and reflect on the past year. For the most part 2012 was pretty good. Work went well and I earned a lot more respect for the people upstairs while I assumed a bit more responsibility. Seeing the Panama Canal in operation was fabulous and I’d highly recommend for any mechanical geek. You can read about it on this blog in “Journey to the Big Ditch” or get a more visual experience in my Facebook Album “Las Aventuras de “La Sombrera Rosada” y Dennis en Panamá Feb 12”. In July I was able really get to reacquaint myself with a very special person and met a precious little dog in Palm Springs. Again you read about in “ButIt’s a Dry 110°” and view more photos at “Jen Jen & Den Den's ExcellentAdventure in Palm Springs July 2012” Oh yeah and something happened to me on Halloween night. If only I could remember. Damn, now my medium term memory is going along with my short term.
Dinner arrived and I guess because it was New Year’s we got hammy kind of stuff, What bugged me was I saw Edna’s tray go by and there was a big slice of pumpkin pie. I looked at my tray and all I had was a dish of diced pears. *insert pouty face* Oh well at least there was no chunks of core this time but  there were a few bits of peel.
And we are still in a holding pattern with regard to my move to rehab.
Layla brought me my little blue pill to go with my orange and chocolate goodies. Now only if I had something ...er...um...sparkling apple juice, perhaps? ;-)
To be continued...

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