Carol and John usually browse at Haggar's for their Christmas books but this did not make a lot of sense this year so they didn't get their usual book fix. They have lots of books but I suggested I bring them over a selection of my books and that perhaps I could drop them by when Carol was baking Scottish Oatcakes. Now, the idea is I will get the books back at some point since some were gifts of Don and Elaine.
I freed up space in my bookshelves and got more baking!
Yum, yum, yum....
"Here We Are" by Graham Swift
This is quite a short read...195 smallish pages. I really enjoyed it and realise I've only read "Last Orders" by him. He has written quite a lot and I may try some of his other ones. It's quite a charming story and a mystery with a primary character being a magician.
Which is funny because I'm off to Staples today to buy a new computer or at least order one if it's not in stock. Richard told me to get this one:
Apple Macbook Air 13.3" Notebook, Apple M1 Chip, 256 GB SSD, 8GB Unified Memory, Silver
From FB memory Dec. 29, 2012:
Another task to try with my new computer....posting to Facebook and uploading some photos for practice. Hmm..I can't seem to describe them underneather the actual photo but one is my new Macbook Air and the other is Jim's new mini iPad with a portable keyboard.
Richard, bless his soul, spent a lot of time Boxing Day and again yesterday getting everything working for us. I love the idea that when I take photos on my iPhone now they appear on my iPad (not Jim's because he didn't want it), my computer, and our TV ....wow! Just like magic...no physical uploading. I guess it's something to do with the "cloud". Richard says he'll get us more familiar with that in Vancouver
Lots more here:
We had a really super time with Roger and Kerry and Donna on Zoom last night. Donna, Kerry, Jim, and I all went to Killarney High School. It really is an amazing technology. Forgot to take a photo of the screen. Roger and Kerry came down to Palm Springs last November when we were there...ah, maybe next November we can all be there again.
We were reminiscing about our skiing together. The four of us went to Manning Park during a mid-term break one year when we were all at UBC. We didn't have much money so rented a cheap cabin for $10 a night. It was a small one room cabin and the beds were about a foot away from each other. Well, it was cosy and we were young. We had brought up food so we didn't have to go out to dine. It was a pretty small fridge and I think just a two burner hotplate. We put the beer in the snow outside. Good thing Roger had brought a coleman stove. It came in handy on the slopes as well. We usually stopped for lunch around 2pm and and then Roger made hot rums for us. We didn't ski too long after our lunch break.
Roger, Kerry, and I all skiied but Jim didn't when I met him. We both played tennis and he golfed and I skied. So I took up golf for him and he took up skiing for me. The first time he skied we were up on Seymour (the rope tow was a dollar so as students we could afford it) and we were all about to show him how to snow plow down the slope. The next thing we knew he had taken off going straight down the hill but went off to the side where they was a gulley which he ended up falling into. He survived.
I have some old photos of that trip somewhere.
In the morning, Jim had his his Zoom conversation with Jesuius in Spain. It was snowing in Grenada. At one point I heard him singing "Always" by Irving Berlin. Lot's of fun for him and he's making real progess with his Spanish.
Roger and Kerry have been living in Edmonton for a long time so we haven't seen them that much in recent years. We introduced them to Palm Springs many years ago and last November they rented a very cool house for a week with its own pool and pool table. Wish we all could have been there this November.
We had a great chat on Zoom with Carol and John. It's almost like being together but obviously not quite. The crackers I had in 2011 were a lot better than these ones I bought at Home Hardware. The toys were pretty good and I mention them in my blogpost.
From 2006:
My cousin, John, has been teasing me about expecting "party hats" ever since he saw last year's Christmas dinner pictures with us all wearing our hats from the crackers. So, on our now traditional Dec 29 lunch I had a surprise for him. This is a little hat I bought in Thailand years ago and has been decorating the top of our Christmas tree (I had a plush mouse before that...I like unusual things for the top of the tree). However, Jim made a protest this year and we went with his choice...a snowman in a Santa hat.
We had a great Zoom call with Richard and Grace.
We had a pretty traditional Christmas dinner and think we will use the leftovers for the next two days. No cooking...just warming up sounds really good.
And finished with a bit of the port they gave us...great stuff. It's wonderful that B.C. can produce such great products.
We usually collect little gifts for each other for our Christmas stockings but since we were avoiding unnecessary shopping we decided to forgo that tradition this year.
I've been missing my wonderful Ultimate Seafood Feast meals at Red Lobster in Palm Springs so I figured I could at least have the biscuits. Gift to myself.
A friend of Don Curling's sent him about 100 pink flamingos that were installed on his lawn one birthday. It was very funny to see. There's a company that does that apparently.
Now, the best thing about these gifts is that they fit the both of us.
We have some old traditions of what we watch Christmas Eve. We always enjoy doing this and it was especially comforting this year.
And we may be creating some new traditions for watching things around Christmas. Since we can't travel it was fun watching these videos.
We were in Scotland when we heard The Two Fat Ladies on morning radio. We thought Clarissa was a man. We found them very funny and glad to see videos of them. Don and Elaine loved them too and gave me the cookbook for my birthday one year.
Looking at some of the recipes, "Rabbit with anchovies and capers" looks great. I think I'll have to find a rabbit. There were a lot of rabbits in Palm Springs. I wonder if Victoria still has a rabbit problem.
I see a lot of their episodes are on YouTube. This is a Christmas one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGgOpmgkRok
Richard and Grace came over to exchange gifts and have a chat socially distancing outside our apartment. This certainly will be a memorable Christmas. We gave them our gift and the Christmas Crackers we will use on our Christmas Day Zoom call.
And we had it with the rest of the Caesar dressing and romaine...perfect. There is still some for tomorrow's lunch.
From "My Part-time Paris Life" Thank you, Lisa...so great to have these photos from Paris at Christmas!
"For many of you, I imagine Christmas in Paris sounds like a dream. I guess that’s a matter of perspective. For me, it means I’ll be separated from family for the first time in my life.
A combination of logistics, timing and, quite frankly, a raging pandemic, all informed my decision not to travel to the States for Christmas this year. It didn’t seem worth the cost, hassle, and risk for what would amount to only a few weeks (and some of that spent in quarantine). What was the point?
“It’s just one year,” my sister texted me. True, by December 26th it will be over. It’s the anticipation of a Christmas alone that is difficult, but just like that, it will be just another day. I’m well aware that there are those much less fortunate—like immigrants awaiting visas or refugees from war-torn nations—who haven’t been able to see their families for years at a time, or may never again. For me, this year amounts to no more than an inconvenience. And I won’t whine about it.
An upside to my not being in New York this year means I get to experience the lead-up to the holidays here in Paris. And even with the notable lack of bustling café terraces (all closed due to Covid), Paris is still wonderfully festive. The French really love their Christmas and are understandably embracing it with even more fervor this year. For those of you who can’t be here, I bring you Paris at Christmastime. "
I was wondering what King's College was going to do. I had a wonderful tour there when Jim was slaving away in the library at Cambridge.
From The Guardian:
For many of us, it is the moment when Christmas really starts: the soaring voice of a boy soloist at King’s College, Cambridge opening its iconic Christmas Eve service with Once in Royal David’s City.
As usual, this year – remarkably, given the pandemic – the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 4. But there will be a major difference: instead of hundreds of people packed into the medieval chapel, its pews will be empty.
“The congregation normally joins in with full-throated singing at verse three [of Once in Royal David’s City] – all those people, squeezed in, sharing this magical moment,” Stephen Cherry, the dean of the chapel, told the Observer.
This year, instead of the congregation physically present, “they will be in their kitchens or in their cars or wrapping presents. We hope that, wherever they are, people will join in with the carols.”
On Advent Sunday, the start of the Christian countdown to Christmas, churches across England are still prohibited from holding congregational services. But following protests from leaders representing all major faiths, new rules coming into effect this week allow the resumption of collective worship.
Congregations must observe social distancing and wear masks, and indoor communal singing will still be prohibited. But outdoor carol singing and children’s nativity plays will be permitted “in accordance with the performing arts guidance”, MPs were told last week.
St-Martin-in-the-Fields, the church on the edge of Trafalgar Square in central London, is “normally buzzing with music and people at this time of year”, said musical director Andrew Earis.
About 800 usually attend its carol concerts, but this year numbers will be restricted to 100-120, and singing will be confined to choirs. St Martin’s Christmas Day service, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, will be pre-recorded.
We both went to a concert of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in St. Martin's in the Field when we were in London one year. It's a pretty special place.
We're so glad Richard put this old footage on two DVDs. We watched one last night and it was really fun seeing him as a toddler and other kids such as Matthew Turnell and Kate Soles, friends, and especially nice to see our four parents looking young and healthy and happy. Enjoyed seeing our old house and a bit of our neighbourhood.
I took this little video off the TV while we were watching.
Maureen posted this video of her son Erik's upgrade to his Christmas tree. Well, I immediately ordered a train from Amazon and it arrived Sunday. Well, absolutely no instructions but we did get it together but way too much track and it makes a horrendous noise screeching out "We wish you a Merry Christmas".
cid:AE4C7EF3-4F5F-4EFD-975B-80DA0A3C9A5F/9EA4E125-A980-4BF0-B165-9AE66C5EB23E
