Yipes! It's been more than a week since I wrote, "Police Blotter, tomorrow..." at the end of a rather mundane week. Since then, SO MUCH has been going on, that I might have to go under hypnosis to remember it, all. Lucky for you, it will probably mean a far more abbreviated account than I might have written had I kept up in real time. But, not today. We've just, in the last 90 minutes, returned from a quick, two-day trip to SoCal to see family for some Christmas cheer. HOWEVER, over the next few days, --HA!--hold on, because we'll touch on stuff, like, Barbary apes, oxygen deprivation, drinking goat's blood, and the new hat I knit (oooh)!
For now, I'll just say that, though I can't quite comprehend it (again), another whole other year has whooshed by, leaving my head spinning like a top! There've been a few changes (like, moving, here, to Grass Valley, for example), some adventure, some highs and some lows, but, on the whole, we're both quite happy to have come through another cycle of seasons in good health! 
As usual, I had the highest intentions of sending Christmas cards out there, especially to those who don't know where we've landed, yet. But, right on schedule, I didn't quite get to it. Maybe in January. So, I'll just post this photo of the four of us, taken on Christmas, proving that we did actually spend the holiday together, after having been scattered about the globe until just the previous day.
So, after I've done my usual wallow in the Rose Parade coverage, tomorrow (in high def, this year!), I'll start to catch up a bit (Police blotter highlights, included...). Happy New Year!
I haven't gotten to any writing, this week, for some reason. There's plenty of mundane material to write about, for sure. The odd-looking frost I discovered on my morning walk, for example. It was 26 degrees, and all sparkly, with a strange ice formation all over the ground. The top layer of dirt or leaves, was pushed up off the base layer by filaments of ice one to three inches high. If it happens tomorrow, I'll try to get a photo.
Or, there's the studio, which is about 90% put together, now. It's in a state of suspended animation, however, until after New Years.
Did some Christmas shopping. I'm the worst. Stores like to gobble me up. I go in, but I can't get out. Then I get all forlorn and forget my name.
Baked some quick breads. Banana blueberry. Chocolate date. Caramel apple. They all caved in on top. Delicious, but not exactly gift material. I used to make hundreds of 'em. Lost the magic, somewhere...
Yesterday, I drove to Fresno and back (230 miles, 3 1/2 hours each way). I like the drive. I spent a really nice afternoon with Mom, with Terry joining us a few hours later for traditional Christmas pizza. For some unfathomable reason, California Pizza Kitchen has taken the Pear Gorgonzola pizza off the menu! What?!! And I took my camera, but never got any photos of us. You'd be SO WRONG, if you thought it was because my sister looked way cuter than me and that Mom had a strange hat on.
The big news, is that Dylan wrote us a short email, yesterday. Here it is:
mambo vipi! having to switch to swahili nowadays, so there you go...things are going great here, but I am ready to come home...sorry to make you guys drive all the way out to SFO to get me, but as of now I am scheduled in on British airways flight BA0285 from heathrow at 1:15 on 24 december...looking forard to seeing you and sharing my stories and photos...see you soon - dylan
Rachel hasn't yet made it from New York to San Francisco, so she's now planning to get in to SFO a couple of hours before Dylan. So cool! We'll have such a fun time catching up! We'll get those pinwheel eyes from looking at so many photos!
Police Blotter, tomorrow.
It wouldn't surprise anyone to find out that I have (strong) opinions about Christmas tree ornaments. Who even writes about their Christmas tree or how they decorate them? I do. I finished arranging the festive elements of our tree, this weekend. After hanging the lights and cranberry beads, I brought out the motley assortment of raggedy cardboard boxes--all sizes, some, old and mangled with flaps, others, also old, but the fancier gift kind with printed pictures on top, or clear plastic lids. They don't stack, so well, and I've bought sturdier, uniform plastic bins (that I might even label) to use when I pack them away, this year. Hm. We'll see if I can part with the familiar well-worn boxes, most of which hide completely mysterious contents until opened (Wow! The paper stars! I FORGOT about those!)
As I've suggested, not any old ornament makes it onto the Tree, but it's not so easy to give the criteria. It's one of those, "I-know-them-when-I-see-them" kinds of things. Ethnic is good. Metallic or glass balls, not so much. Natural materials, good, but we have some plastic ones, too. No Santas or snowmen. But lots of stars and bells and angels. And animals. Each year, I really enjoy hanging the jute stars and elephants from Bangladesh that I ordered from a craft cooperative, years ago. I've got a bunch of sisal angels from the same place, I think. There are painted tin ornaments and God's eyes from Mexico, and a pandau cube bought from Vietnamese immigrants. Straw ones (Mexican and Scandinavian) and wooden snowflakes with red accents (from a Swedish gift shop?). I love natural wood with a bit of red! 
There's a set of tiny, elaborately carved wooden angels that a friend brought back from Germany. Silk bells from who-knows-where in Asia (Cost Plus?) and a Native American "hand" ornament we bought in Utah--it's an important symbol for something I can't remember, no doubt. We pick them up as we travel, like I found some other wooden ones in Germany, this year, but I'm certainly not above grabbing one that catches my eye from Target. Many have been gifts, like the aforementioned German angels. Of course, we've had too many, for years, now, but it doesn't matter. We really need two trees...
Aside from these, there are the one's the kids and I have made. Quilted, batik angels and gingerbread men. Dough birds. One year, when the three of us were making dough ornaments, Rachel and I made the usual angels and such, while Dylan spent the entire time on one, beautifully-rendered "Cult" (the heavy metal band) logo. It didn't make the cut to be on the actual Christmas tree (it was big and heavy, for one thing--and, really, it was the "Cult"), but it did get hung on his wall, above the closet. Over time, the varnish became like Superglue, and, when we tried to pry it off the wall as we packed up to move (he was out of college, by then), we had to chisel it off in many pieces. Too bad. 
I also put up certain, um, tackier, ornaments, that wouldn't, in and of themselves, qualify for a branch to hang on. But, somehow, though I don't remember where they even came from, they get to stay because the kids (usually Dylan)will sometimes check for them. Two examples would be: the strange, beaded "raspberry" ornament, or the tiny little owl-with-a-few-real-feathers that I used to hide on the tree, every year, for Dylan to find. I had to glue one teensy eye back on, this year. Rachel's commemorative volleyball ornaments are up there, too, though they've sort of migrated to the back of the tree. The Grand Ol' Opry ornament she brought back from Nashville, however, didn't get the nod. Perhaps on her own tree, someday...
I have a terrible memory. Everybody knows it. If I ever develop Alzheimer's, it will be quite advanced before anyone will notice the difference. But hanging each ornament on the tree--and I'm sure this is the same for most everyone else--is like a little excursion back in time. Except that, well, some pieces have already lost their "links". I know they had meanings, but I just can't remember what they are. And, I must say, there are some that might have specific sentimental value (even if I remember what it is) that doesn't quite overcome the overall deficits of the ornament, itself. The Santa bowing down at the manger, for one. Sorry. It stays in the box. Like I said, no Santas. I don't really know why some years, I hang the little green-bead-wreath-with-the-bells, but some years I don't. This year, it would be "no".
Anyway, it's beautiful! It's a crazy, colorful, giant, glowing tree that we get to keep inside our house, for a little while. How cool is that?! It makes me happy to look at it! And it's a big part of the backdrop for a time of year that we love and look forward to. Now, where could I put just one more...?
If you want to bask in some serious Christmas Quaint, you could go to Disneyland, or, and I would recommend this next option highly, come on up to Nevada City for Victorian Christmas. Folks come up by the busloads (really. We've seen the buses) to stroll up and down the main streets, the buildings of which are all outlined in white lights. The shops are brightly decorated inside, as well, and there are little canopies in the streets, under which people in full Victorian garb sell fancy soaps. Well, they sell other things, as well, like food, hot chocolate, jewelry and candles.
But, it's the, apparently, infinite variety of fancy soaps on the tables that always gets me, at these affairs. Who buys all this soap? Do they teach it in the schools, here? The thing is, the actual shops in the actual buildings are also selling fancy soaps. Nevada County seems to be all about the fancy soap industry, as if we have the international corner on that commodity. In the summer, they hold the exact same street events, without the Victorian clothes, and sell soaps. At the county fair, more soaps. Craft fairs and festivals and growers markets--fancy soaps. Where does it all go? How many cupboards of fancy soap do you keep stocked?
Sorry about the soap thing. I just don't get it. But, aside from that, cuteness oozes in the streets. Little kids singing and playing the violin (badly) but looking so precious (and cold); carolers in, yes, Victorian clothing (which looks so nice and toasty warm in 28 degree weather); harpists; a Salvation Army brass quartet, and a woman who walks around dressed as a Christmas tree (a long-standing tradition, it seems).
We stopped into the Methodist church, where there was a very good male chorus singing, among other old favorites, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". The streets are packed with folks of all ages, munching kettle corn (another staple at these events) and drinking hot chocolate. Hardly ever buying soap.
We know that, in the harsh light of reality, it's all about the downtown merchants attracting more shoppers, especially tourists (did I mention the buses?). But we like to go. We went to the summer ones for both towns. We're going to these Christmas events for both towns. 
Grass Valley downtown hosts an almost identical "Cornish Christmas" (you could get by with the same costumes, but there's no Christmas Tree Lady). Nevada City is Wednesday nights; Grass Valley is Friday evenings. It's festive and fun. The music is (mostly) good (the S.A.Brass Band needs a bit of work), and everyone is in a great mood. It's chilly and festive and, well, clean...
In late, breaking news, I got the cranberry bead garlands put up on the tree. I've been collecting them for years. Just the dark red, wooden kind. They're not so easy to find. I had just enough! So, you can relax about that, now.
And the fun never stops! Here are a couple of pics of the frost on the oak leaves and manzanita bushes! 
And more mushroom photography! Actually, I love the frost. So sparkly. And the mushrooms. There was a yearly workshop last Friday night and all day Saturday in mushroom hunting that I didn't have time to attend. They found 150 kinds in the woods not far from here, last year! I'm SO going, next time! 
Rachel's going through reentry from her European journey. She has one of her signature nasty colds, for one thing. She's staying with friends, in Boston, at the moment. And, won't have any solid idea of where to put down roots until spring, when she figures out where she'll be going to school. So, in a way, she'll still be a ramblin' rose, for awhile, yet, jumping around from place to place. Much of the winter will find her in California, I think. Hey, and if you haven't checked out her blog, in a while, she's updated her travel entries. So cool!
I've been having a bit of a bother with the camera, lately, so I haven't had the pics to post. Some kind of "memory card error" that doesn't seem to have a fix. It's so random and frustrating. Oddly, it's also the perfect description of how my brain works. Anyway, the camera's behaving, now, again, for no apparent reason...
...so I took a picture of our Christmas tree! Finding a tree is very near the bottom of "Tom's List of Barely Tolerable Ways to Spend Time". Thus, it has always been. For him, as December approaches, it's a dreaded black cloud of a chore looming ahead, like looking forward to dental work, shopping for underwear, or changing the wiper blades (The Tree Search still rates a little higher than actually decorating the tree, however--more, tomorrow). Therefore, it was merciful that we found our Tree in the first lot we visited, Sunday afternoon. Whoopee!! Our record time for buying a tree, though, occurred several Decembers ago. We drove to Evergreen Nursery (5 min.away). Found a tree in 5 minutes flat. Paid. Drove home. All in less than half an hour !! Incredible! Other years, it's been more like a long, slow tooth extraction to find the Right Tree. Lot-hopping all over town. Looking at each tree trucked in from Oregon AND Washington. Well, not quite. We only like noble firs. No plantations dougs, for us (too thick! You have to PUSH the decs in, on those trees! No hooks required--they don't dangle!). No grands or scotch pines, or FLOCKED (In San Diego??? C'mon!).
Here, in Nevada County, as in other areas, they list three kinds of tree lots: those for "cut" trees, those for "cut your own" trees, and those for living trees. I hadn't done much of a scouting job ahead of time, so we just opted for the already cut trees. The living trees might be too heavy to bring in, but I'd like to check out the tree farms, next time. In every other circumstance, the thought of actually cutting a tree down (especially for such a transient purpose), would be horrifying! It's a cultural blind spot. I have to look at it as a different kind of "crop", like broccoli (which look like little trees, after all!).
I love our Christmas tree! I love the lights. We ONLY use white mini lights. Though, this year, they were pushing the new LED kind, to save energy. Which we will buy, of course. But not this year, since they're kinda pricey to buy all at once. We'll need a lot of them. On past trees of 8-9 feet, I've used up to 1200 lights. But, I'm looking forward to making the switch over, because, the little LEDs (while not quite so bright) NEVER BURN OUT!!! Hallelujah! I knew it could be done! I cannot even tell you about the frustration I've suffered, over the years, due to half a string going dark in the middle of the tree--or, worse, starting to BLINK (oh, no!)--and having to find THE flaky bulb! Where's the National Bureau of Standards? What about the Interstate Commerce Commission? Somebody DO something! Somebody finally did. For a price, of course.
Whoa! It turns out that we almost couldn't lift the tree and maneuver it into the house, it's so heavy! And we had forgotten about the ceiling fan overhead, so it's just a bit off-center. And it's not a perfect shape, but it has character, and we like it! It usually takes five, or so, hours to get the lights on. This year,I put between 1600 and 1700 lights on the 10-footer. I had to add 1 string of 100, after I thought I was finished, because 1/2 a string, in the middle of the tree WENT OUT!!! AARGH!! It looked like the dark part of a city in a power failure. So, I just plugged another set into the strip and threw some more in there to patch it (rather than try to find the little bad bulb) but now, that part is a little more dense than the rest. Ah, well.
Next, I'll add the cranberry bead garlands. Tonight. Then, I hope, by, uh, Christmas, all the decorations will be in place. More about that, later...
We received an email from Dylan, this morning! Here it is: ... we just got back into arusha from the 'bush' essentially, where we have been living the past two months and head to Zanzibar tomorrow morning... there is much to report and not time to get into it right now, but everything is fine here, we're used to this place and everyone is healthy and happy... its been fun and looks to be alot more fun for my remaining two weeks or so... I have the zanzibar trip followed by a week hike up kilimanjaro... its bittersweet as we I will be parting with many people that I have been in intimate contact for a while now...the locals here are really great, and I spend literally all my time with a particular girl and we have only a week together left so were going to make the most of it...after that it's going to be sad, but that only means we've had an amazing time... tanzania is a great place, I am happy to be here...I am ready to come home and move on with life, but leaving people you care about and a place that has been good to you is never easy... I look forward to seeing everyone and tell them hi and that I am totally fine... its easy here, no worries, but very interesting and I cant wait to share the stories... more soon, bye for now - dylan
Here's a link to the program he's been working with: http://www.greenforce.org/destinations/tanzania/10_week_project/
And, this page gives descriptions of the projects, week by week, and some photos of the accommodations, etc.:http://www.greenforce.org/destinations/tanzania/10_week_project/field_updates/index.php
I think I may have posted these, before, but just in case some of you haven't seen them, they bear repeating. So, interesting! We're going to hear such great stories this Christmas!
Since the last post...
We chatted with Rachel for quite awhile, Sunday, from Dublin. Another beautiful city, where she's making, yes, even more friends! Her brain is enjoying signage in English, once again, though the Irish brogue can sometimes be just a bit obtuse to American ears. She'll be there for a couple more days, then fly to Boston (Wed.), to stay with friends. More friends lure her to New York, after that. Finally, just before Christmas, she'll head out west to San Francisco (you guessed it--more friends), and we'll hook up with her about the same time we fetch Dylan from the airport, on Christmas Eve. It should be quite a wonderful and interesting reunion! This will have been quite an unusual year for all of us!
Tom got all the wood moved over to the new location. Not quite the super-precise piles we saw in Germany (what's with that? Not ONE sloppy wood pile in the whole country!), but good enough for Grass Valley. We'll see how long it takes us to burn though it...
The studio is starting to look like I live there. It's like organizing a kitchen. I'm sure I'll be moving stuff around, for awhile.
Haven't posted Blotter Bits, lately! Here are some recent samples, I found, wedged in between the more run-of-the-mill, actual emergencies. 
"5:22 p.m.--A caller from the 10000 block of Little Deer Drive reported two people wandering around the woods near the caller's residence. the people said they were looking for a rock pile and wouldn't leave." [who hasn't been THERE?]
"10:26 a.m.--Some called 911 from the 12000 block of Slate Creek Road, then hung up. Dispatchers determined a dog accidentally made the call." [considering a complaint about the declining ratio of bits to kibble, no doubt]
"8:22 a.m.--A caller from South Auburn Street reported four juvenile males were walking near a school. Police determined the boys were walking to school." [are the cops EVER going to get ALL the kids off the streets?]
"3:23 p.m.--A man called from a parking lot on the 100 block of Olympia Park Road to report someone put a nail in his wife's car tire. Police determined no vandalism occurred." [so hard to imagine how ELSE that nail would have gotten there]
"12:20 p.m.--A man went into the police station lobby to turn in a knife he said he no longer wanted." [hmm. I have a fork I don't really want, anymore, either...]
"9:41 a.m.--A caller from the 11000 block of Ball Road reported a refrigerator and a stove were taken in a residential burglary. The caller would recontact the sheriff's office with more information." ["forget the jewels! Let's toss these appliances in the car!"]
"11:07 p.m.--a caller from maiden Lane reported a bear walking down the street that may have been going through trash cans. The caller said he didn't think he lived in a community where bears would walk down the street." [they prefer to drive...]
"6:32 p.m.--Officers responded to a call from the 12000 block of Francis Drive about a man who was found dead in a tree. The man appeared to have died of natural causes. Once his death was confirmed, Hooper and Weaver Mortuary was informed." [those pesky squirrels will RUE the DAY they dropped those #@&% acorns on MY...]
Rachel's last email from yesterday...
hey mom! slovenia was amazing, for the country and the company. now
in Dublin... back in boston early this week. yikes! i have mixed emotions.
I'll bet! She's been on the road since late August. And Boston is freezing, at the moment.
It's officially cold, here, now. Highs in the low 40s, lows in the mid-20s. I brought my plumeria and epidendrum orchid in a little late. They look cranky about it. 
I thought I heard murmuring about catching a ride back to Hawaii, somehow. Since we're trying to learn how to use our wood-burning stove, we thought we'd also try to organize our wood supply. Turns out, there's very little level ground near the house to set up the wood-stacking thingy. The previous residents have had it mostly stacked against the house, but that's a Bozo no-no, in the fire-safe code, so we moved it down the hill, a bit (had to dig a bit to flatten the ground). It's one of those things we've intended to get to for months, but it never sounds like that much fun. And if you're smirking to yourself about our having to learn how to use the wood stove, wipe that smirk right off your face! 
It's a crazy-complicated, totally non-intuitive (yet) jumble of vents and cranks with a catalytic converter (to burn cleaner!) that has to be activated at certain temps and watched for certain ember bed levels, etc., to get it into this Zone, or something. Whew! We need a tutor! The manual will have to do, though. Our wood pile is a safe distance from the house, now, but we're probably in more danger of burning the house up from the inside...
Mushrooms are everywhere! We had a very wet October and a very dry November, combining to make the perfect conditions for them to pop up through the leaves in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Here are a couple of kinds growing a few feet from the house. 
They get huge in one day! Don't know as much as want to about them, yet, but they're fun to look at. So strange!
Studio is nearly complete, thanks to my new best friend, Mr. Hammer Drill! I hadn't even heard of such a thing before last weekend, when John mentioned it. I knew about hammers and drills. 
But not hammer drills. Anyway, two walls in the room are concrete, and if I want shelving on them, and I do, they either have to be suspended from the ceiling (somehow), or we needed to drill into the concrete. We had already worked on concrete (which is just as hard as you think it might be), when we installed grab bars in the guest bath, last May. Took forever and 'bout ruined our regular drill. Well. Where has this little gem of a tool been all my life? I won't say it was like a hot knife through butter (it's concrete, after all), but it was, maybe, like blunt knife through, uh, really stale bread. Or something like that. So-o-o, a couple of trips to the hardware store, and we have shelves! Pics tomorrow...
As usual, I had the highest intentions of sending Christmas cards out there, especially to those who don't know where we've landed, yet. But, right on schedule, I didn't quite get to it. Maybe in January. So, I'll just post this photo of the four of us, taken on Christmas, proving that we did actually spend the holiday together, after having been scattered about the globe until just the previous day.
