First, there was just a bit of Christmas left to celebrate. I had thought I'd get to Fresno to see Mom and maybe Terry the week before Christmas, but I was too busy sewing. So, I drove down and back on this last Tuesday instead. Terry had to work, but Mom and I had a nice afternoon! We went to Macaroni Grill for lunch, which is where our lovely server took our picture.
Then, I don't know. I was tired of red. Our tree had only been decorated a week. But I was done, so on Wednesday, I undecorated. More than many other years when the immediate loss of Christmas decs, music and festivity seemed to leave a bit of a hole, I've loved getting back to "normal" this year.
I always love the new year. I guess most folks do. And I love the Rose Parade as a way to kick it off. So nice on the big HD TV screens (if one can't actually be there)! Since our move here, it's been a challenge to find the channel that shows the KTLA feed without commercials. It took 32 minutes to find it this time--an unforgivable lack of planning on my part.
I didn't really miss any whole parade features, but there was some confusion as I surfed from one channel to the next during the first two ad breaks. And where did I find it? Fox. Seriously. My ONE reason to sit on channel 40 for more than .25 seconds. HGTV shows without breaks, too, but they just don't have the cameras and sweet viewpoints of KTLA's crew.
Said it before. Love Edwards. Endure Eubanks, though he knows horses. I could never choose the favorite float, but loved the origami dragon, Albuquerque balloons, and all the Chinese and Mexican floats. Raul Rodriguez is my hero. Also--the blind marching band from Ohio and the Kyoto band dancing Thriller as they were playing it. 'Nuff said--this year, anyway.
Both on New Year's Eve and Day afternoons (that can't be right), we went to see movies. Good ones! On the 31st we went to see Avatar. Loved it. Yes. I know. The story was hackneyed and heavy handed. The acting--a little over the top. Who cares about that peripheral stuff? For 2 1/2 hours, we were privileged to inhabit an "other" world. 3D is amazing, for one thing. But the Pandora world Cameron and his cohorts created was breathtaking! If you know me, you know that I will gleefully suspend any semblance of reason to be swallowed up in such a fantasy. It was over all too soon. If I had more thumbs (and some days it seems I do), I would point them all up.
And, yesterday, we went to see Sherlock Holmes. We've read all the stories several times and treasure them. We love the BBC's productions with Jeremy Brett as well-done and faithful renditions of those Doyle stories (even though Mr. Brett had the bad form to die before they finished the entire series-grr). That said, we loved the movie. Loved it! Gorgeous to look at. Funny. Smart. Fast and noisy. Loved it. I am always strangely fascinated by that late Victorian period (more about that some time) and I wallowed in the atmosphere created. We are Downey, Jr. fans, but I couldn't quite put him in the roll--at least, not as I understood the stories. But, now, I might read the them a little differently. Hmm. All thumbs up, again.
So, here we are, again. We'll see what happens next, right? Happy new year!
