Strolling Along Fifth Avenue

Actually, the title of this post is probably fairly inaccurate as there was no actual "strolling along" possible when Amanda and I were in New York City on New Year's Day. The number of other people crowded on the sidewalks of one of New York's more famous streets made it downright impossible to stroll, saunter, leisurely walk, or amble. Instead it was more like being inside a pinball game and dodging people every step of the way!

Still, what does one expect when in New York during a holiday - particularly the day after a holiday where thousands of people cram themselves into a relatively small area to watch a ball descend and welcome in the New Year? After all, those people all have to be somewhere the next day, right? And there they were ... seeing the sights on Fifth Avenue just like we were!

But who can resist with some of the gorgeous buildings that were still decked out in their holiday finery? Like the House of Versace ...

... which is right next door to Cartier Jewelers (both places I will never ever step foot in as I doubt I could even afford to breath the air in either place!).

There's also this beautiful building (which houses I'm not sure what!) with its big snowflakes that I'm sure look fantastic lit up at night ...

... and, even though it wasn't decorated (scaffolding seriously does not count!) there's the renowned Saint Patrick's Cathedral whose cornerstone was laid in 1858 and massive doors swept open in 1879.

Upon its opening, Saint Patrick's was declared to be “the noblest temple ever raised in any land to the memory of St. Patrick, and as the glory of Catholic America”  and it's pretty easy to see why people thought that way!

Just down Fifth Avenue a bit is the equally beautiful St. Thomas Church which was built in the French High Gothic style of architecture.  The current church is actually the fourth building in the history of the Episcopal New York parish's history and was completed in 1913.

I wish that I could have gotten some pictures of the entire church but the crowds made it downright impossible to get more than a couple of shots of the entryways and some of the carvings that adorn the outside of the building.

Apparently guided tours are given each Sunday after the 11:00 a.m. worship service so I'm thinking I need to get a Sunday off at some point and head to New York to go to church so that I can see the beauty that is the inside of St. Thomas as well as listen to the music from the Chancel and Gallery organs that I'm sure is nothing short of heavenly.

Truth be told, I'm not a religious person (I prefer to think of myself as a believer and keeper of the faith without the trappings of organized religion) but I do appreciate the architecture and beauty that went into the houses of worship that people used to build.  It's often been said "to God be the glory" and St. Thomas, as well as St. Patrick's Cathedral, certainly does give glory to God.

I'll be wrapping up our visit to New York with some final pictures tomorrow - hope you'll come back to check them out!

Next Up After the MoMA

I knew that while we were in New York City on New Year's Day that there was another thing I really wanted to see aside from the MoMA ...

Hmmm, now what is that big thing that everyone wants to see when they come into New York City at Christmas time?

I'm pretty sure I've seen it on TV before - especially when we're watching the Today Show at work in the mornings.

Lots and lots of people flock to the City to see it - and I do mean LOTS of people!!

I know! It's the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center! Something that I had never seen in person before the other day and I've got to say that it's very, very impressive!

The girls didn't seem to be quite as impressed as I was but they were nice enough to pose in front of the Today Show studio windows for me as - yes - I can be just as much of a tourist as the next guy even though I try real hard not to act like it!

It's just a good thing that Matt, Meredith, Ann, and Al weren't in attendance at the studios or I probably really would have been acting like a tourist - a goofy one at that!

MoMA Mia That's a Nice-a Painting!

New Year's dawned not exactly bright and sunny here in Connecticut - more like gray and overcast! - but it was good enough for Amanda and I to head down to New Haven and board the Metro-North commuter train heading south to New York City.


The idea was to take the train down to Grand Central Terminal where this eagle sits proudly outside


... walk down to the Museum of Modern Art (herein referred to as the "MoMA")


... and meet up with Amanda's friend Sami who lives in Brooklyn, goes to college in Massachusetts, and was home on Christmas vacation.  Amanda refers to Sami as her "brain twin" which makes it kind of scary for any accompanying adults!


Both girls - and Sami really is a sweetheart - are big fans of Tim Burton and there is currently a Tim Burton Exhibit at the MoMA that runs through April 26th.


The only snag that we ran into was that the Tim Burton Exhibit is in a smaller gallery section of the MoMA and in order to see it, you have to have a timed ticket.  Due to the fact that every New Yorker and/or his/her brother/sister decided that New Year's Day would be a fine day to go to the MoMA ...


... the tickets for the Tim Burton Exhibit were sold out which would have defeated the purpose of the trip except that if one became a member of the MoMA, one could bypass that whole "timed ticket" thing along with one's guests.  Ah well, I've always wanted to be a patron of the arts therefore, I am now a card-carrying member of the MoMA.  Should anyone want to meet up in New York one of these days and spend some time at the MoMA, I can get you in for the low, low price of $5 and even share a few perks while we're at it!

Even with the timed tickets, the Tim Burton Exhibit was packed and there was no photography allowed so I can't show you any of it but suffice it to say that it was pretty cool.  Along with his early drawings, there were also costumes from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorshands, Beetlejuice, Planet of the Apes, and a few of Tim's other movies.  The girls just loved the models from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, and several other films as well as other pieces of artwork on display.    All in all it was worth the trip but I think a second trip will be in order in the hopes that maybe it won't be quite as wall-to-wall with people and we could spend a little more time looking at things without feeling crushed!

After the Tim Burton Exhibit we went over to where the Monet Exhibit is being shown and while the girls sat down and exchanged Christmas gifts ...


... I decided that I really, really enjoyed looking at Monet's Water Lilies and other paintings ...


I've often heard people talking about Monet and how peaceful his painting are but I never really paid much mind to that until I found myself gazing at the pastel colors blended together so perfectly that it really does bring on a sense of sereneness and peace.


Click on the picture above so you can see a bigger version as these pictures really don't do the paintings justice at all but considering all of the people milling around, I'm surprised I got even semi-decent shots!  Again, I'd like to spend a little more time with these paintings on my next trip to the MoMA.  I believe this exhibit is also there through early April so I'm thinking a trip down before they're no longer there is most definitely in order!

Even though there was a lot more that I would have liked to see, we didn't stay at the MoMA for too much longer as it was getting on in the afternoon and the place wasn't getting any less crowded - plus there were a few other spots I wanted to hit while we were in the City.  Besides, now that I'm a Member of the MoMA, I'll be heading back down to the City for a little more culture at least a couple more times in the next year.  No sense in rushing through everything all at once!

Pictures of some of our other New York sights will be along in the next post!

Ode to a Cupcake

In between shoveling the fluffy white stuff that has been falling outside all day, thinking (merely thinking) about getting the boxes out of the basement to put away the Christmas decorations, and drinking copious amounts of coffee while spending too much time fooling around on Facebook, I have been trying to get myself motivated enough to do a post about yesterday's trip to New York City.  I think I have the pictures edited but that's as far as I've gotten!

Not wanting to start the new year off by not posting the first rattle out of the box, I thought I should at least show you one of the things that I found in New York City yesterday that Jamie and I couldn't find anywhere when we were there last August ...

Yes, Virginia, there is a Crumbs bake shop across from Bryant Park!  It's a tiny little place nestled in next to a FedEx store but it's definitely there and it's definitely got some fabulously big cupcakes in spite of the shop's small size.

Amanda, Sami, and I were on our way back to Grand Central Terminal when we passed it and of course I had to stop, take some pictures, and buy a couple of cupcakes to bring home with me.  I bought an Oreo cupcake for Amanda and a coconut one for myself as I just love coconut and we had them with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea when we got home.  Yummy!  Of course, what I didn't tell Amanda is that was the last cupcake she's going to be getting for awhile as we're both going on a new eating regime very, very soon.  Ah well, if you're going to have a "last" something it's always wise to make it a good one and this was definitely good!

Darned good thing the closest Crumbs shop here in Connecticut is a long, long ways from here - it's always better to have temptation like this too far away to easily get to!  Perhaps next time we go to NYC it could be a treat as long as we're planning on walking it off again in the process!

Anyhow, I will do my best to get that other post up soon.  I just have to try to remember where I put that darned motivation I'm always misplacing!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Not only is another year behind us but so is another decade and as we turn the page on a brand new calendar full of days, weeks, and months stretching out before us I hope that we all have a fantastic year full of good things and good memories with just enough not-so-good to keep us on our toes and thankful for all that we do have. After all, life is an adventure and I've yet to come across an adventure that doesn't have some form of trial or tribulation even if it's a minor one.  It makes the journey that much more interesting.

Speaking of journeys, Amanda and I are heading south towards New York City today to meet up with Amanda's brain-twin Sami and check out the Tim Burton Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.  The plan is to take the Metro-North commuter train into the city from New Haven and meet up with Amanda's buddy from Brooklyn at Grand Central Station before tackling the city.  

I've never been to the MoMA and am looking forward to checking it out as well as maybe taking in a few other New York City sights along the way.  I'm rather hoping that most of New York will be sleeping off the big celebration in Times Square and the crowds won't be too bad but you just never know these days.  The weather probably won't be the best in the world but I'll keep my fingers crossed for rain rather than snow and buy a nice umbrella if need be!  I'll keep you posted!

Whatever you may be doing on this first day of 2010 I hope it involves family, friends, or some form of fun!

Is This Any Way to End a Year?

"Snowy day from dispatch", originally uploaded by mouseski58.

Oh well, on a good note we can say that it's the last snow of 2009, right? Right?

Everyone have a safe and happy New Year's Eve with best wishes for a fantastic 2010 no matter how you pronounce it ... Twenty- Ten or Two Thousand Ten!

In The News - A Mother Challenges the Veterans Administration

I was reading through some news stories on Yahoo yesterday evening when I came across one that caught my interest entitled "Mom fights to be buried with soldier son".  Basically, the gist of the news story is that Denise Anderson wants to be buried with her son, Army Specialist Corey Shea who was killed in Iraq in November of 2008, at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne but the Veterans Administration denied her waiver as, under their policy, she has to die first in order to get the waiver.  Mrs. Anderson doesn't understand why her request can't be granted now so she is challenging the VA's burial policy with support from her congressman, Representative Barney Frank, and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.

I have mixed feelings about this whole thing as, to be honest, I feel that our National Cemeteries weren't designed for entire families to be buried at but were reserved for those who served our country either as a member of the Armed Services, the spouse of a Service Member, or the one of the other eligible categories as outlined by the VA.   Knowing that my Mom dedicated a major portion of her life to the Air Force right alongside my father, I feel that it would only be right that she be allowed to be buried right alongside him had he chosen to be buried in a National Cemetery rather than a private one.  She earned that honor as have so many other spouses of Service members who have supported them and our country.  When my father retired from the Air Force after his 20+ years of service he was given a certificate of appreciation for his service and so was my mother as the country felt that her support of him was just as important as his service.  Military spouses are awesome people who are just as vital to this country as the men or women they are married to.

That's not to say that parents don't support their children when they join the military but a spouse or minor dependent is something entirely different  - at least in my mind.  I understand that Mrs. Anderson misses her son and that she loved him dearly but I also feel that if she had wanted to be buried next to him, knowing the rules of the VA and the National Cemeteries, that perhaps she should have buried him in a private cemetery and assured herself that she had a place next to him after she passes on.

Mrs. Anderson raised Corey as a single mother for his first 8 years of life, according to the article, and she said that losing him was "like losing a twin".  The article also quotes Mrs. Anderson as saying, "I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to take 'no' for an answer.  I shouldn't have to ask to be buried with my son."  Well, perhaps not but again, if she knew the rules of the cemetery where she was burying her son ahead of time then Mrs. Anderson would have realized that she didn't qualify for burial with her son.  She says that she's "embarrassed about having to challenge the VA for a chance to maintain, in death, the bond she and her son enjoyed in life" but I just have to wonder why she didn't think of this beforehand when making his burial arrangements.

 In the news article Senator John Kerry stated that "No mothers or fathers of a fallen soldier should have to worry about their child being buried alone" and I have to take exception to that.  Those fallen soldiers aren't buried alone - they are buried alongside others who have served their country and they are most certainly not alone.  Interment in a National Cemetery, the final resting place of those who served this country, is an honor as well as one of the benefits afforded to those who sacrificed in the defense of our nation.  National Cemeteries are not just burial grounds, they are shrines to the memories of those who served and commemorate their service to our country. 

I'm not unsympathetic to Mrs. Anderson and I am very, very sorry for her loss but I also am not unsympathetic to the many other Veterans or Active Duty Members of the Armed Forces who may someday wish to be interred at one of our National Cemeteries - cemeteries that do not have unlimited space and which should be reserved for those who served or their direct dependents.  At least that's my opinion.  What's yours?

A Moment in Time

In spite of a nice Christmas, I've been missing Jamie being home and reflecting a bit on this past summer when she was last here.  While doing so, I came across some of the pictures that she took when we stopped by the Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut on our way home from Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York.  I thought I'd share one of my favorites with you.

T'Was The Day After Christmas ...

Here's hoping everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you found whatever your heart's desire was underneath - or very close! - to your Christmas tree.

Christmas Day was a pretty long one for Amanda and I with visits to my son's house, my mother's house, and then wrapping up the evening at the Annual Family Get-Together at my aunt's house. By the time 8:00 rolled around I was ready to crawl into bed for a long winter's nap and did just that shortly after getting home!

Today was spent doing a few little errands and then parking myself next to a roaring fire in the living room while enjoying the lights of the Christmas tree and various and assorted shows on the telly courtesy of BBC America.  All in all, a nice day after Christmas - how was yours?

Merry Christmas from Amanda

Have I mentioned that Amanda has been totally into Providence, Rhode Island's own master horror writer H.P. Lovecraft lately?  If not, she most definitely has and everything's been coming up Cthulu lately including her Christmas greetings: 

Sorry for the watermark - I lifted the image from her Deviant Art account where you can also check out her Snow Squid and second painting of H.P. Lovecraft himself - the one that now hangs in our dining room - if you're so inclined.

I'm off to work for 16 hours - everyone have a great Christmas Eve Day!

Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Jam, and Oatmeal Scotchies - Oh My!

Whew!  I can finally sit down for a few minutes after being on my feet all morning finishing up the cookie baking that I started around 8:00 last night.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to finally get in the Christmas cookie mood for which I totally blame Lisa!  She'd been writing about all of the baking she'd been doing on Facebook and her blog and I guess it must have inspired me as I decided yesterday afternoon that I was going to make cookies when I got home from my short shift last night - and thank goodness it was short as I seemed to be suffeirng from a major case of Dispatcher Dyslexia!  I couldn't seem to say anything right on the radio! That's what I get for working on my day off after spending the whole day wrapping gifts!

Anyhow, at 8:00 I started the first batch of cookies - a slight twist on Peanut Butter Blossoms as I thought I had Hershey Kisses but turns out I had Nestle's Crunch Christmas Bells instead.  Oops!  For those of you who refer to Peanut Butter Blossoms as "nipple cookies", these are even more 'nipplish' I'm afraid but Amanda says that they taste good so I guess that's all that matters!  From there I moved on to Oatmeal Scotchies minus the coconut that I had used in the ones I made on Saturday.  They're Andrew's favorites and I wanted to make him some more as an additional thank you for plowing my driveway the other day.  With my bad back, I can't say thank you enough!

After that I made what were supposed to be Thumbprint Cookies with Raspberry Jam but Amanda said that I'd be lying if I didn't say that they were actually Index Finger Cookies as that's what I used to push the holes in the centers!  I drizzled them this morning with white chocolate that I had tried to tint a nice shade of Christmas green but the color ended up looking more like aged copper instead!  I just couldn't get the green right for nuthin'! So I guess you can call them Index Finger Cookies with Raspberry Jam & Verdis Drizzle!

Next up were drop sugar cookies with crushed peppermint and then a batch of chooclate chip cookies made with semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. At that point it was 1:00 a.m. so I finally called it a night and figured I'd finish up in the morning.

At 9:00 a.m. I was back at it with a batch of chocolate chip cookies with pecans and then another variation using pecans and coconut both.  I drizzled the sugar cookies with the verdis-colored white chocolate and then also dipped some mint chocolate Milano cookies and sprinkled them with crushed peppermint and then drizzled some milk chocolate Milanos.  I was going to dip some dark chocolate ones but when I went to get them out of the cupboard, they seemed to have disappeared!  Hmmm ... did Santa come early for cookies and milk??

Finally at 12:30 I was finished after I arranged the cookies on a platter to take into work with me today and bagged some up for Wayne and Kevin to have on Christmas Day as they're the ones who drew the short straw and will be working the holiday.  Plus, they won't be in either today or tomorrow when I plan on bringing cookies in and when I mentioned baking yesterday, Kevin's eyes lit up much akin to a child's on Christmas morning upon seeing that Santa arrived overnight!  How could I not set some aside for him??  I've also got a separate bag all made up for Andrew with a bit of every kind but mostly the Oatmeal Scotchies that he so loves.

There were plenty left over for Amanda so she's not going to feel left out when I take the big platter above into work with me in about half an hour - plus she helped out with the taste-testing.  As I told her last night, one of these days I'm going to have to teach her how to bake and not just eat but all she did was laugh when I said that.  I guess that means I won't be getting any homemade goodies from her anytime soon!

A Post From the Past

With only three days left until Christmas and work scheduled for all of them (today is supposed to be a day off but I'm going in later for about 4-1/2 hours), I am seriously running out of time to get my Christmas wrapping done - yo, yo! - so plan on spending as much time as possible this morning with tape, paper, scissors, and ribbon in an attempt to get the majority of it accomplished.  I know I said I was going to do it this past Saturday but ended up baking oatmeal scotchies and chocolate chip mint cookies instead and even though I am a "professional multi-tasker", I just couldn't seem to get it together to do both.  Ah well!

To that end, I am pulling a post from three years ago today for your reading enjoyment.  It appears that I was just as cold back then as I am now! 

Best wishes for a great Tuesday no matter what you may be up to!

********************

“May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart” ~ Eskimo Proverb

originally posted December 22nd, 2006

It's beginning to feel like winter has finally descended upon us here in New England (though the uncharacteristically warm December has been a blessing to my fuel costs!) and, as such, I decided last night that it was time to break out the flannel sheets and put them on my bed.

I have no idea who the genius was that came up with the idea of making sheets out of flannel but I am forever grateful to whomever it was and couldn't sing his/her praises loud enough! As much as I like the 300-thread count sheets, there is nothing like crawling in between warm, cozy, flannel on a cold winter's night - especially when one sleeps alone like I do.

Growing up, I remember that my mother always had a sweater on and seemed to be cold and it appears that I have inherited that from her as I'm always chilly no matter what temperature I have the thermostat set for. We have two-zone heating in the house but for some unknown reason, the upstairs never seems to work so it gets pretty chilly in the bedrooms at night - especially considering I have the downstairs thermostat set to drop down to 56 degrees after 9:00 p.m. Were it not for flannel sheets I would probably be piling a half-dozen blankets and comforters on top of the bed just to maintain some sort of warmth!

The only drawback that I have found to flannel sheets is that you can't really wear flannel pajamas at the same time as it makes it hard to roll over but that's a small price to pay for NO cold spots when you stretch your feet out!

Now if I could just figure out a way to keep the bathroom floor warm for when I stumble across it in the morning, life would be almost perfect!

Snow & Babies & Stuff

As was well broadcast yesterday, we were hit with a pretty major amount of snow here in Connecticut and other parts of the Northeast when Winter Storm Albert blew up the coast.   Because it was a coastal storm, places like Norwich got hit worse than the places in Connecticut that usually get dumped on like Litchfield and northern Windham counties.

Naturally, the snow wasn't nice enough to arrive when I had a day off and wouldn't have to worry about getting to work in the morning so I got up yesterday morning at a little after 5:00 and looked outside to see that there was a lot of white stuff out there covering the ground - including the street I live on which had yet to be plowed.  Swell.

As I live in town, getting a ride into work isn't a problem so I knew I wasn't going to have to drive in the stuff but I was still going to have to be able to get out the door as the snow was up and over the bottom of the door.  Grabbing the snow shovel - which I had been smart enough to bring into the house with me the night before - I ventured out and dug a path from the front door to what I figured to be the road.  Fortunately the snow was of the light and fluffy variety and it didn't take me long but no sooner had I finished and was starting back in the house but a plow finally came down the street and - sure as shooting - filled in the path I had just made to the roadway!  Sigh ...

Work itself was way too busy for my liking - especially considering I was flying solo as my partner lives considerably further away and she didn't relish the idea of driving in a semi-blizzard.  The first 911 call was a lady in labor with her first child and the second emergency call was for a paramedic intercept for yet another lady in labor in a neighboring town with her third child.

The little fella decided that he wasn't going to wait to get to the hospital to make his entrance into the world and was born in the back of a neighbor's car who was trying to drive the expectant parents to the hospital.  You can read the full story here at NorwichBulletin.com along with another picture of the proud parents and their brand-new son, Peter Ronald Clippinger, who was born at at 8:34 a.m weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces.  In addition to the on-duty paramedic that I sent from American, one of our other off-duty paramedics was there as a member of the Franklin Volunteer Fire Department and she helped deliver Peter into the world.  (The photo to the left is credited to Khoi Ton of the Norwich Bulletin Staff.)

The rest of the day was pretty crazy and I was pretty happy to see my partner arrive around 2:00 so I could finally take a little bit of a break!  I can't remember the last time I was so happy to see 11:00 p.m. roll around!

Today involved a lot of time with a shovel as I went outside to shovel the stairs for my elderly neighbor, Elizabeth, who lives in the apartment over the garage behind us as well as trying to dig my car out of the pile of snow that my other neighbors upstairs decided to throw on it when they dug theirs out.  Apparently the art of snow shoveling is not taught in Vietnam or they're just plain rude - I've not decided which yet.

As I stood there looking at all of that snow (this picture doesn't really do it justice as you can't tell exactly how deep it is and it's the front of the house, not the back where the driveway is), I felt an overwhelming sense of dismay and fatigue.  Normally my landlords have someone to plow but there has been some breakdown in communications or something and arrangements have yet to be made so that left me with trying to figure out what to do with all of that snow!

Finally I did the smartest thing I could think of and sent a text to my friend Andrew to ask if he was going to be in Norwich today.  Luckily he was going to be in Franklin and said he'd stop by a little after noon to clear the driveway for me with the plow on his truck.  Once he arrived it took him less than 10 minutes to push all of the snow out of the way and I thanked him with half a case of Winter Warmer (left over from the dispatch party) and a bag of Christmas cookies I had baked on Saturday.  The guy is truly a lifesaver in more ways than one!  Thank you, Andrew!  

Of course it's now time to get ready to go back to work for the afternoon!  I'm hoping to get some Christmas presents wrapped tonight when I get home as I didn't do them Saturday as I decided to bake cookies instead but we'll see how that goes as I'm sure all of the shoveling is going to catch up with me at some point and I'll be very, very tired.

Hope your Mondays are going well!

Norwich Lights Are Pretty Sights

On my way home from work the other night, I couldn't help but notice that the large rose made out of Christmas lights that has graced Chelsea Parade in the past was up and lit.  I don't remember it being there last year but that could be my Swiss-cheese brain not quite remembering things correctly, though I'm pretty sure if it had been up, I would have taken a picture or two.

Norwich being The Rose of New England, it seems rather appropriate that there be a huge rose gracing the middle of the city and, of course, upon seeing it up and lit my first thought was that I needed to get a picture of it at some point.  That first thought was immediately followed by a second thought - "but darn, it's been so cold!"  Knowing that it wasn't going to get any warmer, and with a forecast for close to a foot of snow being dumped on us overnight Saturday, I decided Saturday evening to take my Nikon and venture forth into the cold evening air while I had the chance to do so without having to wade through a foot of snow to get the right angle!

Bundling up warmly and borrowing Amanda's scarf "just in case", I took my tripod in hand, made sure the battery was charged in the Nikon, and set out a little after 5:00 into the cold and wind.  It wasn't snowing yet but felt like it certainly could at any moment so I wasted no time getting set up in the middle of Chelsea Parade and snapping a few pictures.  Night photography can be a bit tricky, especially when your fingers are frozen even in gloves, but I thought this shot came out pretty good -

As you can see, there are a few lights burned out here and there that the city needs to replace at some point but it's definitely a beautiful rose even with the backdrop of street lights and such.  Personally I think the city should leave it up all year but I'm sure the electricity to keep it lit isn't cheap and there's always the chance some yahoo is going to come along and vandalize it.

Before climbing back into the warmth of my car and heading home, I couldn't help but take a few more picture of one of the houses across from Chelsea Parade as the Christmas tree in the window was just too pretty to resist -

Hopefully no one looked out the windows and wondered why some strange frozen woman was taking pictures of their house but if they did, hopefully they know it was because their tree was so pretty and not because I was casing the joint for a future burglary!

Plans for Jamie

As many who are regular readers know, my youngest daughter lives with her father and step-mother in Florida. It's not a living arrangement that I like but to perfectly honest, Amanda and Jamie barely get along at best and fight like a couple of territorial cats at worst.  I have no idea why they can't get along but I do know that having the two of them together in the same house alone combined with my ridiculous work hours would probably result in my coming home to murder and mayhem one of these days. I kid you not, it's sad but true.

So ... Jamie lives in Florida and usually comes home to Connecticut for most of the summer and Christmas ... usually.  This Christmas is not going to be one of those "usuallys" and even though I like to think that I'm okay with it I seem to keep finding myself caught up in moments of extreme sadness about the whole situation.  The other day I got a Christmas card from my aunt with an invitation for our annual Christmas night family get-together at her house which was addressed to Amanda and I and read "I hope the two of you can make it".  The two of you ... not the three of you as is normally the case but the two of us.  This immediately brought tears to my eyes as has putting Jamie's ornaments on the tree, looking at her Christmas stocking, and knowing that I won't be having to make a trip to the airport anytime soon. 

Instead of coming home to be with her sister and I this Christmas, Jamie will be making preparations to attend the Florida Youth ChalleNGe Academy as a cadet for the next 5-1/2 months as part of her voluntary enrollment in a 17-1/2 month program that is geared towards "providing values, skills, education and self discipline to young people while incorporating the structure and espirit de corps found in the military model. The residential phase of the program (5-1/2 months) takes place in a highly disciplined and motivational environment promoting structure and academics along with leadership, health, community service, life skills, job skills, physical fitness and citizenship."  In other words, I guess she's heading off to Boot Camp of a sort in order to get her life onto some sort of track that she wants to be on.  Following the residential phase, she has a 12-month mentorship phase beginning immediately after graduation in her home community.

The girls' father and I don't talk all that often but most of the news I get from him out of Florida in regards to Jamie is oftentimes rather disconcerting and disturbing as Jamie - who has always been impulsive and impetuous - always seems to manage to get herself into some sort of trouble or other when she isn't supervised.  A lot of her problem is boys and getting tangled up with the wrong ones - which are the ones that she is attracted to - and the school that she's been attending seems to give her just enough rope to hang herself.  As much as I'd like to have her up here with me, she'd be unsupervised a lot here, too, and I'm afraid that the trouble that always seems to follow her would be as much of a problem - if not more when you add on the tension between Jamie and her sister.

Jamie tries hard to "toe the line" but temptations are what they are and so when her father found the Florida Youth ChalleNGe Academy, she agreed that it sounded like a good way to get her life on track and find some direction and meaning.  The program is run by the National Guard as directed by the Joint Armed Services Committee and is funded by the Department of Defense and the State of Florida.  Because Jamie meets the qualifications for this program, it's not going to cost hardly anything for her to attend except for a small amount up front and whatever basic supplies and clothing she needs to start out.

Jamie and I have spoken about her attending the Academy and she's actually looking forward to it as well as to her life once she graduates.  We've been discussing the possibility of her enlisting in the US Air Force and following the tradition that my father began and which I followed (though I wasn't smart enough to make a career of it!).  We've spoken about the opportunities that are available to her through enlistment which include career training, the chance to further her education, and also the ability to visit places that she might not see otherwise.  I know that the military isn't for everyone but considering Jamie's personality and her ability to get herself into trouble without structure, it would probably be the ideal place for her.  Add on the fact that Basic Training would be a walk in the park after the 5-1/2 month program she's going to go through and it seems like an ideal situation. 

I've got my fingers crossed that Jamie finds what she's looking for in life while she attends the Academy and that she learns the discipline that will keep her out of the trouble that she seems to want to find.  She's a good kid but she's always been my "wild child" and I sure don't want to see her dropping out of school or hooking up with the wrong guy and finding herself in the kind of trouble that could totally mess up her whole life.  I think that this Academy is a good opportunity for her so even though I am going to miss her like nobody's business this Christmas, I'm hoping that it's for a very good reason and that this will be the break she needs in life to become the success that I know she can be.

Anyone Sick ...

... of looking at my Christmas decorations yet? I hope not as I thought for today I'd post a few more pictures of what's displayed on the tree and what's on the fireplace mantle. Through the joy of the collage function on Picasa, I'm able to group them all together rather than post each one individually - which makes for a lot less work and a definitely shorter post! First off, more favorites hanging on the tree -

Next up, my collection of angels who look quite nice arranged on a bed of angel's hair on the mantel. These are the girls individually -

... and this is the chorus of angels watching over my living room -

I figure with that many angels watching over the place, we should be pretty well protected from the tree drying out, falling ornaments, and a Grinch trying to slide down the chimney to come in and steal our last can of Who Hash!

A Tuesday Tidbit

Quick post before the day's activities begin!  Seems like I've got things to do, things to do, things to do on each and every one of my days off until Christmas but that's okay because being busy always reminds me of the Christmas song Silver Bells - "... and above all this bustle you'll hear, Silver Bells, Silver Bells ..."   No doubt there will be plenty of time to relax in January when pretty much nothing happens.  Well, except for our annual employee party at work!

Anyhow, that said, today's activities include lunch with my old friend Rhonda who is actually going to be coming to mi casa today for some nice chicken and broccoli quiche and whatever else I manage to find while rummaging through the cupboards.  I was going to make chicken and dumplings but got lazy at the last minute!

After that I've got gifts to wrap and cards to finish (almost done with those!) and I might even fit in a little shopping later on in the evening being that I still need to get gifts for the grandsons and a few other assorted goodies.  After that I'm going to sit down with a nice hot cup of tea, a piece of homemade New York style cheesecake, and just relax.  Least ways that's the plan!  What do you all have planned for today?

Timing By the Bay

Long, long ago in what seems like another lifetime I lived in California in an area not too far from San Francisco which, I'm sorry to say, I didn't get the chance to visit often enough.  I do recall one time, though, when a trip to the City By the Bay turned into a potential Disaster By the Bay when my friend Scott had some problems with his Honda Accord.   For the most part it was a reliable little car and got him pretty much everywhere he needed to go but alas, this time it was the timing belt that decided to go!  You would think that a timing belt would have better timing!  Sorry, small bit of automotive humor there - very small bit!

Luckily the whole day wasn't ruined as we were fortunate enough to find a nice San Francisco auto repair shop in close proximity to where the timing belt decided its time had come (sorry, more bad automotive humor!).  Granted, it wasn't exactly the way we had planned to spend a portion of our money but I guess that in the long run, a timing belt was more important than more Ghiradhelli chocolates - though certainly not as tasty!   And it could have been worse, we could have been visiting Fresno!

A Monday Movie Moment (Or Two)

Rather than taking the time to write a blog post today, the thought occurred to me that I really ought to think about getting my Christmas cards written out or perhaps wrap a gift or two but thus far I have been unable to muster up the motivation to do any of those things and sit here at the computer instead.  I'm beginning to think that - subconsciously - I enjoy the harried feeling of the season and therefore set myself up for not getting things done on time!  Well, either that or I'm just really bad with the whole time management aspect of life!  Ah well, not to worry - I've got a little less than two weeks to go and things will get done!  Meanwhile, back at the blog ...

One of the nice things about working a 16-hour shift on Sundays is that my partner and I have started a tradition we call "Chick Flick Sunday" - some of you may be familiar with it as I've mentioned it before.  Each Sunday we get three movies from NetFlix and in between 911 calls, regular scheduling calls, and other assorted duties we get to see movies that we'd probably never see otherwise as neither one of us are any good at actually going to see a movie at a theater.  This week our queue brought us the newly released Julie & Julia as well as My Sister's Keeper (the third movie was from 1994 and not very good so not worth mentioning!).  

We both really liked Julie & Julia except for two things - one it makes you rather hungry while you're watching it and you find yourself craving things like lots of butter on a crusty baguette and two, the ending was kind of a let-down.  I'm sure that the reason for that is that the movie is based on two true stories and, call me a pessimist, but it seems like sometimes the endings in real life are definitely let-downs.  Perhaps that's why we all like movies so much - they can have happy endings!  Regardless, though, good movie and Meryl Streep did a fantastic job playing Julia Childs!  Bon appetite!

As for My Sister's Keeper, if you're going to watch this one have tissues close at hand ... lots and lots and lots of tissues.  This movie could have been made by the producers of ABC's Extreme Home Makeover show as they went for every little tear-invoking moment that they could possibly find just like that show does.  Granted, it's a sad story anyway but it's a nonstop attack on your tear ducts and if you don't find yourself shedding at least a couple of tears while watching this movie, you're just not human.  It also brought up some very good questions about "donor babies" and the fairness of giving birth to one child in order to save another.  In my own humble opinion, a movie that can make you think as well as entertain is well worth seeing and this is one of those in spite of all the sniffling that was going on in the dispatch center!

I'm not sure what's in the queue for next Sunday, a holiday movie or two would be nice so I'll have to pop over to NetFlix and see what we've got lined up.   This isn't a paid endorsement or anything but I've just go to say that if you haven't tried NetFlix, I would highly recommend it as it is more than worth the monthly cost if you like to watch movies and maybe take a break from reality once in awhile.  Their selection is phenomenal and their service is even better.  I'm not sure how Jen and I survived 16-hour Sundays before NetFlix! 

Ah well, speaking of reality ... those Christmas cards are still staring at me ... !!

Still Believing in Santa Claus

While reading some of my favorite blogs last night, I came across a post from my friend Sarah - aka Mighty Mom - that I thought was more than worth sharing as soon as I read it as I feel like it sums up so much of what the Christmas season is supposed to be about.

I'd appreciate it if you'd click on over to her post and take a few moments to read a little story about believing in Santa Claus while still remembering the true reason for the season. These are the kind of stories I love to read at Christmastime! Feel free to tell her that I sent you over and wish her a Merry Christmas!