Re: gifts, Stella, not quite so ready to give up gifts, went shopping with me last night, so we could confirm gifts guaranteed to be accepted with more than mere politeness. I gave Stella a Dali popup book (she has a collection of 20+ popup books), a book of Mary Oliver's poetry, and (this one was a semi-surprise; she knew I'd mentioned it but not that I'd found and gotten it) a CD by her favorite C&W-R&B singer, E. G. Kight (she truly is the best blues singer alive today). Stella gave me three books of fiction: Laurie R. King and Leslie Klinger's latest compilation of Sherlock Holmes-related short stories (if you're at all a Sherlockian, their two collections are truly must-have works), Sir Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel and finally, Louise Penny's latest (10th) Inspector Gamache novel (damn, some new books are pricey!).
We had dinner at Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet. (Want a restaurant open on Christmas Day? go to one owned by non-Christians!)
Then something went wrong with the Ace bandage beneath Stella's immobilizer and she screamed in pain through the entire drive home until we got it off of her. She's better now; no screaming for the past several hours... of course, she's watching endless Christmas movies, including some real dogs...
On balance, it was a pretty good Christmas, probably because we begged off of last night's party with almost all of Stella's very Christian friends.
Yikes! Hope Stella doesn't have to scream anymore, that sounds awful. (The pain not the screams).
You put me on to the Laurie R. King and Louise Penny books for which I am deeply indebted. I will look for Leslie Klinger. If you think they are good, they are good.
I survived cooking for 15 people and having my son teach me four different recipes for veggies. Turkey turned out great, and I make a mean pumpkin pie. (From our halloween pumpkins, no less.)
So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Nodwish and all!!
Merry Christmas Ellroon! and to the various sundries.
Bought a really nice little tree for $5 last night, put it up today.
Papa made an absolutely delicious meal w/ a bit of my help and direction. Female F1 refused to get out of bed the whole day, so Mama & Papa enjoyed each other's company and holiday feast.
Leslie Klinger is primarily an editor and a Sherlockian expert; I don't know if he (yes, he) writes novels on his own. King has recently started editing mystery short story collections as well; I suppose you could say she and Klinger are (ahem) partners in crime.
I envy your family their access to your pumpkin pie! I do a fair amount of the cooking here; my two specialties (hah) are an eggplant casserole and a stew-like soup fit to get anyone through a cold night... I make a big pot of it about once a week; it's well received and none of it ever stays around long enough to spoil.
One more note about King/Klinger's Sherlock books: the latest one contains a rendering by Andrew Grant (?) of The Hound of the Baskervilles as a Facebook conversation... kinda long, but good for a few laughs.
5 comments:
Merry Christmas, ellroon! Or substitute your favorite Winter Solstice holiday...
Re: gifts, Stella, not quite so ready to give up gifts, went shopping with me last night, so we could confirm gifts guaranteed to be accepted with more than mere politeness. I gave Stella a Dali popup book (she has a collection of 20+ popup books), a book of Mary Oliver's poetry, and (this one was a semi-surprise; she knew I'd mentioned it but not that I'd found and gotten it) a CD by her favorite C&W-R&B singer, E. G. Kight (she truly is the best blues singer alive today). Stella gave me three books of fiction: Laurie R. King and Leslie Klinger's latest compilation of Sherlock Holmes-related short stories (if you're at all a Sherlockian, their two collections are truly must-have works), Sir Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel and finally, Louise Penny's latest (10th) Inspector Gamache novel (damn, some new books are pricey!).
We had dinner at Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet. (Want a restaurant open on Christmas Day? go to one owned by non-Christians!)
Then something went wrong with the Ace bandage beneath Stella's immobilizer and she screamed in pain through the entire drive home until we got it off of her. She's better now; no screaming for the past several hours... of course, she's watching endless Christmas movies, including some real dogs...
On balance, it was a pretty good Christmas, probably because we begged off of last night's party with almost all of Stella's very Christian friends.
Hope yours was a good one!
(Aside: I love your new automatic CAPTCHA!)
Yikes! Hope Stella doesn't have to scream anymore, that sounds awful. (The pain not the screams).
You put me on to the Laurie R. King and Louise Penny books for which I am deeply indebted. I will look for Leslie Klinger. If you think they are good, they are good.
I survived cooking for 15 people and having my son teach me four different recipes for veggies. Turkey turned out great, and I make a mean pumpkin pie. (From our halloween pumpkins, no less.)
So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Nodwish and all!!
Merry Christmas Ellroon! and to the various sundries.
Bought a really nice little tree for $5 last night, put it up today.
Papa made an absolutely delicious meal w/ a bit of my help and direction. Female F1 refused to get out of bed the whole day, so Mama & Papa enjoyed each other's company and holiday feast.
Leslie Klinger is primarily an editor and a Sherlockian expert; I don't know if he (yes, he) writes novels on his own. King has recently started editing mystery short story collections as well; I suppose you could say she and Klinger are (ahem) partners in crime.
I envy your family their access to your pumpkin pie! I do a fair amount of the cooking here; my two specialties (hah) are an eggplant casserole and a stew-like soup fit to get anyone through a cold night... I make a big pot of it about once a week; it's well received and none of it ever stays around long enough to spoil.
One more note about King/Klinger's Sherlock books: the latest one contains a rendering by Andrew Grant (?) of The Hound of the Baskervilles as a Facebook conversation... kinda long, but good for a few laughs.
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