Monday, December 29, 2008

it's the most wonderful time of the year

i've been meaning to post several more festive photos, but there was something amiss with blogger and i couldn't until now. so although christmas and new years have passed and the snow is now depressing dirty-gray (and you can see everywhere the dogs have been, if you know what i mean), it's still quite cold, blustery and oh-so-hot toddy-worthy here! cheers!






when it first started to snow we thought it was fun and creative to make "snow chutes;" after a while we just scraped and shoveled and tried not to swear like a sailor. only the canines continue to find pure, pure joy in it...













sort of an old fashioned photo, in honor of the most snow we can remember in years...



























i'd like to come in now, please!






















shimmery christmas ribbon with foothills behind
























i like christmas treats, too!



















i just can't get enough of that cold white stuff!




















all this playing in the snow is hard work!

Monday, December 22, 2008

more wintery wonder





southerly twilight view...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

really it is. and usually it isn't. most decembers it is mild (average temp of about 45F or so here) and rainy, if anything. we cheer ourselves if it's blustery and freezy-rainy (it's sooo cold; let's have a hot toddy!). but this year? shoveling snow--lots of it. closing off parts of the house that are just too darned cold to try to heat. sleeping by the fire. staying home because it's too treacherous to drive. calling each other on the phone: "how much do you have? we have four inches more; that makes 16 in all...did you lose power last night?" buying a propane stove in case we need to cook by the side of the house, the outside.

come now, we plead. this is western washington! but it's true. very snowy and cold.

it continues. and we're loving it.




only seven more reindeer needed...


it's wet, but not exactly like rain...





on the warm side of the glass...







this plant will never be the same...

Sunday, December 7, 2008

other observations

one more advent muse and a bunch of miscellaneous ones...

*
at advent we wait in hope for the arrival of god's gift to us, the christ child. our president elect admonishes us to "be the hope we've been waiting for."

*
the country wanted change so badly, it voted in a president with a very meagre record; that is change.

*
barbara walters voted sarah palin one of her most interesting persons of the year and interviewed tina fey as a result.

*
labor unions want to vote in a " card check" measure that requires all workers to disclose what they vote for; this is sure to produce discord.

*
to honor president-elect obama, washington d.c, will keep its bars open until 5 a.m. during inauguration week. now, that's change i don't think we need.

*
housing in d.c. during inauguration week is sold-out. keeping the bars open might help those without lodging attend the inauguration. but will they remember it?

*
recent taxpayer funded bailouts of companies that are "too big to fail" leave taxpayers feeling they are too small to succeed.

*
the same economists who lament that consumer spending is down counsel consumers to pay off their debt.

*
the presidential candidate who positioned his opponent as representing "bush's third term" has now appointed two members of bush's team to his own cabinet. obama: bush's third term?

*
martha stewart, the media mogul who served time for insider trading, suggests that citizens "suck it up" when it comes to paying taxes. what a great country.

*
people say the iraq war is too expensive; whereas world world II pulled our country out of depression.

*
the first-lady elect receives kudos from the public for wearing j-crew, but fasion designers love her because she wears clothing from the runway.

*
to protest the killing of a teenager by police, greeks are rioting in the streets, wrecking at least 21 vehicles, several store front windows and a building. fighting fire with fire?

*
hillary clinton, newly minted secretary of state and jeb bush, former governor of florida and possible 2010 senate candidate, could face it off in 2016 in a general election. might the clinton and bush years not yet be over?

*
being a u.s. senator is the only job in america that gives employees a leave of absence in order to try to land a better job and still get paid 6 figures doing it.

*
those who signed bad loans and are now in home foreclosure may get sweet, new deals on their loans, while renters who didn't get into bad loans get nothing. how much might self-respect buy them?

*
people never seem to have free time, but they do have lots of free minutes.

*
fast food mongers lament that $.99 burgers now cost about $1.09, while the true price of hamburger is about $2.49/lb.

*
americans obsess over inhaling chemicals from the environment, all the while eating food that is grown with chemicals.

*
gas has not been this cheap for about 6 years, but the economy hasn't been this bad in about 30.

*the washington state and the university of washington football teams have a combined record of 1 win and 23 losses. they do know that the point is to win, right?

*
it used to be that the romans battled the barbarians in the coliseum; now the humanitarians host a bowl game in the boise state stadium (no one dies, except maybe careers).

*
bose and ipod headphones help drown out environmental noise, but what about the noise inside our own heads?

Saturday, December 6, 2008

advent aphorisms

~
christmas, a season for reflection and thanksgiving, tends to be the most stressful, greedy time of the year.

~
christ came to bring peace on earth to people of goodwill, but most people just want peace on earth.

~
this christmas planned parenthood is offering gift certificates, so you can gift the gift of death to those you love.

~
most people want love and friendship for christmas and go to the mall to find it.

~
at the washington state capitol, displayed by the creche and the menora, is an atheist poster that denounces religion and god; so visitors are wished happy holidays and happy un-holy-days at the same time.

~
the atheist poster at the washington state capitol building was stolen the other day, thereby proving that it wasn't the grinch who stole christmas but the jews and christians.

~
the most valuable gifts--kind words, time with children, intercessory prayer, a home cooked meal, a care package of necessities--are the least obvious ones.

~
in the retail world, the sign that christmas will be a success comes the day after thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year; the real sign that christmas is a success comes each easter morning.

~
at christmas we celebrate christ, god's free gift, and many of us go into debt to do it.

~
the first christmas the magi traveled thousands of miles to bow on bending knee before the christ child; now children travel two miles to the mall to beg at santa's knee.

Monday, December 1, 2008

tramplings and taking things back

*

over the weekend i watched with horror at the reports of a walmart worker being killed by "black friday" shoppers at a long island, ny shopping mall. shoppers, many of whom were reportedly angry that the store had closed during the night to restock, not only busted the door off of its hinges, but also trampled the worker and four others (including a 8 months pregnant woman) in efforts to beat other shoppers to the best deals. shoppers tromped on, over and by the 34 year-old employee, crushing his trachea, and apparently, not noticing or not caring as paramedics worked to save the man's life. while the worker, sadly, died the other four were treated at the hospital and are recovering.

authorities, thankfully, are pouring over security camera footage hoping to identify the killers, hoping to catch glimpses of the perpetrators' greedy faces, make positive i.d.s and prosecute the hell out of them. while i share the sentiment, i do wonder if it's possible to do this. isn't the very nature of a mob the fact that identities become blurred, thinking fuzzy and actions robotic and frenzied? won't the "mass-ness" of the act be what's prominent on the tapes? won't the pictures show an anonymous, hurried, chaotic, breathless, adrenalized blob of dark winter coats and heavy duty winter boots moving en masse to the electronics department where the x-boxes are marked down 75% and the big screen t.v.s are $400 off? won't the films show that, true to mob motion and mentality, the people in back surged forwared and the people in front kept on moving, almost as if against their wills?

there can be no true justice done here. it's down to only a matter reparative degrees now: shoppers at an american store trampled a human being to death and didn't notice or care enough to stop and help, let alone give a damn. decency has already died in the dock as a store clerk--who apparently was a seasonal employee just trying to make an extra buck--has died from irreparable physical damage incurred as he was opening the door of the store where he works. no more christmases, hugs from family or breaths of any kind for that guy, all because greedy AMERICAN people--"civilized," western people--had so little self control or decency as to avoid trampling another person to death while they walked through the doorway of a consumer outlet.

in a society where liberal humanists and other enlighten individuals call for the end of war and protection of the environment, citizens trample each other in hopes of getting the best price on toys. it makes one wonder just where this society is headed. it makes one want to vomit, pray and scream all at once.

*

i found myself moving against the crowd this weekend, but not in the dramatic fashion depicted above. at least, not dramatic to anyone but me. due to an unusual number of outstanding november work reimbursements i found myself a little short at the end of the month. looking with dread at dec 1, the day an auto-w/d for health insurance will hit my account, i wondered what i should do. i decided to return some already-purchased christmas gifts to raise the bit of cash needed.

now, this is a strange endeavor, you can imagine. while stores crawl with crowds of shoppers looking for bargains, i was in the return line looking to make some money. at first i wanted to make up stories--"this wasn't the right size"--or concoct guilty excuses--"i'm so sorry. this just didn't work for me"--but after the first store (I went to two) something happened inside me. i felt free and responsible.

let me explain. of late i have been really trying not to put charges on my credit card, which sounds like it would be easy (just don't do it!), but since, as i mentioned above, i often purchase things for my job and then get reimbursed, every end-of-month finds me in crunch mode. i usually end up either borrowing from my savings or charging a few items, incurring the interest and chalking it up to vocational hazard. and since the last two months have found me with above-and-beyond expenses--car repairs and a tooth crown--my reserves are depleted and option #1 wasn't possible. i'm sick of charging so i tried to stretch my funds and it just didn't work. i was short. thus, the return-o-rama scheme was hatched.

i must admit that before freedom and responsibility hit me, a little shame did. i mean, come now, who returns gifts to make money? (answer: really greedy teens or really poor newlyweds). yet freedom came to me in knowing that in a culture where shoppers kill other people in a frenzied rush to acquire goods, i was, in a small way, bucking that system. i was calmly returning items, not slavishly clamoring for them.

freedom also came in realizing that i wasn't folding and relying on credit which is increasingly expensive these days, you may have noticed. responsibility came in knowing that as the cfo of company kelli i was making a wise choice for my investors (me!). i raised the capital i needed to stay solvent, and i know where to go if i want to buy those items back.

and really, do my neices and nephews really need the just-released kung fu panda movie that, like three months from now, will be marked down from $19.99 to $7.99? uh, no. do i need the raiders of the lost ark dvd just because it's $3.98 and just because harrison ford was really cute back then? again, no.

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