Wednesday, December 09, 2015

The Stage is Sorta Set


Ian and I went shopping yesterday. He took me downtown to a mall which has several shops which carry imported/Asian goodies, and to the fancy “Natural” foods store, which carries all kinds of goods, from organic veggies to hand-woven baskets from Central America. 

It’s been unusually warm for the last 10 days, and by warm I mean 10 degrees higher than our normal temperature, so ranging from 8-10 degrees C, or in the high 40s-low 50s F. Yesterday it was 10 C (50F) . Snow was predicted for today, and has begun to fall, along with the temperature. It’s now 0 C (32 F). 

I had ambitious plans for today; I was going to clean house, put up the Christmas tree (not much to that) and wrap gifts. The truth is that I haven’t accomplished a bleeding thing. Ugh, today's energy budget was spent shopping yesterday, what little may have been left the dropping barometer stole. 

I did one thing when I got home last night which was hang the string of prayer flags I bought. I tied one end to the bracket for the blinds in the dining room, pulled the string across the dining room/kitchen, down the hallway, around the doorframe into the living room and still had about six feet left, so I wrapped the string around the bracket holding the cherub, and pulled the remaining flags down and behind Tony’s model ship. Next summer the flags will go outside on the deck to flutter in the breeze and add some colour, but for now they add some welcome colour, and who knows, maybe some happy happy, inside. These winter days are so grey. 

I still have some shopping to do. We stick to mostly practical gifts at Christmas time, clothes and other items we need. But we decided to buy a boombox to replace our old one which died a year or so ago, as we have a lot of Christmas music and my new computer has no CD slot. When I shopped last week I bought a boombox but it is suffering from an identity crisis, and believes itself to be a coffee grinder. I have to return it and go shopping for one at a different store. 

I do try to buy one “fun” item for each of us. And then there are the stocking stuffers, the chocolate bar, a tin whistle or child’s puzzle, a bar of scented soap or lip balm, always an apple, an orange, nuts and hard candy and cheeses. Christmas is about these traditions carried from year to year. 

I don’t know about you but I am fed right up with the news and have turned it off. The only good news is that Canadian-sponsored Syrian refugees will begin arriving at the end of the week and it looks like the Paris Climate Conference is going to be much more successful than any of its predecessors and there will be some kind of binding agreement reached. And I’ve pretty much had it with FB for the time being. I don’t think I’ll open it again until after Christmas. 

So, I'm off to be bizzy - TTYL! 

2 comments:

SMM said...

I am so glad to see people finally arriving to a new beginning. We are trying to find some way to take part in providing school supplies for the kids coming to the island. May have to start that program ourselves.

Love the notion you have happy colours inside taking you forward until Spring.

Deb said...

Me too SMM. Providing school supplies to the kids is a *great idea*! A family here organized a "99 Hampers" campaign and with their family and friends put together 99+ laundry hampers, each one aimed at a specific age or size/gender, like five-year-old girl or nine-year-old boy or adult woman size 14 etc. filled with clothing, toys or grooming supplies, etc. a person needs for daily life. They did this rather than buy Christmas gifts for each other. In the end I think they had about 140 hampers because other people heard about it and brought hampers as well. All went to the Syrian Refugee Centre last week. :)