Lunch with Gammy

The year is almost over and in part to celebrate all the good things that have happened and in part just for fun, today Grandma took Thomas and I out for lunch. The plan was originally to go to Fenton and eat at the world famous French Laundry but as we were just about to exit the 69 and slide onto the I23 on ramp I noticed bumper to bumper traffic stretching on as far as all our eyes could see. So, change in plan, and a quick detour across lumpy frozen dirt while we swerved back onto the 69. Eventually we got turned around in the right direction and headed back downtown Flint. Since neither Thomas nor Grandma had ever eaten at 501 Bar and Grill (apparently it is an official Martini Bar) I suggested we head there. It was the right choice: not too crowded, and the food was delicious--and so were the desserts!

Rumor has it that Thomas is heading back to The Windy City any minute (I did warn him that Flint would seem mighty dull after a few months in Chicago). It was great to have someone with his..."energy level" (his propensity for dramatic room entrances has not lessened) but I will not miss doing all the extra laundry he spawns.

Present time!

Frederick's Xmas diorama

Frederick brought a huge pile of giant parcels back from school today. We were allowed to open one of them early because it's a Christmas display. And here it is:

Emily and Frederick made it together.  It's amazing!

And again (but sunny)

For Mar in the snow

The Windy City Earns Its Nickname

Thomas finished his semester yesterday and is heading home today...very, very slowly. Chicago truly is The Windy City today and Thomas's train left the station over an hour past the scheduled time. I can check into Amtrak.com to see his train's progress. Right now, it is plodding along at 27 mph. There he is, the blue arrow, just outside Gary, Indiana:Still, since the train station is less than a mile from our house, it beats driving out there to get him. I just hope he had the sense he wasn't born with the wear his damn winter coat. Martha, Thomas's faithful feline, dutifully waits for him, though staying awake is proving difficult: (Ooh--now we're talking; I just checked again and now he's flying along at 87 mph!)

Christmas Tree--while it lasts

And here is the indoor tree. The star on top was selected by Frederick last year, and I am pleased to see it survived storage (most light strings to not--it's one of those things, like air mattresses springing holes even though no one is using them while they rest undisturbed in a basement or garage loft). Frederick and I put up the lights right after getting it, but then let it "rest" for a day while the branches relaxed and fell into position. (I suspect it had been in cold storage since mid-July or so as not only was it very light--I could easily tuck it under one arm and carry it about--but it hasn't any sap running or pine smell. It's not long for this world, I fear.) The next day we set about selecting ornaments and putting up garlands of beads and tinsel. We picked out only ornaments that cannot break--I could see Sylvester eyeing the activities with a hunter's keen appreciation--but I had no idea just how naughty a cat could be. (I want to make clear that he was not this naughty last year. Of course, he was also about 15 pounds lighter and had only just moved into our house and perhaps didn't want to make a bad impression. Now that's he's comfortably settled in, he's as bad as he wants to be.) Every ornament I hung up was violently pulled to the ground. I tried to shoo him off and, with pupils the size of saucers, he savaged my arm. He was a possessed by a demon, clearly. We fought for hours before he finally exhausted himself and fell asleep in his chair in the sun room. (And then got quite cranky when I woke him up when going outside to put the ducks to bed for the night.)

The next morning (yesterday) a dozen or so ornaments were again on the floor, having been battered about all night I am sure. This morning, all were intact. Clearly, the thrill is gone--or so he wants us to believe.

...all right, that's a bit TOO much like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Decorating the (outside) tree

I thought that it might be nice to decorate the pine tree that has always grown outside the sitting room window, as it is a nice shape and healthier than the tree we normally bring indoors.  Somehow I must have had an image of it from many years ago, because when I actually looked at it close up, I remembered that, oh yes, it reaches up level with Frederick's bedroom window.  Undaunted, we bought some cheap super-large plastic ornaments and 3 strings of LED lights (which turned out to be pitifully insufficient) and here I am teetering on a ladder trying to decorate it.