Sunday, November 27, 2022

Full speed ahead to Christmas!

What changes this holiday weekend has wrought! Between Wednesday, when I drove to town for work and errands, and Sabbath, when I next went to town for church, most of the leaves dropped from trees and shrubs and things look very different. The biggest Japanese maple at the front of our house is still showing off, but the one in the island is just about bare.

Now that someone has condensed the Christmas season into something like a week, I no longer think there is time to put up a Christmas tree, much less write a year-end letter and send out Christmas cards. Seriously, when did I find time to do these things in the past? Now it feels like I could take a long winter's nap (oh, what a blissful thought) and miss Christmas altogether! I suppose the current state of affairs might have something to do with the foster Frenchies . . . and my age. I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with two; sigh. I'm going to talk to Rick about talking to the rescue about moving one to a different foster home. Our contact mentioned doing that early on, saying they might both adjust faster; the wisdom of that is becoming much clearer. And somewhat to my surprise, my choice between the two would now be Leo, as he is more likely to play with Poppy – and Gracie is proving very difficult to house train in the current chaos.
Leo and Poppy playing tug

"I wish they would play more."
I do have some Christmas shopping done for essential personnel, but since that is a year-round activity for me, I didn't need to squeeze it into this abbreviated season. And today I finished a quick knit for one of the Christmas party gift exchanges that's coming up, a pair of fingerless mitts out of handspun yarn. They knit up so quickly, in fact, that I grabbed some commercial yarn in my stash to knit up a second pair for the other Christmas party gift exchange on the calendar. Of course, this means my spindles are idle; I'm, as ever, hopelessly monocraftual.

One item on the calendar is already behind us; in fact, it happened before Thanksgiving. The Elsinore Theatre in Salem featured a one-man play on November 20 called "Christmas with C.S. Lewis." When Rick decided to do his continuing education online instead of in person in San Antonio this year, I bought us tickets, as we so enjoyed the one-man play on C.S. Lewis we saw up in Portland a few years ago. This play was by a different actor and production company, but every bit as good – and closer to home at my favorite venue. Win!

My friend picked up her visiting ewe last week, but I learned today that Spot is not going on a second honeymoon. The weather in the Columbia River Gorge does not look good this week, so the person who was going to come get him decided not to risk a trip. He'll have to "bach it" in the Ram-ada Inn; I don't need lambs after the end of April and the ewe lambs desperately want OUT of their barn stall.

We had some heavy fog last week. One evening it started to break up around sunset, and I captured this incredible reflected color in the east:


Hanging on for dear life at . . .

8 comments:

Mama Pea said...

I'm feeling the crunch before Christmas, too, and I don't even have two foster dogs who need to be completely house-trained! (Actually, I think I'm even starting to feel the crunch before spring, if you can imagine that.) The coloration in the east you caught in that last picture is unique. Hang in there. This period for you will pass as frantic as it seems right now. Poppy is very happy and that's something to be happy about!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Love the mitts! And that sunset :-o.

Michelle said...

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone, Mama Pea!

Sara, the pattern for the mitts (Cobblestones Fingerless Mitts) is my all time favorite. Others may be fancier, but these take the cake for unisex fit, function, and "unfussy" knitting.

marlane said...

Late to the comments as usual LOL: wishing you the best decision for keeping the one Frenchie. I still miss having a dog or in our case dogs very much. Roy and Kole our Australian Shepherd boys have been gone about four years now. If we lived on a ranch as we did ( a mini ranch) I would get probably two dogs again.

Tim B. Inman said...

I'm still 'clinging to the wreckage,' too. Hang in there. To paraphrase, I think it is better to have tried and lost than to have never tried at all. Cheers!

A :-) said...

I'm sorry that two puppers seem to be proving a little more than can be easily handled. The Advent devotional that I've been doing talked today about less stress and more fun. I hope you will be able to find some time to decompress and relax in these days of Samhain - which is a time for drawing in and regrouping as we look forward to the light beginning to return after the Solstice on the 21st. Hang in, my friend :-)

Jeanne said...

I know I'm really late with this. I didn't find it right after you posted it.
I don't blame you for being stressed. The pups are probably causing a lot of that. I'm surprised that Gracie is being more difficult than Leo.
The One-Man play would be really interesting, I'm sure. I'm glad you got to go.
Your leaves were really beautiful, as was the colorful eastern sky!
I like CeraVe lotion. It really works for me.

Retired Knitter said...

Well, hello! I bet you thought I had died! Nope - still here but hopelessly behind on reading blogs ... and writing them too as it turns out, but I am getting more enthused to write again .. so we will see.

Frenchie Fostering !!! Oh my! I am way behind on your activities. My daughter had a wonderful Frenchie who died the summer of 2021. She replaced him with an English Bulldog - Tate. I think I wrote about him. Francis are fun dogs.