I never did write much about my holiday this year; I guess I was too busy enjoying it. So now it's over, this is the time to seal it into memory.
We decided to have a tree this year even though we'd be away for a few days before Christmas. To help keep it moist, we got a watering system that feeds into a hole drilled in the trunk, as well as having the tree set in the large reservoir of our cast iron stand. I'm not convinced the new system helped much: it seemed to be sealed over by the time we got back from Vegas and the tree never drank much more from there, though it did from ther main reservoir. Still, it did get some extra water in early on. The main thing I want to note about the tree is that we got a Grand Fir this year and it worked very well: it looked like a Douglas fir but has more rigid branches, better for hanging ornaments on, and it stayed fresh and green all the way until we took it down yesterday. (I've have liked to leave it up until the 12th day of Christmas, but we had yesterday off and the recyclers will pick it up tomorrow.)
We enjoyed the time in Vegas, but three days once a decade or so is enough for us. The only thing we'd have liked to do with more time would be to go hiking in the Red Rocks area. Otherwise, we walked through most of the major casinos, rose the monorail and the roller coaster in New York, New York, saw David Copperfield and Cirque du Soleil, watched white lions and dolphins, heard some musicians, saw some acrobats (besides CdS, I mean), enjoyed the Star Trek Experience, and even gambled a little. I don't really feel much need to go back until something changes or something new is added.
I finished the Holiday Challenge on Monday 12/20, but erged a bit more to bring my erg meters for the year up to a million meters. My total distance, water and erg, is somewhere around 1.5 million meters for the year, not quite a thousand miles (1.6 km), which is actually a little less than last year. Not too bad.
FOr Christmas Day, it was just the two of us, and we'd been away for several of the previous days, so we opened presents and then just had a brisket. (I'm the only one I know for whom kasha and bowties is a usual Christmas dinner side dish.) Rudder goofed slightly, present-wise: he gave me a ruby pendant to go with some earrings he'd given me a few years ago, which would have been lovely except that he'd already given me the matching necklace at the next gifting occasion after the earrings. I liked the original one better, anyway, because the newer ruby was a deep pink instead of the original's beautiful port-wine color, but also the first one matches the earrings better. Other than the color and stone shape, though, the pendants were very similar. So with Rudder's permission, I went back to the store to exchange it. I put in some extra money and was able to get something I'd been wanting for a while - diamond stud earrings. (Similar to these, though about half the size.) Since I have long hair, I wanted something that would sparkle more than the one small stone I'd have been able to afford. I could afford these because since price goes up exponentially with size, three small stones are much cheaper than one bigger one. I think the three-stone design is prettier anyway.) I still feel a little guilty about echanging his gift, though, even though he was OK with it.
On New Year's Eve, we headed out to the Fiesta Bowl Block Party on Mill Ave. We got to hear Blues Traveler and Roger Hynes and the Peacemakers as well as several other bands, to see some fairly incredible motocross jumping, and to do a lot of people-watching. My favorite thing was a break-dancing troupe, who danced to their own percussion, made mostly on trash can and other scavenged instruments. New Year's Day we drank the champagne we hadn't had the night before and deep-fried a turkey, this time without injecting the spices a few days before. I like it this way - Rudder tends to overdo the spicing - but he likes it better the other way, and he does all the work.
I didn't get to do all the things I'd thought of, like updating the creaky old version of Movable Type I use here, but I finished the sweater I started only a short time before my break, I'm caught up on sleep for the moment, we spent lots of time together, I completed erging 200km for the month and a thousand km for the year, my house is (very slightly) neater than it was before the break, and I've read or reread the first five and a half Aubrey and Maturin books. (Before I buy any more of the paperbacks, I'm thinking of just springing for the 5-volume omnibus set Amazon is selling - wish I'd seen it before buying volumes 3, 4, and 5 recently. I have the first six and two or three others; each paperback volume costs $14 or so, while the hardcover omnibus set is $83, so it makes economic sense. Or I could read them from the library.) Throw in a visit to Vegas, and it was a satisfying vacation.
Oh, and Rudder's grandmother is doing much better - her memory will continue to degrade, of course, but she can swallow and talk and respond now. Definitely a satisfying holiday.
Posted by dichroic at January 3, 2006 02:13 PM