Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a warm and loving Christmas. This Santa is one of my gifts. I had vowed to call an end to my Santa collection, but I had to relent for this one. He is a Belsnickle, although he is not mean and ugly as Belsnickle's sometimes are. He did insist Bill bring him home for me this year, so maybe he is a little manipulative (that's his worst quality). This is absolutely the last one!

Need Some Christmas Spirit

I found this beautiful silver Mercury glass tree at Target and just had to buy it. I love Mercury glass; it looks so antique to me, even though there's lots of it around. I read that it is actually double-blown glass that is filled with a silver nitrate solution and sealed up almost like the inside of a thermos bottle. I like the kind that is etched and kind of irregular on the inside/outside (?), like it is peeling from within/or without. I think this tree will be my inspiration for Christmas decorating this year. My house will be silvery, frosty and glittery. I think I will go rummage in the attic and find things I can spray paint silver and dip into glass glitter.

No Matter Where You Look. . .

beauty is all around. Well, I guess the good times are over. We had a hard frost last night and the water in the birdbath froze. But Thanksgiving Day was the most beautiful in memory. Balmy and breezy and nice enough to be outside almost all day. We had a wonderful dinner at Chris and Shannon's with Amy, Marc and children (and dogs). We got home in time for Survivor and then watched another movie and finally went to bed way too late. Last night Chase slept over because Amy and Marc went to her high school reunion and Saige had a sleepover date. We had fun going to Anthony's for dinner and then we watched Robin Hood and made some progress with the leftover desserts Chris sent home with us. Chase slept late this morning which he said was not like him, but "the bed was so comfortable." Peace and joy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you for the air so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat,
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you, God, for everything.

Give thanks today, no matter what.

Schmap Philadelphia

Logan Circle Fountain
Originally uploaded by Meredith1

I was asked if I would permit this Map of Philadelphia site to use my Logan Circle fountain photo I took last spring when we went downtown to see the King Tut exhibit. This was for my photography class assignment to freeze water with a fast shutter speed. So that's pretty neat.

American Gangster

When Bill told me how long this movie was (2 hrs, 37 min), I thought, "uh oh." I get itchy after 2 hours sitting in one place. I did want to see this though because Denzel is my favorite actor. Truthfully, the first 2 hours flew by; it was only during the last half hour that I became conscious of the movie itself. It had a lot to wrap up and it had to hurry up and do it or else we'd all be sitting there for 3+ hours.

All that said, this is one terrific movie, and Denzel will win the best actor Oscar for it. He is riveting as Frank Lucas, the one-time driver/bodyguard for a black drug boss in Harlem. When the boss dies, Frank slowly and carefully takes over the drug business and becomes the Drug Lord #1. He is smart and canny and if it weren't for that darn chinchilla coat, he'd probably still be at it. Russell Crowe is very good, but the performance to beat is Denzel's. Some of the scenes of drug devastation are hard to watch, but they have to be there or you'd be rooting too much for Denzel. As much as you like him, you have to see the evil and destruction he caused.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Also, while I'm on the topic of being off the topic, I thought I'd mention some changes we noticed while traveling this time. Both of the places we stayed used in-tub dispensers for soap, shampoo, shower gel, and maybe something else, I forget. Anyway, while I applaud their efforts to reduce waste, I still like my own bar of soap in the shower. I thought it was a pain to have to keep pressing the button to get a lather going. So, I am going to hunt up my little plastic soap box to take my own soap with me from now on. Now, this was not true in Maine, but it was in Virginia. Maybe it's a southern thing.

Moreover, in both Maine and Virginia, we were asked if we minded if they didn't change our sheets every night. I've always thought that was a big waste of time and resources anyway, so we said just leave them. They will change them after 3 days, I think it was, in both places. Same with towels; if you want clean ones, just leave them on the floor. If not, hang them up. Makes sense to me.

And finally, for all you water drinkers, stop buying those bottles. Just reuse your old ones. Tap water is just as good. See this from today's Inquirer This is apparently the PC bottle to be using and using and using. Although, I don't see what's wrong with the odd Aquafina or Dasani bottle you already have if you rinse it out and refill it. Let's just use some sense here.