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Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
No exciting news in this post, no travel pics, probably not much snark (but fear not–there will be memes). So if there are no announcements, no travel pics, and no snark (!!), what will be in this post besides memes? My sincerest wish that you and yours have the happiest of holidays. You, dear reader, are the reason I devote the better part of a weekend morning attempting to be amusing on Al Gore’s internet. Your time and your comments mean the world to me. So, from my house to yours: Those of you who know me through the Weekend Coffee Share (hosted by Natalie the Explorer) may have noticed…
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Why I don’t do Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is next week. Whoop-de-do. That spiny heart in the photo above is a nice encapsulation of my feelings about Buy-A-Bunch-Of-Pink-Crap day. So’s this: Yes, I’m a Grinch about V-Day, which seems odd for someone who occasionally writes romance. I believe in love, I know the anniversary of my first date with Long-Suffering Husband (Feb. 15). Hell, I can even be a hopeless romantic sometimes, though I keep that nonsense to myself so I don’t ruin my reputation as a crusty hater of all things pink and candy-hearted. But Valentine’s Day? I have some trauma around that day. And I’m going to share it with you, right here and…
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My scariest Halloween ever
Monday is shaping up to be my scariest Halloween ever. Am I spending a night in a haunted house? Did I meet a guy on Tinder who’s invited me to spend a week with him in his castle in Transylvania? Nope. (And the scariest part of that sentence is, “meet a guy on Tinder.” I’m so glad I’m married and don’t have to deal with such abominations.) So if it’s not a creepy destination or online dating, what’s so terrifying about this Halloween? Two words: Book. Deadline. [scary music] Yes, I’m still harping on about the book (work-related, not fun fiction) a colleague and I are editing. Our manuscript is…
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My earliest Christmas memory: meat trays, cardboard, and Krylon
Memories are big this time of year. We spend lots of time and money trying to recreate magical childhood Christmas memories for our own kids and grandkids. We drag out Great Aunt Dot’s tablecloth and napkins (yes, I really had a great aunt named Dot. I’m not sure how I inherited her Christmas things, since I don’t think I ever met her, but I did). And then we sit around and contemplate how our current Christmas experience doesn’t measure up to those glittering, tinsel-draped memories from childhood. And then we drink (or in my case, cut another piece of chocolate custard pie). So in the spirit of the season, I’m…
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What I’m reading and some holiday laughs (Weekend Coffee Share #19, What’s On Your Bookshelf #1)
I’ve had an entirely uneventful week, so let’s talk about books for this week’s Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Since we’ll be talking about books, I’m also linking up with the What’s On Your Bookshelf link party, hosted by Retirement Reflections. Two parties, one post. Efficiency! So… books. Some of you may know I do the Goodreads Reading Challenge every year. This year my goal was to read 90 books, and, well… that’s not going to happen. I’ve read 64 books so far this year and might be able to finish a couple more before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. I’ve been reading less…
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Seeking new holiday traditions (Weekend Coffee Share #16)
Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! We had a quiet Thanksgiving week here in Satan’s Anus (where it’s currently 71F and sunny, so not so Satan’s Anus-y). It’s just the 3 of us now for the holidays–my husband, my adult son, and me. I really feel the shifting stages of my life around the holidays. When I was a kid, our celebrations were also small, just my parents and me, sometimes with brief visits from the few family or friends my father hadn’t driven away yet. Then after I became an adult, and my father died, it was just my mom, my then-boyfriend-then-fiancé-now-husband, and me.…
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A beautiful day in the neighborhood #2: Holiday Creosote
Continuing my attempt to notice the beautiful and/or quirky in my everyday surroundings. Tucson is a quirky and beautiful city, so I should have no shortage of material. I love this little neighborhood experiment–communal decorating of a creosote bush. It says so much about the kind of attitude that helps us get through tough times and lead a happy life: making due with what you have (because Christmas trees don’t really grow in the desert) and inviting others to share what they have to create something beautiful and joyful.
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New Year’s Eve time travel
Husband: “So, what are we doing for New Year’s Eve?” Me: “Well, I hear the living room is nice this time of year.” To be fair, I’m trying to remember the last time I was up at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and… well… hmm… OK, I got nuthin’. But sometimes we do travel this time of year or do, you know, *something* that involves leaving the house, even if we are home and asleep by 10 PM. This year? Well, I hear the living room is nice this time of year. So what’s a bored blogger to do? Dig through the archives of years past, of course. Let’s climb…
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Christmas past–with Krylon
Note: A version of this piece first appeared on my garden blog three years ago. I’ve mostly retired that blog to focus on this one, but I hope to share a few pieces from it—and from other past blogs—on here from time to time. I’m busy preparing for a long-awaited holiday road trip, so this seems like a good time to recycle something from the past. I hope you enjoy it. Christmas is one of those times when past and present converge in a strange time warp. Memories haunt this time of year, resurrected by the familiar sights, sounds, and scents of Christmas: happy memories we try to recreate for…
Suspense | Horror | Romance
