The 2022 Version

I lost interest in delving through the final box of ornaments and decided that, for now at least, the tree is finished. We’re walking around the house in sweaters and jackets so we don’t have to turn the heat on and dry out the tree.

The ‘atmospheric river’ arrived in the night but it seems more like a regular seasonal rainstorm to me. John estimates an inch and a half so far and we can hear the creek roaring when we step out the front door…all things we once considered a regular part of the winter season. Now, however, after seasons of drought and water shortages we are just happy to see the rain, whatever it is being called.

Spike, not so much. He refused to leave the porch in the rain for his routine walk down the driveway to get the newspaper first thing in the morning, and he was very suspicious and had to be coaxed to go for a little walk down to the bridge to check out the creek during a lull in the rain.

The cold wet weather has prompted me to make a big pot of beef bourguignon, such a big pot in fact, that I invited the neighbors to share it with us. It will be something of a hybrid affair as Cindy and Bruce can’t leave Hazel, the Basset hound puppy at home alone for too long so they will come for drinks and appetizers, but Ann and Paul will stay for dinner.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around, wrestling with greenery for the mantel and attempting to control the mission creep. The mantel would look nice with some greenery—the greenery would look nice with something red—and maybe some lights. Where are those chili lights purchased years ago? It’s fun, but in yet another sign of increasing decrepitude, it’s more fun if I do just a little bit at a time….