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Christmas 2018
Dec. 27th, 2018 11:40 amOur usual household tradition is for all the people in the house to come down and over to my couch to see the tree.
To make sure that no-one is forgotten we have an attendance list. (A few years ago James got left in Gloucester when we moved back and we didn't discover it for several months when we went to rescue him.)
Then we had a nice Christmas dinner.
Here is the menu:
After having enough Christmas music on the radio I selected a CD of Klezmer Music, and then a Voice of the Turtle CD: From the Shores of the Golden Horn
Here is the description: "The first to welcome Sephardic exiles was the Ottoman Empire, the heart of which was in Turkey. "Shores of the Golden Horn" resounds with the blending of Jewish and Ottoman musical traditions. You will here the influence of Ottoman court music, para-liturgical maftirim, and the popular songs of the vibrant communities of Istambul, Izmir, and Edirne."
And then to cap it off we went to see the Christmas Revels last night. This one had a Nordic theme. It was splendid. Brings back memories of when I was in the Revels - in 1979 and one other year as a member of the Quadrivium - an early music group.
To make sure that no-one is forgotten we have an attendance list. (A few years ago James got left in Gloucester when we moved back and we didn't discover it for several months when we went to rescue him.)
Then we had a nice Christmas dinner.
Here is the menu:
After having enough Christmas music on the radio I selected a CD of Klezmer Music, and then a Voice of the Turtle CD: From the Shores of the Golden Horn
Here is the description: "The first to welcome Sephardic exiles was the Ottoman Empire, the heart of which was in Turkey. "Shores of the Golden Horn" resounds with the blending of Jewish and Ottoman musical traditions. You will here the influence of Ottoman court music, para-liturgical maftirim, and the popular songs of the vibrant communities of Istambul, Izmir, and Edirne."
And then to cap it off we went to see the Christmas Revels last night. This one had a Nordic theme. It was splendid. Brings back memories of when I was in the Revels - in 1979 and one other year as a member of the Quadrivium - an early music group.
Last night we in bed with the lights out and in spite of the "lights out, no talking" rule, the people in bed were talking about all the chores they did. They never say exactly what chores they do, but claim they are exhausted from doing them. And then ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rsc said oops, we forgot to do our chores: take out the garbage and recycling. And so out of bed in bathrobes collecting and taking the stuff out to the street. And of course we'll never hear the end of this from our crew.
Christmas 2013
Dec. 25th, 2013 03:12 pmIt is a nice Christmas day at our house.
WCRB (local classical public radio) is playing nice music - Handel's Messiah earlier and Bach's Christmas Oratorio later. I've had enough Christmas carols - it's time to find a nice Israeli classical radio station for this season - (of course we could play CD's since we have lots of them - some records too)...And we did use a CD for Britten's Ceremony of Carols during dinner.
The people all came down to look at the tree. We have an attendance list to make sure nobody gets forgotten - very important for the summer migration.
We exchanged presents. I gave Robert one of his last night because it was an egg poacher which we used this morning. I gave him an instant-read thermometer and an Easter Island Moai ice tray. He gave me an instant-read thermometer and a fuzzy fox tree ornament. The instant-read thermometers were different brands. (I overcooked one recently).
Christmas dinner is later - shrimp cocktail and Robiola Due Latti - an italian soft cheese for hors d'oevres; Dancing Coyote Petite Sirah; oven roasted potatoes, stuffed Rock Cornish Game Hen, sautéed squash, salad; and pear & blackberry tart. The tart is Robert's mother's recipe - written in her handwriting that we make frequently with various kinds of fruit. The china is my mother's - actually her mother's so it might be 100 years old.
WCRB (local classical public radio) is playing nice music - Handel's Messiah earlier and Bach's Christmas Oratorio later. I've had enough Christmas carols - it's time to find a nice Israeli classical radio station for this season - (of course we could play CD's since we have lots of them - some records too)...And we did use a CD for Britten's Ceremony of Carols during dinner.
The people all came down to look at the tree. We have an attendance list to make sure nobody gets forgotten - very important for the summer migration.
We exchanged presents. I gave Robert one of his last night because it was an egg poacher which we used this morning. I gave him an instant-read thermometer and an Easter Island Moai ice tray. He gave me an instant-read thermometer and a fuzzy fox tree ornament. The instant-read thermometers were different brands. (I overcooked one recently).
Christmas dinner is later - shrimp cocktail and Robiola Due Latti - an italian soft cheese for hors d'oevres; Dancing Coyote Petite Sirah; oven roasted potatoes, stuffed Rock Cornish Game Hen, sautéed squash, salad; and pear & blackberry tart. The tart is Robert's mother's recipe - written in her handwriting that we make frequently with various kinds of fruit. The china is my mother's - actually her mother's so it might be 100 years old.
The traditional tree viewing
Dec. 25th, 2011 11:15 amAs is usual, everyone in our family comes downstairs to admire the tree.
The work force has assembled
Dec. 25th, 2010 12:56 pmAs usual everyone comes down for Christmas to see the tree.
Left-right - Top Row:
Ludwig, Lawrence, Samuel, (Halcyon, Cerulean, Azure), Wurlitzer, Alexander, Percy, Chesterfield, Prentice, Llewellyn, Toby, Edward, Miss Griggles
Bottom Row:
Xavier, Daniel, Schoenberg, T.J., Marcus, Bartholomew, McAllister, Steven, Eggleston, Roland, Sebastian, Roderick, Martha, Woolly, Teddy, Aristotle, Rutherford, Guinea Pigs 1&2, James, Kropotkin, Agamemnon, Xerxes, Balboa, Julius, Torrington, Quentin, Andrew, Paul, Stirling, Freddie, Burningbright, Timothy, Balthazar, Ulysses, Martin, Michael
Left-right - Top Row:
Ludwig, Lawrence, Samuel, (Halcyon, Cerulean, Azure), Wurlitzer, Alexander, Percy, Chesterfield, Prentice, Llewellyn, Toby, Edward, Miss Griggles
Bottom Row:
Xavier, Daniel, Schoenberg, T.J., Marcus, Bartholomew, McAllister, Steven, Eggleston, Roland, Sebastian, Roderick, Martha, Woolly, Teddy, Aristotle, Rutherford, Guinea Pigs 1&2, James, Kropotkin, Agamemnon, Xerxes, Balboa, Julius, Torrington, Quentin, Andrew, Paul, Stirling, Freddie, Burningbright, Timothy, Balthazar, Ulysses, Martin, Michael
The Federal Census is underway
Mar. 15th, 2010 11:19 pmWith great pleasure we will be able to have our same-sex marriage counted in the 2010 census. Originally this was not going to be done but some good lawyering showed that it wasn't a DOMA violation. The Census bureau is doing a lot of outreach to the GLBT community and the Cambridge GLBT Commission is doing a bunch of things.
The big challenge is to get people to actually fill out their forms. The Census bureau has an App that lets you type in a ZipCode and see the 2000 Census results. It is pretty dismal in some neighborhoods. Among other things people don't trust the government; the Census bureau says that the information will not be released. (Interestingly it says that after 72 years the data will be released - I wonder where they came up with that number?).
A big question remains in our household before we fill out the form - in particular who is to be Person 1 and who is to be Person 2. Several choice methods have been suggested - I was the first person to live herersc was party A in our marriage; RockPaperScissors. I wonder in opposite sex marriages what percentage of men are Person 1?
The form allows for 12 people in a household with no instructions about what to do if there are more than 12 people (some of our people are lobbying to be included, but since none of them can write or read we don't really have to deal with this).
The big challenge is to get people to actually fill out their forms. The Census bureau has an App that lets you type in a ZipCode and see the 2000 Census results. It is pretty dismal in some neighborhoods. Among other things people don't trust the government; the Census bureau says that the information will not be released. (Interestingly it says that after 72 years the data will be released - I wonder where they came up with that number?).
A big question remains in our household before we fill out the form - in particular who is to be Person 1 and who is to be Person 2. Several choice methods have been suggested - I was the first person to live here
rsc was party A in our marriage; RockPaperScissors. I wonder in opposite sex marriages what percentage of men are Person 1?The form allows for 12 people in a household with no instructions about what to do if there are more than 12 people (some of our people are lobbying to be included, but since none of them can write or read we don't really have to deal with this).
Something's up
Aug. 12th, 2009 11:33 pmThere's been an important meeting going on in our household. It commenced a few days ago and it had continued for much more time than we had expected.
The Senior people have been running it - Lawrence the Koala, Teddy, and Martha the monkey. These are all people who have held management positions in our household back in the days when we had a hierarchical management structure and Martha also apparently had a short career as a judge, or so she tells us. This meeting was precipitated by Marcus, our mountain beaver, who a few days ago started claiming that he was a hippopotamus. Bartholomew, our hippopotamus, was apparently somewhat offended and there was a lot of chit chat among various people about this situation.
Marcus was allowed to bring his boyfriend Daniel to the meeting and Bartholomew brought his friend Balboa. No-one else was invited. We had expected a press conference or some sort of communication but nothing has emanated. Perhaps like many business meetings it has turned into a boondoggle and we will never hear about what was decided. Or maybe we will.
The Senior people have been running it - Lawrence the Koala, Teddy, and Martha the monkey. These are all people who have held management positions in our household back in the days when we had a hierarchical management structure and Martha also apparently had a short career as a judge, or so she tells us. This meeting was precipitated by Marcus, our mountain beaver, who a few days ago started claiming that he was a hippopotamus. Bartholomew, our hippopotamus, was apparently somewhat offended and there was a lot of chit chat among various people about this situation.
Marcus was allowed to bring his boyfriend Daniel to the meeting and Bartholomew brought his friend Balboa. No-one else was invited. We had expected a press conference or some sort of communication but nothing has emanated. Perhaps like many business meetings it has turned into a boondoggle and we will never hear about what was decided. Or maybe we will.
Yesterday I saw a mouse in the kitchen on the stove (nothing was cooking at the time). This confirms that the little black specks are mouse shit and not caraway seeds. I checked the two traps under the stove and they both had dead mice in them. I don't know how long they've been there. They are the kind that entrap the mouse inside and are supposed to be discarded when done. In the past I tried old fashioned traps but they seemed to just be mouse feeding stations since the cheese or the peanut butter disappeared each day.Last night I had a long discussion with Burningbright and Daniel, our two tigers, who were watching the Sox game with us about their responsibility as cats. They claimed that it was Miss Griggles' (a more classic cat) responsibility but I explained that with her exalted status she was exempt and besides she was currently upstairs where there are no mice. They also protested that why were we picking on them when there were many other cats? I tried a bit of torture as a means to convince them otherwise but it had no impact whatsover. This morning Xerxes, one or our lions, said that Guinevere, our long deceased cat, had explained to them that mice were her territory and no-one was to interfere and this lesson had stuck.
So, I guess I'll have to buy some more traps today.
A Google search about traps revealed this clever trapless solution which is from our very own
chrisglass. 
Year of the Rat - 2008
Feb. 3rd, 2008 05:43 pm2008 starting on Thursday is going to be the Year of the Rat. In our household it started early.
We've had either mice or rats in the house. And I think it is a rat since there have been no signs of mouseshit which usually accompanies mice - at least when they appear in our house in Gloucester that is the case. And the destruction was somewhat severe.
Most seriously, we discovered them because they attacked some of our people.
Michael is currently bandaged on a leg and an arm because of missing skin - no innards were taken and is awaiting a nose job as well as skin grafts.
Burningbright and Balthazar have some skin punctures and Balthazar lost a bit of seed innards. That's Timothy, the zebra watching next to him (these guys always hang around together); he wasn't harmed.
( Pictures of Timothy, Burningbright, and Balthazar )
Edward is in Intensive Care. Many of his seeds innards were scattered all over the place. I did a couple of skin grafts, but haven't yet decided how to deal with his completely messed up foot. And as is common with medical care in this household there is a long waiting period before surgery is scheduled.
( Pictures of Edward )
They/it also attacked some food in the pantry closet (all-purpose flour, pasta, a package of Ryvitas, and some wheat gluten). I've plugged up the holes. I put out mouse traps in various places but they've seen no action - at least they didn't turn into mouse feeders as has happened when I used Worser™ mouse traps. A rat trap yielded nothing either. I then resorted to rat poison which has been eaten. Hopefully if they/it die in the walls/ceilings it won't smell too bad for too long.
In the old days we had a cat and never had any mice - but we've been catless for quite a few years. Too bad there isn't a ZipCat station near by or Hurtz rent-a-cat. Our current non-working cats: Burning bright, Paul, Andrew, Daniel, Miss Griggles, Xerxes, and Agamemnon have done nothing similarly to several other of the predators.
We've had either mice or rats in the house. And I think it is a rat since there have been no signs of mouseshit which usually accompanies mice - at least when they appear in our house in Gloucester that is the case. And the destruction was somewhat severe.
Most seriously, we discovered them because they attacked some of our people.
Michael is currently bandaged on a leg and an arm because of missing skin - no innards were taken and is awaiting a nose job as well as skin grafts.
Burningbright and Balthazar have some skin punctures and Balthazar lost a bit of seed innards. That's Timothy, the zebra watching next to him (these guys always hang around together); he wasn't harmed.
( Pictures of Timothy, Burningbright, and Balthazar )
Edward is in Intensive Care. Many of his seeds innards were scattered all over the place. I did a couple of skin grafts, but haven't yet decided how to deal with his completely messed up foot. And as is common with medical care in this household there is a long waiting period before surgery is scheduled.
( Pictures of Edward )
They/it also attacked some food in the pantry closet (all-purpose flour, pasta, a package of Ryvitas, and some wheat gluten). I've plugged up the holes. I put out mouse traps in various places but they've seen no action - at least they didn't turn into mouse feeders as has happened when I used Worser™ mouse traps. A rat trap yielded nothing either. I then resorted to rat poison which has been eaten. Hopefully if they/it die in the walls/ceilings it won't smell too bad for too long.
In the old days we had a cat and never had any mice - but we've been catless for quite a few years. Too bad there isn't a ZipCat station near by or Hurtz rent-a-cat. Our current non-working cats: Burning bright, Paul, Andrew, Daniel, Miss Griggles, Xerxes, and Agamemnon have done nothing similarly to several other of the predators.
