My step-father-in-law took some pictures yesterday of the freezing fog. It was really beautiful. I yoinked these from his facebook page, hopefully he'll post more because it was really spectacular out yesterday. There was a pretty neat looking frozen spider web, I hope he got one of that.
Looks like our big snowstorm today is going to be a bust. It will only be rain for the next few days. Hooray!
Woman knocks down pope at Mass; Christmas celebrations begin
In my day we just had eggnog and sang carols.
Kids these days....
I waited until most of you have gone to sleep to whip out some of my favorite Christmas music. Who would've thought that an atheist like myself would prefer Christmas music about Jesus?
To all of my Vox neighbors, friends and family I hope you find a bit of peace and even some joy this holiday weekend. It's been a tough year for a lot of us and I know many of us won't be spending the holidays with those we love the most. My heart especially goes out to those of you who have lost close friends and family in the past year. Love to you all, Val
I didn't make it to bed until 1:30 again last night. I know some people can handle it, but I can't. Getting up at 6:15 is brutal. Zombie girl. At least last night I was up making delicious cookies and cookie doughs.
My vanilla bean cookie dough and my Mexican Tea Cake dough are in the fridge, ready to be baked tonight. I did finish my sugar spice cookies (a molasses cookie) and my chocolate chip cookies last night.
I had told Cranky about my vanilla bean cookies and I think she said she hadn't seen a vanilla bean (or maybe that was a conversation with someone else). In any event, it's a good excuse to show you my beans (tee hee, that sounds kinda dirty).
The bean itself is sort of waxy and flexible. It doesn't smell like much, but you can almost smell a hint of vanilla.
Here you can see the delicious and fragrant innards. It's like a gritty, black paste. No those are not giant warts on my thumb, it's flecks of dough.
I want to rename my Mexican Tea Cakes to Val's Tea Cakes - not because I'm PC, but because they took a lot of damn work last night. I know I'm not supposed to use my coffee grinder for my nuts, but I always used my cheap old one and it was perfect (besides, I have no problems with mingling the flavors of coffee and pecan). Not thinking that my new grinder is a burr type instead of the kind with blade, I tried to put my pecans through it. It was pushing 1AM, I was not thinking clearly. Mr. Val took over the repairs on the grinder while I chopped and chopped and chopped and chopped until I had a finely ground heap of pecans. Usually my tea cake dough takes me five minutes (and four of those are making the butter and sugar fluffy with a mixer!!), but last night it took a half hour after battling with the grinder (again, stupid on my part, I know).
Merry Christmas Eve to you all.
I'll see you after the new year!
Hope this time is joyous and peaceful for you and all you love. Best to everyone in the new year as well...
love and chocolate kisses,
gunderson
Zardoz Claus is checking his list. Twice.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...
12 ships to plunder,
11 cannons firing,
10 crewmen leaping,
9 sharks a' swimming,
8 rum-filled bottles,
7 lusty wenches,
6 jolly rogers,
5 gold doubloons,
4 eye patches,
3 earrings,
2 wooden legs
and a parrot for my shoulder - Arrr!
Towards something more seasonal.
It took:
30000 plus lights
130 extension cords
Over 8000 feet of control cable
Programming time: don't ask.
Most of the neighborhood used LED lights this year, so they are using 1/10th of the power as last year.
What do you get when you mix a Christmas Light show with Guitar Hero? Christmas Light Hero!
Song is "Cliffs of Dover" by the incredible Eric Johnson.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Patricia Brennan from Yale University is trying to encourage male Muscovy ducks to launch their ballistic penises into test tubes.
Full article here - and it really is worth the read. Fascinating stuff to learn whilst eating toast and marmite!
Lately I've managed to pick up and watch or read the most depressing stories, I want to disappear into nothing when they are over.
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy: The book cover is black. That should have been an obvious sign. The whole book is dark. You want to cough up all the ashy phlegm when you get done with it. Ugh.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father: A documentarian makes a movie for the kid of his murdered childhood friend. Oh yes, and it gets worse from there.
This American Life, podcast #342, How to Rest In Peace. Stories about kids who's parents have died... either murdered or killed themselves and how they cope in adulthood.
I don't know. Those are just a few examples, but I seemed to be obsessed with bad things. Dark things. Currently, I'm considering jumping into the book "Lit", which is a memoir, but now I'm not so sure. My decision-makings skills are a bit twisted at the moment.
Feck.
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