Christmas Eve Eve

Today's Christmas prep consists of taking the apricot sauce out of the freezer for Christmas dinner, and some of the cod out for Christmas Eve dinner. That's it.

I'm reading a couple of interesting books, both nonfiction, this one about how birds acquired their names. The title refers to a bird an ornithologist named for his ornithologist wife!  

The prose is very readable, even the introduction is interesting, but the font is holding me up, a bit small. 

Bird names originate all over, often the folk names which preceded the official ornithologist ones still hanging on despite all efforts to insist on the correct taxonomy. Some, such as goose, are so old we don't know the origin, other than speculating it's Indo-European, very old. 

And then the pilgrims arriving in New England, with no knowiedge at all, naming birds because they reminded them of European species. 

Hence the burly American robin, a completely different species from the tiny European robin redbreast. If you love this kind of thing you'll love this book.

And here's another lovely thoughtful one, part sewing instructions, part memoir, part illness journey, part musing on body image, arranged by season.. 

The photography, much of it her own,  is wonderful, pictures of projects and tools and fabrics, worth seeing even if you don't sew and really don't want to. She also has some intriguing thoughts about the therapeutic value of making in general, sewing in particular.

Behind Sanae Ishida, waiting in the wings,  is the  2022  Making calendar she illustrated, which is how I found her, a gift from dear C. 

You'll see more of it when the New Year gets here.  It's a series of animals and their arts, one each per month, lovely illustrations. 

I seem to have picked up Handsome Partner's Scottish New Year inhibition against studying the calendar before the New Year comes in!  

The number of Scottish traditions he followed.. he also had a wicked sense of humor, and it wouldn't surprise me if he made some of them up. 

His lifelong sorrow was that, as a redhead,  he couldn't first-foot our house -- be the first person over the threshold after midnight, bringing fuel (lump of coal) and food (bread or cake) and good cheer (Scotch), to be greeted with a kiss by the woman of the house. 

That's because only a dark haired male can do it. Our dark haired son was the official first footer, once he was old enough to stay awake.

Back to the present and the passage of time. I've been gradually moving spent flowers from the birthday bouquet, most of which is still going strong, either to press or to add to the dried flowers.

I have a little group of air plant, statice, and spent roses, the last from the bouquet, and yesterday I was just moving another rose into the arrangement when it exploded, making a lovely still life on the hearth, thereby illustrating exactly what I was doing.

Collaborative art.

And yesterday,  friend/ artist/contractor Mike, who designed and installed my mantelpiece and my library table as well as my deck and various great things around here, stopped over for a visit.

Bringing his homemade peppermint chocolate bark for Christmas. He's a great cook, baker and candy maker and we had a good catch-up before he, wife Dana and dogs, drive to Florida to spend Christmas with their Disney employee daughter.  

He gave me an animal update too. I knew their old Jack Russell died last year aged 19, leaving the middle aged Westie alone. So they now have a whirling dervish puppy of a Cavalier King Charles terrier, black and tan, who is leading them all a merry dance. His wife has been wanting a CKC for years. 

Brief health update around here: new med added in to address the blood pressure issue. So I got all my errands done, since I start on it today, and need to observe how I handle it. Hoping for no drama. No driving, just in case.

It's a good feeling to be all caught up, cleaners here last week, laundry done, food organized,  few cards mailed, just take walks and generally loaf about now. Wheeee!!