Just a Quick Pop-in

I don't have time for a decent post today, nor do I have new photo capability yet (although there's progress on that front - I broke down and bought an external hard drive today to store jpgs, now to just figure out how to transfer stuff onto it), but I thought I'd pop in and say hi.

We went to the tea room for lunch. It will be closed after the weekend so this was the last visit of this year. My daughter-in-law was really bummed that it will be closed the whole time they'll be here for a visit, she loves the place as much as we do. And, it would have been the first opportunity for her to take my son there.

I didn't take this photo today, this was from a week or two ago. I just thought it looked festive even though the only thing holiday-ish about it were the two tiny candy canes.


"Chestnuts roasting on an open firrrrrre..... Jack Frost nipping...", er, rewind. "Chestnuts resting on a market shelffffffffff!" So, yeah. But they still look great, don't they? I always buy a bunch of nuts for the holiday gatherings. Chestnuts, walnuts, almonds, filberts.... stick them in a big bowl, stuff a couple of nut crackers into the center, and set it out for people to enjoy. I think it must be a Midwestern thing as I remember it from my childhood but I don't think I've ever seen anyone else set out a bowl of nuts since I've been an adult in California.

Speaking of nuts, it's a nice segue to mentioning that things went a bit nutty today. Lots of cleaning and decorating and shopping and .... suddenly everything went into overdrive. I'm really missing my regular blog visiting time. I know there's so many lovely images and touching or funny stories out therre, and I don't have time to read them! I like to stretch the holiday out into the new year when things slow down and there's time to relax and reflect and enjoy the quieter aspects of the season, so I look forward to catching up with everyone then. I'll be able to post a bit while the family is here, but probably not as often as I'd like, but I'm betting a lot of you will be just as busy as me. Oops, it's late - off to bed.