Hitting Restart. . .

oh my, coming up out of a bit of a fog. . . fall was a fog because I did not anticipate that my boss's Christmas prep would totally supercede my own Christmas prep and of course I tried to act like everything was normal. Finally the inevitable crash and now hitting restart. Not as refreshed as I would like, but carry on.

Here's a list of things that happened, or in some cases, didn't happen. . .

1. Duncan has decided to join the Coast Guard Auxiliary -- which involves fitting into a very complex hierarchy, taking a lot of training, and having several uniforms -- each requiring the sewing on of name tags and stars and such just so. He is very fussy about it. Eventually he will be able to go out and help  rescue boats in distress. There is an Auxiliary Chef class he is very keen to take. Hmm, peanut butter sandwiches for 50.
2. We visited Christy and Morris in Southport. They have about the nicest brand new house I've been in. Very comfy and livable, even for Aubrey and her wheelchair.
3. Mom visited us in Charleston. We took a day trip to see Pearl Fryer's Topiary Garden in Bishopville. A worthy day-trip.

4. Spent a lovely Saturday at Botany Bay with Debbie and John Dickinson. It is a protected area, so very pristine and "unbuilt." Debbie & John are excellent company and we would have spent the night with them at Edisto, but Duncan felt bad.
5. The very next weekend I spent Saturday with Circular women at Dewees Island -- another lovely barrier island -- this one north off of Isle of Palms while Edisto is down 17 South. Dewees is approachable only by ferry and no cars allowed in the island. Some very nice homes there, tucked into the landscape and made comfortable enough to not want or need to leave for anything. Would have been very relaxing but for the mob of Circular women.
6. I did not make my "This Year I'm Thankful For. . . " list. Not because I'm not. Just didn't get the juices flowing. A regret. I like doing that each year.
7. Thanksgiving was a bit of a whirlwind. We traveled with the kitties to Grandmas. Left them at home while we visited Uncle Bill, the farm in Person County, went to church, had Thanksgiving dinner with Lil Martha and her whole crew -- beautiful table, great food there. Those are the nicest people in the world. We stopped by to see Aunt Mary and I think she knew who we were when we first got there, but things went fuzzy shortly thereafter. On the way home we went by Elizabethtown and I had a Melvin's burger and saw White Lake again for the first time since I was three.
8. We re-joined the gym. Oh boy.
9. The cats think bringing a tree into the house is the very best idea anybody every had. 

10. I successfully did some Christmas knitting.
11. Mom came for Christmas. We agreed it would be low key and quite. A good thing because Duncan got sick  and went to bed. 
12.  A trip to Black Mountain got nixed because Adam and Wilson were both sick too. Must have been grand for Jeffrey.
13. Oh, here's something that fits in the list as a thing that happened and a thing that didn't happen. . . what happened was, my husband, you all know Duncan, he didn't get me anything for Christmas. He didn't have any ideas. And he got sick. I'll just leave it there. 
14. Life goes on. I was fine, then all of a sudden last Sunday night I got cold and started shaking and basically went to bed and stayed until yesterday. So, some days were lost. Some thank you notes haven't been written. Actually some bills didn't get paid, (but they're paid now). Finally, I think I have righted the ship and am steering again. Just not with a lot of enthusiasm or direction. 
15. I did not do the "change over the calendar ritual" that I always enjoy but thumbing through the 2012 book I find clippings telling me The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture (eh,), when Mom & Sally were here in the Spring we visited Magnolia Plantation, 3 friends had high school seniors who graduated, we volunteered for Spoleto, when it was hot we went to a little spate of movies; Magic Mike, Moonrise Kingdom, To Rome w/ Love and The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. Lee and Kathy and I had a weekend in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill in early December. Lee's daughter Nicole got married this summer and Laura finished Law School with a job. A good year for them. Christy and Morris moved into their new house. Barack Obama won, again. . . and I have a clipping that says: 1 in 3 newly elected congress members is a woman, 29 women of color will serve in the new congress, and the 113th congress will include the most female members ever.

So limping a bit, but trending upwards.

The Christmas Knitting