“Happy Christmas”
The new TV was mounted in the “family room” (also our bedroom) at Clorinda’s house on Monday afternoon. She was not at all happy about this activity initially, “You took down my pictures to put up a TV – ridiculous”, but soon warmed up to the idea of watching operas and even enjoyed watching the Saints game with me. I did enjoy Adamo’s advanced contractor input on the process: no need for a stud finder – just tap on the wall – and then his marking missed the stud; “my eyes are much better than a spirit level” – and then the TV is a little bit crooked. Diana is not happy with the ultimate placement, remarking that it needed to be 3 inches higher up. Some things are just much easier done by yourself.
Diana and Alicia went to visit their friend Amy Adirondack (my nickname for her – her real name is spelled something like Adamac) in Los Gatos on Monday evening. I took advantage of the quiet to enjoy a documentary called “Antidote” on Amazon. This is a really good film about creative ways that people and organizations are using to spread kindness in their communities. One of the segments is about a program at Amarillo college that helps single mothers and other needy students so that they can complete degrees and find better paying jobs.
Clorinda and I shared some dumplings for dinner and then Diana returned with some Thai food – turns out it came from my favourite – Thai Spice in Los Gatos. I miss having a great local Thai restaurant. There is a new one in McKinney getting great reviews that I should try.
Tuesday started with a walk for me, run for Diana, up and down Gyspy Hill a couple of times. We weren’t stealthy enough and were intercepted by Luciano and Massimo and some friends as we reached the top of the hill – it was really Phoebe the dog who gave us away. A side trip to the downtown Post Office ended up being fortuitous as my gift from Damon was waiting there – no mail on the hill. I could tell Damon was very proud of his gift and so we FaceTimed with him as I opened it. What an amazing piece of art he had commissioned one of our coworkers to create (with quite a bit of collusion from Diana).
Isn’t that just great? I love all the details she captured. This all started with a photo that Diana took on the day when I picked up Penelope several years ago. I really enjoyed seeing these pictures of the work in progress that Marcella shared with Damon to make sure she was on the right track:
I enjoyed another beautiful sunset from Clorinda’s deck:
Wednesday evening at Will and Christine’s new apartment had been planned for a while. We pushed the start time back to 5pm as Campbell worked a full day from their guest bedroom. They have so much more space in their new place and the high ceilings make a big difference in how large the space feels. Christine did a great job with interesting appetizers while Will created a smoke infused Manhattan for me with his new equipment.
Diana and Alicia look positively tiny amidst my boys. Will and I went for a drive in his race car to pick up a Neapolitan dinner from Terun in Palo Alto. The drive was just long enough for Will to demonstrate all the different exhaust sound and engine modes he has available, that and the multiple Bluetooth and WIFI connections with radar detectors and the like. I felt like I was ready for a massage after that. We had a lovely meal and lots of fun exchanging presents. I really love the pictures that Campbell put together in a guitar body frame:
Then we took some pictures of our own to commemorate what might be a new tradition – Christmas meal and gift exchange at Will and Christine’s place.
Hopefully vaccines will be widespread soon and we can all get together much more often.
Marco and kids arrived on Thursday afternoon to exchange gifts with Alicia before she left early on Friday to spend Christmas day with her Dad and brothers. Alicia’s gift to Marco was a Dopp kit (toilet bag where I’m from) that was hilariously filled with tiny bottles of different liquors. “Dopp” is such a weird word for a toilet bag that I did some research: the name derives from the early 20th century leather craftsman Charles Doppelt, whose company designed the case in 1926.
After Marco and family left, we exchanged our own gifts. Diana had run out of time for clever tags and so we presented each gift with a “talk track” to give a small hint about the contents. Here’s Diana presenting an album to Alicia and then Alicia opening her big gift – the very sizeable mixer.
Christmas Eve dinner featured the traditional “Feast of the Seven Fishes”. Here’s some research on what that’s all about:
“While the tradition of enjoying a large meatless Christmas Eve meal was (and remains) common across Italy—as well as many other Roman Catholic-dominated countries—the origins of the Feast of the Seven Fishes has its roots in southern Italy. The area, which is surrounded by bountiful coastline, has been known for its seafood for generations. It’s also historically poorer than the rest of Italy, with locals preferring fish because of its relative affordability.”
Diana did all the shopping and then we prepped the scallops, shrimp, salmon, smoked salmon, dover sole and anchovy pasta for dinner with Adamo and crew. Wait, I hear you say, that’s only six fishes. Adamo to the rescue with a tee-shirt featuring a fish picture.
That seemed like an awful lot of scallops but only two were left after dinner. Adamo did a great job of cooking up all the fishes and then Alicia was a huge help with the clean up. Alicia and Diana exhibited some superior team work putting together the requisite meat and cheese platter.
Here’s Adamo and Amy’s crew all ready for bed on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure if you can see the antlers on Francesca’s onesie – she’s a deer which led to all kinds of punny comments on Christmas morning.
Christmas Day started with a photo shoot so that we had some pictures of Diana and Alicia together. I think I did a passable job as the official photographer. We had to start early as the angry red sunrise foretold bad weather coming.
Next was a visit to Adamo’s home to exchange gifts. Amy and Adamo were so excited about their gift for us – they adopted a penguin in our names from the World Wildlife Fund. Amy was jumping up and down and so excited. Frankie was very gentle with the new adoptee – subsequently named Parker.
Here’s the official adoption certificate:
We had a brief respite in the early afternoon when Clorinda and I enjoyed the Saints football game, and then Marco and family arrived for Christmas dinner. We had a delicious honey ham with green beans and mashed potatoes – successfully avoiding all the turkey work for the first time in ages. One of the funniest parts of the week was when Clorinda opened the singing llama present from Marco. Olivia told the story of him in the store setting off 5 or 6 of them so that they were all singing “in the round”.
Adamo and Amy cooked up some fantastic lamp chop lollipops for dinner on Boxing Day. I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed a “Halo Moon” before – Adamo pointed this one out.
Sunday marked the start of the long drive home to McKinney. We hit the road in the late morning and arrived at Aria in Las Vegas in time for dinner and a drink before bed. A different but very enjoyable Christmas holiday in the books.
We listened to “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles on the drive. This has been made into a new film starring Tom Hanks and it’s amazing how clearly you can see him in the role of “Captain” and hear him speaking the lines.
The story revolves around the Captain’s exploits in transporting a young girl, rescued from an Indian tribe, from Wichita Falls to San Antonio. Along the way he stops in towns to read the news from various east coast and overseas newspapers for the townspeople – this being the only way they get news from afar. It’s amazing to think about how long a trip like this took in the early 1800s – several months, and with all kinds of dangers along the way. The girl, Johanna, was captured by Indians around age 6 and spent 4 or 5 years with them – speaking their language and practicing their customs. The Captain has a lot of patience as he teaches her acceptable manners and tries to get her to remember the English she learned at a younger age. An interesting listen.
I finally finished reading “Utopia Avenue” by David Mitchell this week. I really enjoyed parts of the book and found other parts just silly and a bit nonsensical.
The musical details are typically well described:
“Griff started with a tom-tom and came in with a minute’s solo in the style of Cozy Cole. Then he grabbed his sticks and played a solo, heavy on backbeats and rimshots, with a snare interlude. Elf watched his hands with a faraway smile on her face. Griff showed off an Art Blakey press-roll; a skipping run of ostinato; an Elvin Jones rolling triplet pulse; some swing-era cymbal playing; and a glorious free-form crescendo as Elf’s hand slowly rose…and…fell.”
This paragraph reminded me of Alicia explaining what a “cacophony” sounds like:
“Beneath the party chatter and Sam Cooke singing “Lost and Lookin'” lies a composite hum of engines, cars, trains, lifts, horns, sirens, dogs…everything. Doors, locks, drains, kitchens, robberies, lovers. “It’s like an orchestra tuning up,” says Elf, “except it’s the main show. A cacophony symphony.”
“She says things like that,” says Dean to Lenny.”
Lenny is Leonard Cohen who the band members meet at a rooftop party at the Chelsea hotel in New York, hosted by Janis Joplin.
I’m going to skip the music section this week as I’m running out of time.
A very Happy New Year to all when it rolls around in a few days.