end of days for 2024

 DE 31 at 3:40 P

and the world is well into New Year s festivities e f. Auckand NZ..

✴ December 30 2024

  ✴... Alison Krauss sings ' Get Me Through December '

coming at you from the window view of our street
and I see glistening pavement and gray
seems to be our theme background for the last few days
plus a rumbling, roaring sound was heard all night
hope your hat didn't blow off

... its been a good life
but I still ain't made my showing
all I know, is when that train whistles blowing
thatsa my song   ....   Carolyn Hester

🧶 pull a thread

 🧶 ... or don't
I believe that I am a thread puller.

the view this AM

👙 slip sliding away ....

 👙 ... on DEc 28 
my phone is announcing, 48 F today w/ light rain showers
meaning it looks grim out there
very English - y. wet and drizzly

 

🐾 what tracks .....

 🐾 .... we leave in the sands of time

just to say that we were there. 
to bring joy to the ones who follow
as those will also, mark their way
it is the way, the only way, my friends

sending to the ether

the ' boro is gray with hints of light
not expecting much 

My view from the computer 

my inspiration 

my hope

🏮 we call ....

 🏮..... December 26, Boxing Day. Origins of Boxing Day is reputedly from Ol' England.

Thus, we have Boxing Day sales even Amazon has a Boxing Day

' boro is damp ish and gray. Not frigid and certainly precipitation is possible

🎄 on Christmas day in ....

 🎄..... the morning
Alrighty. up and typing. not too early. coffee and ....

the view is white trimmed but gray ish in the main. very quiet on the street.

temperature is near freezing

so. prezzies will be later this morning

Well. I asked for and found ' Midway ' version 2022 ( ? ). I'd seen the 1980 s version numerous times. Love it

Now, plenty of clothes were in the bags under the tree, as well

Dinner was my choice. I'd seen ' Techniquely w/ Lan Lam ' on cooking a steak.

The method is termed cold sear. And I had never started a piece of meat in a cold skillet 

I bought a 2 piece package of beef tenderloin for $ 20. Each chunkette was smaller than my palm 

Crikey! That is beef. However, I told M. ... that no matter what. this was the best steak ever. 

Experiment was a gustatory success. The Metro didn't have pre - made Yorkshire pudding. I chose McCain breakfast pockets as substitute.

Turned out - smashing 

Cold pan? Really. Yes 

🌧 is over

 🌧 yesterday tho ', morning was damp ish. then came snow for eight hours. slow at first and steady Eddy as the day went on

parts of our street are cleared. funny b/c it is a strip near the curb. in the middle the snow is noticeable. I think the big plow forgot to come
oh. plus the sidewalks got plowed out

we need to get out to a Dr s appointment after lunch. M .. is all concerned. and I'm like comme si comme ca
que sera que sera

we shall see said the Zen Master

Oh. Happy Xmas Eve. all the stockings were hung with hope s .....

🪆 duh !

 🪆.... " hey, you're kinda busy " I query
Saleslady " it is four days til Xmas ! " Yeah. Duh, it hit me

I guess that I shopped Xmas stuff early. I was picking up some groceries

The saleslady said ' I was all done shopping on Nov 30 '
She beat me by a week and a bit

sunny. cold. wintry. quiet

life in the ' boro

chores. coffee and typing. kidding
I have to grab the paper. shovel off the deck. I use a board w/ handles to push snow around. no lifting.

🌧 messy out there

 🌧 ... the ' boro has - yes - a mess. Sloppy. cold and grim
oh ! great words to start the day

we are catching the lower end of a storm track. called lake effect added to a blast of air coming East.
the Great Lakes are warm. thus, moisture is carried Eastward [ mostly ] to us

at a lower to mid elevation, we will catch some precipitation 

I turned on ' Chilly Philly ' the lawn penguin, as a beacon for the street.  a pretty lonely sentinel, let me tell you

follow up report. messy for sure, but more visual than physical. however, flakes continue to fall sporadically, it is getting colder tho '
ice is coming to the road surface

🧊 yepper

  🧊 ... sun and cold or SUNICE

someone once asked me what does ' SUNICE ' mean in Japanese
My reply ' ? '

later we passed a girl wearing a skijacket. " hey, that's the label ' SUNICE '

I said " sun ice " maybe

🔖 ... and I am a material girl ...

 🔖 ... sang Cyndi Lauper
I re - phrase and say

... we are living in a digital world  ...
and I am not digital. a dinosaur

however. I sit in the driveway and ..... set the house alarm, open the front door and open the garage door
oh, adjust the thermostat --> from the Pixel 6a [ phone ]

plus I can watch the street from my phone

but

so far behind.

the ' boro. dull and expecting rain not cold

🦃 not this Xmas

 🦃 a big switcheroo ! for the first time in forever, no turkey for the 25 th
we will do a roast beef instead

now, we did do a turkey some weeks ago, sort of mid way between Thanksgiving and Xmas

the ' boro is grim looking. mild and damp but no sun
you gotta take what you can get

🌈 not a chance

 🌈 the ' boro has a wet and grim day ahead
we are warmer tho'

🍱 closing in on ......

🍱 ... another year closing

w/ sun in the ' boro and cold. we went to a Italian themed restaurant for dinner Fri nite
two children Am .. and He ..... [ marvellously well behaved, oh, that was me ]

the whole story. Chilly Philly the inflating Penguin has been out on night duty for three weeks.
Philly is surrounded by a Zoo on the West.
we are talking the width of the property in lights. reindeer, candy canes the whole show

on Philly s East side. are icicle lights and reindeer

we like to think of Philly as subtle. we do subtle very well. coming home last night. Philly looked like a sentinel. on guard. doing his best
and out competed
sorry Philly

🏮 ' sunshine came softly .... '

 🏮 .... through my window today ..... ' Donovan

I see blue hazy sky, must mean its cold out there

we are starting the rev up to Xmas. It's supposed to be quiet but still we have events

Tonight, its dinner w/ A ... and family
then Sunday, we host an intimate pre - Xmas lunch w/ M .. s long timish friend

Unfortunately, discovered that a friends sister [ both grads of Leacock C.I. where I taught has passed at 60 y.o. ] So that's 2 in three weeks

🌬 shiver me Timbers !

 🌬 a reminder that this is the Great White North ish.
Sub 32 for the day and a bit. We do warm up here in the  ' boro come Sunday

From 5:30 AM power flickered. Then 6 something the power went out for six minutes
JUST LONG ENOUGH TO PANIC and calm down

our Xmas tree popped on. clocks went crazy in the kitchen. stair lift needed reset

life goes on

🪆 so 11 of the XII

 🪆so what's coming

weather. mild today but damp. yet precipitation is headed this direction followed by cold.
we have had fog or mist for two days but this morning broke clear
thus Thursday, is icy and treacherous [ on the roads ]

this morning. out the door at 8:15. up the street about 2 miles. a local shop bakes and sells bagels. reviewers commented on ' hard to find this shop'.
many years ago, I remember visiting a Swim Store [goggles etc] and said the same thing. Yes, that's where Simit Bagels was.

reviewers mentioned high quality and price. I paid $ 5 for 6 bagels. and they taste great.

this was a preparatory run for DE 24. we plan on bagels and smoked salmon. Ah, the monkey wrench in the works is .... Simit is closed DE 22,23 -  24
Now, the plan will be to freeze some bagels for the 24 th. I will continue to source bagels for the 24 th. However, there will be some bagels in the freezer if all else fails

I bought 4 sesame seed bagels and 2 raisin bagels. Raisin bagel was delicious.

Further, I dropped off womens pants for shortening.

my morning so far

🔖 IX of X11

 🔖 you can mark this day

rainy and gloomy however as announced the temperature will be 40 give or take
today its take

🤳 on Dec 8

  🤳 and the ' boro weather is grim looking
dampish for sure. but we will start to warm. in fact, we go to 40 F sometime this afternoon

the week is wet and rainy but 40 + or -.

lately, as part of neighbourhood watch [ the Whatsapp group,  here on our street ] I've been posting photos of the street
and due to the snow accumulation on the roof, I powered the de - icing cables on the kitchen roof

well, I had the selfie stick out to photo the roof [ don't need a ladder just hold up the camera ]
AND I gently tossed the selfie stick to the driveway. NOT gently enough. the plastic frame for holding the camera cracked.

did I tell you that I hate plastic, b/c you can't repair plastic [ easily or at all ]
this all happened on Tues last

thus, three days of planning and fiddling produced - a set of ideas and some wood strips approx the size of the selfie frame

yesterday, I drilled the wood strip to take the female bolt that allows the frame to pivot in four directions [ up / down and rotate ]. I had glued two strips to create some thickness b/c 2 screws would be the vertical supports. screw away.
I cut off the excess plastic from the frame to leave the plastic upright posts of the frame

next, it was wire the frame to the screws [ so the posts were fixed ]. the frame posts are spring loaded to raise and lower to accommodate different size phones. that's why those posts needed to be salvaged

now, this is where you have to imagine 30 minutes of cursing, muttering and pricked fingers
BUT done. Last step. take shrink tubing and cover the posts and screws

SO what have you got. mostly, a good facsimile of the original. 
looks not bad [ 8 out of 10 ]
function [ 7 out of 10 ] b/c I used the same size wood strips as the plastic base BUT the posts are now slightly middle of the strips [ you cannot screw too close to the edge ] and the holding ledge is a touch narrow
I expect that I'll add an elastic to secure the phone 

BTW, I could have bought a new selfie stick for $ 8.

🧥 Dec 6 in the ' boro

  🧥 plus a hat and gloves [ for sitting in the car ]
20F out there, half hour ago.

Chilly Hilly is steady b/c the wind has died

🧶 tugging at a thread

 🧶 has caused so much grief

but I do. I'm a thread tugger

brilliant day in the ' boro, the wind died down. our poor Chilly Philly, the penguin ornament is still there. Chilly is still tilted. some medical help is required

yes, full sun, post stormy conditions for 36 hrs

🌬 December 4

 🌬 ...... when the wind is blowing in your face ..... [ like today ]
            .... and the whole world is on your case ......   Bobby Dylan

Chilly Philly, our penguin, on the lawn was tilting East due to the wind.
Snow and icy little things flying horizontal [ mostly ]

I ran my snow clearing board down the driveway at 10 AM or so.
Now, 11:20 there is no sign that I was there

🌈Dec 3

  🌈 not happening BUT we can hope

starting to brighten tho '
are ' boro weather is 32 F plus or minus single digits
thus cold but not bad for the Great white North

🧊 - y Monday DE 2

 🧊 cold. Sharp is the word.

December says ' hello ' watchmen now

1 h 30 minutes N of the city, you could find 30 inches of snow. Major roads were cordoned off.

🏮Dec uno

🏮  " ..... get me through December .... "

sings Alison Krauss

so me too

At the Giant Tiger in the AM. I hooked up the electrical to the heater cables on the kitchen roof. Hopefully, the warmth will keep snow ridges from forming

We shall see said the Zen Master