Cellar Scribblings

[serious crayons]

I've always felt a Christmas tree looks a little sad December 26. 

I definitely think the tree belongs there through at least Jan. 1. I see it as part of the holiday season festivities as much as it is about Christmas specifically (my own has a Happy New Year crown at the top). I'm usually not quite ready to relinquish it until a week or so after that.

Outdoor lights that aren't extremely Christmas-themed can stay up through January at least.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I definitely think the tree belongs there through at least Jan. 1. I see it as part of the holiday season festivities as much as it is about Christmas specifically (my own has a Happy New Year crown at the top). I'm usually not quite ready to relinquish it until a week or so after that.

In the past I've kept my tree and all decorations--especially my grandmother's Nativity set--till Epiphany. This year I just wanted everything to go away as quickly as possible.

Outdoor lights that aren't extremely Christmas-themed can stay up through January at least.

I agree, and that is why I felt so bad about not getting the plain white lights on the pine tree in front of my dad's house. I feel outdoor lights help brighten things up at night during the darkest time of the year.

[serious crayons]

I agree, and that is why I felt so bad about not getting the plain white lights on the pine tree in front of my dad's house. I feel outdoor lights help brighten things up at night during the darkest time of the year.

I agree. I think of them less as a holiday custom than as a holdover from ancient pagan traditions (the pagans never used LED lights, however).

[brianr]

I had purchased 3 sets of solar lights over the years I have lived in NZ but had not put them up for several years. I put them up in the trees the weekend before Christmas but with sunset at 9.30 which about the time I go to bed, it was not until Christmas Eve, coming home from midnight mass that my suspicions that they were not working were confirmed. I took them down on Boxing Day but left them on the table until Tuesday when we finally had a bright sunny day (Summer is yet to arrive here). I left them out on the lawn for a few hours then tested them.  One is still working and has been put away, the other two are in the bin.
I had an artificial aluminium Christmas tree but do not know if I threw it out or sold it in a Garage sale before migrating to NZ. I had not put it up since the 80's. We had live Christmas trees when I was a kid but probably not since the early 60's. As always, I took down my 4 Christmas ornaments on Jan 6, takes less than 5 minutes. Longer is putting away the Christmas cards and rereading the yearly letters which I file away. But they are getting less now as more use email but you cannot put email up on the mantelpiece.  I posted 15 cards and got 12 back. I sent about 20 email messages.

[brianr]

I just received my 14th card today from Paul in Honolulu. He did post it a few days before Christmas. He emailed to say he received mine on 27 December.
He mentions he may visit me in March on his way to Sydney. I do hope so. He has visited me twice before in Dunedin with his (now) husband. Matt is a native Hawaian and a ship entertainer. He usually plays on the Gay cruise which (not every year) travels from Auckland to Sydney for Gay Mardi Gras. I am not sure if that is what Paul means this year. I will have to look it up. They visited me a few weeks after I moved to Dunedin in 2010. I had bought my house but had not taken possession so they looked at it over the front fence. We had lunch at the beach front cafe and then I drove them over the peninsula. I remember Matt falling asleep despite the stunning scenery but then he was entertaining late at night on the ship. Then they came again a year or so later and insisted paying for me to tour the Cadburys Factory (now closed). I was going to wait outside for them. Inside we met more gays from the ship and he had them in stitches describing how I had been his teacher and helped him come out.  It was 1979 and I was only coming out myself. In 2018 I met him for lunch in Sydney and there was another guy there who had gone to junior hihg school with him (I taught Paul in Senior High). They were discussing how they would dress uo in Paul's mothers clothes after school. There was roar of laughter by the group when I commented "You say I  helped you come out Paul, I do not think you needed much help". Paul is over the top camp but such a loving guy. He is a psychiatric nurse in Honolulu. Strangely despite having all his schooling in Australia, he does not have Australian citizenship. He was born in Ireland and has now taken out American citizenship. I could go on with tales of Paul at school and at the class reunion about 15 years ago when he rushed over to the staff table and said "Brian , the gay guys are having their photo taken, come and join us" It was the class of '79 so I had only known Paul as being gay and there were half a dozen in the photo besides us and not all of the staff would have known about me as it was not common knowledge in the school until a few years later. Matt came to Dunedin another time on a gay cruise without Paul. He asked me to take him to the Penguin sanctuary so I picked him up at the ship and he brought along two of the passengers. Two beautiful Chinese Americans who were doctors in San Francisco. They bought me lunch in city afterwards.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Had  a quiet weekend, and now I'm getting ready for some running around.

I need to stop at Glaze Donuts after work , and pick up 5 dozen donuts for bowling, to celebrate all the January and February birthdays.  Then, on Wednesday, I am going to the bakery before work to pick up a cake and some canolli, and then to a park after work to meet a friend.

I think after that, everything calms  down.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends.

Another birthday has come and gone! 

Went out with my friends for dinner on Friday, to a new diner that opened up in our area.  Food was good, as was the service.  I ordered breakfast for dinner, and got peanut butter and bacon pancakes with a side of sausage.

The family is getting together the end of January and going out for a meal, and then a round of Monster Mini Golf.  We figured that would be something Trent would enjoy, and he's never played it before.

Spent the weekend ripping some music.  I have a ton of CDs that I would listen to in the car, but my new car doesn't have a CD player.  It does have USB ports in it, so I am ripping the music to put it into MP3 format, and then I can play it in the car.

Monday is a holiday, so the bank is closed.  I'll have another late night and sleep in tomorrow.

We were predicted to get snow yesterday, and of course, predictions varied from 1 - 3 inches to 3 - 6 inches.  Not wanting to deal with getting groceries in the snow, I scheduled a pick-up time for Friday after work, so the groceries had been  packed away relatively early in the weekend, and then after that I went out with my friends to that new diner I mentioned before.   On Saturday I got up early, went to the post office, the party store for some decorations, and then filled the car up with gas, just in case. 

5 minutes after I got home,the snow started to fall.  Looked pretty out the window.  Of course, it stopped when it was getting dark, and  we only got about 1 inch of the stuff. 

Today it's sunny and above freezing, so most of it is melting away.



How are you all doing?

[serious crayons]

Went out with my friends for dinner on Friday, to a new diner that opened up in our area.  Food was good, as was the service.  I ordered breakfast for dinner, and got peanut butter and bacon pancakes with a side of sausage.

Was it one of those old-fashioned kind of diners like the characters on Seinfeld hang out at? (One year, I ate Thanksgiving dinner in that very diner.) Or more of a nouveau version? In my city, there are old-fashioned diners left over from their original era, but anything new would be either more foodie-friendly with creative twists on classic things (e.g., a place that specializes in hot dogs with unusual toppings) or sort of flashily retro.

I'll have to say, peanut butter and bacon pancakes don't automatically sound delicious. Were they?
 

The family is getting together the end of January and going out for a meal, and then a round of Monster Mini Golf.  We figured that would be something Trent would enjoy, and he's never played it before.

I've never been there, but I've been to a Top Golf, and I'll bet it's similar. Do you stand in an elevated open room with a regular golf club and ball, and try to hit the ball into one of the large holes scattered about the grounds, some trickier than others and therefore worth more points?

the party store for some decorations

For what?

Today it's sunny and above freezing, so most of it is melting away.

I have New York, Chicago and Denver weather on my phone as well as Minneapolis. Recently I was scrolling through and thought, wow, this is fantastic! It's going to get into the 40s and maybe close to 50 next week! Then I realized I was looking at New York.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'll have to say, peanut butter and bacon pancakes don't automatically sound delicious. Were they?

Everything's better with bacon. ... 

 

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day!





I had no work today, but I wasted the day.  I stayed up late last night, working on music on my computer.  I lost track of time and didn't get to bed until 3am.  Because I did that, I didn't wake up until 11:30am today.

I ran out to get some Flash Drives to use in the car, had lunch, got some chores done, got a hair cut, and now I'm catching up online.

I'm not going to work tomorrow, I'm scheduled to go to the Essex County Courthouse for jury duty selection.  The last two times I went, I got selected for trials.  I'm hoping I don't get picked this time.