DECEMBER 2021

RICK:
I just bought pecans and cream cheese to try your recipe. Probably will do it a bit closer to Christmas....


ELLEN:
I recently bought a cover for a new cellphone that Donnie is getting me for Christmas. So where did I put it? I have no idea. Sometimes if I go back and walk into the room I was going into before I forgot why I was going in there, I will actually remember why I was going in there. Sometimes.


BEECH:
I have the captions on for Midsomer Murders, too. I still miss some of their references, especially of people famous to them. I have also decided I can't tell old guys with gray hair and British accents apart! The show has more older folks on it than we have here. My favorite Barnaby stories are the Halloween shows when he actually gets startled about something. The man is just so darn cool.... One thing I do like about the show is the creativity of how they murder people. We are boring here with just shooting people all the time.... I mean guillotines?

We are supposed to get a big rain storm tonight coming from California. We shall see.
We could certainly use the rain. Bad winds are predicted also and hope they don't show up.

T is still in hospital........boy, that's weary.

I'm not much in the mood for Christmas.........I'll get there tho.

Everyone have a good evening.

I took George for his eye surgery yesterday.  2 hours sitting in the waiting room.  I am so NOT good about sitting still that long.  Doc removed the little lump that was growing on his eyelid and sent it out to be biopsied, Doc was worried because it had started growing lately.  So we shall see.  In the meanwhile putting special antibiotics in his eye 4 times a day.

Tuesday me & my 2 close friends had our little Christmas party.  Lots of coffee and cookies and laughter.  Laughter is needed in this crazy world we are living in.  

Today I'm taking George for a haircut since he isn't allowed to drive for another day or so.  Tomorrow is George's 77th birthday.  He is getting OLD.  LOL  I'm going to make him his favorite cake a German chocolate cake.  YUMMMMM

Stay safe & healthy everyone...

Trudy ... you wrote "Tomorrow is George's 77th birthday.  He is getting OLD.  LOL  I'm going to make him his favorite cake a German chocolate cake.  YUMMMMM".  You are a brave woman to write such a thing on this column.  I see that you are just four years from being OLD yourself.  Im currently 76 myself and admit to being elderly ... er, er, OLD.  At what point do we declare/admit to being OLD?? For me, it was after my second fall that put me in the hospital and made a cane my constant companion!!  Im sure that there may be others on this site that are now wondering the same thing.  German chocolate cake sure sounds delicious, but give him a surprise with Pecan Cheesecake pie ... the recipe is here!!

My love to all my Foop Friends ... especially Manygates right now!!  Rick Angell

RICK: No offense meant to anyone. I always tease George about me never being as old as he is. I'm the young chick in our house at 73 and happy to be able to say I'm 73 and still hanging around, although I am prepared to leave when Jesus calls my name. Considering that I have managed to outlive most of my immediate family members, I consider that quite a feat. No one in my immediate family made it beyond 70, so being able to say that I am OLD is a GOOD thing. Being old is a badge of honor we are proud to wear in our house. Plus when I do nutty things and I do some funny things, I have something to blame it on...I'm old. LOL

Age is a badge of courage. Ain't nuthin' easy about gettin' old. Eyes, hearts, joints.......
We are wiser than the younger generation thinks we are. LOL

Trudy ... no offense taken ... I just saw an opportunity to possibly have a little excitement using something that affects us all. My kids and grandson included seem to be loaded with zingers about my age and are not afraid to use them at any time. Where is HT when we need him most ?? LOL!!

You young chickies have a good day and weekend !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GEORGE

There were flaws in the making of the German chocolate cake.  Turns out I had no coconut or pecans, so I dashed off to the store to buy a birthday cake.  Another disaster..it sucked and their cakes are usually pretty good, luckily I bought the other ingredients while I was there so Mr Lucky George had 2 birthday cakes.  Sharon & Jim stopped over and we had a good laugh...Always check your pantry stock before announcing you are making a special birthday cake, somethings just can't be substituted.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone...

I am very tired and stressed right now as my very sweet husband died last Thursday
very early A M.  As you remember, he had two types of cancer so he is at peace with the
Lord.  That gives me comfort and peace also.  

1 Thesalonians 4: 13-18

Graymare: I'm so sorry to hear about TL's passing. In your time of sadness, thoughts of heartfelt sympathy are with you. May the good Lord comfort you during this stressful time.
Isaiah 41:10 I will strengthen you and help you.
Love & many prayers...

Graymare, I am sooo sorry you lost the love of your life. I had the opportunity to meet Terry twice.  He was one of the kindest, gentlest men I ever met.  My prayers are for your comfort and your family.

GRAYMARE:
Oh, Sydney. I am so incredibly sorry about Terry. Little wonder you are tired and stressed. I hope your local friends and family can help you through this terrible time. Cyber hugs don't do much, but I am certainly thinking about you and wanting you to feel okay.....as okay as possible.

Thank you so much for the well wishes...........it means more than you know. I've got a lot
to do and a lot on my mind so that occupies me for now.

Best wishes...........

GRAYMARE:
I suspect your email address may have changed in the last few years. I got a bounce when I emailed you. Could you please send me your new email??

Arkazivan@gmail.com


Thanks!

Oh, Graymare, please know that I'm also sending wishes for all warmth and love and peace to you at this time.

Thanks BEECH, it's very meaningful.....................you're important to us, too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

I am going to be with cousins for Christmas.     All of you are very important to me.  Each of you has something special to add to my life.  Thank you.

ELLEN:

Safe trip and have fun!

Merry Christmas!!

ThunderPuff's latest Christmas tree photo:

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all good night and be blessed..................

MERRY CHRISTMAS my Foop buddies.

I'm baaaack. It was a very good Christmas weekend. I got to see most of my cousins. Too much good food, some good laughs, and LOTS of wrapping paper strewn about all over the place.
I had wrapped up a firetruck for a 2 year old. It was fun to see his face when he opened it. He LOVES firetrucks. All my cousins' grandchildren were well indulged.

I do hope all of you had a good Christmas.

MANYGATES I'm so sorry to see that TL passed. I never met him but from your stories he was indeed a wonderful man.

Christmas is always a very hard season for me. And for some reason I really struggled with it this year. My mother passed away on Christmas Eve morning unexpectedly when I was 9 years old. I was the one who found her still "asleep" that morning. I think I struggle with it so much this year because my great-niece who I am so close to is 9 this Christmas and I have struggled with my imagination thinking of what if she were to lose her mother? It's been 47 years and it still hurts...

CoVid threw a back-handed monkey wrench at my family last week too. I drove my brother to a specialist in Chicago last Tuesday for a second opinion on his neck / spine issue. Right downtown. I haven't driven in Chicago in years. We joked that it felt like we were driving like race car drivers zipping in and out, changing lanes at the last moment.. only to look down at the speedometer and going 45 mph. It was just that there were so MANY people zipping and dodging. By the time we got out of Chicago we were both going Nope, Nope, NOPE don't even want to think of doing this daily. We waited in the Dr office for about 20 minutes or more only for the receptionist to tell us that the Dr. would not be seeing us as she had witnessed Dan coughing and due to CoVid protocols he would have to come back another day. Only thing was, he wasn't coughing. Not like he had a cold or anything at least. He's a chronic smoker and yes he occasionally cleared his throat with a one time cough that is common for a smoker, but to say he was coughing was wrong. We drove 2.5 hours to get there and they sent us away. It was really hard emotionally on Dan because we had been waiting for the appointment for 2 months as it was. Now we have to wait another month. I'm going to call and talk to them before we go back up and find out what we need to do so that it doesn't happen again. Get tested before hand or something.

I can add to the missing ingredient story too. I was going to make cookie bars that call for graham cracker crumbs for the base, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, nuts and coconut and then topped with condensed milk and bake. Super simple. Until I go to grab the chips out of the pantry after melting the butter and making the graham cracker base only to find that Bill had used the butterscotch chips as a snack and didn't tell me. So, extra chocolate chips, nuts and coconut to fill in the empty space. Still good, but not AS good.

INDYAPP:
That was the most terrible thing to happen to you. I am so sorry. I can see why you would flash back on it even after 47 years. Christmas must have been a sad holiday for the rest of your childhood. I hope after this year when your great niece will be older than 9 that the hurt fades away for you....

It does look like the doctor could have given your brother one of those quick covid tests instead of making you leave. I have a cough from hay allergies and feel like people think I am Typhoid Mary if I cough a little, even in a mask. And of course, if you think about not coughing, you WILL cough.


We finished off our Christmas dinner this evening. It was remarkably the same as our Thanksgiving one....ham and fixings. The only difference was the big batch of oatmeal cookies we made and pigged out on for the past week.


All is fine here....

NOW it snows for Christmas, just a little late. In the last two hours we've gotten about 2 inches. Whenever the snow stops it will all melt because it isn't cold enough for it to last long. It's pretty for the moment.

INDY, what a bad trip to Chicago you had.............what they did to your brother was cruel
and what they did to you was unconscionable.

Your reiteration of your mom's death was painful for me to read............hope you can resolve the
issue as your niece grows up.

((((((((((((((((((((Hugs))))))))))))))))

IndyApp, that is pretty grim, to have Christmas always clouded with that memory. What stories we carry about with us, often unspoken. I am thinking of Graymare now.

ARK- I'm disappointed to find only modernized versions of Midsomer Murders now, with a new actor. What happened? I want to escape back into that old-fashioned world! Once in a while, anyway.

ELLEN - We did have a white Christmas! And the white's remaining, with a little more being added, it seems, every day.

Working to cheer myself up next year (the new one coming right up) with plans, just downloaded, to make a wooden crossbow that will shoot MARSHMALLOWS. I wanted to make it this year as a Christmas gift for a friend entertaining grandchildren , but have been stopped dead in my tracks by wicked carpal tunnel pain in both hands. I'm hoping that an operation for that can be scheduled for me sooner than soon. Can you tell I'm kicking myself for not having acted on that sooner?? Ouch! It HURTS! NOW!

But today: A wonderful post-Christmas brunch with four friends, at an owner-built (our hosts) post-and-beam house on a rough wooded road overlooking the marshy end of a now-frozen and snow-covered local pond. Ice fishermen way out on the pond, coffee and quiche and blueberry muffins on the table. Warm hearth, warm food, warm friends.