The sum up? I was so busy,  it was almost like I didn’t have a weekend. Want more? Continue…

Friday, and we were open at the office. Peter normally works until close, but he had the day off. So I ended up working the closing shift. I ran home and saw the family for all too brief a moment, then headed out to my gig at the Black Bull.  It was a short money gig, but it was close to home, and they included supper. (I had the chicken and sundried tomato alfredo.) While at the gig, as mentioned in the post below, I saw Maura, and we had a nice little talk while I was on a break. Any trace of her Maine accent is gone; she’s all Aussie now. And, like my Aussie friend Jim Gilbert when he first arrived, it’s thick enough that I couldn’t always catch what she was saying. Especially in a loud club with a drummer’s ears! I was home and in bed by 1:05am.

Saturday came, and I was at the office until noon. I made a trip to the dump to get rid of the trappings of Christmas. Many others had the same idea; the line was enormous! While at the dump, I noticed one of the tires in Susan’s van was low, so I went to a gas station and topped them all off. Then I went home and watched the boys so Susan could spend some alone time at the library. (The girls in my life are addicted to books!) When Susan got home, I took a nap for about an hour and a half, and then drove to my next gig in Bar Harbor. Though it’s a long drive, and a long gig (a full four hours), the people at this particular club are always very receptive, and really come out to hear music. Bar Harbor is a veritable ghost town this time of year, yet we were still able to make some tip money. After a long drive home, I got to bed at 3am.

Sunday morning, 7:30, up with the boys. Not enough coffee. Church. Lunch at Mom’s house. Home. The weather was warm, so I did a few chores. I took the battery out of my scooter. I did two loads of laundry. I took a 1/2 hour nap. I played my bass guitar for a 1/2 hour or so. Then I went back to evening church where my uncle put on a concert. When I got home, the girls in my life told me they were craving Taco Supremes. So I headed back out and got them some supper. I was fully prepared to go to bed early, when Susan said “How do we turn on the close captioning with the new remote?”

Some background info. For many years, I’ve used a Marants RC2000 remote to control my somewhat sophisticated home theater. And when the babies were little, we had a need to use close captioning. So I programmed the remote with a “macro”; one button would cycle through all the menus of the TV, and turn the close captioning on. Now, Susan has purchased me a new remote, which I love. (Ignore the list price on the site; a refurb unit can be had for way less.) But until last night, I hadn’t programmed a button to make the close captioning turn on and off easily. So, I decided to do that before bed. Though I love the remote, and though it does have  very handy computer based programming, you have to upload changes to the web (your settings are backed-up online with this remote), and then download the changes to your remote. Factor in to that that this is the first time I’ve ever programed a macro on this remote, and you end up with about a one hour project. And, once I get started on something like that, I can’t finish until it’s done.

So, at about 10:30 last night, I crawled into bed–my regular bedtime!

I mentioned in an earlier post about the blizzard we got not even a week ago. Strangely, all the snow is almost gone now due to the warm temperatures and rain. But it wasn’t but four or five days ago we had snow on the ground like this, and that was all from one storm!

Oh, I also saw Maura Manning at my gig last night. Maura and I went to high school together, and she moved to Australia, became a high school English teacher,  and got married. She’s here visiting, and her folks were telling her Aussie husband that we get snow like that all the time! While it’s not unusual for us to have that much snow on the ground, it is unusual to get it all at once. And, the howling wind made it quite a storm. It truly has been years since we had a storm like that.

Photo credit: Jason Philbrook from f64.nu.

My beloved wife says “Since it is the week before New Year’s Day I thought we could do some reflecting on the past year.”

1. What one unexpected joy did you discover? I really do like raw oysters. I had had one years ago. It was mostly eaten just so I could say that I had tried one. It basically went down whole. And though I had had other opportunities to try one, I didn’t want to shell (haha!) out $3 to see if I really liked them. At a gig a few months ago, they served oysters on the free raw bar. So I tried one. I took my time, and chewed it thoroughly. It was good. I think, though, that I would much prefer them under better conditions. This one wasn’t very cold, and didn’t have any of its “liquor,” so it was a little dry. Still, it was good.

2. What  two things would you have done differently? Why? Hmm. I think I would’ve stayed on vacation in New Hampshire longer; it seems like we were really rushed. And, I would’ve called my plow people to let them know I would be out late on blizzard night!

3.  What were the three most significant events? My daughter started home school. My wife had surgery (minor). I had the flu, and was out sick for almost a week. (I haven’t been that sick in a long, long time.)

4. What four things did you do that were the most fun? Vacation. Christmas. The staff picnic with the kids. All the times the kids and I played “Jump on the Daddy.”

5. What five things are you most grateful for? Susan, Julia, Matt, Nat, and inumerable blessings God gives me.

1. I must travel abroad more before I die.

2. You can’t stop a bull moose with your car.

3. I wish I never had to buy diapers again.

4. My Fathers has have helped me change my life.

5. I know the song Happy Birthday by heart.

6. If I weren’t so afraid, I would put on some red longjohns and a mask, and turn myself into a superhero.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting home from my gig, tomorrow my plans include another gig, and Sunday, I want to not play any gigs!

I’ve been publishing this every Christmas eve day for years. I hope you’ll remember to keep the true spirit of Christmas, and not be like those described herein.

“For this your mother sweated in the cold,
For this you bled upon the bitter tree:
A yard of tinsel ribbon bought and sold;
A paper wreath; a day at home for me.
The merry bells ring out, the people kneel;
Up goes the man of God before the crowd;
With voice of honey and with eyes of steel
He drones your humble gospel to the proud.
Nobody listens. Less than the wind that blows
Are all your words to us you died to save.
O Prince of Peace! O Sharon’s dewy Rose!
How mute you lie within your vaulted grave.
The stone the angel rolled away with tears
Is back upon your mouth these thousand years.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay