Midpoint

I'm at that point in my Christmas preparations where I'm losing some of my enthusiasm. I liken it to when I take a road trip. I love the first part where I'm all excited about embarking my trip and I'm anticipating all the fun. I love the end where I reach my destination. However about halfway into the trip I begin to lose my initial enthusiasm. The scenery isn't catching my attention and I'm tired of nasty highway rest stops and I can't get shit on the radio that isn't Oak Ridge Boys-ish or a farm report. It passes soon enough but in the meantime it's hard not to just pull over and say "Screw it!".

I'm now down to the boring, on-the-verge-of-being-annoying Christmas shopping. The stuff I need to pick up for our doctors and B's physiotherapist and assorted extended family. I always feel quite clueless when doing this bit of shopping. I set out hoping to be inspired by seeing some sort of clever gift idea but usually end up buying something that just won't be out-and-out embarrassing to present them. Today it was shopping for our family doctor (Two silk scarves and a box of Lindt chocolates. My prediction? She'll regift the scarves but eat the chocolates.) and for B's dermatologist (A bottle of Vueve Clicquot champagne) and all I could really think about is getting home and curling up on the sofa because right now my stomach has been extra wonky. I can't even drink tea without it giving me stomach cramps. I don't have time for sofa curling though because I still need to do some gift shopping, have to get groceries, and find somewhere to store my yucca palm so I can get my Christmas tree up. I hate that yucca palm. I'd saw it in half and chuck it in the biodegradable trash bin except my MIL bought it for me for my birthday three years ago. Stupid tree. The leaves are always stabbing me.

It's just the mid-season whine mixed in with a hefty dose of stomach virus. By the time the weekend rolls around and I decorate my tree and completely plan out my Christmas baking I'll be more enthusiastic. Hope my stomach gets better soon though because for every day I have a wonky stomach I am missing an opportunity to have crispy fish as the Christmas market.

Idle Curiosity

I wonder how many NaBloPoMo participants have posted on their blog for today, "Happy Thanksgiving!" and called it a day?

Whatever that number is, add one more.

Regardless of whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving today, I hope your life is filled with an insane amount of blessings. So many that it defies counting.

Anyone got any leftover sweet potato pie for a homesick Mississippian in Germany?

Friday Shuffle - Day Off Edition

It's a holiday here (German Reunification Day). Every day is a holiday in the Peach household so the only thing different about this day and a run-of-the-mill Friday is that today the TV programming was all "special" with lots of movies being shown all day and stores were closed. Oh! And I was awakened at 8:30am by my neighbor's daughter playing the piano. She's normally in school on Fridays and doesn't waken me with piano playing until the weekend.

And that's the biggest difference between holidays in Germany and holidays in the US. In the US a holiday means having the day off from work and we go shopping. In Germany we have the day off, shopping is impossible but to make up for it we have the opportunity to spend the afternoon watching both parts of Merlin. For the eighth time.

Bixente, the iPod doesn't take holidays. Let's shuffle.

1. Never Thought I'd Say That It's Alright - Sugarplum Fairy
2. Windy - The Association
   
3. Song To Self - Travis
4. Killing The Blues - Robert Plant/Alison Krauss
5. There's A Place - The Beatles
6. Serenade In Blue - The Glenn Miller Orchestra
7. Poison Heart - The Ramones
8. Passionate Kisses - Mary-Chapin Carpenter
9. Walking On Broken Glass - Annie Lennox
10. Mein Regen - 1000 Robota
    

Every Day is a Holday 'Round These Parts

Easter brings a four day weekend to Germany (and lots of other countries too...no need in believing we're the only ones to have an Easter Monday as though Christ resurrected twice or something). Since neither B nor I work outside our home it doesn't mean any time off for us - B has to be cared for no matter what date is on the calendar. Instead of thinking of holidays as a day or two away from work we tend to think of holidays as days when stores are closed and TV programming is screwed up. Looking for a Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill flick? Just wait until a holiday rolls around and you'll be sure to fine one. Or five.

On occasion we have visitors on holidays - Christmas and Easter being the two primary ones - but otherwise we hunker down alone. We sleep later and jammies are worn longer and our meals tend to be simpler unless it's one of those holidays when tables groaning with food are required. We watch a lot of movies and eat cake. If the weather is fitting I like to go for walks because holidays are the one time when my neighborhood is absolutely dead. Sundays are quiet here but holidays are like living in a ghost town. Walking around our neighborhood at 8am on a holiday will give one that Omega Man sort of feeling.

Holidays are also the time when B and I will sit around and just talk and tell one another stories from our younger years that revolve around whatever holiday we're currently celebrating. This year B and I discussed how we dyed Easter eggs (I was a little surprised to hear that, being as he grew up in East Germany and all, that he had Easter egg dying kits like I did) and B got to hear the story about how one of my brothers took the colorless wax crayon that came in the egg dying kit, wrote "fart" on the egg, dyed it, and my other brother and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world and the only thing that made it funnier was that our mother never caught on to the naughty egg! And we wouldn't tell her why we were laughing so much! And we laughed even harder the next day when the offending egg ended up in my Easter basket!

B didn't laugh all that hard at the story. I chalk it up to him growing up an only child. What does he know anyway? He's been known to watch Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill movies.

Gratuitous Post of Obligation

But it's heartfelt! And well intentioned! And really, really sincere! And it fulfills my NaBloPoMo requirement for the day!

I hope all my readers who are celebrating Thanksgiving today are having a lovely, happy, safe holiday and that you are surrounded by loving family and friends. I'm thankful that you allow me to give you a glimpse into my life through this blog.

Someone eat some pie for me, okay?

Wish I Were There

I love the 4th of July. I love the history. I love the parades. I love seeing flags everywhere and I get choked up when I hear the Star Spangled Banner played. I love the picnics of fried chicken and potato salad with chilled watermelon eaten for dessert. I love seeing who can spit the seeds the farthest. I love reading the Declaration of Independence - when I was eight I started a tradition of reading it every Independence Day. I love being outdoors all day long no matter if it was blistering hot and then waiting patiently for it to finally grow dark enough to set off fireworks. Or even better, finding a good viewing place to see a community fireworks show.

I'm a fireworks junkie. I'm a history junkie. I am a freak for Thomas Jefferson. And I love my country and I'm very proud of her. It's no wonder that, after Christmas, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday and it's no wonder that today I'm especially homesick.

So someone do me a favor. Someone eat some fried chicken for me. Someone put out their flag for me. Go to a parade and wave for me as it passes by. Spit some watermelon seeds for me. And someone light a whole box of sparklers for me and say "Ohhhh!" and "Ahhhh!" when you see some especially spectacular skyrockets. No need to love America for me today. I can do that wherever I am.

Happy Birthday, America.

Obligitory Holiday Roundup

I'm sure I'm not actually obliged to tell y'all about my Easter holiday weekend but if I claim obligation then maybe I'm off the hook if it happens to disappoint. "I didn't want to write it! I knew nothing exciting happened! It was required of me!"

Some highlights:

~ Heard some achingly bad karaoke from the neighbor living below us. His rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit had a particularly fine my-balls-are-in-a-vice quality to it.

~ Since a holiday generally requires a lot of musical entertainment and not to be outdone by the ball-squoze karaoke singer, my neighbor living above us practiced her piano as often as possible. I suppose she believes Easter to be a more somber holiday and that's why every tune she played sounded like a dirge. A loud dirge. My favorite was when she began tickling those ivory keys at 11:00 yesterday. That would be 11:00 at night.

~ Two or three fist fights nearly broke out at my MIL's birthday celebration. You don't have to be the Amazing Kreskin to figure out that Aunt Annoying was at the center of all the conflicts. My personal favorite? When Aunt Annoying told my MIL's best friend - a lady who probably pushes 300 pounds - that she should see about losing weight and that weighing so much was bad for her. A suggestion given completely out of the blue. I thought my MIL was going to sink through the floor from embarrassment. I thought my MIL's friend was going to deliver an instant ass whipping.

~ B and I had what was probably the worst in terms of style and yet tastiest Easter dinner I've had in ages. Since B wasn't able to get over to her birthday celebration buffet supper she sent over with me for our supper some lightly breaded and fried pork fillet and Bouletten - sort of a cross between a hamburger and a meatball. And there was a lot of it. As B and I were too starved to wait for me to boil some potatoes and steam some green beans to go with it, I instead warmed up the meat, grabbed a loaf of whole grain bread, a jar of mustard and a bottle of ketchup and we sat in the living room and had a fried meat festival. We were merely inches away from spearing the meat off the platter, fork grasped in an overhand style, and gnawing off hunks with our teeth.

~ My MIL made us an Easter basket. That's love when you're on the back side of 40 and you're still getting an Easter basket.

~ Two seasons of Lost watched in three days. I didn't catch every episode but a lot of them. Most of them. It helped me knit faster.

After a brief hiatus, yarn talk is back tomorrow. With pictures. I know you'll want to pencil that in your Day Runner.