Victorian Christmas Cards

I'll be cooking a nice plump hen for Christmas at Kathy and Jim's - along with gravy, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, peas, and butternut squash.  We'll have our "traditional Swedish" breakfast of sausages, scrambled eggs and pumpkin pie...  (It's a long story.)

  I wanted to share these Victorian era Christmas cards with you - some seem extremely odd today, and some of the characters depicted look downright creepy to me - but, please, enjoy!

Swedish Christmas

A Swedish Christmas involves Father Christmas, Santa Lucia, tomtes, and straw ornaments...

Christmas Meal?

Poor Broncos fans - we watched in disbelief last night as the Cincinnati Bengals picked the defense apart and totally confused and read Peyton Manning's offense.  It wasn't fun to watch, but watch I did, to the very end.  Not a great Monday night...
  It started to snow about 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon and fell until 4:30 - I was certain the hens would be inside their coop, avoiding the weather, but I was wrong.  Xuxa and Carter were eagerly awaiting my arrival on the front porch; but the hens were having a party out in the snow.  I re-filled their water, got their evening feed ready, gave them a cooked sweet potato as an enticement, and still had to herd them up and into the coop.  I have a pound of wheat berries for the girls' treat today.
  I spoke to Kathy on Sunday afternoon and asked if she and Jim had any plans for Christmas.  Usually, everything is planned for the day about two weeks in advance; but not this year.  Sarah, Michael and Evie will be in Santa Fe this week, and Mike and Erin will spend the day with her parents.  When I asked Kathy, she had absolutely no plans whatsoever - so I told her that I would be happy to come and cook a meal at her house, or have a meal delivered for them, and/o just stay away and give them a last, peaceful, "normal" day together (since Kathy begins chemotherapy on Friday).  She was very vague and said she'd think about it.  With Kathy beginning chemo on Friday, everyone in the family and all close friends have been warned that her immune system will be shot - and not to visit, if  they have any illness.  My friend Beatrice has a bad cold, so she's avoiding me.
  I figured that I would just stay at home and make myself a big pot of meatballs and marinara sauce for Thursday.  Kathy called and left a message for me last night, stating that she and Jim would love it if I came over and cooked for them.  The only problem is that I currently have a sore throat and runny nose.  It might just be the change in temperature and my allergies - but it might be the beginnings of a cold, as I have to keep clearing my throat....  I'll talk to them today and see what they want to do.  I have to go out and about, travelling to two different houses on Christmas Day, taking care of family pets, anyway - but I really do not want to endanger my sister's health.
  And it seems that Jim's ruptured appendix has healed enough for him to be released from the hospital in Antigua.  He and Jan should be back home on Friday evening, as originally planned - that takes a tremendous load off my shoulders, as I can just go on with my usual schedule, and not have to keep them added to it.

Assorted Photos

Blue bird of paradise

Delmarva fox squirrel

Colorado winter

Cheetah cubs

Parrot

Kayaking in Norway

A Swedish Christmas table

Giving, Rather Than Getting

I witnessed something really impressive Sunday afternoon on  a local RTD bus.  A gentleman that I know, who chooses to be homeless, was giving a $10 bill to each and every homeless person riding the bus.  It was after 4:30, and the homeless shelter on north Broadway opens their doors at 5 p.m.  I was riding the Skip, a bus that travels north and south along Broadway only - every day it's northern terminus is the Boulder Homeless Shelter.  The gentleman is known to me as Roy - that's the only name he uses.  He's a war veteran who suffers from PTSD; he lives frugally on his Social Security Disability payment, and gets his medical care through the Veteran's Administration.
  Roy can look frightening - unless you look into his eyes.  He dresses himself from the Army Surplus store in boots, camo pants, and an old fatigue jacket.  He is a tall man, well over 6 feet, and is strongly muscled.  He has iron grey hair that spills more than half-way down his back; and he has a full, almost white beard that is about 6 inches long.  He has hazel eyes behind wire-framed glasses.  As far as I know, he stays away from cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.  I've never seen him in any state other than sober, to my knowledge. He has a gruff voice and a slight backwoods accent.
  Roy works part-time and he pan-handles part-time.  He saves his money until the Holiday season.  Then, from December 20th through January 2nd of each year, he hands out cash, twice a day, to other homeless people.  They aren't large amounts of cash, but, when you're homeless and have no hope, seeing a member of the homeless community passing out cash every morning and evening during the holiday season to other homeless people is an impressive act.  I give Roy $20 each year, and have done so for the past 7 years.
  It was an accident that I happened to see Roy handing out his money to other needy people yesterday.  I knew that he had been doing it for the past 9 years.  Yesterday was the first time I saw the confusion, disbelief, and joy on the faces of the people he gave money to.  (He does it at different places and times each day.) I think that Roy, the homeless man, is the epitome of a gentleman; he gives to others for the pure joy of giving during a time of year that is cold in Colorado, and a time when everyone enjoys a little extra jingle in their pockets.  I'm going to start doubling my contribution to him next year.
  The looks on the faces of some of the men and women made me weep...

Brightly Feathered Birds

Wood duck

If anyone can tell me what this gorgeous bird is, I'll label it!

Lea Faulks has identified this as an African roller.  Thank you, Lea!

Golden pheasant

Yellow saddle-billed stork

Painted bunting

Scarlet tanager

Keel-billed (aka scarlet-billed) toucan

Just Stuff

It's sunny out, but the sky looks ominous; heavy, dark clouds are piled up underneath higher, lighter colored ones.  It was a little cloudy this morning, but the winds are picking up and the snow-bearing front seems to be barreling in from the west.  The current winds, which are predicted to last until midnight, are at 30 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 75 mph.  The wind was so loud, that when I stepped out onto the patio to put some nuts out for the neighborhood squirrels, Nedi stepped outside and immediately back inside.  Usually the only thing that drives Nedi back inside is hail and window-rattling thunder.
   Well, I enjoyed seeing the Redskins win yesterday, and I have to admit it was much nicer to watch them win, than to watch the end of the Colorado State Rams game...  The Utah Utes stomped the Rams; and the interim head coach, who hoped to step on into Jim McElwain's shoes, informed the news people that every single football coach at CSU had gotten their pink slip.  Ouch.  Now it's a waiting game until Monday night for the Broncos to play the Bengals.
   The new season of Downton Abbey will begin on Sunday, January 4; and I'm looking forward to new episodes of Gotham, Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, NCIS, Person of Interest, How to Get Away With Murder, and Blue Bloods, starting on the 5th.  Then, I will be in my glory (ho, ho!) when Vikings starts their third season on Thursday, February 19.  I'm really looking forward to seeing Rollo sack Paris; and to visit all the other clan members, especially Floki, Athelstan, Lagertha and Ragnar Lodbrok.  And I suppose that we'll also see Bjorn Ironside make some moves on his own...
   For once, we have no set plans for Christmas - I have volunteered to cook a fat hen, a pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy for Kathy and Jim this year - as long as I don't get a cold between now and then.  With her first chemo treatment scheduled for the day after Christmas, she shouldn't be exposed to colds (or ill people in general) until she's finished both the chemo and the radiation therapy.  Both of those things will lower her immune systems tolerance, and none of the family or friends want to be responsible for making her worse.  From Boxing Day until the second of January, I will be running around like mad, taking care of four and five (and possibly six) houses full of critters.  It'll keep me on my toes, anyway!