Whatever Wednesday - A Christmas Cuteness Recap

Christmas Eve Day - Santa Ray with Kevin

Me and Ray - cuteness level needs to ramp up

 Cuteness Star - Dakota age 4.  Very pleased with her new tool set courtesy of Pops (i.e. Ray).  Safety first - apparently she's worn the goggles a lot.  Hammer, saw...I'm thinking there might be more destruction than construction ahead. 

Monday Moments - Basketball

Got a last minute invite to go see the Dallas Mavericks play basketball last Thursday evening. The Lorios (we have known them a long time and they are our financial folks) have had season tickets for over 15 years. The folks they had invited had to cancel due to Covid. Oops. So, we lucked out.

Awesome seats, good company, and a loss, but exciting play by the "D" team. None of the big names were in the game - injury, Covid, you name it. No matter what it was a very fun evening.  (FREE! - that's always a bonus)

I hope you folks have had a good holiday. Now we aim toward New Year's Eve. So fun filler posts for now. 
 

Merry Christmas

This is one of my favorite Christmas pics of all time - Abby at age two awakening to a castle. 

Magic!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas

Peace and love

 

Wednesday Whatever - Christmas and SANTA!!!

Everyone has visions of sugarplums at this point in the year.  I just hope everyone takes time for themselves to just sit and look at the Christmas tree lights, to contemplate whatever meaning he/she has for this season, to enjoy family and/or friends. It can be a tough time for many. 

My heart does go out to the tornado victims/towns/families, etc who are suffering from such terrible destruction. I realize I am posting this under a wine meme, but that is the vast weirdness of the season. I admit when watching the news, I thought of so many eagerly awaiting Christmas with houses decorated, presents bought, and plans for celebration.  And boom - it's all gone and lives are lost. 

That is humbling. 

We have our penguin light

The bar area is decorated

I don't even have this sweatshirt anymore, but it's amusing

I did bake some peanut butter cookies this year.  More to come. The aromas - yum

Peace to all
 

Monday Moments - Throw Away the Clock

Will I watch more movies?

Will I write more?

I will read more

I shall enjoy the holiday season and bake when I feel like it with the penguin watching over the measurements

I'll dream of beach days ahead

At age fifteen, I began to work. I wanted my OWN money to spend or save as I pleased. At seventeen, I couldn't wait to turn eighteen so I could work as summer help at Greene Tweed (where my father worked and they hired college kids) and earn union wages. Damn! I was raking in the bucks. 

At twenty-one, I moved to Texas fresh out of college, so green, eager to be all corporate. Oh yeah - I had the padded shoulder power suits. Evenings, studied and got my MBA.  Ready for my career!

Pretty soon, I realized I wanted to do a good job and I did. BUT, I did not want to work a zillion hours, kiss butt, or play the game that hard. So I settled into the regular rat race. Changed jobs a few times. Earned decent money. 

Now after fifteen years at Omega Research, I retired as of Friday 12/17/21.

It is Monday December 20th and I can throw away the clock. No 6 am alarm (unless I'm up to catch a plane to an exotic location).  No gulping lunch in fifteen to thirty minutes.  Time is on my side now baby. I am in control. 

I can take a walk, take a nap, sweep the patio, sit on the patio, do nothing, dream of everything. 

Look out world - another young senior is loose. 
 

Finally Friday - Gift Suggestion - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

 If you are still shopping for a great gift, here is a super read - Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. 

I love this man's writing, and now he's written a hilarious novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.  (cover blurb)

    Great opening line    Ray Carney was only slightly bent even when it came to being crooked...

Ray sells furniture, makes a decent living, loves his family. But few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his facade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. (cover blurb)

Ray gets pulled into a deal with his ne-er do well cousin Freddie. He senses this is going to blow up, and yet he could use some cash. Ray the striver versus Ray the crook. It's a double life and you are going along for the ride uptown and downtown, as Ray maneuvers between shady cops, local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and a Harlem backdrop. 

Great writing. Rich characters. Humor. Hubris. Harlem.  Colson Whitehead with Harlem Shuffle has pulled off another winner.   p. 244 One thing I've learned in my job is that life is cheap, and when things start getting expensive, it gets cheaper still. 

Wednesday Whatever - The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman

 Can one unlikely bookshop heal two broken souls?   (back blurb)

I love stories that take place with a book backdrop. Throw in Australia as a setting. I am hooked. 

The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman is a gorgeously written, gentle spirited, and wise novel that reminds each of us that love, literature, and forgiveness have the power to transform our lives, and - if we dare allow them - to mend our broken hearts.  (back blurb)

1968, rural Australia. Tom Hope was dumped and divorced by what he thought was a true love. Forlorn, he meets Hannah Babel, a Hungarian immigrant who's determined to open a bookshop and get folks to read. Tom builds shelves for her but is wary of her intellect and energy. She's a force of nature with some dark secrets and a past that had her in Auschwitz. Love finds a way with these two opposites. 

You will love how this book unfolds. You'll bask in the glow of happy times. You'll root for these two during dark times. I highly recommend The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted.