Fast away the old year passes

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses.

More of those covers are here.

"Deck the Halls" is used as a Christmas song, but it's as much a New Year's song. Since before anyone can remember, there's been something about babies around the time we now celebrate as Christmas and New Year's. There is birth and rebirth, and another rebirth every year. So there's Jesus and then there's this baby 2009. Neither will be a baby again.

Deborah Cunefare sent me something very interesting, which included the two illustrations at the right, and some others. (Click those to see.) Thanks, Deb!

There's another baby to come, in February. He's not usually so young, and he's more dangerous, though I note 1918 has a sword, over there.


From there on, not counting some baby chicks and ducks (made of marshmallow, pretty much) about the time of the crocus and daffodil, the year gets older and older, so rejoice in the baby stages. Babies grow up faster and faster.



By the time it's 2009 at my house, New Year's day will be half over in India, and mostly over in New Zealand, so my baby new year is one of the youngest of all! Have a great day and month and year, all o'ya'll. Thanks for visiting my blog.

---

P.S. I'm back. I forgot to mention that Holly has named her laughing, peeing doll "Dezmond" (from an Irish boys' names site, because he came from Ireland), and his laugh reminded us of this video, which can be the soundtrack of a Happy Baby New Year!

Christmas 2008

Good, long, tiring day. Very nice day here.

Many DVDs, CDs, books, some tools, some clothes, good candy, a sewing machine (for Holly), new Rock Band drums and a "drum throne" (adjustable stool with nice padded seat for Marty), twelve string guitar (for Brett). Waffles. Prince. Donovan. Norse metal (and pirate metal?) and The Killers and Disney movies, Tenacious D... Humor and music and love.



How Holly came to receive a certain gift, a doll from Dublin, designed in Spain, made in China....

Lights and invisible tree

With the flash, so you'll know what I'm going to show you:


The silvery thing is a stainless steel shield boss (domed center for a medieval shield), a gift from Duke Artan to Bardolf (translation: from Jeff to Marty), and the flat steel to the left of that is the shield it's going to go onto. They're going to get together to build the shield later.

I'm thinking everyone should put stainless steel things under their trees, though (not that I have "a tree," but no matter...) because look what the lights did on the steel, or what the steel does to the lights, or something:



Here's what the whole thing looks like (or looked like, for those who will see this after daylight on Christmas) in the dark, and what Keith looked like Saturday morning before he went to the Midwinter Feast:



And last, earlier tonight in Old Town. I didn't take a lot of pictures. I took a photo of some joinery in a beam and of some luminarias (farolitos, they're called, further north, but not in Albuquerque). These were taken from where I was standing in a passageway in Old Town, one of the places we stopped to sing. We saw more beautiful things, but it wasn't a good night for photography.

Holly bought a little tree

With the money Holly earned at work, she has bought Christmas gifts, but with the money her grandparents sent her, she bought a bonsai fig tree.




It's going to live in her bathroom.










I took those two photos above
but here's one Holly took
of herself and her tree:

Bizcochito amendment

Not to the recipe; that's fine. To the pronunciation guide.

http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/12/bizcochitos.html

("Munch, munch, munch a buncha Fritos
Corn chips...")

---

Friday Fill-Ins These just aren't funny.


When Kirby was little, I would sing the Jetsons theme song to the Flintstones tune, and vice versa, and he did NOT like it and wanted me to stop. Poor guy. And same with this. There are RIGHT ANSWERS. And they lead to good music and great memories and Bethlehem when God is ceremoniously a baby every year and I'm not screwin' with these. I love Christmas music. This is hard for me.

1. Said the night wind to the little lamb, you and I don't have souls, so don't get too excited about all this.

2. The first Noel the angel did say was not in English.

3. Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere,
Go tell it on the mountain that if I don't mail those last few cards today or tomorrow, they won't get there, so I shouldn't be goofin' around on the computer.

4. It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their... (Oh. I need to go to the lyrics game now.) .

5. Don't use saturated fats, Let your heart be light. (not counting bizcochitos)

6. And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Hey ringa dinga ding, sweet lovers love the spring??
(This one I don't know at all, unless it's something about sympathetic bells without ropes or clappers.).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to looking back with satisfaction on the fact that all the cards and letters have been mailed, tomorrow my plans include mailing those last few cards if I haven't done it already and Sunday, I want to not be kicking myself for those cards still sitting here.

or, ideally, tonight I'm looking forward to looking back with satisfaction on the fact that all the cards and letters have been mailed, tomorrow my plans include nothing particular and Sunday, I want to keep just hanging out with my family doing more of nothing particular.

A New Calendar

...and a new book by Pati Nagle.



Pati sings with us and we've known her for a long time. She has a new book coming out in March, and has a calendar designed to go with this new world. It's cool. Click it to go to the site for more about the books. (I guessed from the art here that it was about vampires and sex. We asked Holly what she thought and she said "vampires... (I prompted her for "sex") and she said "Vampires, sex and the Civil War?" (Pati has written historical novels about Civil War battles in New Mexico.) But the art on the website is more fantasy/Tolkienesque and less vampirish.

You can get a 5.5' x 8.5" glossy calendar, too, by requesting it at that page.

And what am I doing? (This being my blog and all...?) Poking around my friends' webpages, drinking tea, looking at the rain outside, thinking I should mail a few more Christmas letters and cards before it's too late. Holly's asleep, Marty's asleep, the house is very quiet.

More snow bits

Monday morning:


Monday evening:


Tuesday noonish:
Icicles forming on the plastic above the compost pile by the drain in back:


Water bouncing up and forming a raised edge of ice around a bucket in front, ice on the plastic netting, and the sky becoming blue again.


"Shadows" of objects, where the snow didn't fall. Inside the pan is a curve from the tub above. Under the pan is a place where the snow never fell. And it makes patterns as it melts, too.