Bri pulled off Christmas all by herself. Her car is the only car we have that drives in ice and snow, so she did all the shopping for gifts and food for a week. Matt watched the kids, I sent her money on Venmo. It was all too easy. I did not decorate but Santa visited here anyway. We had an ongoing fire. I made mom's crepes. Bri made a lovely Christmas eve dinner. I drank many Mimosas and we watched the kids rip though their gifts. We had a couple of weepy moments when the girls got their Christmas ornaments I found hidden in David's closet. We opened the three ducks he had made and bought "in secret" the very last and we all had a moment of tears. I bought Bri, Mason and myself necklaces to hold David's ashes. As usual, my S-I-L, even having the crude I had managed getting up perfect, beautifully wrapped gifts AND got them in the mail.
Santa brought Noah many princess dresses and she modeled them all morning.
And now it is all over. The snow vanished and lashing rain moved in. I still had hardly moved from the sofa.
I got Matt "couple more days construction" T-shirt.
Well, I ran across Tristan & Isolde last night, thumbing through channels in the wee hours of the morning. At first I thought, I can't watch it again, I will cry too much. But I decided it had been so many years since I watched and cried like a baby, that I would give it a try. Such a tragic story of love, family and loyality.
The legend of Tristan and Isolde is the tragic tale of two lovers fated to share a forbidden but undying love. Scholars of mythology believe that the legend originated in Brittany, in western France. In time it was associated with the Arthurian legends* and became part of the mythology of medieval Europe, told and retold in various versions and in many languages.
The Legend. Tristan (sometimes called Tristram), the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, was a symbol of all the virtues of chivalry, including bravery and honor. Some accounts also claim that he was a brilliant harp player. According to the most detailed versions of this legend, the king of Ireland sent a champion named Morholt to demand tribute from Cornwall, and Tristan fought Morholt in single combat. Tristan killed Morholt, leaving a broken piece of his sword in the fatal wound. The piece remained in Morholt's body when it was carried back to Ireland. Morholt had wounded Tristan as well, and when the wound did not heal, the young knight went to Ireland, in disguise, to seek help from an Irish princess named Isolde (or Iseult) who was skilled in healing.
After Isolde healed Tristan, he lingered at the Irish court for a while. On his return to Cornwall, he praised Isolde so highly that King Mark resolved to marry her. Loyal and obedient to his uncle and king, Tristan agreed to return to Ireland and seek Isolde's hand for Mark.
Back in Ireland, Tristan found that the country was being terrorized by a fearsome dragon. Tristan succeeded in killing the beast. While Isolde was nursing him back to health after the fight, she discovered his broken sword and realized that he was the warrior who had killed Morholt, her uncle. At first she wanted to avenge her uncle's death. However, Tristan had endeared himself to the Irish people by killing the dragon, so Isolde forgave him and agreed to marry King Mark. She set off with Tristan for Cornwall.
Many versions of the legend say that Tristan and Isolde had already begun to care for one another. Their sense of honor might have prevented them from letting their feelings show, but fate now took a hand. Isolde's mother had prepared a magical drink for Isolde to share with Mark—a potion that would make them love each other forever. During the voyage to Cornwall, Isolde and Tristan drank the potion, not knowing what it was, and fell deeply in love.
Although Isolde went through with the marriage to Mark, she could not stop loving Tristan, and he was fated to love her in return. They tried to keep their passion a secret, but eventually it became known. Some accounts of the story contain episodes of intrigue and suspense in which King Mark or various knights try to trap the lovers and obtain proof of their guilt. In the end, Tristan fled from Cornwall in despair.
By the 1200s, the legend of Tristan had been interwoven with the Arthurian legends. Tristan had become a noble knight and appeared in some of the stories about Arthur, Lancelot, and the knights of the Round Table. By this time, storytellers had also begun to portray King Mark as cruel or cowardly, perhaps to create a stronger contrast between Mark and Tristan, though in earlier versions of the legend, Mark was an honorable man.
Tristan finally settled in Brittany, where he married another Isolde, known as Isolde of the White Hands. His love for Isolde of Cornwall had never died, though. In time Tristan was wounded in battle, and his wife could not cure him. He sent for Isolde of Cornwall, hoping that she could once again heal him. He requested that the ship coming back from Cornwall should have white sails if it carried Isolde and black ones if it did not.
Tristan lay on his sickbed and waited. Finally the ship appeared on the horizon, bearing white sails. Too sick to sit up, Tristan asked about the color of the sails. Jealous of his passion for the first Isolde, his wife lied and said that they were black. Tristan fell into despair, believing that Isolde had refused to help him, and died. When Isolde arrived and learned of his death, she too died of grief. The two were buried in Cornwall. From Isolde's grave a rose tree grew, and from Tristan's came a vine that wrapped itself around the tree. Every time the vine was cut, it grew again—a sign that the two lovers could not be parted in death.
It has been raining all morning and the snow has vanished. The kids will be over later. I got the house all cleaned, the table cleaned off, and found the new table cloths that David and I bought when we were in Arizona. I had almost forgot them. We bought a red set and white set in anticipation of Christmas and the year of meals to come. It is still quite cold. And now wet and the pups are coming over to spend the night ... why did I bother to mop? But we will have a big fire and I am going to prepare Mom's Christmas crepes for the morning.
I so love Graham Norton. I watch it when I need a belly laugh.
I did not put any lights up this year. I am just glad I have almost gotten through without having an emotional blowout.
I woke up this morning and got right up! First time in weeks. It is completely frozen out there. I am going to vacuum and try to get the table cleaned off for the Christmas meal that Bri is planning. I thought she would love it if I get the table cleaned off enough to have a nice, set table. I know the kids love when we do that, have candles, etc.
I ate something yesterday that I really enjoyed! It did not make me feel sick. It made me feel happy and I am so thankful for that. I have been eating creme of wheat, crackers, rice cakes, tomato soup. Nothing has sounded good lately and now I feel like I have rounded a corner.
I found these artist on Instagram yesterday and was blown away.
I love that he is re-imaging songs.
What a Christmas present, the Jan 6th report is out! I am going to start reading every word. When are the Republicans going to start being embarrassed by their treasonous behavior? Hell, when are they going to jail???
This was a delicous story yesteray! Fox News' Sean Hannity says he knew all along Trump lost the election. Sean Hannity is a lying piece of shit and I hope he and Fox have to pay billions of dollars in damage. Someone has to pay for all the damage that has been done to this country!
I have the best kids. They have allowed me my hibernation by delivering food and wood supplies and just letting me be. We might have an ice storm tonight which means power outage. I am ready. Devices all charged up. I even took a hot shower and I am not going to admit how long it has been. LOL. I will say the kids were appalled. Bri has managed to do all the Christmas shopping for the kids for Christmas morning. This is David's favorite time of the year and stockings were his speciality. I think we will be good with the kids. I just want to get through it with my sanity. ;)
Although I am feeling better, the snow has given me a perfect cover to stay on the sofa, in bed, in front of TV. I am not ashamed to admit it, I have spoken to several people and they have given me their blessings to sleep and hideout in blankets and pillows as much as I want. My S-I-L is feeling the same and we have decided it is onset depression. I am going with it. Nothing needs to be urgently done right now, so I am free to wallow all I want.
I think I have watched everything interesting on Netflix and Amazon, working my way over to Hulu. Yesterday, I spent an afternoon going through 1940's mystery movies on YouTube, most I made it about 30 minutes.
I have not gone to the store in over a week? I lose track. I have eaten out of the freezer. I burnt Chicken Pot pies last night, dug out the edible parts (there was not much) and fed the rest to Pixie. She has also run out of food, we are down to a few hot dogs now. I ran out of Half & Half this morning so it is looking like a trip to store is in my future.
That is, if I can drive there. The snow is really coming down this morning. I hope we don't lose power.
Here is the bummer part, of all time to drink massives amount of wine, I have not felt good enough to. I have not had any wine for weeks now. Even a hot tottie last week made me sick!
Hey, what a day to devote to watching trump get called out for the criminal he is! I only hopes they prosecute him to high-heaven.
And speaking of an idiot! I mean this is high school crap! Someone is going to sue the shit of him for that NFT mess up with stealing images from the internet. You really can not MAKE THIS SHIT UP. AND he made 4 million in a day! I hope they sue him for every last penny. The thing I can not believe is he gave that announcement with a straight face!
I am finally coming out of my fog but I just want to sleep. I ran across this video talking about the making of The English. It is perfection in the making, the landscapes, the customs. It makes you ask ... why can't every movie be like this? If you have not seen it yet, what are you waiting for?
I an eating gruel for breakfast, or rather watered down Creme of Wheat. Nothing sounds good.
This explains wonderfully the making of The English
The Lençóis Maranhenses are 155,000 hectares of without doubt the best sand dunes in Brazil, next to the coast, which during the rainy season fill up with water, creating incredible turquoise lagoons among the white sand. Lençóis Maranhenses are popular with Brazilian tourists, but also building momentum with an international audience (in other words, get in there while you can).
In case you live on Mars and missed the "big announcement' ...how much more humiliation can this guy heap on himself? I think we also need to humiliate the artist of these ridiculous images
Days have quietly slipped by with me under the covers. I wake up to take more "whatever" and drift back to sleep. My stomach feels like someone has been punching me from coughing, not a congested chest cough but something else. Yesterday, I forced myself to stay horizontal all day mainly to give my muscles a little workout and see if this intense pain would go away. And of course it was Thursday, the dreaded trash day. The thought of pulling those big canisters down to the street made me want to cry. I called the kids, who in turn texted my sweet neighbors. I said I would just take it out myself. I took the trash out and my neighbor helped me with the heavy recycle canisters. Just at that moment Matt pulled up.
Then there is the firewood. I was the one who brought in all firewood. David never did that. Matt started helping when he was older. I tried the other day to bring in some and it was hard for me to haul it up the stairs.
I now just feel like I want to get rid of this house. I seems too daunting. Too many stairs.
Of course, I am feeling all of this when I am literally shuffle/walking around the house feeling woozy most of the time.
Maybe when I start feeling better, stronger, I will not have this feeling of doom. I need a handyman I can call on the come help me with a few, small things around the house.
Okay, don't mind me, I feel like whimpering this morning ;)
The Seattle Times has done a very sweet remembrance of David in the Magazine.
We, my sister's and I, got the flu and I sent them home early. I think we have had it for a week. So much dry coughing for my stomach feels like someone has been punching me.
Canceled a bunch of David's magazine subscriptions ... I am tying to add up what he was spending on magazines per year. I do think he has lost all touch of reality the last year or so. I think the more I talk about not spending money and getting ready for not having income, maybe the more he panicked and had to spend? I really don't know.
Like I needed another, I found a new addiction on YouTube ... the master at making fun of the ridiculous. Elmoretv on Facebook
Apparently celebrities are trying to scrub their social media of promoting cryptocurrency. Bunch of chickenshits. They will do anything to make a buck, even though they don't need another buck.
Meanwhile, FTX's new CEO — yes, the company still technically exists —
John Ray had an unusual explanation for what had happened, telling
lawmakers at the hearing that his efforts to investigate the company
have found that FTX had no "record-keeping whatsoever" and that "this is
really just old fashioned embezzlement," as quoted by CNBC.
I forgot I have ONE more rant. I have made so many phone calls to cancel subscriptions, ask questions about Medicare, hospital accounts lately and do you know who I am usually talking to ... someone NOT in the US. Get this, I called my United Healthcare Medicare acct and do you know where the guy helping me was from DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. I hardly understand him. Is the Dominican Republic even in the US? They are usually woman from I am guessing Asia, India, Philippines? You can always hear their families/kids loudly talking in the background. We can not even keep these jobs in the US. Blame the corporations but I am seriously pissed off. I remember when Microsoft shipped all the editing jobs overseas to people who didn't speak English and didn't know how to edit a story or write a headline.
My sisters (SIL) and I have been huddled up in front of the TV for days nows watching Netflix, British Baking, Murderers in the Building. And I am forcing them to watch all of my favorite YouTube Shows. Drinking coffee, shopping. Today we are going to force ourselves to do laundry. ;)
Lots of hugging, lots of speeches, tons of BBQ, friends, family. It felt like a very nice event to talk about how much we all loved David. One of my friends played the bagpipe, which was wonderful. Bri amd Matt did a great job with everything and all family and family chipped in the set up. Many of David's co-workers were there and lovely rembrances of David. Many of them had worked with him for 30 years!
Now my S-I-L and sister are cocooning in the house with Netflix and food. Taking it easy.
I felt absolute exhausted yesterday, I think just having it all done was such a relief.
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