Another year bites the dust!

Yeah, another Christmas bites the dust! Two more days and we have a New Year, which I seriously hope is better than last year.  It seems like I just put up all the decorations and soon will be taking them back down.  Where did this year go?

Christmas was very nice with thoughtful parties given by Tara and one the next day given by her in laws. We thoroughly enjoyed both.  The girls liked everything we bought them with exception of the smart watches which cost the most and received the lightest reaction.  Note to self next year stick to things they ask for. 😉

Bri and her drone, aw oh neighbors look out!

Fun with bows

Kaity and her Wubble, still not sure what that is

My New Year's resolution started early, learn to sew!  Ruth gave me some lessons over Christmas and I have been trying to get used to it. It is getting easier.  My first two projects were super easy ones, a table runner and a candy roll pillow. My new project is sewing a pair of espadrilles, that looks a little tricky but with snow flurries predicted this week sandal season is way off!

My pillow project

Autumn table runner

I am getting the dadmeister back today. Ruth and Tommy have had him all week giving me and Jim a much needed break.  Not that he is all that much to handle but it is still the fact we have someone else in the house to take care of and look after. Tom and Ruth generally take him every other weekend but because Tommy had the whole week off they took him for the whole week.  They have been huge help to us and dad looks forward to his alternate home for sports therapy and pet therapy!

dad getting pet therapy

Tara and Kevin have two dogs and a cat too, so when I need pet therapy I go over there. Mr. Fluffy loves me and the feeling is mutual.  And the new dogs got accustomed to me right away.  One dog (Vanilla)was in my last blog, this time it's a picture of Susie rocking a Christmas bow.  Since there are no mutts anymore ( check the paper for insane prices on crossbreeds) I decided that Susie looked half Whippet and half Labrador , which makes her a Whipador.  Vanilla is a Shepard ,Shar pei mix, so I guess that makes him a Sheppei. 😕

Susie the Whipador rocking her bow

This new year we will hopefully soon finish painting the darn house! It is taking forever!  Yeah it's big and all and the weather is NOT cooperating! Now we have a cold front this week and maybe even flurries!  I wanted it done for Halloween, then Christmas, and now it looks like New Years is a wash!  Maybe it will be done by Valentine's Day? Speaking of red things just when we thought we were weird to paint our domes like mountain tops someone painted theirs to look like apples complete with stems!  Here's too originality!

The apple domes

Giving back

This is the time of year when we are supposed to be charitable right? That is the main theme of A Christmas Carol.   I have been just giving money as the ONE time I volunteered for a Christmas Charity I was burned!  I volunteered for Salvation Army Christmas Joy.  I had thoughts about happily doing that every year. We gave poor people gifts for their kids UNDER the age of 13 and food baskets.

The FIRST woman I got wanted to know what we had for her 14 year old son. I said we don't give to kids that age as they don't want toys. The Army people had told  EVERYONE that was the rule, NO gifts for kids over 13.  She made such a big stink over it! I finally said look we received tons of motorized scooters. Even though we really aren't supposed to have gifts for older kids  I could give you one of those if you thought he would like it.  Well if you AREN'T supposed to then why are you"?!  Oh man, I wanted to hit her! The woman volunteer in front of me whipped around and said to the evil bitch, "seriously", when she is TRYING to help you?!!  Oh, OH👿 The evil person said nothing but just had this obnoxious look on her face.

The next time I went to take a person to the toy room, I said I DON'T want ANYONE who has a child OVER 13!!!!  I helped other people that day, all who were so nice and grateful but that one person soured me so much I never did it again.

Dad had a similar experience delivering meals for the "poor".  He and a friend went to one house that seemed pretty nice and there was a Mercedes in the driveway. Hmmm😕 they tried to not make much of it till they went in the woman's house. " Oh, yeah, she said" put it in the back room with the "others". They went to the backroom and it was filled with gift baskets!!  They never volunteered again either. So many people can really use the help it's awful when one bad apple has to spoil it for the ones who truly need and deserve it. Ugh, evil people suck!

I have been looking for year round volunteer services too, something with animals. Although an animal shelter could be dangerous as I'd want to take them all home!  My best volunteer job in the past had been at the "Clearwater Marine Aquarium", yes the home of Winter the tailless dolphin and her friend Hope.  I worked for them prior to their star dolphins, then the Star was Sunset Sam, another dolphin who had beached himself and was rescued and saved by the Aquarium.  I loved Sam and would visit him every day as soon as I came to work.  He was a prolific painter.  All the staff would laugh when I took it upon myself to analyze his works.  The painting I bought mom and now my sister has was " A self portrait" (according to me), mine was "dolphins in Sunset" and my daughter's is "Sam and Panama", it actually LOOKED like two dolphins and a plus sign!  That was right after the aquarium found Panama and she became his tank mate.  The last painting he ever did was distressing, muddy brown sludge over the canvass. I looked at it and blurted out ," I don't know, I diseased intestine maybe?"  He died a week later and I think he was trying to tell us something!  Mom had called me after watching the news, " I just saw this and don't want you to read it in the paper" and she told me he had died. I cried and cried.

  I did get to go to his funeral though, to this day it was the best I ever went to. There were 4 speakers and a priest and we all signed a giant card with his picture on it saying what he meant to us. The priest was surprised at the crowd. He had been to human funerals where no one showed up and here was one for an animal and 100 mourners were there.  He was worth it.

Another fun volunteer position was at RI Park Zoo in RI.  There was a friendly, fun group of people
volunteering there. I would give tours to school groups or take our "Zoomobile" out and take a few animals to schools or birthday parties.  It was so much fun.  I really wish I could find something similar here, but I've drawn a blank.  Maybe the new Year will bring fresh ideas.

Today is Jim and my anniversary, 22 years today and will be celebrating later. It is also another anniversary. Three months to the day that mom died. This will be our first Christmas without her. And she LOVED Christmas!  More than most kids. So that's hard and I know dad is feeling it too.  I really want to wish every a very Merry Christmas and hold loved ones close, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

A Tale of 10 Scrooges

I have been binge watching " A Christmas Carol". So far I have seen 5 different versions and the 6th is on cue for later this week.  I'll bet I have seen in the past just about all the versions except for the silent ones in the 20s and a few of the newer ones I refuse to watch. Some are awesome some are so so and some just God awful!

The oldest version I've seen is the Seymour Hicks one from the early 30s. It is an acceptable version and has the shortest running time.  There was some unique scenes only in this version but they didn't even show Marley's Ghost, you just heard his voice. I guess replicating a ghost was beyond their level of expertise at the time.

The next is the Reginald Owen Scrooge made a few years later with wonderful special effects for that time period.  Mr Owen replaced an ill Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge and I wonder what that would have been like. I'm sure Mr. Barrymore would have crushed it!  The Owen Version isn't my favorite but I like it for other reasons.  One is they have the Lockhart family as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit and their lovely young daughter June playing one of the Cratchit's children. June would later play Timmy's mother in the TV series Lassie and the mom of "Lost in Space", a silly SciFi series obviously trying to garner Star Trek's fan following.  Also in this version the horse drawn Carriage Scrooge uses to make the rounds is in the Carriage Museum in Florida! We've been to that museum and it was exciting seeing this and other historic carriages. According to AAA magazine it is considered a Florida Jewel. I agree!

The early 50s "A Christmas Carol" starring Alistair Sim as Scrooge is by and far the best version and also the most accurate. It came out on premiere day (Halloween) to lukewarm reviews stating it was too scary. Too scary for Halloween? How times have changed!  This is the ONLY version that completely tells why he is estranged from his nephew Fred.   He blames him for his sister's death as she died having him. This is ironic as he was estranged from his own father for the very same reason!  Scrooge's mother died having him and the dad blamed Scrooge.  I get so annoyed at the versions showing Fan as a younger sister!  If their mom died having Scrooge and Fan is much younger well how in hell did that happen?  That's impossible! If you're gonna change a story at least keep the basic facts right!   This same unfortunate occurrence  happened in my family. My great grandmother died having my grandfather  and his dad was so upset he put him in an orphanage!  He was later taken out and raised by aunts.  And I don't even know if he ever saw his father again.  Sad.

At some point in time the powers that be decided to make musical versions.  The Albert Finney one gets great reviews. I have no idea why. He has no voice AT ALL and croaks out tune after tune. Yuck.  Then there is the better Kelsey Grammer version, it has it's moments and at least Mr. Grammer can sing.  The best musical one if you ask me is the "Mr Magoo Christmas Carol".  It is animated, has a cute story line,  wonderful songs and stars Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit.  He was the father of teen idols Shaun and the recently departed David Cassidy and was a fine actor and singer.

 Another animated version stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge. This is the scariest version and must have been mind blowing on the big screen in 3D.  Even on a regular TV the special effects are
spectacular! One scene has Scrooge being chased by red eyed demon horses pulling a hearse, small kids must have been scared out of their wits!

My favorite of the newer versions is the George C Scott one.  This gets lousy ratings and again I am clueless.  He is one of our finest actors ever and certainly delivers in this telling!  The whole cast is awesome and Tiny Tim for once really looks like he's dying.  Maybe it was politics I don't know. And yet they always give that Bill Murray abomination glowing reviews. Ugh, really people?  Although I pretty much hate all the versions that skew it to modern times.

One actor in the George C Scott one was in one of my favorite shows from the 80s. It was called "The Equalizer" and starred a very Bond like British actor- Edward Woodward. He plays the ghost of Christmas present and at one point stares down Scrooge and tells him off, figuratively ripping him a "new one".  I loved it!  By the way here is the opening sequence of the Equalizer.  If the pounding music and frightening imagery doesn't make your hair stand on end check your pulse!

The last version I will watch this week stars Patrick Stewart as Scrooge.  If Captain Jean-Luc Pickard can be Scrooge why not Kirk's William Shatner?  His halting and monotone delivery may have been quite unique, or funny.  This is one of the better new versions.  I like  Patrick Stewart and read a story on him once about his miserable childhood at the hands of his abusive father with severe PTSD.  I wonder if he called on those memories for his excellent portrayal of a man hardened by a heartbreaking childhood.  I imagine he did.

The snow domes

We have been busy busy! Poor Jim has been painting the house since August and still isn't done.  I have been helping- a little by doing the low areas. I don't do ladders.  Because it is all concrete and there is no roof the footage to paint is estimated to be 6500 feet of painting. That's a lot of paint. Especially when you have to do two coats. Plus we have been hampered by weather. All summer is rainy season and you have to have three dry days before you can paint. Ugh, frustrating!

Jungle Jim of the snow domes

But finally, FINALLY we are seeing the light and are nearing the end! We decided to make them snow domes.  Painting the peaks white and swirling it down to look like snow caps.  I mean if you're going to live in a weird home why be normal?  But actually it looks pretty cool! Starting tonight north Florida is supposed to get a winter weather pattern and even flurries, so there may be real snow on the snow domes!

Snow domes

Our little flying squirrel is all comfy in his bird house in the barn. There has been a bug problem though but now with the cold front he should have it all to himself.

Rocky all tucked away

I have been doing other little projects too like freshening up the cord wood pump house.  All the  brown stain had faded and needed another coat.  Maybe when we are all caught, whenever that will be, up we can sit back and rest.

Pumphouse door before

Door after

Front door after

Added to the "fun" is a major holiday approaching.  I am finally done with that too, decorations were up long ago and all gifts have arrived and are wrapped. 🎅 I started late this year and it worked out better so I will be doing that from now on. Plus if you buy things in "July" try returning them in December! And all the great sales don't start till the end of November.  I can see why people wait, it makes much more sense.

Today Jim and my dad are out shopping all day. If I had the energy I'd run through the house screaming!😂 It is frustrating have a 91 year old control freak set in his own ways living with you and there are times I NEED a break!  I am so thankful my brother and sister in law take him every other weekend and this weekend is theirs, yahoo!!!