Now its my turn to be loved. I am desolate in the trenches. That is why it has been so important to me to have laughter here, and create food to be enjoyed by all, and to ride in the biting snow behind two beautiful steeds, and to bring apples to them, and to drink coffee and eggnog in the silence of a beautiful fire place and in the presence of good friends who get it. Behind the laughter and the snow angels there have been tears. I think you know. Not sure I can hold the tears in anymore. And I probably shouldn't. Thank you Wolf and thank you friends for this safe place. Its been and is a blessing.
Lindylou, hang in there we have got your back. Put your skates on and off we will go, Rona is a skier so he might guide us safely. Are you coming too Wolf? Marche is beside me and here come the others and they are pretty good at it so we will have to try hard to keep up.
Okay. Here goes. I'm in luck because the cedar chest in my room is a real treasure trove. I found not only a pair of ice skates that fit. But also a long coat and a fur muff. I tried them all on and when I looked in the mirror, that I didn't remember was there, I looked like someone out of a Currier and Ives painting. I remember seeing a wall of skates in the barn as well. Race you down to the pond. Last one there is "it".
Yes, I'm coming too. I've been here most of the time but this year I am less needed and that's good. It's fun to watch too.
Thanks to bhv and katherine. The sleigh ride is a little bumpy but I did it in just over an hour and I'm not touching it even though I would love to improve it and include the horses' bells jingling as we go.
Watching the three Scrooge movies made me think of that time when Dickens was writing and when celebrating Christmas was becoming popular. I think his book helped to spread the idea of Christmas ours springs from today. It made me think of parlour games and playing instruments and singing at a time when entertainment meant entertain yourselves with your own devices.
Yes, Lindylou you look beautiful! Hurry though as Wolf is coming up fast behind you, flanked by Katherine and bhv. Marche and I are hanging back to wait for Myrtle, Jazzy & Elizabeth (but really, who could ever catch up,you skate like an angel.)
Oh dear, there has been a few crashes (no names will be mentioned...) Wolf can you go back in the sleigh and collect those who have gone down? (You are always needed here) That crazy Lindylou and her dangerous ideas! And after you have taken the "wounded" back to the lodge can you go out again and check on Charlotte?
Ha-ha--have not skated for years. Let's make a line and play crack the whip--build up a lot of speed and then send the last person flying across the ice. Woo-hoo! Oh wow, hockey sticks and pucks! Now we're really in business. Glad this pond is lighted at night, and there's a fire pit with benches around it--lots of dry wood. I have to see if I can still get this puck across the pond...out of the way, Canadians! Let's see what this Yank can do! (Oh, stop laughing, Wolf...it's been years since I played hockey.)
All family members have left my house, and Bandit and I have been relaxing and snacking on a little leftover ham. All in all, I did survive it, and plan to drive up to NY the day after tomorrow--the only day this week when the forecast says it will be clear all the way up...no precipitation at all across the 400 or so miles. I just filled in the mail forwarding form online...plan to be up there for three full months before I come back to the Heartland. Really looking forward to getting back--making lots of lists for packing the SUV, but really my main things to take will be Bandit in his crate, my harp, and a couple good-sized pictures for the walls that will take some room in the car. And some clothes. Other than that, I'll pretty much finish furnishing and decorating the place from up there.
I threw it Elizabeth! Just wanted to remind you, no ham for Bandit, really toxic for dogs. You are a real cracker with that hockey stick, here comes Lindylou, she will be right into it with you. Wishing you a happy and safe trip to NY
OMG Anyone need a new depends? It's a good thing no one can see us but us. We would all end up in the evening news. Head lines" dementia is contagious". I don't think I have had such a good laugh in a long time. This has been so much fun being here. I hope you noticed that I was hiding behind the big tree? I have all of you on video. What do I get for it? Highest bidder takes it. Oh no! Bandit you little imp come back with that camera!
My sides are going to split and I will need a change of depends if this keeps up.
Run Bandit, ( Jazzy can move pretty fast) find somewhere soft to dig and bury that camera! "what happens at the lodge stays at the lodge!" No wonder, Lindylou, sometimes I think that you forget your age!
we have a 55 gallon drum with a fire. Everyone warming their hands there. Thermoses of hot chocolate aplenty. Someone even roasted chestnuts. I feel like I am 5 years old again holding the steaming chestnuts near my nose in my snow encrusted mittens.
I think that everyone has passed out from exhaustion now bhv, after all that exercise so I will sit with you by the fire. Hope that you will share the chestnuts, I have never had those.
Well, folks I had anticipated a quiet, perhaps somewhat melancholy, turn about the moon lit pond on skates. Not what I got. But it was exactly what I needed. I laughed, I tumbled, friends scooped me up. I learned the general rules of ice hockey. Who would have thunk it? Then sweaty and cold at the same time, sitting by the bonfire. Truly felt loved. Thanks, bhv. Thanks Cassie. Thanks, Wolf. Thanks every soul here. Marche, I never did visit with you, but I hope the magic of this place worked on you too. I'm leaving the lodge now till Friday night. Tiptoeing out. But some thoughtful person has brewed coffee and provided a thermos near it. I'll return the thermos when I return. Bye, all.
You are all SO great! I have thoroughly enjoyed our time together here over Christmas and it truly has hugely helped me.
I laughed so hard with the hoyer lift comments. I also remembered as a child somehow it was me that always ended up on the end of the group of people all skating together and picking up speed and more speed as the line went round and round. I tried desperately to hang on to the hand of the person holding mine but seemingly at just the right second my hand was let loose and I flew across the ice consistently landing hard on snow banks. Never seemed to be able to stop myself from crashing. I still remember that terror :-)) Was fun to relive that here.
All of it was fabulous. Thank you sincerely each and every one of you. Yes, we truly do get it.
Whether we go back into the breach or go back to finding the road out, it would be a shame if the truth did not register.
Whatever we are going through and however dark the storms get, the spirit is alive within us.
I am never old in my dreams. I remember my dreams often again and I'm usually somewhere between 25 and 40 or so. So is everybody else I interact with unless their role is to be 'old'.
I'm convinced the soul doesn't age. The body does. It's not vanity that I'm young in my dreams. If it was, I would do much better in them. Instead I believe dreams are when the unlocatable soul plays in the workshop of the physical mind during sleep.
All I have to do is play the dialogue from the last couple of days here with my eye's closed and it's difficult to tell what age the participants are. They sound young and full of fun. I felt the echoes of many MGM movies or maybe the echoes of my own memories of skating and snow angels and playing in the snow and fireplaces and having company.
It's with a light heart that I tell you it was fun watching how vibrant the spirit is. It was interesting thinking of all of you as young - exactly as we are in our souls. It's was even more interesting getting that window into the resiliency that is, in my mind, the best of us and the purest form of what we are.
We don't grow up. We grow old. The child we were is all the things that happened while the body we were in was growing up, but it's a continuum where those child experiences didn't go anywhere, but the interests and needs changed and are changing still.
I have fond hopes these last days impresses on at least one mind that we are still in here and are still ourselves - when the opportunity presents. That would be a great thing to recall when the tides of the battles strain us.
Well said, Wolf. I imagine you sitting by the fire in a cabin in the woods smiling at the antics at the lodge and feeling all warm inside at this wonderland you created for us. Well I guess we have all been building it as we go.
Before Christmas I went to a neighborhood potluck. I had been hibernating at home. There was a super moon so I was being cursed at at every turn. I decided I might be able to just sit in the background and listen to my girlfriends speak in full sentences with nouns and everything!
When I got there two girlfriends jumped up with big smiles and came running toward me with open arms. I wasn't prepared, and burst into tears and ran away.
My friend, Shari, came to sit with me on the stairs and asked how I am getting through the holiday season. Without thinking about it I said I have been spending time at this magical Christmas Lodge! I can walk around the corner and there is this lodge all snug in a snowfilled woods. There's always cinnamon tea and treats and the treats have no calories..... Her eyes got all wide and she asked,"How did you find such a place?"
I think she understood it is all imaginary. But she was so glad I had found such a place with so many friends who really understand what's going on and can meet there and play together. What a huge gift!
Today, your words keep running through my head. I am trying to find the me that is still in here and find ways to nurture that child so that I can make it through this battle. The lodge showed me she is still there. I can breathe today.
Hi, I just checked in for the long weekend. I'm going to take a walk now along the road because the snow appears to deep elsewhere. I want to enjoy the snow covered firs and the cold against my face. Don't know if there will be fireworks tonight from the village, but no matter. I'll drink eggnog and enjoy the fire.
Lindylou, fancy meeting you here. I am making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. My recipe is actually from my Polish roommate from college days. Tastes.more italian than any others I have tried. Ha ha. So I am thinking what if you keep me company in the kitchen while I cook? There is an overstuffed chair with an ottoman over there near the kitchen fireplace. You can see the window from there. I filled the hummingbird feeder. There's the purple throated one along with a rufus one, and, of course about 12 broadtailed ones all waiting their turn. (It is interesting that we can see my So Cal window all the way up here at the lodge, but that's.just the way it is)
I'd love to make spaghetti and meat balls with you. And learn your recipe. How about a nice salad on the side. You know I'm good at chopping. I hadn't noticed the hummingbirds, but the sparrows, titmice, chickadees, and nuthatch had already caught my eye. These are at our house back in Massachusetts feeding at our in-window feeder. But now I see hummingbirds too. Amazing.
Bandit and I will stop in for a while later to welcome in the New Year. (If we can stay awake that long.) We are waiting for the cable guy right now to set up some of the technology, but should be able to get in the magical, flying SUV and see you later.
It is 11.30 am, New years day in Australis so I am already here, have brought champagne and lots of good foodstuff from the village, all local produce (also fresh salad makings to go with bhv's spagagetti & meatballs.) I checked with the Mayor, Lindylou and he said that there will be a huge fireworks display, in the village green at 12 midnight (your time) so we should be able to watch from the lodge.
How wonderful is that. For many years now I have gone to bed early, only to be roused at midnight to my house vibrating from the fire works display in Worcester Massachusetts. I whisper Happy New Year to the world and fall back to sleep. This year, I'll see the fireworks through the large windows of the lodge, and be toasty warm. And I'll lift a glass to all my friends at Joan's website, and wish each of us a happier new year. Happy New year, World.
Absolutely if I'm awake I'll wake you. I've made a batch of martinis and I intend to go through them. I have this song playing over and over in my head. Maybe that's because I keep playing it over and over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7VxvF1DkSM
Sometimes the best thing to do with these things is to just sit down and get sloshed. With my tolerance of alcohol I'm liable to wake up in the manger with Daisy and Mae or maybe I'm getting my stories mixed up. Say, has anybody seen my girl Sadness? She promised me a dance, or was that a movie I almost saw once? That's one of the nice things about being an island. None of the local wildlife corrects you. I put cherries in the martinis. Olives can be bitter about being alone. You should always put two olives in so they won't get lonely. Your pimento eyes look lovely staring through your glasses like that at me tonight my dear.
I have a different question. If I wake you before midnight can you carry me upstairs? Or at least pour me onto the floor. Oh wait. Maybe I can find my own way there.
I had the strangest dream. I was back in school and the instructor (who had olive green eyes with pimento-red pupils) was teaching the class how to make a martini. In the background a female vocalist was singing a song from the 1940s. I woke up and realized that the eyes that were staring at me were those of Fluffy and Mousebane. They were purring a musical accompaniment to "Auld Lang Syne, which everyone was singing. Let us not forget times gone by.
Really enjoyed the Lodge last night, and the last toast of 2016 with the group. I got there so late, because the cable guy was at my apartment fairly late--but I have cable TV now in the new place, and Amazon firestick, and a new DVD player, and a DVR player that I'm clueless about what to do with. So 2017 will be the year to unravel all my new technology. I did figure out the TV and the Firestick before I came up to the Lodge--now today will be devoted to seeing if I can play DVDs. Yes, "Auld Lang Syne" was quite the emotional song, with us all linking arms and swaying back and forth and singing... Mousebane and Fluffy purring, and Bandit doing his "roo-roo-roo", which is his way of trying to mimic our singing.
Happy New Year! (Is Wolf awake yet? Has anyone seen him?
Dropping in to warm up by the fire - below zero C here in area of Vancouver and no heat for 12 hours, trees fallen on power line in my area. Need love, companionship and coffee.
We are here Mary. Hope you are warmer now. SO cozy in here.
Thank you everyone for the wonderful New Year's Eve companionship, food, beverages, and activities.
A huge thank you for this wonderful place to gather together yet again and get through this season.
I am checking out today and look forward to seeing everyone - I was going to write "next year" but it is already 2017. So looking forward to seeing you all at the Lodge in December.
In the meantime wishing you all peace and as much joy as we can muster as we soldier on.
Mary, I grabbed some juice at the convenience store, and some ginger ale, so that is here for you. If something hot sounds better, here is some Holiday Tea, which is warmly spicy but not overpowering. I've also brought the fixings for a hot whiskey and lemon, so you have a lot of choices. I'll prepare the beverage of your preference for you. And I brought a big pot of my lentil soup, too, which the family used to eat a lot of. And some Locatelli romano cheese to grate on top of it. And here is a plush afghan to wrap around yourself--just take it home with you when you go...but I think as long as the power is off in your neighborhood, you should just stay at the Lodge.
Oops, I see you wanted coffee. Hey, no prob, I'll get the pot on for you. Just sit over there by the fireplace and get toasty.
Oh, wow, Elizabeth. Your warmth and caring moved me to tears. Power back on, house warming up and able to cook. Son phoned from Princeton on his way back to Nelson. He stayed until the power back on and saw I was much better.
Well it was a rainy morning in Southern Ca. After a happy day with hb yesterday I took a risk and went out shopping and he wanted to come along. Big mistake. Just when I find the things I want he has to find the mens room and it was another disaster. But I digress. I set him up with a western movie and came over here. Yeah it is a bit early.
I am wearing grubbies. Swept out the fireplace and scrubbed the hearth. Set up kindling and wood for our first fire when we get around to it. I cleaned up the kitchen too. Took the sheet off the piano and played and played. Not Christmas stuff yet. I had the windows open to air out the place. It smells really nice now. I put some pine boughs on the mantel.
I took some carrots out to the horses. Was.one called Daisy? I can't remember their names. I love it how they nicker and put their foreheads against mine and snuggle a bit.
I am sitting on the porch with a cup.of tea watching the woodpeckers and cardinals in the trees. I guess I better go home and change the tv channel for him.
I called the wood guy and he came with the pickup and delivered a cord. It's piled outside the back door and under a tarp. Fluffy and Mousebane are fine--fortunately our magical cats don't require daily care--they seem to just curl up in a comfortable spot after the holidays and go into suspended animation until the next year. I checked the refrigerator for outdated items from last Christmas, but everything in there is fresh and good--magical mayonnaise never expires. Will stop in to "see" everyone next month!
Since bhv and Elizabeth have already checked out the Christmas Lodge I am about ready to visit myself. Tomorrow I return my handicapped son to his residential facility. My Christmas shopping will be minimal (just the son) I will have a lot of December to sit by the fire at the lodge. I can even write my Christmas cards there. Anyone want to join me?
Yes, MaryinPa! I want to hear all about the cruises you went on this year and what you are planning next. I'm going to bring a box of old photos to sort out while we sit by the fire and chat. bhv, you'll be a welcome addition to our group. We all come and go as needed, so don't worry about having to leave to change the TV channel for your husband. We understand.
Rodstar, if you fly in on your plane, there is a frozen lake you can land on. If you want to land on water, just wish for that and the ice will melt.