Bringing Party Favors to Hell

Man, I haven't posted in forever- seems like I rarely have anything interesting to say! But I did have to acknowledge the passing of one of my very earliest crushes: Davy Jones, gone at 66. Far too young!

All the icons of my youth are disappearing! Wah!

Or, was. Goodnight, Walter, we'll miss you. He was 'the news' for several generations, really. What a shame he didn't quite make it to the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing. I still remember how excited he sounded. It was the first time I ever heard him sound anything but calm and soothing.

I just heard from bethbethbeth and aukestrel that sharonmarais has passed away suddenly from meningitis. I did not know her well, but she always had a kind word, and we both liked hockey, and I'm sad that I won't be seeing her comments any more.

I just heard from shiningmoon that George Carlin has died. This bums me out, man, to use an idiom from when I first heard his work. He's been one of my favorites forever. I still quote from his routine about cats all the time, even though it's been 30 years since I heard it.

RIP, George, we're gonna miss you.

ETA: shiningmoon suggests "...everyone should say "FUCK!" at 6pm eastern time in his honour." I think that would be a fitting tribute.

For the first time in about a decade we have a yule tree! Found a cute small balsam fir and brought it home and decorated it. We didn't have quite enough of the cool new blue LED lights we'd bought so we have one strand of old-fashioned multicolored fairy stars too. The tree looks a tad lopsided because of that. The cats are extremely intrigued but so far ::fingers crossed:: they have not attempted to climb it. It seems to have provoked one of the two into a fit of territoriality, though. After a prolonged tree-sniffing session, Riku growled and hissed at Sora (who wanted a sniff too), which he very rarely does-- though we've noticed that when we take them out for walks (they walk on-leash) he does it then, too, so maybe the tree reminds him of being outside? Who knows. Cats iz werid. ;D

I also baked yesterday. About 4 dozen Oatmeal Snowballs and about 6 dozen Kolacky (aka Thumb Cookies, aka Jam Thumbprints). I used 4 different fillings for the kolacky-- Rose's lime marmalade, blackberry fruit spread, some amaretto-apricot-orange marmalade leftover from making an Amaretto cake, and some of the concord grape and port conserve I made a few months ago. They each have their own unique flavor but I'm kinda partial to the grape/port ones, I think.

Mini-rant: after wearing nothing but round-toed shoes for several years I bought a pair of snowboots which happen to have pointy toes. After a day shopping and walking in them I remembered why I stopped buying pointy-toed shoes. They hurt! Feet are not pointed, shoes should not be either. Unfortunately they are my only snowboots so they're not getting ditched from my closet as they deserve. Instead I just have to remember not to wear them for extended periods of time.

The Year Meme: ( cut-tagged for your convenience )

Wow, am I boring or what?

And damn it... I just found out Dan Fogelberg died. I am bummed. I know a lot of people think his music was hokey but I loved it.

Molly Ivins passed away yesterday. She was only 62 (it was breast cancer). She's long been one of my idols, and I will miss her wit and wisdom terribly.

RIP Betty Friedan. I drink a toast in your honor, because things wouldn't be half as good as they are not if you hadn't been around. We've still got a long way to go, but damn, you made a difference, and you'll be missed.