Good-by to the Old and Hello to the New!

 Whoopeeeee! Your girl has started collecting the names of everyone who sent her a Christmas card this year so that she can send out her own Christmas card out later, a card which will tell everyone not only what she is doing, but why she is doing it.

In the meantime, as Christmas fades away to New Year's Eve, Fiorella is quite pleased about her readjustment to the big city (Austin) and that the newspaper delivery problem has been solved, but she still has trouble with transportation.

Personally, her bad knee is still in need of treatment, her glasses are about ten years old, and her throat sounds like a gargling garbage disposal. There are a few other minor problems that a good doctor could probably take care of in a session or two, but your girl doesn't know which white coat (coats?) to turn to.

Son and wife have just welcomed onto the patio the backyard sectionals they've been mooning about ever since they walked into the house way back when, and it's lovely. Fio has already dubbed the couch.😌

Your girl is thinking of buying a big stuffed dog to sleep with her at night, but in the meantime,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Distraction

 WHERE HAS FIO'S GROCERY LIST GONE? WHERE HAS THE SLIP OF PAPER ON WHICH SHE'S WRITTEN DOWN THE ADDRESS TO THE PHARMACY THAT RECYCLES USED PILL BOTTLES? They were here yesterday, but now, when she's ready to put them into action, she can't find either of them!

All's well that ends well--the slip of paper never showed up so your girl looked up the pharmacy in FaceBook , called friend Requal, and saved the day. Interestingly enough, Fio recognized the pharmacy when she saw it because she'd donated pill bottles there when she lived in Austin.

As soon as Fiorella got her land legs, Son L took her down the road to a look at new reading glasses. He himself was able to buy a nice pair out of some kind of bank from a former employer, but Fio held back not only because she likes her current frames, but because she's always had problems with the kind of lenses which were part of the package.  (Hopefully, someone can find a way to fix the situation.)   

 Hoorah! Son L was able to retrieve your girl's wedding silver and two sets of slippers from under her low-hanging bed, but couldn't locate her "good" eyeglasses. Oh, well, maybe next year....

For some reason, Fiorella is feeling down. Christmas let-down? Disappointed about what she didn't get done this year and dreading what the new year will bring? What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awkwardly Proposing a Broadening of Fio's Content

 Now's the time to get started on your girl's New Year's project: enlarging her audience. Not that she has any idea of how many viewers she has, but whatever the number, she'd like to add to it--not just for her own amusement, but also, for yours.

However, right now, Fio's viewpoint is a bit muddled because she accidentally overdid her pills at Christmastide and has had to lay off them for the last two days. But all is well today--when Son L drove your girl in to the hospital today, her blood draw was just right.

Fiorella can't say the same about her glasses, which are about five years old and fading fast. Son took your girl to an eye glasses shop, but again, she was behind the times--there was no way she could just walk into the store as of old, sign in at the desk, then wait-wait-wait until it was her turn to follow the nice secretary into the doctor's haven anymore. In fact, the place Son took Fio to sported a layout of at least two-hundred pairs of glasses, but not a nice secretary in sight.

Back to Fiorella's intent to enlarge her audience: she'd like to be able post pictures too--probably of her paintings or other items she's made along the way. And by the way, it would be nice if those of you who know me well would contribute their own suggestions and opinions.

Ah, well--today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow. Fio just has to keep moving forward.

 

Christmas Backtracking

 OH DANG! Your un-brilliant Fiorella accidentally blotted out her messages for the day so now she'll have to not only admit to her stupidity, but start out all over again. So, her goes--

First on her list of complaints and most painful to her heart is that she has lost her mother's mink jacket--the one your girl and Husband bought for her when fur was THE THING and Mom could show it off in church.  Supposedly, the jacket is still extant in the house that Fiorella stayed in during THE snowstorm, but it will take a while for someone to find it. Meanwhile, your girl is shivering in a jeans outfit.

 To be exact, right now, Fio is trying to get her ultra-small bedroom somewhat into order. The three cork boards on her inside wall have been reduced to two, but will doubtless swell up again as more and more items are added to your girl's loot pile. Remember, Fiorella finds it hard to dispose of anything--and she can  usually find a place for whatever weird thing attracts her fancy.

Back to the cork boards: your girl has fallen in love with the photo of her Carpathian-Russine fraternal grandfather, a handsome, curly-haired young blond whose one-and-only photo she restored several years ago. At that time, she was restoring his outside, but now, she can't help but wonder about his inside and what he thinks about this bustling granddaughter of his.

Fiorella really likes her contributions to the family Christmas decorations this year--the cut-out bells and stars, the candelabra, the wreath, the Santa Clause in the doorway, etc, and hopes to preserve them all for next year....under her command, of course!

 

 

The Post Christmas Sonnet

Prayer of the Doubtful Magus

   Dear God, the night has passed, the day begun

 I wake to face the horror of the dawn--

The cold, blue sky and brazen, blazing sun

Obscure my view--the guiding star is gone.

    Last night the star was bright, the vision clear,

The pathway clear that I had sought yearlong--

I knew my god and Bethlehem were near--

So near at last--dear God, my faith was strong.

   But now my hope is gone; I cannot find my way

I feel a fool, as old men often are--

The dreams of night have been subsumed by day

And I--bereft, alone--I doubt the star....

     O God, dear God, I pray you yet again--

      Please, God, please let there be a God...amen 

 

i ca

Couldn't Christmas Last a Week or Two Longer?

 Merry Christmas to all, and Fiorella hopes you had a WONDERFUL Christmas Day. Fio herself spent half the day sorting through Christmas cards that she'd designed through the years  and wondering why some big company hadn't snatched her up. I mean, she is THAT good!

Now comes the take-down, of course---not of the tree yet, but on all the decorations that your girl has Scotch-taped onto doors and windows in her own realm....or like the red cardboard bells she attached to the extras a while ago--or at least to the ones that were complete with cardboard holly. 

Ahem...your girl has been known to also cut out some elegant cardboard stars, like years ago when she not only produced Little Red Riding Hood, but played the leading role--or has she mentioned her theatrical background a bit too often? (AHEM: Fio considers the wolf to be the leading character.)

Meanwhile. an interesting accumulation of a certain five-year-old's doll has taken over the left side of Fiorella's bed, and your girl isn't sure if she is supposed to welcome the throng with open arms or keep them safe in case the new dolls don't work out. Meanwhile, your girl is keeping her eye on her Santa Claus display in the front hall, which she'll keep into position for a while longer just to show off.

But the candelabra, which took a lot of work, can also stay up for a while. Besides, after The Baby is settled, the Wise Men will have to have some way to find their way back to their camels at night.

The Truth

Please forgive your Fio. She's been out front (translation: working on spreading her Christmas stories and trying to get herself more followers, which is somewhat ludicrous because she doesn't know how many she has or doesn't have right now. Never-the-less, she's hoping to bring former neighbors, schoolmates, and (uh) teacher-mates into her fold. Come on, people--all one has to do is pick up a computer and push a few buttons.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family is at the other mother-in-law's house. Dang--she's younger, prettier, and has more brothers and sisters than your girl does. Why did God stop Fio at three kids? (Actually, there was another another embrio, but he/she/they didn't make it more that about a month, and Fiorella still mourns the unknown.)

Back to today. Why didn't you go with Son L to the mother-in-law's family house, Fiorella? Because I've tried going with there time after time and still gotten the brush off (we apparently, we aren't simpatico) so I decided to stay at the house today and put my energy into my own Christmas card project, which may or may not succeed, but at least will make me feel useful.

 What makes those cards so important to you, Fio? I'm starving for companionship and am hoping someone--anyone--who gets one of my cards will continue corresponding with me on holidays etc., or maybe even visit me. 

When do you think your panic problem started? Probably when Husband got sicker and sicker, and then when he died, and then when Sonia Dog and I were isolated in the cold, cold house during the freeze, then then had a difficult rescue, then the moving into Mother-in-law's house for two months, then the house searching, the loss of her Sonia dog, the continuing loneliness. (Actually, my former maid is the best I can do for someone on my side, and I value her.)

 

Aspects of Christmas

    Christmas is a holiday of joy

When families gather around a bright-lit tree

To celebrate the Virgin's baby boy

And to enjoy each other's company

   Christmas is a holiday of caring

Of tending to the sad, the sick, the poor

Of opening up grateful hearts and sharing

Our bounty with the beggar at our door

   Christmas is a holiday of prayer

Of reverie and self-examination

A time to look within, become aware

To plumb the soul and seek illumination--

    A holiday of joy and caring and prayer

   God's gift of love to mankind everywhere.

Thank You, God....

 Fiorella is advancing in her plan to put together various of her poems to form a book, so if you're an agent or a publisher, or both, she's your gal. Here's today's Christmas poem:

Thank you, God, for friends and family,

For yesterday, today, tomorrow too,

For life and love and laughter, I thank Thee,

For all this wonderful, beautiful, new, and true,

For talents and skills and, oppportunity,

For the existance of this country and this world

For healing--body and mind  and memory,

For material goods, for inner strength unfurled,

For music and art, and pen, and poetry

For science, which demonstrates Your wonders made,

For your protection, comfort, generosity,

For your forgiveness, as when we've often strayed,

     For all that is, that was, that makes us whole, 

     For Christ, eternal Christmas of the soul💗

 

Copyright, JBB

INSTEAD!

 

HE COULD have come at the head of a howling horde,

a mob of wrathful demons recruited to scour

the earth and ravage it with fire and sword

in a full-court press to prove his might and power

HE COULD have loosed the rivers, burned the sky

melted mountains, destroyed the face of the moon

or swept the planet clean to purify 

it for a New Creation, coming soon

INSTEAD, he came as a child, a helpless babe

born in a stranger's stable on a death-cold night

with neither shield nor armored plate

to defend himself in the battle he was to fight

and win, as darkness always yields to light,

AS GOD PREVAILS, AND WRONG  MUST YIELD TO RIGHT!

 Copyright JBB

SUDDENLY!

 What happened? Is my poetry running out on me?

I will AGAIN write one of my poems for you...and hope that the anti-poetry pixie does not demolish it again....

 

Suddenly, the silence of the star-strewn night

Was broken by a newborn baby's cry

And choirs of joyful angel took to flight 

To spread the word to shepherds camped nearby--

Out of the East, three royal wisemen came 

To worship the baby born in a cattle shed,

A child who held no wealth or famous name,

Who was laid to sleep in a lowly manger bed

But nurtured and cared for as every child should be, 

Protected and valued, well clothed, well fed,

Not locked away in a prison of misery

By decrees devised by the vile and bigoted--

   Remember that God loves every child the same

   No matter its heritage, color, or family name 💗

From Dusk to Dawn

Somehow your girl erased her Christmas poem for the day, but she'll post it again and cross her fingers....

AH--HEM!

 

                                                    

                      Christmas Fire

The firewood salvaged from our fallen trees

We've dried and heaped upon the fireplace grate

To counteract the deep midwinter freeze

Which lowering temperatures now prognosticate--

Steel strikes flint, the tinder pile is lit,

A quick flame flashes, then is gently fed

Until the fire is burning bright and brisk,

Its fingers reaching high, its embers red--

Crackling and raging and roaring with each bite,

The hungry fire consumes the waiting wood,

But after we have gone to bed at night,

The flames burn out--untended, unrenewed--

     Yet warmth awakes us upon the morn--

     A Merry Christmas to all! The Christ is born!

 

Christmas Tatters

 You hoo, it's Fiorella, and she has a bee in her bonnet: what would you think of your girl starting up a TV talk show featuring....uh....more mature....visitors? We could find old friends and make new friends, give each other advice, and most of all, we could laugh and laugh and laugh.

OOOPS--Your girl intended to post the above question yesterday, but it still holds--even though she accidentally took an extra coumadin pill yesterday, which wasn't a good thing to do, but there aren't any ambulances lining up in the driveway so Fio is somewhat relieved. 

How did it happen, you ask? Well, your girl asked what day it was when she was journeyed so fast and furiously from one day/place to another--Walmart for Christmas cards, plus a few other things, then a horrendous visit to H-E-B which, of all things, was out of Shredded Wheat.

Of course your girl was late, late, late for her family gathering--and couldn't find her gift$ either. At the second family meeting, Fio had a good time until everyone grouped together and Son L decided Fio needed to rest in the very same small room she'd lived in during her escape from the Great Freeze of last year. (Or was it two years? Needless to say, her memories of nearly freezing to death are not what she chooses to be exact about.)

Changing the subject completely, Fiorella finds herself, as she looks around her bedroom, staring at a photo/portrait of her father's father when he was a young man coming to America. The picture was in bad shape when she first saw it years ago, but Fio restored it beautifully--if she dares saying so herself. 

Second Chance!

            Second Joseph

Awake, awake! Open up your eyes!

Awaken now! We must prepare to flee!

Come, Joseph, come, make hast! Make haste and rise!!

   While there is time--and opportunity!

Awake, awake, the dawn is blood-cold steel!

Make haste into the armor of the night!

I hear the distant hooves, a thunder peal--

  The storm draws near! We must prepare for flight!

   Awake, awake! The night is overslept!

How many miles to Egypt, how many tears?

Where once our fathers labored, mothers wept,

 We now seek refuge--haste, the tumult nears--

     As Joseph led his tribe to slavery

     Now serve the babe who sets the whole world free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     As Joseph led his tribe to slavery, 

      Now save the babe who sets the whole world free!

 

 

A POEM FROM THE PAST....AND FOREVER

 At this time, Fiorella is stepping aside for a poem called  The Sacred Child (copyrighted)....

 

Two thousand years ago, the kings bowed down

And from their packs, three costly gifts brought forth--

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were due the crown

Upon the wobbly head still wet from birth....

Two thousand years ago, the shepherds came

And bent their shaggy heads in mumbled prayer

To call upon the power of his name,

A baby, helpless in his mother's care....

Ten thousand years, the mother smiled

To know the joy of heaven at her breast

Her future's hope, her God's own child,

Who mewed at her disturbance of his rest....

    Two thousand years today, lest we forget

That every child is Christ among us yet

Closer and Closer and Closer.....

Okay, Fio feels like an idiot. She spent about two hours on the computer trying to remember the the name of last college she taught in before retiring, and then Son L found came up with it in about three second-- probably because he knew nothing of the bad memories your girl had of her ouster....or of the ouster at the same time of four other practiced teachers--to be replaced by five newly minted young women, who, as we later learned, fled at when their own term was up.

And yes, if you're wondering, your girl and her pals, were all experienced teachers who had always received high grades from their students....which her supervisor didn't....

Ah, well....that supervisor no longer walks this earth. Fio has been told that his superior, who had been the behind-the-scenes cohort in getting rid of the experienced teachers, arranged for his cohort's coffin to have a solemn ride down the the city's main street before reaching to its ultimate end.

This is the first time Fiorella has told this story, and it sort of scares her, so rip the blankets off the bed and your girl will switch to comedy like, "You know Christmas is close when Walmart is the most popular store in town😜😜😜 "

 

 

 

No Room

 Well, at least some people in the family are getting to go caroling--Daughter-in-law's family--but, according to Son L, there isn't room for Fiorella, which saddens her and gives her an idea at the same time: if no one has room for her (at the inn?) this evening, maybe she'll bundle up, go out into the front yard, and sing solo! Heck--she might even gather a few more lonely carolers!

But in the meantime, your girl will spend her time this afternoon on a revision of the Christmas card she sent out in 2077. It was the first of her musical series, and these were/are the words: FIRST VERSE: Today I sing a happy song/Today I sing a song of joy/Praise to God/God is good/God has given me a baby boy. SECOND VERSE: Today we sing a song of peace/ Today I sing a song of love/ Praise to God/ God is good/God be praised in heav'n above. (Um....it sounds better with music.)

Ah, memories of times past. Your girl can't help but smile at the memory of the couple of years that her kids' schools sponsored after-school class programs for the students, their parents, and the whole neighborhood. Fiorella, of course, volunteered for both the adult and children's music classes, and not only had a ball, but made some life-long friends. (Hi, there, Marian!)

So why is it that there is no room in the inn when it comes to Fiorella caroling now?

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS PREP---TRUTH WILL TELL

 Fiorella is caught up with Christmas--almost-- but has it caught up with her? No one seems interested in the cardboard bells and stars she's hitched to the walls lately. Does everything have to be plastic and bought in stores? 

One thing that never changes is the beauty of Christmas carols, but, lovely as Bing Crosby's recorded voice still voice is, it makes your girl cry because her mother would put a stack of such records on the record player every year at this time....and again, your girl misses her mother very much.

Let's hope Fio will find a place to dump all those plastic pill bottles she's saved through the years because Walgreens isn't interested. Will keep you posted. 😕

Fiorella has been overhearing a lot of back and forth between Massachusetts and Texas today, which is a good sign--the younger generation is taking over business responsibilities which didn't even exist when Fiorella first came aboard.

If you have a list and are checking it twice, your girl would consider anyone to be "nice" rather than "naughty" who will lift your girl's bed up for her while she scrambles around looking for a set of shoes ramps, a pair of glasses, and some lost silverware (don't ask). But what she'd really like is a friend....who has a car.😁

 

Calamity Jane Keeps Jumping Back and Forth

WHAT?! No Fiorella yesterday? Your girl could have sworn she she'd written down her calamities for the day, but maybe she hit the wrong button afterwards and everything😕 got erased.

 Whatever....after about two weeks of pulling the workings together, then apart, then together again, Fio's hit the right button today--her first holiday window decoration is finished, and IT IS GREAT! Of course, the achievement was not without help. It's thank to Daughter-in-law that the plastic candles are beaming their golden light into the universe, and Son L, bless him, was the one who found the necessary extension cord.

Oh, and Fiorella forgot to mention the several escapes to the outside that George Cat made whenever Fio would duck out to see what was working with her candelabra production and what wasn't. Interestingly enough, the family's gorgeous white Persian slips out the door like butter any chance he gets, but won't go beyond the front yard. How does her know?

There's still time yet, so your girl is hoping for a caroling group to emerge and maybe even invite her to join them, hint, hint..... Oh, has Fio mention this before? 😊

CHECKED AGAIN AFTER FINISHING THIS BLOG AND FOUND YESTERDAY'S BLOG TOTALLY IN PLACE JUST WHERE IT SHOULD BE. WHY IS IT THAT THE ELECTRONIC ELVES HAVE SUCH A GOOD TIME TEASING YOUR GIRL?!!

Christmas Grumbling

 Somehow, despite the outside lights and the inside decorating that Fiorella has been doing, it still just doesn't look "a thing like Christmas." Maybe it's the lack of music, or snow, or Christmas cards bulging the mailbox--the latter of which is Fiorella's fault because she's been moved around a lot in the last couple of years. 

But Fio, you've been at the same address for almost two years now and, knowing how easy it is to talk to you, surely you've made a whole passel of new friends by now. But alas, no--unfortunately, your girl's neighborhood is made up of mostly young children, and she doesn't have any of those hanging around anymore.

But tradition is tradition, and Fiorella is doing her best to get out a new card this year, although it will actually be a revamping of an older one--The Mother's Christmas Song--that she mailed out back in 1977. The words are (first verse)"Today I sing a happy song/ Today I sing a song of joy/ Praise to God/ God is good/ God has given me a baby boy," and (second verse) "Today we sing a song of peace/Today we sing a song of love/Praise to God// Praise to God /God be praised in Heaven above." (Don't try to find it on a newsstand.)

Surely there is some kind of New Years potent that will get your girl up and running again. Of course, the problem is that she can't drive anymore. She's taken care of part of the problem by hiring her former maid to drive her to the grocery store et al on Saturdays, but there's more to go. Actually, she needs her own chauffeur on call.

Or, at least have more talkative residents in the offing....

 

 

 

 

 

Decorating Madness....

 Your girl doesn't feel good--maybe because she's been bouncing around like an idiot during the holiday season, maybe because her chocolate larder is bare again, or maybe because she has no idea where her treasured Christmas card list is.  Whatever, 2022 is her first fairly normal Christmas in years, and she can't find anything....

Change of subject: Fio took her once-a-week blood test at the hospital this afternoon, and her coumadin level was PERFECT....just what it should be! (Merry Christmas!)

Unfortunately, her holiday house is NOT what it should be. Fiorella still has a Santa-Claus like plastic bag full of spent cartridges of old pills next to the bureau that she's been dragging around and trying to find a place for.  Surely, SOMEONE will be able to use the them.... where's Walgreens when you need them?

Oh, look--George, the big, white Persian cat has just now hopped up beside Fio and is purring like crazy! Has he gallantly come to comfort her girl and  her up? 😀 But, nooooooo: Georgie-Porgie--Puddin'-and-pie is trying to snuggle up next to Fio for warmth....

Meanwhile, Fiorella has Scotch-Taped eight red cardboard bells onto various halls and walls of the house she now lives in, and she'll be looking for even more suitable locations tomorrow. You know how it is with Fiorella--she doesn't want anything to go to waste.....

 

Bad Planning

 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Too much going on--sleep well and I'll write you tomorrow!

Tragedy List

 Tomorrow is a new day, as 'tis said, but Fiorella is going to have to brave it out with a minimum of milk, her favorite liquid, because when she went out to get groceries this afternoon, she forgot to add it to her list. Dang! Fio's milk cache can only last through today and probably till noon tomorrow, but after that, she'll have to drink Canada Dry....

On the other hand, the journey to HEB wasn't a total loss. The long flashlight that Fiorella bought in Walmart got back to the house without a scratch, so now's hoping that your girl can get down on her back and start checking under the bed for (1) her good eye glasses and (2) her $400 shoe inserts.

In the meantime, let's also look at the mystery of the sheet of silver paper that Fio bought in Walmart and which, like her milk, was also discovered missing when she got back to her house. Hmm....weren't there a couple of burly guys milling around Fiorella's car when she and her driver were trying to load it?

Son L and wife vary nicely invited your girl their Christmas tree "trimming ceremony" in the den, but it was hard for Fio to see ornaments she had inherited or bought or made in someone else's hands...or tossed aside.  

The closer Christmas gets, the more your girl wants to sing Christmas carols. Surely there is SOMEONE out there who could set up a sing-along. The neighborhood just spent hundreds (thousands?) of dollars on Halloween hoop-la so surely it could spare some time and energy getting together a caroling group based on the birth of the Son of God!

  ,

Family, Family, Christmas

 Oops--almost forgot to write because Daughter brought her Baby over to visit today. Yes, your Fio is a head-over-heels grandmother, and with everything else that's going on, she doesn't get to see Baby as much as she's like too....DRAT THAT COVID! Not that Fiorella has had  it--or that anyone else in the family has (except the Massachusetts branch), but she likes to play it safe.

Your girl has just spent her last two hours going through stacks of small notes, piece by piece, that she's written at one time or other to make sure no important family information went unnoticed.  Translation: the waste basket is overflowing.

Ah well, there's always tomorrow, and your girl is hoping that a sheet or two of gold tinsel and an electric cord will come with it. Yes, those two articles are what she needs to finish off her Christmas window. The creative genius of Fiorella Plum strikes again!

 

Christmas Preps, Ups and Downs

 

Fio forget to push the "Publish" button yesterday so you're getting yesterday's comments as well as today's.

Be happy along with Fiorella because she's F I N A L L Y gotten a seasonal decoration in her front window--something very simple that it was under her nose the whole time--the plastic candelabra in her former home that she always hung on the stairway come Christmastide. 

Then, after hanging the plastic and staring at the scene for a minute or two from outside, Fio supplied what would have been Husband's final addition to the scene--two sheets of red paper with a Christmas greeting in Latin printed on it--and Scotch-Taped  them on each side of the candles. 

And again, Fio cried a little, even as she is crying now . . . .

 

 

Christmas Cards Galore!

 If you're ever in a knife fight with Fiorella, you would win--and so would anyone else--because your girl can't deal with blood, be it living or dead. Needless to say, when the time came for her to choose a career, she was not drawn (😁) to anything even half-way resembling the medical world.

The above was just to get your attention. Needless to say, most of Fio's time is spent preparing for Christmas, like matching up her upper salon window with the lonely candelabra which she had brought from her former residence. (It was love at first sight!)

At present, your girl is struggling with a reworking of one of her own Christmas cards--the one with a song in it, if you remember. Being a show-off, Fio'll give you the verse later on, but you'll have to be able to read music to get the whole. (In the meantime, she'll lure you with the verses:

Today, I sing a happy song/Today, I sing a song of joy/Praise to God/God is good/God has given me a baby boy////////////Today we sing a song of peace/ Today we sing a song of love/Praise  to God/Praise to god, God be praised in heaven above. 

The message is somewhat repetitive, but your girl doesn't mind hearing it again and again. In fact, she hopes the whole world hears it! And that YOU start making your own cards too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Memories

The best part of your girl's day came in the morning, when friend P, who lives in Vermont, called for a  pre-Christmas chat. Yes, you're beginning to catch on: Fiorella likes talking with people, and two of her teaching friends calling her up so close together had her thrilled to the bone.

 So then, was it any wonder that the rest of her day was something of a let down? Chasing a doctor that she's not fond of all around the cobbler's bench (by way of Walgreen's phone) to get her to continue to prescribe a med that she herself had put on Fio in the first place was not how your girl had wanted to spend so much of her afternoon.

And then there was the weather itself--a bit cold, and not a sunbeam (or person) to be seen. How could Fio put together the joyful declaration of Christmas she was planning to display in her salon window with everything looking so dismal? And the memories of those she had no longer with us?

But it's evening now, and tomorrow's a new day. 

Love, Fiorella

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

 Okay--yesterday was my day for sorrow, but your girl has recovered now. Move on, Fiorella!

.......Or maybe you should stay in place and get ready for Christmas. That big window out front has yet to be decorated, and you need to do something about hiding the cords leading from your age-old family Santa into the socket in the hallway. Then there's that front window that you tore your Ukrainian sunflowers off of so you could replace them with more of a Christmas message, if you ever think of what to say.....

Has Fiorella always been like this was at Christmas time? As I remember, she had plenty of energy at Halloween......

Maybe her current malaze is because she's not doing any singing this year. Yep, Fio's still more or less recovering from that horrible head cold she's had for about two months--but not recovering enough that she can join the rest of the choir.  (Honking coughs are not appreciated in the soprano section.)

Oh well, your girl still has eighteen days to recover herself and who knows what might happen next?😁

.

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 Today was my mother's birthday, and I miss her so much. She had been a high school teacher back in the oldern days, when woman rarely went further than college--and even if there had been opportunities for her to sign up for a Master's degree, her parents just didn't have the money. It was only through scholarships and odd jobs that she had gotten through her degree as it was. 

That's all I can say. Every time I start writing about her, I get all messed up. Maybe she's telling me to close the book.

 

 

Is It Christmastide Already?

 This dull, rainy Sunday has not been good for your girl. She added only two new pieces to her jigsaw puzzle, messed up even the easiest of her piano pieces, realized--after spending a couple of hours staring at the house across the street--that there was no way she could  come up with a satisfactory Christmas design for the front of her home, and then had to get Son L's help to open up her computer after she'd briefly closed it.

The good news is that Fio's throat seems to be clearing....for now. Pray for her that she'll be able to hit an easy F again. Yep, your girl likes those high notes. (At one time, she even had a G.)

Hooray! The pre-cooked half-turkey that Fiorella bought for herself just before Thanksgiving is now history with no help whatsoever--yum! Wonder what meat your girl try next?

One thing Fio's doing religiously is sniffing at her milk jugs very carefully because both Son L and she overbought a while back and Fio doesn't want any sour milk ruining the pudding.

 Truth to tell, Christmas hasn't really sunk in with Fio yet. It's Texas, so there's no snow and the little girls in our neck of the neighborhood are still running across the street with no shoes on. Another indication is that there's no one singing at the door. 

Speaking of, your girl would love to go caroling again. Hmm, wonder if she could get a local group going? Any volunteers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Boardom to Jigsaw Puzzles to the Weather to Notes to Sonia Dog

 What can Fio say except that she is very, very board. The rest of the family has cleared out to the other grandmother's house, and, after going through everything in the City of Austin's Senior Transportation Program--which she can't make heads or tails of--and rethinking her plans for this year's outside decorations--which are pie in the sky--your girl is running glum. Ah, well, maybe inspiration will hit her as the evening passes on.

One of the first things she'll have to do for sure is pack away the1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that Son L bought for her her recently. She doesn't have the room for it right now, and besides, if she went after the puzzle full blast, she'd miss Christmas.

Either the next-door-neighbors have turned up their TV or an ice cream wagon is coming down the street, and Fiorella is betting on the latter. Cold one day and warm the next--that's Texas for you.

Has Fiorella ever confessed to you that her bedroom wall--the inward-facing one--is covered with pictures, instructions, and every other kind of note you can imagine? And that some of these notes have leaked into the hall? But what else can your girl do when there is so much that she has done or needs to do?

Son just called and said he'd be two hours late getting back to the house, and Fio appreciates his call, but would feel safer if she had a dog sitting beside her....a big mastiff like her Sonia, God bless her soul.

 

 

Movin' Along as Best I Can

 What a wonderful thing to have a friend from across the waters who's kind enough to give Fiorella a call! And even better, the two of us were able to start talking right where we left off about a year ago, when, for some unknown reason, the national security systems of both our countries....or maybe a dastardly Russian scheme against womanhood..... tore Fio and her friend apart.

To tell the truth, both of our lives have moved forward, but neither of us have veered from our core values, which means we're still family oriented and have oodles of hilarious stories to tell. 

That's one of the things Fio likes about women, that most of us are born to laugh because (let's face it) pushing around a two-ton canon--or even a ten-pound lawn mower--just isn't our style. But seduction is, along with good food, a happy face, and making everyone comfortable.

Your girl has no idea why she's gone off kilter and talking nonsense right now except that she's not happy with one of her doctors forgetting to tell the pharmacy to lay off a certain pill that she is NOT supposed to take--and at herself for not recognizing it until after approximately fifty of the little darlings had ended up in her plastic pill box. Thank goodness, Fio hadn't swallowed any of them, but guess who's already paid for them them.

Has Fiorella told you that she's started planning a manger scene for the house's front window? It's going to be difficult because the panes haven't been washed for years and she'll probably have to do all the work inside, then hire a neighbor kid to fasten all her masterpieces in place. As always...pray for Forella.

The Long and the Short of It

 The day is getting shorter and shorter, which makes Fiorella bite her lip and look around when she steps outside to make sure no disgruntled elves are lurking around. Yes, your girl likes Christmas, but couldn't it be a bit brighter and more jolly? How about sleigh rides up and done the street? Or a few carolers off to an early start?

Meanwhile, Fio ponders her own fate. Is her sore throat healed enough that she can add her own cords to the singing? And what about those homemade holiday cards she produces every year? Will she be able to follow up on them?

Of course, remember that heavy snow is not the best memory for your girl, that she almost died a couple of years back in the "great Texas snowstorm." But maybe she could use her childhood Ohio memories to find search out a nice little  patch of snow and roll it into three balls, then stick a couple lumps of coal in its head for eyes, nose, and mouth, and have a jolly-faced snowman....

And what do you want for Christmas, Fiorella is asked, and she replies that she needs some sweet Santa to search under her bed for her missing glasses, her wedding silver, and her shoe supports. 

But even more important, she'd like to see world peace....and family peace💗