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.)