Things Get Done
As many of you who know me may know, I am mildly obsessive-compulsive. I like things to be in their designated space. I like a clean house, down to the baseboards and the hidden places. I suppose it gives me some mystical illusion of control in a world where there is little (I believe) that can be controlled.
I believe my faith is pragmatic; I have learned – at least in my life – that God is in control, and that his plans are far better than my plans, although when I am in the midst of chaos, I have problems clinging to that belief, LOL.
But he sends me messages. As I have ended the old year and started the new year in a frenzy of cleaning out and organizing, I have come across lists from nightmare times in my life, mostly getting ready to move or settling in to a new location. Lists and lists of things to be done, things to be checked on . . . and I am comforted to know that what – at the time – was overwhelming, the details sorted themselves out. Things got done. Little by little, we ate the elephant.
As I came across notes and lists this morning, for buying this house and getting settled in Pensacola, I was able to take a deep breath. We survived. We got it all done. Lists and lists of details, and we got it all done. All of a sudden, things assume their proper perspective, and I thank God for this view of what my life looked like a year ago compared to what it looks like today.
We are settled.
I have friends.
We can pay our bills.
We have a house to live in and cars to drive.
We are in good health, and we have a good doctor.
We have a place where the Qattari Cat can stay when we go out of town.
We are registered voters, and have driver’s licenses and pay our taxes on time (insh’allah.)
We have a strong and rewarding family life, and activities we enjoy.
Life is sweet.
The Gift
AdventureMan and I used to have lavish Christmases, trying to delight one another, and we did. One year, I bought his some crystal goblets he had been admiring, and some years I was able to add to his collection. One year, he bought me a Mont Blanc pen, which I adored, and another year two beautiful salad serving bowls with irises in them. (I still have them and delight to use them.)
This year, he gave me the best gift of all. I was working on a committee in our church, helping to make sure children we had volunteered to sponsor in the Salvation Army angel program received gifts of clothing and a toy or bike or age-appropriate gift. There were a few children at the end who had not found sponsors, but other people had chosen to donate cash or checks in lieu of sponsoring a child.
As we were getting ready for church, AdventureMan told me he had an idea for my Christmas gift, but he wanted to run it by me.
“How about if I make a donation to the Angel Tree, to help sponsor the kids who don’t have sponsors?”
He took my breath away. He can still do that.
We are not rich, we are modestly comfortable. We have always lived within our means, and placed a high value on saving. We have a comfortable home, enough to eat, and we keep our spending under control so that we even continue to grow our savings a little while we are now ‘retired.’ There is nothing I need for Christmas.
I’m still grinning from the grandness of his gift; the delight it continues to give me every time I think about it.
The Salvation Army has one of the lowest rates of administration funds to charitable funds of all the charities in America. They make every dollar you donate squeak, they work it so hard. They feed the poor, they give hope to children, they comfort the homeless and veterans, and they counter pornography and human trafficking (Yes. It happens in America, too.)
To find out how you can help this organization which helps so many, so generously, just click on the blue type Salvation Army and it will take you to their home page. There are many options for giving, including donations, giving of your time and energies as a bell ringer, or working with them in a variety of human services.
FollowUp To Pensacola Christmas Parade
Seen in local Pensacola grocery store:
The Pensacola Christmas Parade
“Do you know they are expecting over fifty thousand people??” my friend asked me over the phone. I had suggested we meet up. “I didn’t know there were fifty thousand people in Pensacola!”
She was going, but we probably would not see one another. My son and his family were meeting me at the church and we would watch together.
I have never seen a Christmas parade like it in my life. For one thing, the weather is perfect. It is cool enough for long sleeves, even a sweater, some Pensacolans were all bundled up. No rain – I understand last year the parade was rained out. No snow – it’s been really cold all week, and it’s going to be cold again tomorrow, but today – and tonight – were perfect.
“Where will we meet?” my son asked when he called.
“I’m leaving now; meet on the steps of the church” I answered. “See you there.”
* * * *
“I’m here, but not on the steps, across the street, under the tree right in front of the school” I left a message.”
“Mom! Where are you?”
“I’m by the school under a tree – wait, I can see you, I’m waving, I’m waving!” and finally he saw me, and we all had our little space.
It was a great space for viewing the parade. A great place for a little 9 month old Happy Baby, who loved the sirens and the police and the flashing lights, and the bark on the tree. He had a ball, and then he was tired.
Here is what is hilarious. It was not a great place for parade activity. I’ve never seen a parade like this, but this is very Pensacola, or so I’ve been told. First, this is the least ‘politically correct’ parade ever. It was wonderful! Floats full of Marys and Josephs and little baby Jesus, and shepherds and angels, marching evangelists carrying bible verses – LLOOLLL, a big thumb of the nose at secularity. This town celebrates the Nativity!
The Holy Bible Float:
The sign-carrying evangelists:
The Krewe of Pompeii Float (Krewes are local social groups that form to celebrate Mardi Gras)
Krewe of YaYas Float:
Did you notice something in all those photos? Did you notice all the hands up?
Did you see all those hands up? It took me a while, but I finally figured it out, all these people want beads! And Santas are throwing beads, and angels are throwing beads, and the Blue Angels are throwing beads, and . . . Joseph and Mary are throwing beads!
I had made a strategic mistake! The woman next to me had 15 or 20 beads, all kinds and all colors, and I was busy taking photos, and I had none. I then also noticed that I was under a tree, and the tree was catching beads that should have been mine!
Time to get serious. I put the camera away and started waving with the rest.
My treasures:
Big Wooo HOOO on me; every kid in Pensacola has like seven hundred beads, but I have my start, I have two! LLOOLL, next parade, I have my priorities. No more photos. Beads!
If you want to have a really good time, come to Pensacola for one of the liveliest and most fun parades I have ever attended.
The Christmas Lights of Pensacola
Last night, after our son and his family left after dinner, AdventureMan had a gleam in his eye. (No! not that gleam!)
“Want to go out and look at the Christmas lights?” he asked.
“Oh! Yes! Yes!” He knows I love the lights.
Pensacola isn’t so over-the-top as the Tampa Bay area used to be. Pensacola uses a lot more white, a lot less music and moving displays. Pensacola is more restrained, and more traditional.
Just so you will know where I am coming from, here is my favorite:
Thoughtful, restrained, elegant. There are a lot of this kind of display, and I love them. I also love the others, although many are more exuberant. There seem to be a lot of white deer, and . . . some of them move their heads. Yes! I am telling the truth!
Some people just get totally into the spirit of the season, and go all out. Here is a sampling of what we saw:
I can’t help but find this funny; Frosty the snowman and the Creche juxtaposed:
Along with Santas on rockets, LOL!
This is a Christmas Snoopy as an aviator on top of his doghouse. What does it have to do with Christmas? LLOOLL!
A lot of people are using balloons, with varying results. Santa on a motorcycle, Santa on rockets, all kinds of balloons, problematic because sometimes balloons loose air.
Here are Santas, and then a Santa loosing air, LOL
I love the way WordPress has put snow on all the blogs for December (you can turn it off if you don’t like it) but with these photos, snow falling is perfect. 🙂
Flannel Sheet Time
You’d think in a city that has the long hot summers Pensacola has, that winters would be mild. They are – as mild as Kuwait. Having said that, ‘mild’ in Pensacola and Kuwait means the temperatures can still get down to freezing, and freezing is cold.
Last night, as AdventureMan was counting down to the last episode of Boardwalk Empire I dug out the flannel sheets my Mom gave us for Christmas the year we though we were retiring to Edmonds, WA. (We didn’t retire that year at all, and the following year we made a sudden decision to retire to Pensacola – a coming grandchild helped that decision along. 🙂 )
Good thing we still have those flannel sheets. There is nothing as nice as flannel sheets on a cold winter’s night. We have piled on extra quilts, the Qattari Cat snuggles in, and we are snug and warm.
The problem, of course, is getting out of bed in the morning, LOL.
(These are not my sheets; you can find these at Garnet Hill bedding)
I spent the day yesterday engineering outside lights and decos, which are simple this year. I got the lights up, new LED lights, green, even though they are white :-), only to discover that they are not the same white as the lights on the greenery around the door. It might not bother a lot of people, but . . . it bothers me. Does it bother me enough to take it down? No. It’s up, I’m just happy to have it done for this year and it gives me time to shop the sales for next year. The decorations I have are for a different house; I need time to think through what I want to do with this house.
Because the weather in Florida is so mild at this time of the year, people really have some lovely lights and displays. I will try to photograph some – from the sublime to the umm. . . err . . . not so sublime . . . for you.
A Change in the Weather
Today my Mom and I went shopping, tough work in a soggy, sultry heat. She was game, though, and shopped ’till she dropped, or at least until time to pick up AdventureMan to head for lunch at the Marina Oyster Barn. We’ve taken Mom there before, and today, that was just where she wanted to eat. Oyster stew. Hush puppies. Grilled tuna sandwiches. A slice of key lime pie to go – oh yummm.
As we entered the Marina Oyster Barn it was 77 degrees F. An hour later, as we left, it was 55 degrees F and it was starting to rain. This was not unexpected, but the sheer drama of the one hour, 22 degree drop made our jaws drop.
We dropped Mom off at home and hurried off to finish some errands before the big storm hit, but we were too late – just as we left the store with the 2 pounds of Jordanian dates for Mom, the squall hit full force, and we were soaked in the ten feet it took us to get to the car.
I’m happy though. I love the cooler temperatures, I love a chance to wear some of my more wintery clothing, and I love love love not having to use the air conditioning. 🙂
Camellia
Camllias are new to me. I didn’t even know what one looked like, but I saw a particular flower blooming EVERYWHERE, in many many different colors, so I asked one of my DIL’s aunts what it was and she said “Camellia!”
I think I need to grow camellias. 🙂
This is what they look like in bud:
My roses are blooming merrily once again, and I even see a stray magnolia blooming from time to time. Now that the hottest of the heat has broken, gardening is fun once again.
We are in a real seesaw weather season, one day it is hot and sticky – with big booming thunderstorms – and the next day will dawn COLD and clear and bright.
Ahhhhh . . . Sunsets at Panama City Beach
Living in Kuwait, getting up in the morning was easy, a gorgeous sunrise over the Gulf every morning. I miss those sunrises . . .
But from time to time, I get the sunset, and oh, I do love sunsets, too! Thanksgiving at Panama City Beach, every sunset a different sunset, even every ten minutes a different sunset:
And the next night is a totally different sunset:
Intlxpatr Updates and ReVisits
Oops. I totally forgot. I wanted to show you my Halloween pumpkins.
What? ? ? Really? ? ? Halloween was almost a month ago? ? ? Time just flies these days.
I carved my pumpkins only a day or two before Halloween because with the heat and humidity here – like in Qatar and Kuwait – pumpkins can go moldy and soft if you carve them too soon.
I was OK, except for the ears. The ears – even just in a couple days – got all shriveled, but I kind of liked the effect. These were supposed to be cat pumpkins:
Happy Baby is learning to feed himself. He does great with Cheerios, with rice, with little things he can pick up and put in his mouth. Not so great yet with the spoon, but he is learning to love BBQ:
He thinks the flash on my camera is hilarious. Other than that, he likes me OK, but AdventureMan is his favorite right now.
The Qatteri Cat has a new bed, and oh, he just loves it. It has a tiny heating pad inside and is just warm enough to entice him. He sleeps so happily in his new bed, and he puts his baby in the bed to keep him warm, too, LOL:
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Panama City Beach, but my sunset photos are in the other camera and I don’t have the thing to download those photos. You have something to anticipate. 🙂
Great breakfast this morning at Andy’s Flour Power on Panama City Beach, one of our favorite places to go for breakfast:
AdventureMan and my Mom had the Vegetable Fritatta, and I had the Eggs Benedict:
We hope all our friends who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday will take it easy on the Black Friday shopping, don’t get too excited, don’t fight over those great bargains. Have a great day.
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