Muskrat of Celeste

Today, the Philosopher and his Lovely Friend left for Chicago in the early afternoon, and here I am, waiting for the Sparrowhawk to return from the airport with Tron and the Lumberjack, who are returning from Winnipeg on a late flight. I've unloaded the dishwasher and put out fresh towels, and when I get the word that they are en route, I'll warm up the pizza in the microwave. There were busy but happy days in the run-up to Christmas. We had the excitement and fun of anticipating and welcoming guests. Satisfying dinners were prepared and eaten. Everything went well until Christmas Eve actually arrived. I had attacked the day like a general on a mission: rolled out eight pie crusts, prepared the savory meat filling, made a salad overflowing with nice ingredients, mashed the potatoes. Dinner was cleared away, the tree was all decorated. Everything was ready, and then . . . a strange emptiness and lack. Nobody quite knew how this was supposed to go. I was having trouble not crying at times. It turns out that people don't come back from the dead and time doesn't turn back, even if you prepare the special meal and put the old angel on the tree. It's tough having an existential crisis and and holiday celebration simultaneously. We're going to have to think about this in the coming year and figure out what we're going to do now that Grandmother and Grandfather are gone and the original sibling group is fractured. We can make this better, but it will take some thought and planning.

On Friday, Mr. and Ms. Science came by for lunch after dropping off Ms. Science's mom (age 97!!) back at her home about an hour from here. It was very comforting and enjoyable to see my brother. I hope he felt the same. I think he did. He was pretty emotional, and Ms. Science said they both spent much of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day crying intermittently. I was sorry that happened to them, but it made me feel better to know I wasn't the only one. We gave them hot soup and ham, bread and cheese, fruit and salad. Mr. Science brought us some doorknockers (big flat gingerbread cookies--a tradition) and some "salmon candy"--strips of delicious preserved salmon. We spent two or three hours visiting and were very happy to be together.

And now two of my kids are on the way here again. I'm off to microwave the pizza. And then hopefully to sleep and find some more of my words again.

Muskrat of Celeste part II

Just before dawn, the wind awoke and set to work on its rough housekeeping, shaking the rain from the trees to prepare them for coming snow, and spreading a fresh canopy of clouds across the sky. (Having written that without typos, I suddenly thought, what if it was a fresh canape of clouds? What would that look like? A plank of nimbostratus, sprinkled with cirrocumulus, and topped with a thick slice of cumulonimbus spiced with lightning! Silly . . .) There was a brief spate or two of sleet, but the snow has only just begun. It's supposed to go on tonight and tomorrow morning, to the tune of 4 to 7 inches. Maybe. Anyway, driving will be slick and unpleasant, so we plan to avoid it and den up here to see the old year out in comfort.

It was a quiet day, a recovery day for travelers. Tron took the Lumberjack out to the gym so he could swim, and when she came back, both she and the Sparrowhawk accompanied me to the grocery store to lay in our supplies. I'm not quite sure why both of them decided to come, but they claimed they wanted to. I have to admit, it goes quickly when three people take up the mission to get everything on the list. All four of us spent the afternoon distributed around the living room with blankets, sofa pillows, books, keyboards, and occasional cups of tea or snacks. I started reading The Brendan Voyage, a book I bought used some time ago and never read. Some men decide to cross the Atlantic in the type of oxhide boat they think Brendan the Navigator might have used--a remarkably crazy venture that seemed much more fun to read about than to do. There was a general consensus that we needed salad for supper. I made it happen, preparing a large bowl of salad with side dishes of roasted beets, goat cheese, tomatoes, toasted walnuts, cucumbers, peppers, and chicken to be added ad lib. Tron and the Sparrowhawk also went for the soup option, and the Lumberjack added some kind of grilled vegetarian cutlets on a bun. After that, we watched three episodes of season three of The Expanse. I was quite enthralled. I guess I'll have to cave and start watching the whole thing from the beginning.