respublica

Winter Nature

We received 4 large Amaryllis bulbs before Christmas and I went out and got 4 pots to plant them in. They take some time to grow and flower, but boy, when they do, they are amazing. At the moment these plants are so tall and the flowers so huge, they keep tipping over. I fiddle with them everyday to keep them upright and showy. But it's worth it. Now we are wondering if the bulbs will flower next year. Google it, I told myself. And sure enough they just might re-flower. Here are 3 of them, the 4th is in another room.

 

One other thing new to me. We've been feeding the birds in our backyard since we moved back and came across a seed mix which squirrels do not like and so stay away. I found it in the Wild Birds Unlimited before Christmas and am glad I did. It is a hot pepper seed mix and we get all kinds of birds eating it and no squirrels. I have purchased this seed loose to pour into feeders and also shaped into wreaths and bells and cylinders. All attract the birds. But yesterday the woman helping me replenish our seed at Wild Birds Unlimited gave be a free tub of Bark Butter. I've never heard of this, but it's a mix of peanut butter, suet and something else which you smear onto a tree trunk with a fork and the birds love it. I smeared some on today so we'll see how this goes.

Missing the Rose parade

It just isn't New Year's Day without the Rose Parade. It's been canceled due to the Covid which itself needs to be canceled.

In any event the Rose Parade people are still going to air a two hour special during the time the parade would ordinarily run. It's called The Rose Parade's New Year's Celebration and will have lots of celebrities and begins at 10 Central time on the Hallmark Channel. I don't know if it will also be on any other channel like other years, but we will look in on it since Dale has twice ridden on the Lutheran Hour float, the last time was 2017 and we took all the kids and grandkids along.

A perfect ending to 2020

We did not stay up to say good-bye to 2020 or ring in 2021. However, we did see midnight arrive thanks to a neighbor one house down shooting off fireworks in his driveway. But that was no big deal. What we are happy to have missed was the Times Square Ball drop and entertainment preceding it. What we saw on the morning news about Cindy Lauper's performance at that event was bizarre. And we are not alone it seems. Many comment on the news site that her gig was the perfect ending to the weirdest of weird years. Said one: "Cindy Lauper's performance has now officially become the worst thing to happen in 2020."

Good-bye 2020

One more day of 2020 and the year will turn 21. That in itself should give us pause. 21-the number conjures up so many things.

Some amusing thought I've seen recently:

On 12 a.m. on January 1st, for the first time ever, Hindsight will actually be 2020.

What's the difference between Humpty Dumpty and 2020? One of them had a great Fall.

I don't know what animal 2020 was in the Chinese calendar, but I'm pretty sure it has rabies.

 

Look!

Walk up to a Nativity Scene and you'll see all the figures looking at the baby Jesus. Stand a little closer and you'll see the baby Jesus looking at you. As He still does. With love.

A blessed Christmas to all here

The Light of the World

This is my past two nights

click to enlarge

Just when I thought we were set

It's been a tough year for Christmas shopping what with the virus being everywhere. I pretty much did most of my shopping online and quite honestly, I missed being in stores. Most everything I ordered arrived when they were predicted...except one. And that one is supposed to be for one of our grandsons and it is a fun item which he would probably really like. I ordered it at least 3 weeks ago and a day or two last week I received an email saying "your package is arriving today". This happened twice and still no arrival.

I did some checking of the order and found that it is coming via the US postal service, not UPS or FedEx. That explains a lot and why my heart sunk. It seems many many people are having long delays with the Post Office deliveries.

I would not be surprised if our package was sitting in a trailer at the main St. Louis distribution point in Hazelwood. We had an episode with that place a couple of years ago, learned our package was there but it never got to us.

If the latest package doesn't show up today I'll have to go out tomorrow morning and try to find something else....in a store.

Show Time

We've watched a couple of Christmas movies in the past week. We aren't normally movie watching people, but with the Roku hooked up there are just so many to choose from and it's so easy. My issue with movie watching is that I can't sit still that long, but the lead up to Christmas is so tiring that it's been a luxury right now.

Anyway, we watched Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase...again and still love it. Then we watched Home Alone which is still one of the best for plain laughs. As it turns out, some survey creator with too much time on his hands, learned that the favorite Christmas movie for people in Illinois is Home Alone. Maybe taking place is Chicago is part of the allure.

Frankly, in other years I found Christmas movies much more enjoyable to watch in the week after Christmas when all the hubbub is over and I can relax.

Who eats this on Christmas

Here is a news headline that had me lose my appetite

Don't Eat This One Traditional Holiday Dish, Health Experts Warn

 

If you're like me, you want to know what the traditional dish is. Well, it is supposedly a well loved holiday food in Wisconsin aptly named, the raw meat "cannibal sandwich". It consists of raw ground beef on rye bread, with sliced onions, salt, and pepper.

I have hard of people who consider steak tartare (raw beef) a delicacy and it's pretty much the same as the cannibal sandwich without the bread and with the addition of a raw egg cracked over the top.

In fancy rich circles you get a fancy French name, for ordinary Wisconsinites you become a cannibal. Either way, I'd gag if I had to eat either. Cook your meat to at least 160 degrees people!