Wrapping it up

It’s Christmas time, so wrapping gifts is on my mind. But I’ll use this title instead to refer to wrapping up the loose ends of the year and trying to get all my 2024 events into my blog during 2024.

In my own mind, I’m pretty much done with my To Do list. I mean, I’m Crystal right, so the To Do list is never, ever completed, ha ha! But I’ve run out of things to do in 2024 to stress out about, and that is a wonderful feeling. Everything left is fun, and optional. I have already begun packing for our trip that begins January 3.

Here is a final collection of random snapshots of things we do around here. I am delighted by simple things, and I hope you are too.

As you have just noticed, I do a significant amount of bird watching from the office window. This presents challenges with the screen, and glare, and the edge of the window blocking the view. But how lovely is it that the tree in the photo above (I don’t know the type) flowers in November! It’s still covered in blossoms right now, in December. Last year, the flowers remained until our very hard freeze in January, so possibly that will happen again. It catches the eye of hummingbirds, who come for the flowers, and then discover our feeder.

Speaking of birds, here are a couple of my fat and sassy Hussies from the back yard.

I’ve posted several TikToks of my ladies molting. I think they look hilariously ridiculous when their feathers are falling out. I’m so mean. I make fun of them publicly on the Internet. But you know I really do love them.

Our neighbors across the street were enamoured by our girls, and helped look after them a couple of times when we were gone last year. This year they got their own girls, and when they left over Thanksgiving to visit family, we returned the favour and looked after them.

At the beginning of November, we had a Presidential election. Pedro and I have been struggling to understand what happened to our country; why people in the tens of thousands simply ADORE that evil man, and why additional millions think he’s a rational choice for leadership, even if they don’t exactly like him. Our minds are blown. People that I love, and care about, who are smart people, voted for him and have high hopes that he will bring good. Again…I am gobsmacked. Bewildered and incredulous. I have a dozen theories, but honestly still no clue how this was possible. Can’t most of my countrymen simply look and listen, and identify that monster immediately for what he is? I guess not.

Anyway, Pedro and I have been in a lot of fear, because one of the favourite talking points of the Trumpniks is how transgender people are an abomination and need to be eradicated. That’s our very own beloved children they are talking about, and we have been in constant fear for their safety ever since Americans chose him as our leader. In 2023 over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced into state houses across the country, more than 85 of which were passed into law. This trend continued into 2024, where over 500 additional anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced, and over 40 passed into law across 14 states.

November 8-10 was Portland’s Kumoricon, an anime convention. Kellen and Cameron make it one of their main events every year. This year they took their new roommate, and all three are transgender. Kellen mentioned that the trans community is reeling in fear and that it would feel good to go to the convention where most people are LGBTQ+ and they could show support and love to each other. I got an idea.

In November, we still had our pretty old lady, Racecar. It’s startling to review photos and see recent pics of her just living a regular day, bugging me at my desk, sleeping with us in the office. Just a short time ago, life with our girl was going along as normal, and she was right here, all warm and fuzzy.

But life continues. With a vacancy, we got asked to host a kitty when her family goes on a holiday vacation this month. We will have Yzma the cat for ten days. Likely we will get our own cat again when our hearts have healed more.

There are days that makes us laugh, like when I lost my sandwich, as you see below. I went into the kitchen, made the sandwich, cleaned up a little, poured some coffee. Then when I was ready to carry the food and drink to the table, I couldn’t find my sandwich. What had I done with it?

There are days that call for celebration. I have mentioned the photobooks I like to make. I was very, very tardy in making one with all our photos from the Italy/Slovenia trip Pedro and I took in 2021 to visit fellow blogger Manja. Then, when I was almost done, I accidentally deleted the file for the book, and had to begin again from scratch.

We kept harvesting and kept harvesting. Each time the overnight temperatures would drop lower, we would go check one more time for anything left out there. We thought we had our final harvest in October.

I have a group of crafting friends who all have winter birthdays. Usually, during the winter, we take turns celebrating each winter birthday. The one who does the bulk of the planning and organizing is Maria, and this year we decided to do a major bash for her December birthday. We started with a wreath-making workshop, then went to one woman’s home and had more crafts, tons of food, drinks, and presents.

After a year of working shoulder-to-shoulder with Pedro in our office, day after day of being connected at the hip, I was showing signs of insanity. I always knew it would be hard to go from a decade of living alone to with a partner 24×7. We didn’t want to share a single office, but didn’t know what else to do. With both kids in their own bedrooms, the house is full. There is nowhere else to put a desk. I decided I could manage. I now know I can’t. I need some alone time – I really do. Pedro is eager to make me smile in any way it takes, and soon he supported my request for a backyard office. It had been in our 5-year plan, but turned into our RIGHT NOW plan. The electrician will do his work the day after Christmas, then the contractor will come in and insulate and finish the place after that.

I am simply BOUNCING with excitement. I hope it gives me the quiet alone time that I yearn for.

Back in 1990, when I was stationed at Shemya Air Force Base on a teensy island in the Bering Sea and bored out of my mind, I made a lot of ceramics. I had limitless hours of time to kill and make this extremely detailed crèche, or nativity scene. We truly got involved in cermaics at that base. We took 5-gallon buckets of liquid clay and filled molds and let them sit a day, then turned them upside down to drain and make the insides hollow. Then we cleaned them up with knives and sponges, and handed them off to the person trained to fire them. Then we painted and glazed. I’m glad I still have something to show for all those hundreds of hours I spent in that place.

A couple days ago, I visited Portland’s Peacock Lane with my friend Vladimir. It’s a single street on which every single house decorates with lights. It’s famous and is packed with people every night from the 15th through the New Year. In my next post, I’ll share many more photos from there to get us more into the Christmas spirit.

Thanks for joining me as I wrapped up all our big and small pieces of news at the end of 2024. I had a full summer to recover from, but more than that, I went through an emotional slump for a few months and got very far behind in writing and reading blog posts. I mention it because this time of year is hard on many people for a variety of reasons, and I want them to know they are not alone. If you are suffering, let yourself feel it for a while. Being emotional is part of our humanity. And then, when it has been long enough, find your way back out, please. We need you here. Find something pretty, or something that smells nice, or a sound that catches your attention, and cling to it as a buoy. Tell someone you are sad, so you don’t have to hold that feeling alone. Be kind to yourself and have patience for days that are warmer and brighter and easier. ❤