Ready for Christmas

As you can see, our new living Christmas tree has had lights put on and has been trimmed; Kip is ready with his ribbon, Santa hat and beard; Christmas cat is looking as traumatized as ever; Snoopy presides over the toys and presents; ChrisMoose reigns on the mantel; and the telly penguin donned his stocking cap and has been joined by a jolly green Santa and the Alpen pipe-smoking skiier-cum-insense burner. Elsewhere things dangle from window hooks or are bedecked with ribbons and sparkly things. Cards that have been fluttering through the mail slot, have been opened, read, and are now nestled in the red-and-green Christmas drum basket. (Thank you so much for your cards. It is lovely to hear from you.)

Speaking of drums, Don is taking his drumming session as I type. He plays nearly every day and, I must say, the little cajon drum sounds at times like a full drum kit. He brought a platform in from the garage (a piece of unused countertop just the right size) so he can place the drum--and himself--on top of the hard surface rather than the carpet. This serves to amplify and sharpen the sound. A stroke of genius!

Yesterday morning was the Crieff Writers' Group play morning where about 8 short plays written by various members were performed or at least read aloud. Since Don was going to be at the group's Christmas luncheon following the meeting, where spouses were invited, he came to the meeting with me and was my co-actor in a one-act, two-scene sketch called Plain Talk about Plain Food. The play was a contrast between an expensive fancy restaurant with pretentious waiters and outrageous menus who intimidate the clientele and a diner or cafe where the customer is treated as family, where waitresses are familiar and so is the food, with reasonable choices and prices to match. All the plays were fun and the luncheon that followed was most enjoyable.

I had an osteo-arthritic knee flare-up all last week which looked finally to be going away on Sunday morning, that is until I turned suddenly and torqued the bad knee, making it much worse. Yesterday afternoon I finally went to see my doctor who told me I am doing everything I should be and so I should continue to treat myself by staying off my feet as much as possible, taking anti-inflammatories, applying heat and cold to reduce swelling, and keeping the leg elevated. He has given me an order to take with me to Perth Royal Infirmary for an X-ray to see exactly what is going on with that knee. PRI only do X-rays on Mondays and Fridays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. so by the time I had left the medical centre with my order yesterday, it was already too late to get to Perth in time. The order doesn't expire, though, so I can go any Monday or Friday.

It's too bad that it was so late, really, because we had tickets for the Perth Concert Hall at 7:30 yesterday evening. We had 6 pm dinner reservations at a Creperie there. I took a long rest before we left and seemed to do okay last night. The knee is somewhat better today but I'm still being careful. I'm glad I have a very light schedule this week.

Last night's performance by the Scottish Ensemble (14 strings) was magnificent. They played works by Britten, Monteverdi, Woolrich, and Schubert by candlelight. The Schubert closed the programme and was his "Death and the Maiden" string quartet arranged for a larger ensemble by Gustav Mahler. The additional musicians add a sonority and lushness to the piece and change the often sharp edginess of the quartet into a more romantic sound. The Scottish Ensemble are a most accomplished group and, as usual, played impeccably, standing throughout their entire programme.

Don played golf with the Comrie Seniors this morning as usual and was 1 point away from the winning score. His game has come along quite well and he's been having many favorable comments on his game from players at both Comrie and St. Fillans. He deserves it because he worked very hard to identify and correct what he had been doing wrong.

Last Friday night we had the Raes over for another Movie Night. Helen brought her wonderful macaroni and cheese and some garlic bread. We furnished the peas and my home-made applesauce. I also made a plum crumble using some of my frozen Victoria plums. The featured film was A Christmas Story, the one about the little boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas and everyone says to him "You'll shoot your eye out!" It isn't a film that is known over here so when Molly and Mark gave it to us as part of our holiday gift, we said we knew exactly who we'd show it to. Helen and Gordon loved it and, truth to tell, we never tire of seeing it even though it is now 23 years old. It certainly put us all in the Christmas mood.