Our peaceful Christmas day together

As you can see, Polly finds her role very important. She must supervise the opening of presents, she must check out the presents, she must attack the stuffed animal (which was not for her, but for A.J.), and she must approve of all activities.

Now that I've got the tree lights and lit-up reindeer going, our watchful Polly has retired to bed early. She finds the lights to be "too much"!

It's been a very quiet, lovely day here. I wish everyone could be this peaceful. Merry Christmas.

A festive gathering of our Book Club, earlier in December. I love the candlelight (we look better in that light!), the beautiful elegant surroundings, but most of all, the good friends. We never run out of ideas or of our enthusiasm for being together. As my grampa would say, we are certainly a "handsome group of women" (direct quote from him about ten years ago, when he saw a series of photos of us at a holiday party!!!!!).

just us silly, sleepy girls!

at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle!

From there we went to Vancouver, B.C., where we celebrated Christmas early. Getting home yesterday entailed a drive from Vancouver down to Seattle, some delays at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and finally our flights home. I got in at 2 a.m. and am finally feeling rested now.

Tomorrow I can put up our tree here at the apartment. We have new snow here in Minneapolis, which makes it feel very Christmas'y.

(And we saw Santa at the Space Needle!)

A boy and his dog...doesn't this look like they're on board a ship? or like the photographer/mom has had a bit too much to drink? I don't know how I managed to take such a tipsy photo! (and no, I wasn't drinking, I was studying for final exams). I love Polly's funny position. She's smiling sardonically, too, don't you think?

My household, it makes me smile just to look at them!

After taking finals and turning in my final paper tonight, I will be done with grad. school until early February. Cannot wait to feel that "I did it!" surge of relief and accomplishment.

But for now, it's back to the books.

What does this expression say?

I took this self-portrait just before leaving for Barnes and Noble and the Who night yesterday.

What do you think it is saying? I'm curious!

Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend performing "Just Breathe" for an intimate gathering of us at the Minneapolis Barnes & Noble store yesterday evening, before the Who played for a much bigger group over across the Mississippi in St. Paul. I was the lucky girl to be there for both events. The photo on the left above is me and Mikey Cuthbert, talented singer/songwriter and "In the Attic" co-star with Rachel. Rachel, Pete, and Mikey were all very warm and genuine and it was a special pleasure to meet them after being in the blogger family with them for the past year-plus.

I'll write more about last night when I can get back here. I'm deeply consumed with my last week of grad. school for the semester and can't seem to spend too much time away from the books.

We had a girls' day...me, my sister, and my sweet dog. It's sunset now and I'm only just now beginning the work of the day.

For some reason, I love this blurry photo of us.

When I was in college (the first time), I used to keep a very terse little journal, in which I'd jot: "Things of Today"--sometimes just three phrases, or three names, to remind me later of what that day was like.

I'm more verbose now, but today was a very good day.

* Up so early with Polly that it was still pitch dark outside, the moon almost full, the stars so clean and clear.

* Falling in love with Beethoven, again, fresh, and so happy with my baby grand piano that I almost had to pinch myself. I'm a lucky girl.

* Comfortable and quiet all alone here today, with only one foray to the coffeehouse where I chatted with friends. Otherwise, I had a solitary day, and it was a nice feeling for a change.

* Outside of the little grocery store, a blue star-shaped balloon had been released, and I watched it go right up to heaven!
This made me think of Ethan, and the many times we've released balloons to heaven for our little E.

* Driving, listening to music, chasing the sunset until I found the perfect spot where I could watch it, and then after dark, enjoying the beautiful holiday lights.

* Finding the energy and focus to do my work tonight without being too sleepy. A miracle!

and now, to bed.

There's someone whom I just love with all of my heart, who spoke with me for about two hours by phone yesterday. His voice is still in my head, so when I say that I had a solitary quiet day, it's really not so. He was "with" me all the time. Sigh. Love is like that. You're never really alone. It's hard to be apart sometimes, very hard, but we live inside of each other. I felt that today.