Scattered Thoughts . . .

A s expected, we had a great time with the kids and grandchildren here at our house for Christmas!   We celebrated on the day after Christmas Day this year.  We went back to our already established tradition of starting our day with breakfast once everyone arrived.  This year, however, it was a late breakfast.  We had an egg casserole with a French toast bread base, maple and brown sugar sausage links, bacon, and cinnamon buns.  I didn't get much food and, actually, I didn't get a single cinnamon bun but what I had was very good.  For the most part, all the food was eaten so it must have been good.   In this blog entry, I included photos from this fun day and I closed this blog entry with a video which does a better job at showing some excited grandchildren.   The house was quiet earlier in the morning before everyone arrived as Gee and I filled the living room with presents...  stacks and stacks of presents... The stacks of presents were even climbing up the walls like in a Dr

I t is Christmas morning and we started our day with some French toast.  That was pretty good.   Now I am beginning to prep for tomorrow's Christmas celebration with the kids and grandkids.  We always start with a Christmas brunch (presents afterward).  I make an egg casserole, some bacon, some home fries, sausage and Cinnamon buns.  By mid-afternoon, I expect everyone to start getting hungry again so.... Today, I started marinating a small pork loin.  This afternoon, I will sear it on the grill and then finish it up slowly in the oven this afternoon.  This pork is being prepared so we can make a few Cuban sandwiches tomorrow.  We have some ham and Swiss cheese as well so there will be a choice between ham and cheese sandwiches or Cuban sandwiches.  And, for the odd Vermonters, we always have some Cabot cheddar cheese on hand too.  Personally, I will opt for the Cuban sandwich...  the marinated slow-cooked pork, Swiss cheese, ham, mustard, sliced pickles, and finished on the griddl

S heila and I had a very nice and quiet Christmas Eve dinner here at home as we usually do each year.  Most of the horrendous weather is behind us and the power is back on in our house.  We do have branches down all around the house but we fared very well compared to others especially those who are still without power.  We only lost power for an hour and a half.   Today was a nice Christmas Eve spent at home ending with a nice dinner.  Well...  I may have something for dessert.... As I usually do, I made a rib roast for dinner.  We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh green beans with chopped garlic in oil, au jus, and dinner rolls.  It was pretty good food but the dinner with Sheila was very nice, as always.  It is always nice to make something special for dinner for special occasions and tonight was one of those occasions. Tomorrow we have another rather quiet day filled with prep for our Christmas celebration with all the grandkids the following day.  Although it will be quiet her

I  honestly didn't think it would happen this week considering the way it started out but, fortunately, I was feeling fairly well this morning so I spent some time at the piano recording a few video clips.  I included the video at the bottom of this blog entry. I don't do too well at the piano when I'm not feeling well so my time at the piano is often quite limited.  I felt pretty miserable the first half of this week so it was a pleasant surprise that I had this opportunity today to put together a few recordings.   My extensive spinal injuries don't help at all either especially when it comes to the piano.  Spinal pain significantly limits the amount of time I can spend at the piano.   Trying to do anything that is the least bit artistic is out of the question unless I am feeling well and this is especially so when it comes to the piano.  I'm not one of those people who can relax or "feel better" by performing.  I must be feeling well right from the start

O nce again, I have fallen behind in writing here.   My health has been really lousy...  the fatigue has been brutal and then I spent most of today in the bathroom.  I just can't seem to get much of anything accomplished.  Things have been lousy and leaning toward miserable (especially today).   I have a lot to get done this week and it's beginning to look like I will not get everything done before Christmas at this point.  I'm hoping that my health improves through the night tonight so I can jump on a few things tomorrow morning.  Honestly though, at this point, I don't think there are enough hours in the day to get done what I need to get done this week before Christmas.  Add in the fact that I need to sleep a few hours every afternoon and this means it is less likely that I will get everything done at this point.  To say that this is frustrating is an understatement.   Anyway...  I shot a few photos of our outside Christmas decorations a few days ago but forgot about

We've skipped a few years of celebrations due to the pandemic.   Although, I have to be honest, we did recently discuss the wisdom of celebrating this year considering how many people are now sick with the virus, the flu and other viruses.  We took a chance and headed to Stowe for our annual Christmas celebration anyway.   We started the afternoon at Idletyme Brewing.  Frank and Christine met us there.  We had some wings, a big pretzel, and a few delicious beers.   I started with Zog's Pale Ale.  Sheila started with a Stowespresso which is made with Green Mountain Vanilla Vodka, Kahlua, Baileys and cold brew espresso.  We both tasted a unique Stout sporting notes of chocolate and coffee as well as a unique Vanilla Porter.  Personally, I preferred the Zog's Pale Ale and stuck with that.   Here is a photo of Sheila's Stowespresso... Here is a photo of the big pretzel with beer cheese dipping sauce as well as a spicy mustard dipping sauce.  This was "okay".  We&#