My mom just sent me these pictures from Bussey. This is right outside our house! An old man somehow lost control and drove right into the telephone pole and now the only thing holding the pole up are all the wires that run to the nearby houses! My mom was told to either leave her house or stay in the back part of it. Not sure how they’re going to fix that. I doubt its going to be quick. Not sure the status of the driver. He’s a local.
(This is our house in the background)
To say that October is a popular birthday month for my family and friends is an understatement. Today alone I’m celebrating three birthdays.
First up, my Uncle Ron is turning 75 today! Happy Birthday, Uncle Ron.
I use this occasion to show off one of my favorite old family photos. It is of Uncle Ron when he was in the Air Force. This photo is at least 50 years old and the original is so beautiful. I may have posted it before, but I love it so.
Next is my cousin Emily, who turns 31 today. We’re just a year apart. I’m going to assume she’s celebrating in Atlanta today, but with Emily who knows, she could be in pretty much any country these days.
Last, but not least, is my friend Nicky, who is just 6 days older than me, turns 32 today. Originally from Wales, now residing in the Boston area, Nicky and I met through our love of Harry (Connick, Jr.) and I was lucky enough to attend her and Chris’ wedding in Wales a few years back. I hope to visit her someday soon!
Happy Birthday to all!
Forty three minutes left in today and I’m just getting time to sit down with an internet connection.
It was a lovely day after Thanksgiving day. This morning my mom and I went and got my Christmas tree. It was a spur-of-the-moment change of plans before she left town. The tree was procured at my local Earl May garden center. Which was handy since it was a mile from my place, if that, so we could just have the tree wrapped up and semi-shoved into the back of my car for the trip home. It may not have resulted in the crazy tales from past tree getting expeditions, [note to self: good blog topic for December] but for once, easy was fine. My apartment is now home to a lovely 7′ premium fraser fir. Its been drinking all its warm water today and tomorrow it will be properly decked out.
After the tree was standing and stable, Mom and I went to lunch at Takanami in downtown Iowa City. Their bento boxes are awesome. I had the salmon and mom was daring and had the tofu. The eel was tasty as always. After lunch, we walked around the block to The Prairie Table where my big Black Friday purchases were a new scraping spatula and a new turning/flipping spatula. (Did I mention yesterday that there were people lined up at Best Buy on Thursday night at 5:30PM? When the store wasn’t even going to acknowledge their presence until 3AM on Friday? Insanity. I’d only get up that early to shop if Steve Jobs himself was going to be giving me 50% off a MacBook and ringing it up himself.)
After the big shopping, my mom headed home and I took a shower and then intended to blog, but my internet was down. Annoying. So I watched five minutes of ‘Survivor’ before I realized it was a clip show and deleted that and then watched last night’s ‘Ugly Betty.’ After that, I went to the movies and saw The Mist the latest movie based on a short story by Stephen King. I’d read the short story, so I knew the basic plot, but I knew the movie had a different, more conclusive, ending than the story. But word is that Stephen King loved the change and said he would’ve used it himself if he’d thought of it at the time. Its totally disturbing, even though I kind of thought I knew what was coming. Like a train wreck where you just can’t look away. Overall, the movie was a bit uneven, where some of the special effects/monsters didn’t really measure up to the much more real psychological drama/trama the characters were experiencing. The thrills and chills are there; if you like Stephen King or you like thrillers, I’d say give it a look. If not in the theater, then on DVD.
Immediately following the movie, I went over to Jerry & Sara’s to have some dinner and conversation with Frosty, Margaret, and Brian Moon, who I hadn’t seen in forever. Good times with good friends. Taly was cute as always and Heather & Taylin dropped by for a few minutes to drop off Taylin’s latest Build-A-Bear creation for Taly (a terribly cute Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). We played cards and chatted and I just got home, fed the cat, and watered the tree.
