Christmas at the Landen House

Florida is still chilly. I got up to see the sunrise again this morning. Even in the brisk weather, it's still beautiful to see the sun rise over the ocean.

So, I've got a cup of hot coffee and I'm going to share some pictures of our family Christmas. Kate and I decorated the tree early this year so we could enjoy it longer and I wrapped all the gifts in the same paper -- at Kate's suggestion -- to make a prettier display. Kate made a bunch of paper flowers out of tissue and we put them on the tree branches to add to the festive look.

Ally and Kate woke up considerably later than when they were little. In fact, Jeff and I beat both of them downstairs by at least an hour. When they got ready to come downstairs, we caught them on film and they hammed it up for the camera.

We all opened our stockings and then had a breakfast casserole that I had put together the previous evening from a recipe I got from Mom. Then the four of us gathered around the tree and opened all of our presents. In recognition of my Spongebob mania, Ally gave me a Spongebob throw and the 1st season of Spongebob on DVD. Kate gave me some lovely wooly slippers that I had been looking at admiringly. In addition to other things, I knitted both of them some wool socks and was proud to see both of them wearing them while we were on vacation in Florida. Jeff and I gave each other laptops for Christmas, so we're super high tech this year!

Later in the day on Christmas we had to get ready for an early departure for Florida the next morning. We got our last laundry done and packed our bags and got ready to go.

The next day, after a thankfully uneventful flight, we arrived at the Disney Vacation Club at Vero Beach. Kate got this picture of Jeff and me at the kitchen table in the condo.

Our friends the Neacks shared our vacation with us and here is a picture we took on New Year's Eve (Kate was in her room and missed the shot). We had a great vacation. Larry took Kate kayaking one day and they saw at least nine dolphins, some as close as three feet away! The next day, Larry took Jeff and Ally on a six mile bike ride -- which he thought was no big deal, but Ally and Jeff thought was a major ride. The rest of the time we relaxed and hung out. We missed Mom and Dad, who usually come down to Florida with us after Christmas, but Mom wasn't feeling like coming this year. We talked to them on the phone several times.

So, that was our Christmas. We were blessed with time for family and friends. I hope your Christmas was just as nice.

Presents Day in Louisville

I'm still in Florida, but the weather is hardly Florida-like! It got down to 28 degrees last night! Since I have plenty of time but no pictures of Florida to post (because the camera is out of battery), I'm going to write about our Christmas.

We loaded up the car to celebrate "Presents Day" with my extended family. "Presents Day" originated through the wisdom of my mother who didn't want to fight for Christmas Day with all of our conflicting schedules and so each year we designate a day for all the family to get together and exchange presents. This year, we celebrated fairly late -- on the 23rd-- because three of our four college students weren't getting out of school until late.

Amy and Frank, my sister-in-law and brother, hosted us this year because Frank was on call and couldn't leave Louisville. Amy had the house decorated beautifully and was all set up to present a holiday feast for all of us. We brought dishes to help out, but Amy really did the lion's share of work and it was lovely.

Everyone but Kathryn's husband, John, was able to come. Here is a picture of Kathryn, my sister and her son, William.

Here, my brother Frank watches my daughter Kate opening a present. Frank is sporting a yellow bow tie that I gave him belatedly for his October birthday.

My daughter, Ally, is sitting on the couch with my husband Jeff and my Dad.

Ally was tickled when she received a canvas bag for transporting her stuff to and from college. The surprise was that it was filled with her favorite snack foods!

Here's a pretty good picture of my Mom, enjoying the day and having everyone together.





Kate, my daughter, was eager to unwrap her gifts, which turned out to be some terrific cooking implements to foster her passion for cooking. She was especially thrilled with the "pinch bowls," just like on her favorite cooking shows.





Here's a group picture showing (from left to right) my nephew John, my sister-in-law Amy, my niece Mary Beth and my sister Kathryn.

Frank and Amy's two sons newly home from their college in California helped their parents play host to this year's gathering.

And, last but not least, we see Jeff displaying his gifts -- a tie and a wallet -- while my Dad looks on approvingly.

Next up, our family Christmas at home.

Back in the Sunshine State

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that after our annual Christmas break vacation to Vero Beach, Jeff said I could stay for another week. He's taking care of everything at home -- getting the girls back to school and everything -- and letting me relax for another week here at a luxury hotel on the beach. The bad news is that my camera is out of battery and I can't post any pictures of the beautiful beach or anything. Apparently, I left the charger at home, so I'm out of luck. So everyone will just have to imagine the green/blue waves breaking outside my window, the white breakers and the rhythmic roar of the ocean.

The sun is shining brightly, but the weather is cold -- and is predicted to remain cold all week. It's beautiful, but it's not swimming weather, or even weather to sit outside in the sunshine. Fortunately, I have a lot of fun things to do indoors. I'm listening to an audiobook, taking a DVD course in Impressionist Art, reading a novel and knitting a hat.

I wanted to post a picture of my most recent finished object, but I guess that will have to wait until I get home. I knitted Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Pretty Thing," a lacy neck warmer, out of some beautiful angora/merino fingering yarn that Lynne gave me. It's a lovely lavender and green and turned out pretty well. Kate has been looking at it with a longing eye.

When I learned I would be staying here in Florida, my primary concern :) was that I didn't have any more yarn or a project to work on. After a lengthy search (Florida doesn't seem to be big on knitting), I found some wool yarn and I'm knitting a red hat for felting. It's going quickly; I may need to buy more yarn before I leave on Saturday!

I'm looking forward to starting a new class when I get home. I'll be working on a Masters Degree in CIT and taking a course on Scripting. I'll be finding out more about it, hopefully, when the class gets started. At the moment, I'm completely in the dark.

Since I don't have any pictures to share, I'll use the pictures I have. In the next blog entry, I'll be reporting on my Christmas with my extended family and my nuclear family and my first week at Vero -- I have pictures of all of that. See you soon!

Christmas is on the way

Believe it or not, I've got my Christmas shopping essentially done. God bless Internet shopping. It's the first time ever that I'm not running around at the last moment. I may buy a couple more things, but I don't HAVE to. I could quit right now and everything would be fine. What an amazing thing. I may actually enjoy Christmas for a change. I made bourbon balls and gingerbread dough -- I haven't cut out the cookies yet, but that's not a huge deal. I've been wrapping everything as it arrives in the mail, so the wrapping is under control too. The only thing out of control is the house, which is a complete disaster -- but the housekeepers are coming today and they'll make it sanitary if not tidy. So, life is pretty good.

I'm working on one knitting project for Christmas so I can't really talk about it, but I'm almost done with it and I think it'll be finished well before Christmas. I didn't do a lot of knitting for Christmas because I don't usually knit for other people. I only knit for people who will appreciate hand-knitted items and usually that means knitters who could knit for themselves. But, this year, Ally borrowed a pair of my hand-knit socks and declared that she really likes hand-knit socks so I knitted a pair for her and for Kate for Christmas (no danger of them reading this blog -- they never do). So, I've got two pair of socks and one more knitting project to go under the tree.

Still nothing on the job front. I've applied a lot of places, but nothing concrete has come up. I'm still waiting to hear about the community college classes that I could teach. There is, however, an opportunity that I'm hopeful about. I can't talk about it yet and I don't want to jinx it, but I'm hoping that anyone out there reading this will keep their fingers crossed for me -- or say a little prayer that things will work out for the best.

So, Merry Christmas to EVERYONE! I hope your Christmas is peaceful and happy and full of love.

Last Day of Vacation

This is our last day of vacation. We're trying to soak up the last bits of sunshine and relaxation. The sun is shining and the waves are pounding and I want to make this last day as sweet as possible. After two weeks away, I'm almost ready to go home. Who knows when I'll ever have this kind of opportunity again though -- so I'm squeezing the last bits of rest and luxury out of the day.

Linda and I Have Adventures in Florida

My friend, Linda, has come down to Florida to be with me. Yesterday we interrupted our heavy schedule of reading and relaxing to go into Sebastian and see Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum. The Museum tells all about the Fisher family's salvaging operation and how they've found priceless treasures from ancient shipwrecks -- in particular the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet that was wrecked in a hurricane just off the coast of Florida.

A lot of the items found were religious, like this rosary and cross. And some were more "practical" like this "poison cup" which has a framework in the bottom to hold a beazoar -- a stone that was said to absorb poison so that even if your drink was poisoned you would be protected. Of course, there were also gold and silver coins and huge bars of gold and silver too. There were chains and rings and lockets and candlesticks and lots of other assorted things. One interesting thing was that the gold that was made into necklaces wasn't taxed, so naturally people travelled with huge long necklaces of gold so they could transport the gold without paying a tax on it. Some of the gold necklaces were 6 or 8 feet long and made out of large chunky loops.

Some of the treasures that were salvaged are displayed in the museum and some are actually for sale in the gift shop. Linda bought a pendant that was made from a 1715 silver coin. It's oddly shaped because coins in those days weren't necessarily round. Once they were made by hand they were weighed and if they were a little heavy some of the coin was cut away. Similarly, if you needed to make payment and it cost less than a full coin, you'd just cut away the portion you needed to pay. So Linda's odd-shaped coin is really full of history.

I bought a book on the 1715 fleet and a faux silver coin -- but I already have a silver coin pendant at home that Jeff gave me and two pair of earrings all from salvaged treasure. So, I felt justified in egging Linda on to make her purchase without getting any myself!

After the museum we headed to the Vero Beach Factory Outlet to shop a little. Linda needed a new suitcase, since hers has lost a wheel and we looked around a little at the shops. We found a great suitcase for her at the Samsonite store -- it's bright red and has a shiny hard shell and wonderful wheels.

Today, we're back to relaxing by the pool. I bought "The Lovely Bones" to read and Linda's reading the "Twilight" series. Only one more day until it's time to head for home and Jeff's surgery.

On My Own in Florida

Today is my third full day of complete solitude in Florida. I came down on Sunday and drove to Vero Beach and I have accomplished very little since. I'm supposed to be looking for a cheap used car so we don't have to pay the ridiculous rental car rates, but I've struck out so far. My only real prospect was sold yesterday to someone else while I waffled about whether a 2 hour drive to Orlando to look at another car was worthwhile. I decided it wasn't and then the first car was gone. I've spent a great deal of my so-called vacation time on this car business and now Jeff tells me just to wait until he gets here on Friday.

So, what should I do with myself? When I wasn't looking for cars, I've been knitting a pair of socks and reading a novel. I've been able to relax a good bit, but I've hardly been out of the room. I'm not the type who's afraid to eat out or see a movie alone -- but it's certainly less fun alone. I'm not too keen on swimming and with my melanoma history I shouldn't do any sunbathing and it doesn't seem like too much fun to sit alone by the pool even with a book. I have a fantastic view of the ocean from my hotel room, so I've been reading on the balconey.

This morning I woke up at 5 a.m. (probably partly due to the time change) and when the sun started to come up I took a picture of it coming up over the waves. There were really too many clouds in the way, but I'm a lazy bug and I rarely see sunrises of any type. So, I enjoyed this one.

I know that being alone with nothing to do is a precious gift and I should treasure it and use it wisely and well, but I can't think of anything I really want to do. Any suggestions? What would you do all by yourself in a tropical paradise? Let me know. Jeff'll be here on Friday, so I really just have today and tomorrow left.