Judy's Turn

Thanks for the Giving

 Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that you grow to love more as you experience life. Although a lot of food is involved, it's also a time to look around the table and appreciate each member sitting at it. This Thanksgiving was extra special for us. Sam had arrived safely in Taipei for his 6 month studies, Leah was home from Humboldt, our niece and nephew were with us from Los Angeles and Becky seemed to finally be kicking the Mono (as in Nucleosis) that had beaten her down for over a month. 

Our table consisted of 14 people. Just two were not immediate family - Laurie and Dan. Laurie had been with us for Thanksgiving a few times, but this was the first time that Dan joined us. Dan has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and is a scientist at Gilead. He spent a lot of time talking to Becky at dinner and offered to help her with her backlog in Physics and Algebra. She came home from her first day back at school yesterday overwhelmed with the amount of work that she had missed (Junior year of high school) and said that she would indeed need to take Dan up on his offer. I told her to contact him, but to be aware that he had an important job and might not be able to come over this week. 

Dan is sitting at our table tonight (one day later) talking about acceleration and friction with Becky. This is after a 10 hour work day and the only payment he'll take is the knowledge that he helped Becky catch up with her studies. It is truly wonderful to hear them talking and I know back there in West Virginia where Dan grew up, there was someone special in his life raising him to be a good man.

I am constantly impressed by the goodness in the people that I meet and know that many Dans are working tonight helping others without any expectations in return. And, as an older "early adopter" of social communication products, I'm glad that I have the ability to let you know about this little slice of life. Let me know if you have a story to tell.

OKAY NOW FOR THE BIG DEALS I GOT TODAY WHILE HANGING OUT ON THE PENINSULA:

Fleur de sel Caramels from Trader Jacques (for those of you who need a translation - caramels with salt from Trader Joe's) -- $6.99 (really taste good - up front at the Hillsdale TJs)

Really beautiful boxed soaps from France and Italy at Tuesday Morning in San Mateo for $7.99 - I think they'll go fast. At the front of the San Mateo store just to the left of the cashier.

 

The Eve of Christmas

Watch Alastair Sim in "Scrooge" and remember that once Christmas was just really a day that was celebrated starting on it's eve. I get in the spirit every year that I watch it and wish I didn't have to start the season in September.......

Traditions!

Happy Hanukkah! As our kids opened their first gift of the 8 nights of Hanukkah and promptly hung their Christmas ornament (the gift) on the tree, I reflected that our traditions are a bit different from others. But in our Christian/Jewish household, it works. It's just important to have some, so go grab a few of your own and have a wonderful holiday season!

Skater's Relief

Yikes.  We're a mere few days away from Christmas.  This can strike panic in the hearts of many, or not.  For me, the panic is the perception of never having enough time to finish the framing projects I've promised.  This is nothing new; it happens every year.  At the moment, typing a blog post is sweet diversion; my hands are sore from cutting mats and cranking vices, and I'm tired of standing on my feet on concrete.   Ahhhh... this is where skating comes in!  I simply can't imagine a better form of stress release than diving into an exercise routine that you love.

Last week was so cold and rainy that there was no window of opportunity to skate.  Even the Friday Night Skate on 12/12 got a mid-skate deluge at about 10:30 pm.  (And again, we diehards chose to finish out the entire route in the pouring rain.  Nearly everybody fell or nearly fell.  I ripped my jacket and briused my hip.  It was silly, but I must admit to feeling happy about getting in the full 12 miles.)  So after a week of no skating, and a VERY hectic week of framing, I was chomping at the bit to strap on my skates for last night's Friday Night Skate.  And boy was it worth it.  Most of us showed up in Santa attire, or some form of it.  Hats, lights, red leggings, green elf tops, etc.  It was a very festive night.  And most skaters were feeling what I felt, an eager anxiousness to SKATE.  The night air was clear and brisk.  It was a perfect night for rolling through the streets of San Francisco, and we all had a blast.  There were so many people "out on the town," enjoying the dry weather and the city lights and entertainment.  Ice skaters at the Embarcadero and Union Square were out in force.  Everybody was happy last night.  It's a nice sight to witness when our daily news is filled with gloom. 

If there's anybody on your Christmas list who's a budding young athlete, why don't you consider procuring for them a nice pair of rollerskates or rollerblades?  (And then encourage them out to Golden Gate Park on a sunny Sunday and I promise you... they will get all the free skating tips that they could possibly want!)

Merry Christmas.  Happy Hanukkah.  Joyful celebration of all types.  May we all embrace the season and look joyously towards the fresh new year on our horizon.

Shopping Blues

There's usually at least one time during the holiday season that I get so overwhelmed with the whole business I am tempted to leave my filled cart in the aisle and just walk away. That happened last night at Target at around 9:30 pm. All was going well until I turned a corner and noticed how ridiculous parts of this holiday season can be. Particularly towards the end of the day as it gets closer to Christmas in a large discount department store. Bits of plastic greenery littered the floor along with discarded clothing and household items. Everyone looked tired and the people who were looking for specific items were quizzing even more exhausted store clerks about the availability of those items. One man was looking for a brand of water that is made just for babies. That really seemed to stump the clerk. A woman wanted a very popular toy that of course had just sold out and she insisted on knowing exactly when it would be back in again. Hopeless for all. Certainties like that don't exist during Christmas. I began to lose the spirit right then and there. But instead, I took my cart up to the checkout counter, purchased my items, got back in the car and drove across town. I was totally refreshed as I entered Old Navy at 10:15 pm. That's the spirit!                                                                                

         

    

The Best Guest Authors!

Diane and Lainie are two guest authors who have stuck with this blog writing venture since September. They each write a post per week, sometimes more. It's not easy for them, because they have very full lives outside of the blogosphere. Tonight I returned home from a party, and I had an email from each of them. Both are a little blown away by the Christmas rush and they  apologized for not being able to get a post out this week. In Diane's case, the post that she wrote for the week decided to get lost somewhere in the "cloud" while Lainie is so backed up with framing projects she can't get the creative juices going to write about her skating adventures.

I look forward to reading their posts each time they send me an email to let me know that they've completed one. I also find it hard to believe that they continue to write such great stuff, primarily to help me keep the blog alive with good content. They don't even complain about not knowing anything about our readership (though Annie did say she's enjoying it!). Heck, I can't even get my kids and husband to tune in regularly. Their dedication in the face of all these drawbacks is appreciated. I wish I had some money to hire them!

Until then, thanks to my devoted correspondents. I think that we're keeping each other going. And thanks to Annie for writing and saying that she's enjoying the blog. Onward to the end of this year and the beginning of a new one!

Another Holiday Tip

Save the holiday cards that you get each year and use them the following year for gift tags. This obviously works best with traditional holiday cards that feature a peaceful snow scene or a festive graphic picture on the front. These days, most of the cards we receive have a group photo of children or an entire family, so you need to save the few that will work as gift tags. Just cut the front of the card and either use the whole card or a portion of it to attach to the gift and identify the recipient. If you reuse gift bags too then use a whole puncher and put some ribbon through the card to attach to the bag. I've been saving our cards for years for this purpose. Each time I reach into the bag to choose a card for a potential tag, it gives me the opportunity to think of those friends again as I read their card. 

Skating Union Street Christmas Parade

Every year, Union Street in San Francisco hosts a small town parade for Christmas and another one for Easter. Easter has actually always been the bigger of the two but both have typically brought out a good amount of happy spectators. A group of Friday Night skaters has always participated in both.  We do this as a good will gesture, as well as for fun sociability. For the past nineteen years, Friday skaters have invaded Union Street as the halfway mark of our weekly nighttime route. We have a long rest stop at Union and Fillmore where we descend on the corner market, and then basically take over the street for the uphill trek up to Polk Street.  The parade organizers have always loved having our participation.We are festive, musical and courteous in our friendliness. On Easter we dress as skating cows (the neighborhood is called Cow Hollow) and on Christmas we dress as elves. We always draw huge smiles, as well as expressions of wonder from the children.

This year, unfortunately, the parade was canceled for economic reasons. It was a disappointing shock. I guess the merchants association simply couldn’t justify the expense, and many businesses didn’t feel much cause for celebration. But what did we skaters do? We went anyway! (Sadly though, there were only seven of us participating. We usually have a couple dozen or more, but I guess the majority of skaters simply weren’t feeling it… especially knowing there was no official parade.) There was however a Santa available for photos, and a wee bit of Christmas activity in the vicinity of the Santa station. So on what was a normal Saturday evening, suddenly there exploded a loud blast of Christmas music (our leader, D, has amplified music that fits into a jogging stroller) and a gaggle of red and green elves. Even though it was the smallest participation ever, it seemed that the onlookers were noisier and happier than ever before. They came out of stores and restaurants to cheer us on. We felt that they were REALLY wanting to see some holiday spirit. I guess there just hasn’t been enough of that so far this year. 

The skaters that got the most attention however actually weren’t skaters at all. They were two pugs that their skater-owners dressed in red and green and placed together in their own jogging stroller.  Every couple hundred feet, we had to stop so that people could pet the dogs and/or take a picture with them and us. So the moral of this story I suppose is:  even when “times are tough,” go out and spread some fun and festivity.  It will make everybody feel better.

Happy holidays!

Due to some technical difficulties, Judy is getting the credit for this story. Be assured that this article was written by Lainie, our skating correspondent. Great story Lainie. Good follow up to my sort of negative one yesterday!  -- Judy

Strategies for a Pre-Holiday Warehouse Sale

Note:  This is different from a Black Friday Walmart sale

So a friend of mine has introduced me to pre-holiday warehouse sales. And, at first, they were sort of scary. The doors open and people, in a mad frenzy, rush in with their baskets and boxes and start loading them up with items. They don't seem to know or care what they're buying. I'd never seen this type of shopping behavior before. What I have learned in these linen/holiday decor/kitchen item/stationery warehouse shopping events is that you load up and then get in the long line to purchase. As you're in line, you purge items out of your basket. So, if you're a really smart shopper, you shop the discarded items around the checkout line as well as on the actual floor. It's taken three years but I think I might have reached an intermediate level in my warehouse shopping skills.

My absolute favorite warehouse sale is the one at Cavallini Stationery in South San Francisco. The quality of the calendars, picture frames, wrapping paper and other odds and ends is the very highest. If you like to always have a few nice notecards around, then this sale is a must. The people attending it wait patiently in line outside, while the employees of Cavallini serve coffee and donuts and discuss the upcoming purchasing frenzy. Then the doors open, the basket handles part, and all hell breaks loose. This year I went specifically for the vintage calendars and then ran around all the tables grabbing things and stuffing them in my basket. At the 20 minute wait in the checkout line, I took a look at my holdings. And got rid of most of them. But, I did keep the French alphabet flash cards and the book plates. Random, but neat.

The book plates were glued into some of my cook books and then labeled with our family name. As I was doing this, I instructed my daughter that when I had passed away, to look for the cook books that were labeled with the book plates and keep them. She could toss the other ones. She said that I was morbid.

Choosing the top 12 cookbooks in my collection to wear a beautiful inscribed Cavallini book plate was more difficult than I thought. I don't cook much and I also rarely use cook books. "Joy of Cooking" got a plate. Also, "The Fannie Farmer Cook Book" that had belonged to my husband's mother. Then I stopped and got lost in another cookbook that will become a MOFBC (Michelle Obama Fantasy Book Club) selection for Friday's post. So please tune in.