Reflections on the Year, or The More I Hurry, the Further Behind I Get!

I have felt like I'm behind and trying desperately to catch up all year.  So many things I have to do, keep track of, contribute to, and I am not up to speed on any of them.  Well, my goal at work is up to date, and my church giving pledge is, my bills are all paid, but stuff I need to do for me is lagging.

Haven't done much with my various journals, haven't written as much poetry as I should have.  I have kept this blog up pretty well, but the posts are not all I hoped I could make of them.

So much of the time life seems to speed by while I am trying to get myself moving.  Is it just growing older catching up, or is it a lazy nature finally expressing itself?
The weight loss has come to a standstill, but at least there has been no substantive backsliding.  Only gained a pound or two, and lost them back pretty quickly, but can't get below 137 no matter what I do.
Supposed to be finishing a Web 2.0 training at work, and still have four topics left to cover out of 12.  There are books I want to read that are on my Nook, and on my shelf, and have not been touched.  I have been reading, just not as fast as I usually do.  Got a bad case of wandering attention most days. 

Does anybody else feel like they are getting more "fruity" than "complex"?  Don't know whether the hot flashes have cooked what little was left of my brain, or if the fact that they wake me up every night several times is the cause of my absent brain feelings.

I have often mentioned in this blog the sad things that have happened this past year.  The cat died, Matt had to go to the hospital for a week, the tornadoes came through town again, my nephew died, my friend died, just lots of sadness.

There has also been some great happiness.  Like meeting two other  Perlgirls in person finally.  Of COURSE, meeting Ron Perlman, The Man himself was fantastic!
 The fact that Matt didn't have any permanent damage from his heart rhythm problem was also a cause for great rejoicing.  The changes made in our diet because of his health issues have been very beneficial.  The fact that my weight appears stuck at the moment should not detract from the fact that I lost 30 POUNDS!! 
The continuing presence in our lives of some very dear friends has also been a source of great happiness.  Good friends are hard to come by, and having Mike and Nancy for friends has been a real blessing.
 There have been many challenges this year, and most of them were met and dealt with in a satisfactory manner.  There is always room for improvement, more growth, less navel gazing.   There are things clogging up our house that we should sort through and part with some of.
I must also once again clean the fountain pens.  They are clogged up again from lack of use.  Shameful it is, the way I neglect them.  (Well, hello Master Yoda, my word order taken over you have!)

 Here are my beautiful fountain pens.  Many of them were hand made for me by Matt.  (The ones with the wood barrels and the bright green one and first blue one on the right.)


Time also to change the calendars, clear away the Christmas decorations, and clear the decks for a whole new year.  I just hope it is a year of good things, and a time to catch up, not another year of scurrying, hurrying, and worrying.

Something that always makes me smile.  Thanks, Mr. P!

Kelly and Mary, you guys are the best!  This makes me smile, too!  (And of course, Himself  brought us all together!)

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Again. Already!  This year has sped by, and I have not felt ready for this Holiday season to be upon us yet.  What with Matt's hospital visit earlier in the year, the loss of our cat, the horrible storms that damaged our town,the loss of my nephew Marty,  the loss of my friend and colleague Melodie, this year has been full of difficult and NOT very celebratory times.  Yet we have the house decorated, and I have made the usual sweets, though not as many.  We have friends coming to visit tomorrow, to share food and good times.  So many blessings to help offset the sorrows.  The weather is a paradox right now.  It is so cold out that we feel like we are living inside a giant freezer.  Everything is coated in ice EXCEPT the roads and sidewalks. Every other outdoor surface has at least a half inch of ice coating it.  Many trees have lost limbs, many more are bowing low to the ground.  The ice is a worry if the wind picks up, but as it is, it is beautiful, especially at night, and in the sunlight.

This is a tree near a neighbor's Christmas lights.  Lovely sparkly effect on the tree branches from the ice.

This tree is on the street East of us. A sculpture by Jack Frost.

The street sign and stop sign on the corner about 2 houses South of our house.  It has been this way since Friday night.  See the cable television bundled cables in the background.  Let us HOPE the wind stays low!









I feel more in the spirit of the season now.  I am done with work until the day AFTER Christmas, and my voice studio recital is over.  I did pretty well, I thought. There is a link to follow that you can go to and listen to the song I sang.  The piece is Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head by John Jacob Niles.  It was performed by me, accompanied by Karen Smith-Pearson, my vocal coach, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oklahoma City on Sunday, December 22, 2013.

Katie Armistead Voice Recital - Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head


There are only a few last minute things to be done, and we will be ready to celebrate the joy of Christmas with our friends.  We sing at the late service tomorrow night.  10:30 pm Festival Music, and the service starts at 11pm.  Usually over after midnight.  If you are in the 405, and would like to join us at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, 127 NW 7th St, Oklahoma City, OK
You can find out more about St. Paul's, and hear recordings of our choirs and the pipe organ, and even download the Worship Guides (bulletins) for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services at The Cathedral's Website

May you all know the warmth and joy of the season, may you find love and caring where you least expect it, and may your New Year be filled to overflowing with good things.

Thanks for reading.
As Ever,
Katie

A Couple Of Poems

As the TV weather people have been barking again about the freezing rain, thought I'd record the words floating around in my head.  Also a little meditation about this "connected" world of ours.

 Here's hoping the ice leaves town quickly.  Many people have things to do and places to go this weekend, and I have a voice recital Sunday night!


Ice Storm Warning
By CK Armistead
12/20/13

With stealth
And menace
This precipitation
Falls and freezes
Silently coating
Roads
Tree limbs
Power lines
Hearts.
Turning some
Into hoarders
Of bread
Milk
Toilet paper
Booze.
Making many
Lose their
Holiday Spirit
Making many more
Slip, slide, fall,
Crash.
The only way
To fight ice
Is to resist
The chill,
Stay off of it,
Keep your heart warm
And  ice will
Melt.


Community
By C.K. Armistead 12/20/13

Whether right next door
Or halfway 'round the world,
You have friends.
They don't have to be
Present physically
To be supportive
Friendship depends
On a meeting of minds,
Of hearts
Even more than
Meeting face to face.
Many who reach out
Across cyberspace
Are just as close
As those down the street.
A strange paradigm
Of these times
That words on a screen
Can bring people
Closer
Give them hope
Encouragement
Laughter
And love.
And when you do
Meet them face to face
It  makes the time
Together sweeter,
More companionable
Because you are not
Strangers
But friends.

Voicing Some Views on Vocabulary

Words have long been my favorite playthings.  I learned to read very early, and so read just about everything I could find with print on it when I was a kid.  I even read dictionaries.  For fun.
 My entire career at school, from elementary through university, my vocabulary was always larger than those of my classmates.  I often had to consider before I spoke whether the word I had chosen to use would be well received in present company.  This is what happens when you are the youngest child by several years in a household of readers.  Since my parents and  siblings read news stories aloud to me (and each other) at the breakfast table, and I cannot remember a time I could not read, though they tell me I was 3 when they realized I could,  it would seem I was destined to have a large collection of words at my beck and call. 
My composition professor at university always told me that I wrote in much the same way that I speak:  very long and complex sentences.  He reminded me that colons and semi colons were my friends, and I should not be afraid to call upon them.
Here then, are a few of the words that interest me.  Only a very few.  (Winking smiley).

There are words I almost never use in daily conversation and writing, but I love them.  The sound of them, the associated meanings of them, the way they fit a particular situation.
Words like Pyrrhic Victory, which refers to a victory won at too great a cost.  (After a Greek king who won  battles against the Romans, but lost great numbers of men and equipment and animals in the process.)

Slew, which comes from the Gaelic sluah, which means "many", or "a multitude".  A whole slew o' things, is a lot of them.  It's pretty common in the regions where my ancestors settled in this country.  (In the 1780s and '90s in the hills of Kentucky,  North Carolina, and later Arkansas.)
Many in my Mom's family, who are from farther South and in the flatter lands, say "a whole mess" of things instead of slew.  One meaning of mess, according to the Oxford American Dictionary is "an untidy collection of things."  So I guess my Mom's family was more concerned with the quality of the things than the number of them.

Truncated is a word I like because it does indeed give the impression of something cut short, cut off, left unfinished, perhaps.  I always will remember a lady who wouldn't believe the "may be truncated" on a list of book titles she was given referred to the fact that the book titles were likely cut short due to the size of the field in the database.  She believed it meant SHE could be cut off at any time, either her account or her call, I'm not sure which.  I think a manager FINALLY convinced her of the truth.

I also like trudge.  "To walk laboriously."  Good old Oxford.  Use a five syllable word to define a one syllable word!  (Big smile here!)  Many are the days I have trudged through simply because I felt heavy and weary, whether of spirit or body, or both.

Twitter is a word I like.  It does indeed sound like some of the sounds birds make.  It is also, of course, the name of a social media platform that is very popular.  So, now it has even more positive connotations for me than it did before.  Bird watching was a big hobby of mine while we were in Germany.  We saw many different kinds of woodpeckers, blackbirds, starlings, birds of prey, magpies, beautiful songbirds like goldfinches, cedar waxwings, and of course, European House Sparrows.  They are ubiquitous.  (Another word I love.)  "Being everywhere at the same time" well, yes, sparrows seem to be.  Just look around.  You'll see.

Mellifluous is another word I adore.  It means "Sweet sounding".  It brings to mind a song well sung.  I love to sing, I love it even more when I know I am singing well.  When it is mellifluous.

There are words I like that are considered odd by some.  Woolgather.  I like that word, because I find myself woolgathering a lot.  It means, of course, to drift a bit mentally, be bemused. Oxford American Dictionary says "Being in a dreamy or absent-minded state."  Pretty much describes me most of the time!

Vestments is a word that sometimes makes me smile.  I have to wear choir vestments every Sunday.  (And every Wednesday evening in Advent.)  They actually fit, having been made to measure for me, but now they are lots roomier since I have lost weight.  This makes me smile. 

Just as there are words I love, there are expressions I love.  One that I learned that is Italian in origin is "Fai attenzion.  E un venditore di fumo."  (Pay attention, or watch out, he's a smoke salesman. )  He's a fake, a con man.
A good con man could seem a lot like he was selling smoke, couldn't he?  It's a very colorful and powerful image. 
Just found a book today about expressions like this from around the world.  Will have to report in once I have a chance to delve into it.  I also have a book called Wordbirds to delve into.  Talking about words coined to deal with our 21st Century lives.  (Reminds me a lot of Sniglets, but maybe more useful and less completely funny.)

The hour grows late, my energy is waning, and I must arise early tomorrow and be about my business in a timely manner, so I will bid you all a fond farewell at this point. 

"Tis The Season...

Advent has begun, which means we start getting ready for Christmas.  In our worship, in our music, around the house, and hopefully in our hearts as well.
Around our house that means putting the decorations up a little at a time, and listening to Christmas music again.  I have uploaded some of our Christmas cds to the Amazon Cloud, I also have purchased a couple of new ones, since the  old ones get cloying after awhile, even though I love them.

The music now on the cloud, the computer, and my mobile devices for the season includes:

 40 Most Beautiful Carols.  Lots of Anglican sounds here, also some by Chanticleer.  Good, traditional carols.

Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra  One like some of the ones Mom used to play.  Classics.

The Andy Williams Christmas Album
One of the several my Mom ALWAYS played.  I grew up on this one, know all the songs by heart, still love it.

Another of Mom's favorites that I also love.  The one I downloaded is not EXACTLY like this, but has all the same songs.

Have owned a copy of this album in one form or another since the year they did the TV special and the album came out. LOVE it! Little Saint Nick has to be one of my all-time favorites.  Sung by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem!

Pink Martini Joy To The World

This is one of my new finds.  Love it.  All kinds of holiday songs, including a Hanukkah song that sounds like it's mostly in Spanish.  Immediately thought of the best man at our wedding, Paul Londynsky, who grew up Jewish in the middle of Panama.  (The Canal Zone.)

The Statler Brothers Christmas    One Mom played a lot the last few years I lived at home.  Kinda corny and very Country, but I still like it.

Silver Bells, A Bing Crosby Christmas Anthology
This has more on it than the one my Mom always listened to, but is familiar enough to make up for it.  It just isn't Christmas without Bing!  (Or Frank, or Andy, or Doris!)  Not at our house, anyway.








I also put the indoor lights up in the windows this evening, since I was home.  I have to go to work tomorrow, supposedly from 9 to 1, but they have already said the earliest we would open would be 10, and it's going to be determined in the morning whether we open at all.  Guess I'll be awaiting a phone call...

Anyway, here's a picture of the lights, and one of the driveway covered with sleet that is frozen into a nice hard crust.

Since that phone call that tells me whether I work in the morning or not is going to come awfully early in the morning, I guess I better start preparing for going to sleep. 
Sure am thankful for electricity, natural gas, a sturdy house, and the means to keep it warm!

Living La Vida Loca

Yep.  The crazy life.  Any more, life seems to zoom by so fast that I never get anything done.  Even at work, where I have uninterrupted time to get things done, life conspires against me.  The phone will ring off the hook, the sorter will act up, there will be a zillion customers all at once. 
Eventually, things even out, but it sure isn't easy to keep stress at bay when you feel like you aren't doing everything you're SUPPOSED to be doing. 

Around the house, it's living la vida Twitter that gets me in trouble.  Yes, I am a social media addict.  Twitter is but the latest version.  Before I discovered Twitter, there was Facebook, and before that, email lists.  It is a good way to find and keep up with old friends, far-flung family, make new friends, expand your horizons, but it will also eat a LOT of time if you let it.  I am trying not to let it.  (But I love my friends on Twitter, and I don't want to miss them!) 

Christmas is almost here again ALREADY!!  I am glad we don't have kids who will expect presents and a big whoop de doo for the holiday.  We have already given each other (and ourselves) a lot of things this year, so I don't think we will be doing much in the way of presents. We are further breaking with tradition and having brisket instead of ham for Christmas Eve dinner. 

I am not ready.  So far, no Christmas cards have been written, the only decorations out are the Advent wreath and the stuffed animals that go in our bedroom.  I don't like to rush Christmas these days.  Directly the opposite of the way it was when I was a child, and I started campaigning for Christmas lights, and the Christmas tree and all the fun stuff to come out as soon as Thanksgiving was over.  Now I get mad when the retailers start talking about Holiday Sales before Halloween. Even madder when grown people go out the day after Thanksgiving and trample and beat each other over some stupid thing they want to buy.  Good grief.  Life really IS crazy these days.

I am also trying to participate in an online reading group of sorts.  A few of us are reading (in my case and one other girl's case, RE-reading) The Name Of The Rose. It is a LOT more detailed than the movie would lead you to believe.  The story is the same, but there is so much background material, description, and history going on that it makes for involved reading.  More like the stuff I used to read in college than the stuff I've been reading lately for the most part. (I guess I've gotten lazy and have been reading lighter books for the most part.)

Now they are threatening us with nasty winter weather again.  Not sure whether we're supposed to get snow, sleet, both, or freezing rain and both.  This is going to mess up the activities the city has planned, as well as possibly messing up church on Sunday again.  Not good.  There is also the problem of our garage that has no drywall, and the attic that needs new insulation.   Sigh.  Please God, make the stupid weather pester somebody else.  We need to get this stuff DONE. (Otherwise, we are going to own a big chunk of ONG, or at least it will feel like we've bought one.)

(Two Days Later)
The arctic air mass has arrived, Armageddon in the form of freezing rain and extremely dangerous roads is supposed to follow shortly.  Far as I know, the library is still open, so I have made a large batch of Mexican Hot Chocolate to share, and I am on my way to work my usual shift.  I hope they close us early if it looks like the roads are going to be bad.  Don't want fellow staffers OR customers in danger.  Matt is off today, so I get a ride to and from with an experienced all-weather driver!