Cheese Party

On boxing day my parents invited some friends over for treats, mainly of the cheese variety. I believe about six. Maybe seven. I should have made sure to take photographs of each cheese individually. I made little labels and they could have reminded me what all the cheese was called and allowed me to make pithy remarks about the fact that each and every one of them pleased me, though the Roquefort and Camembert were particularly tasty.



It was a nice evening. Oh, and there was a white wine I liked too. I'll have to insist that my father or mother let me know the names of these things.

The Battle of the Delivery Lunch Meals (Kind of)

Perhaps a little too text-heavy. You win some. You lose some.

Dinosaur Vampires Have Regrets

Funny Ha Ha

Two jokes I've been meaning to share (found in the Christmas popper things we cracked open after supper):

1. What is found at the bottom of the ocean and shakes?

2. Why is an elephant grey and wrinkled?

The answers to these jokes are hilarious. I will give the comments a little while before I put up the responses. But not too long because I want to share already.

Boxing Day Stroll

On Boxing Day I did some work then took a slightly longer walk around town. Slightly being the key word, of course. During the walk, a car (one of the few I saw) rolled up to me and the lady in the driver's seat asked me where the nearest Starbucks or McDonalds was. I told her there was a McDonalds in Monteagle, but that I couldn't even begin to guess where a Starbucks might be. She seemed unconvinced that I wasn't keeping a super secret Starbucks from her, which made tell her how funny it was that she even asked. Because it was funny. Sewanee is literally a two traffic light town. Yeah, it's got a little business district, and does manage to support two coffee houses (though I think Stirling's may be seriously subsidized by the university?) but Starbucks? Chain anything? Not yet. Actually, that's not true. The school's bookstore is run by Barnes and Noble. Okay. So. I lose. But! In terms of food and groceries? Everything's local. That's kind of neat, actually.
It was a sunny day, but cold and with a wind.
I entered Abbo's Alley from University for a change.
The spring in the background is right below the gym. When I was a kid the paths to it weren't as maintained, and there was somehow less open space above it (I think maybe a parking lot was built), all of which led to the site feeling slightly more hidden, something not everyone got to know about. Or that is how I thought about it then. Now when I go see it, I don't feel like it's as special. Well, it's better when the daffodils are around on your approach.

When I returned home, my mother made scrambled eggs and bacon. Here they are in front of the Christmas present my uncle and aunt gave my parents (they also gave me a great new purse that I have already begun to use).

Christmas Champagne, Supper and Games

When H. and C. arrived, we cheered to Christmas with champagne. I tried to 'Kir Royale' mine up...and did, but found that it wasn't actually a taste combination I liked as much as I thought I might.

This is what my parents look like sometimes.
I asked H. to take a few photographs of us. My father has an even worse habit than I do of making silly faces, but a few shots were winners, silly faces and all. In the photograph below I decided I would practice my extremely rudimentary photoshop skills. Can you see what I did?
If I had worn red, and if we were the types to do Christmas cards, one of these would have sufficed for such a thing.

The meal began with the oyster stew my mother made. All rich and buttery creamy. I have liked this decadent stew since I was a kid, though I remember going through a period when seeing the inside of a cooked oyster weirded me out...I think I solved this problem by not looking.
H. cooked a nice hunk'a beef. I was going to try carving it, but realized I didn't know what I was doing. H., bum hand and all, ended up doing the cutting.
I plated the salad of local greens, cherry tomatoes, gherkin pickles, boiled egg and one pickled beet...and maybe cheese?
My mother prepared a kick ass leek, bacon and cheese side dish.
Mmmmmm. Everything was delicious.
After the meal we sat down and played Apples to Apples. I haven't been playing as many games as I have in other times in my life, and I forgot how much fun it can be. I never won, I guess my word associations weren't always as spot-on as others'.


Really is a good, fun game. My mother, who has gotten the reputation within the family of not being much of a gamer, even seemed to enjoy herself.
For dessert there was a lemon custard pudding that was just delightful.




H., C. and L. left before dark to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I believe we watched the latter half of Turner Movie Classics Sherlock and a Hepburn/Tracey movie. All good fun and quite a nice holiday.

Christmas Walk

After opening gifts we had a little time before H., C. and L. arrived for Christmas dinner/supper, so I went on a walk. This is our house. I have taken this same exact photograph nine million times.

I didn't go too far on either of my Sewanee walks, a result of my working, the weather, and maybe laziness, but not as much as some times. Point being, I only walked around Abbo's Alley. But it's always pretty, and I enjoy remembering it the way I saw and felt it as a kid: magical and expansive.



I saw a hawk at one point, and it was big...totally not a crow (I often think I see a hawk in the air, but it's almost always a crow, except for that one time when I thought it was a crow and it was a freakin' blue heron). Moved fast though, and didn't stay around for me to take a photograph. Bird fail.
I do love me my olives.

Christmas Morning

Sewanee fog was prevalent in the morning hours of Christmas. Here is the live tree my parents bought and my mother decorated. Let me tell you something about this tree: it was very heavy, and quite difficult to single-handedly drag across the driveway and into the hole my parents dug for it...but I am strong and made it happen.
I always liked this gingerbread decoration, and birds are always good too.



My mother and I are firm collectors of rocks and shells. Here is her latest menagerie.
Note the snail.
Before our present opening we had cinnamon rolls, and I had a cup of tea.