On Friday morning I was up at 2:45AM, just couldn’t sleep. I got the post up and when I went to feed the cat, my back went out. I took meds but they weren’t much help.
My helper arrived at 8AM with a big bag of bubblewrap. We got the last side of the crib finished and up in the attic. Now I just have to write and post an ad for it.
He helped me get the kitchen cleaned up and then we started on putting away the empty canning jars and freezer containers stored in the pantry. He hauled the boxes up from the cellar and I sorted and packed. Then he took them all back down again. That’s why the second shelf in the top left photo is empty.
He started cleaning in the pantry. All I could do to help was take the things he handed down off the shelves and move them out of the way. He’d clean the shelf area and then I’d hand stuff back up to him.
Once the shelves were done he tackled the meat slicer. It had been put away uncovered and had gotten pretty dusty over the last 3 years. Once it was cleaned up, we covered it with plastic bags. That section was finished.
I didn’t have the energy to tackle the big white cabinet, so we just did the top of it, same thing, he’d hand down, clean, and I’d hand up. He had just enough time left to do the top shelf by the window on the other side of the white cabinet.
He left to do an errand before he had to go to his next person. I had about ½ hour before the Senior van came to pick me up for a program.
It was one I had really wanted to see. But because I’d gotten up so early in the morning, I was getting really tired. The speaker was very interesting, explaining that Christmas as we know it in New England didn’t start to happen until the 1800’s. And it became a federal holiday in 1870.
He also said the Dr. Suess book about the Grinch was actually about the mill owners who opposed Christmas becoming a federal holiday. It meant that the workers could take the day off. The mill owners were the Grinch and Whoville the workers.
He explained the Christmas tree was a German custom, that most houses had garlands and sometimes wreaths of evergreens. He said that the “della Robbia” style of decorating with the pineapple is a much more recent thing.
I found another book at the Senior Center and when I got home I sat down to read it. My reading companion was in his usual place.
My brother came home just before 4PM and said the full moon was rising behind the white oak and I should get a photo. So we went out and jumped in my car, and wouldn’t you know it, it was doing the all lights on/won’t start thing again. So we got his car and I finally got this shot.
We have no idea why the car is doing this. We plan to jump it on Saturday and let it run to charge it up. It’s much too cold for a battery trickle charger to do it. And we’ll see if it does it again.
On Saturday and for the next long while, I have to work on estate planning. There were a lot of changes that had to be made with my husband’s death and I’ve just not done it. So it’s bite the bullet time… But I also have a Christmas book to read and stoves to stoke as it’s very cold here now.