associated in random thought

oh the joy.

after waking up for the past five days with an all-too-familiar pain in my back, i finally went to the doctor this morning, and left with a script for antibiotics and vicodin. (hooray for the latter.) it seems that december is official "bananie passes a kidney stone" month.

and so i am home sick today, sitting on the porch now, barefooted, as it is 75 degrees at sunset. it's awfully hard to remember that christmas is next week in such weather, but i'm getting good with the practice.

on saturday night, helen and i took the scooter out for a wintry tour of austin. fish n chips at mother egan's, and on the way, an unofficial tour of east austin christmas lights. the houses over here are small and unassuming, but holy oh my goodness, our neighborhood is certainly festive with the lights. i hunkered down against helen as we rode, for it was actually cold outside.

after mother egan's, we walked 37th street, where there is a trail of lights on ecstasy. lights upon lights and a disco ball in the middle of the street. a thorougly yule-tided old stove in a yard. lights strung around stop signs. a manger holding "the baby cheeses". these 37th street residents are insanely into the spirit of the season.

and so, on sunday, i dragged out the christmas tree from the crawl space in the attic. it was packed away in a big tupper, and its spindly branches needed a lot of fluffing, but soon it was put together, and looking just like its twentyseven dollar self. helen and tara and i decorated the old girl, and she gleamed proudly in our front window.

of course, i forced charley and moe (the only dogs in our family who truly understand the word "stay") to sit in front of the tree for photos, and as you can see, they were mighty enthused to be a part of the project.

now, three days later, the tree is all but dismantled by shiloh, the christmas calico. (see right corner of the photo.) the tree topper has fallen off, the garland is repeatedly dragging on the floor, and several round decorations have gone missing. priceless.

and now, it's time for a painkiller, and some more browsing of ebay for my christmas present from by beloved schmelen: a new camera...
Posted by bananie at December 13, 2006 5:31 PM | TrackBack