My 55th Birthday

As if a fireside candle, shooting star lights to be used next Christmas and a fresh ball of mozzarella from East 48th Street Market to be eaten New Year's Eve with a nice Cab Franc wasn't enough for my birthday . . .

Bob took me to LeFont Theatre to see "Anna Karenina" to find that it had just been replaced, but on the way to another theater to see "Beasts of the Southern Wild" a story about Katrina and New Orleans, Bob spied the poster for the movie in the dumpster and went dumpster diving to retrieve it for me.  We did end up seeing it at another theater.  It was a feast for the eyes.  The dresses and jewelry were beautiful as was everything else in this movie.  I will have to see it again with my girlfriends.

I wanted a photo of the poster with Roman and Princess who we were taking to an adoption event this morning, but with having to hold the poster up and hold onto two 65 pound chow-chows, didn't get much of a birthday photo, but you get the jist! Roman and Princess look very good in this photo, though!

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Christmas Day

The table was set, the food was in the oven, the guests were arriving.

George & Patti's centerpiece was perfect for my table setting this year.

My favorite aunt gave me the cat plates last year, and they were perfect, too.

Too many desserts!  Pumpkin flan with Kaluha and whipped cream . . .

chocolate mousse . . .

and a sliced yule log, not to mention chocolate gingerbread cookies and eggnog.

Helga sat patiently throughout the meal hoping something would fall on the floor.  As usual, I never get a photo of my guests.  By time they arrive and I'm serving dinner, moving into the living room to sit in front of the fire, then setting up the desserts, I completely forget about the camera.  Oh, well, maybe next time!

Packages Wrapped and Mailed

My wrapping this year fit with the theme of the tree . . . cardinals

Cardinals and wishing wells and lots of snow

I did, however, manage to slip in a few owls!

Queenie Hidden Among the Decorations

Linda just sent some pictures from her lake house of all her decorating, and Queenie has to be in every photo.  I love Linda's house at Christmastime, all her things are antique/vintage.  What else, she is an antiques dealer!

The lake is right outside her window.  Linda & Stu are on the first basin, we are on the third.  Their house sits right on the lake, and we will be on a side road where Hogback Mountain is.  Next year this time that's where we'll be!

Our 28th Anniversary

Note: Click on photo to enlarge. 
 In keeping with our new tradition of celebrating anniversaries by doing a different activity instead of dinner and gifts, this year we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the Holiday Lights

The orbs danced with color to Christmas music and may have been my favorite display

It was a balmy 70 degrees and we got to the gardens at twilight so that when night fell, the gardens looked even better

Snapdragons were still in bloom

One of my "artistic" shots, fountain in the foreground, the IBM tower in the background.  The glass sculpture on top of the fountain is by some famous glass artist, can't remember his name.  Will have to ask my friend Marilyn, she loves his work and has pointed it out at different times when we've been together

In the rainforest there were millions of specs of green light that you can barely see on the leaves in this photo, but in the dark it was beautiful.  I said to Bob it would be fun to put up a couple of hammocks and spend the night just listening to the frogs

One of my favorite trees, the Bald Cypress which had a color wheel as if it were a 1950s aluminum tree

Bob's favorite display was all the hanging stars from the treetops

It was a relaxing evening, didn't get too crowded until we were ready to leave, so it all turned out perfect.  What will we think of next year?

Migrating Redwing Blackbirds

Thousands of Redwing Blackbirds came through today.  The sound when they all took off in flight together was amazing.  The videos I took are better than the photos, if only I could download them onto this blog, but it doesn't want to work.

The "Princess" Tree

Now named the Princess tree . . .

because just like Princess, the undercoat is white with a caramel topping.  This tree probably started out pure white, but with age it has developed a lovely beige patina, and that's what I like about it.

 

This is Princess, one of our foster dogs.  See the resemblance?

The tree skirt is actually a little girl's skirt I picked up years ago at the Gap.  It is brushed velvet and cost $48 . . . but I picked it up for $4.99 and knew I would be able to use it one day.

And so the red and white theme came to fruition, and I remembered the velvet cardinal tree topper I had stashed away in the basement.

So out came all the old wooden ornaments from my log cabin days, many of them with a cardinal theme.

It's actually ironic that cardinals became the theme of this year's tree as the live cardinals around the house have been driving Bob and I crazy pecking at the windows and sitting on our cars' mirrors attacking themselves thinking another male is in their territory.  This has been going on for months, but they are a pretty bird even if they are a little bit off mentally!

The Princess tree unlit

The Princess tree lit, twinkle lights and all

Now for the rest of the house and trying to put together a red and white table theme.