Scary Christmas and Happy Horrordays!

CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING... I got up fairly early, well before Ms. B., and made my usual Christmas Eve morning slapjacks. Tradition, don't you know. On a whim, I took a photo of the cast of the 1974 original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, the lot of whom are hanging out on the shelf in my office. Then I did a little Photoshop job to post as a Christmas greeting. And as you can see, these guys are sure having a great time!

Brugger and I had ordered a bar set a while back as a Christmas present to each other, so we spent most of the afternoon hammering it all together. It's really quite lovely, and I made an extra run to the liquor store to insure we had sufficient spirits to stock it up. We put it to good use during the evening, as friends Charles and Samaire came round for treats. We ended up going till the wee hours; a most enjoyable little gathering.

An absolutely lovely Christmas Eve at Casa di Rodan

CHRISTMAS MORNING... Quite early, our houseful of housecats set to hollering impatiently to get their gifts from Santa, so that was all she wrote for dad getting any more sleep. The afternoon weather forecast wasn't looking promising, though the temperature was lovely, so once Ms. B. was up and going, she and I took a pleasant walk around nearby Lake Lanier. Then she started dinner cooking — a big ol' pot roast in the crock pot to make shredded beef to go on jalapeno pasta a friend gave us a while back.

Wacky people taking a Christmas morning walk around Lake Lanier

Friends Terry & Beth recently picked up a brand-new huge-screen TV for themselves, so they very kindly donated their old one to us. Brugger and I spent the early afternoon getting it set up. Then I made mulled wine. Allison originally intended to come round during the afternoon, but she had gone to visit her mom in Greensboro and their festivities ran a bit late, so we'll be seeing her at some later time. Mid-afternoon, Kimberly and I opened our presents to each other, and there were good things. A new S.H. MonsterArts Gigan figure is a particular favorite, and he's now up on the shelf with the rest of the daikaiju figures that currently haunt our house. I took a photo of him and futzed around with the scenery. After all this, Brugger set to work building a chess pie for tonight's dessert.

 

The cats made out like bandits, by the way.

Our shredded beef on jalapeno pasta with roasted brussel sprouts turned out fantastic — amped up with a bit of Smoky Bourbon Ghost Pepper that Santa put in my stocking. And Brugger's chess pie for dessert was out of this world. For our second dessert, we watched Destroy All Monsters on the big-screen TV, which came purty near duplicating a fun theatrical experience (my most memorable Destroy All Monsters experience is detailed here: "A Random Godzilla Story," September 7, 2014).

 

And so ended another lovely Christmas Day. Christmas was my parents' favorite holiday, and I always find myself a bit wistful, since I am the last of the family I grew up with. I tend to not dwell on that fact, but at Christmas, it's easy — and, for me, desirable — to reflect on what a wonderful family I did have and to express my love and appreciation for my current family: Ms. B., my daughter, and, of course, our four lovable yet terrible catses. I could hardly ask for more.

L: There's nothing like relaxing with a hot cup of coffee and a bear hard on your trail.
R: My new coaster has bigger feet than your coaster.

Hot, Cold, Hot, Cold, Hot....

The sad conflict in Ukraine, and its potential global ramifications, has overshadowed almost everything this weekend. Here, just as COVID-19, at least as it currently stands, has finally become less a complication in our daily lives, here comes the Amazing Pootin to throw a monkey wrench into the worldworks. Today, we hear Pootin has upped the ante with his nuclear deterrent force. Just what we need to escalate a volatile situation.

In this little corner of the world, Ms. B. and I are doing our best to get through each day with as much positive energy as we can generate, for ourselves and our sphere of influence, such as it is.

My second week of retirement was not quite as relaxing as the first. Things pile up, things fall apart. Such is the way of things. Mostly, I've been spending my regular day job hours writing. Progress has been pretty good; I've certainly been more productive than over the past year, certainly within comparable time periods.

Friday, I took my usual trip to Martinsville, fit in quite a bit of work, and entertained myself with Godzilla vs. Gigan, which is far from my favorite daikaiju flick, but it sure enough features some fun monster scenes. Saturday, I hiked a ways on the Dick & Willie Trail to do maintenance one of my old geocaches. It netted me a couple of miles on the trail. Once back in Greensboro, more writing, and Ms. B. and I continued our Game of Thrones binge. Today, it was cold and wet, but that didn't stop friend Scott (a.k.a. Diefenbaker) and me from going after several new caches in town. We got first-to-find on two of them (after I DNF'd one earlier this morning on a quick solo outing). For lunch, we visited Fisher's Grille, which, once upon a time, was very much a favorite dining/drinking establishment. I hadn't been there in years, though. It's gratifying to find that virtually nothing there has changed. The cajun chicken wings were as awesome as ever. And in the men's bathroom, the same framed newspaper spreads about the 1984 World Series that adorned the walls the first time I visited Fisher's in 1988 are still hanging there. Somehow, that's kind of satisfying.

Another stint writing this afternoon, and then I decided to try my hand at making some hot sauce from the kit that Brugger gave me for Christmas. I went with the smoky chipotle ingredients provided, but added some extra hot red chilis we brought back from Italy. It was my first attempt, and I've gotta say, it's a winner. Delicious flavor and quite hot — though not so hot that Brugger can't tolerate it. I'm about to go roast a chicken breast and try the sauce on it.

Wish the old dude luck. Peace out.