Public Service Announcement: Please be alert while driving this particular time of year.  You may be sober and undistracted, but a lot of folks around you are not.

Just last night, we were at home when we heard a loud crash outside, then several police/emergency vehicles blocked our road all evening.  Not the kind of flashy holiday lights you want to see.  I haven’t ascertained the details, but it had to have been a bad accident, the kind that kills.  Even the two cats suddenly showed up wide-eyed in a panic, very unlike them, and literally flung themselves at our front door to get in.  Something had spooked them, as well as every dog in the neighborhood.

Normally, people do speed up and down our road without looking; it’s risky just getting our mail.  But this time of year, everyone seems to get a little more frenzied and unpredictable.  You have to drive more defensively just to get home safely.  Which we did yesterday, after some errands and this nice Smoky Mt. Brewery Black Bear Ale (with E as DD as usual).  It could have been us out there, last night.

Misu was apparently so unnerved that she dug herself into her bed and didn’t even jump up like her usual alarm clock self to get fed this morning.  She reluctantly had a bite, then ran back to bed all morning.  Very unlike her.  Much later, she finally ambled outside, looking both ways.

We intentionally keep our holidays low-key (and by necessity low-cost), so we venture out even less than usual.  You could say it’s festive all year, because we’re suckers for clearance light strings of all colors!  Here is our blue room.  That’s about our speed.  Simpler and cheaper that way.

Please slow down and think.  There may be children’s (and animals’) lives depending on you.  Or your own.  Thanks.

Here are scenes from the delightful gathering of friends that my son hosted at his house yesterday.

After wandering like a pilgrimage from one closed venue to another (Murvul on a Sunday, go figure!), we all finally convened up on Mt. Grimm, fortunately not icy that day, via a beer/munchies run.  (Which was funny and ironic; after all the trouble Avdi went to finding us a more accessible place to meet, we ended up back to my original evil plan!)

Of course it was a great place for people’s kids to play while the grownups chilled and talked.  D even brought out and displayed her brilliant pipe cleaner figure creations, to the amazement of all.  (Sorry about the poor photo quality; my so-called “phone” sucks.)

I for one had a blast, and I think so did everyone, thanks to Avdi’s generous hospitality.  I must say he has good taste in friends!  I think we all would agree it was an excellent gathering.  Some good conversations were had.

Before the pilgrimage, E and Avdi worked on the drapery project in the kids’ rooms, while I “supervised”, i.e., hung around, took some outdoor shots, and played with cats.

We were happy as always to have my son over to work from his Knoxville “annex”, join us for our erev meal, and even switch disguises from scruffy codemaster to man-about-town!  As you can see, he cleans up well!  😉  More importantly, it’s good to see him making progress recovering from his recent tribulations through friend therapy and getting back into circulation.  I hope in some small way we can serve as a safe, warm place for him, from which to launch out into new adventures, and feel welcomed back any time.

Here’s my formula for getting through winter when it isn’t even officially winter yet: root through seed catalogs, make rough drafts of seed orders, and imagine wildflower drifts.  In the meantime, there are isolated instances of colorful life outside and in.  When you’re desperate, it’s amazing what you come up with.

You’re allowed to cheat:

I scrounged up this colorful bouquet of leaves, berries, edible greens, and a few flower survivors:

I think these are red Cos romaine leaves surviving from last spring:

Red Russian kale with contrasting India mustard are hardy into winter:

Back to semi-dormancy.

This is what I do for entertainment out here in the hinterlands–listen to cat opera.  Joey and Misu are at it again.  This time she held her ground (parked under the bird feeders, fangs at the ready).  They’re all caterwaul and no balls.

My son was back yesterday, filling us in on his fabulous Australia trip.  The blast of freezing cold after two weeks in paradise was just the tip of the iceberg of the culture shock he was experiencing being back here.  We tried our best to give him a warm welcome and remind him he always has a home with us.  Here is his “WTF am I doing back in the USA” look!  I can relate.

Similarly, here is Misu’s “are you kidding, it’s f!@#ing frigid out there” look.  Normally she’d be out stalking by now, but she’s staying on the warm side today.  And I’d be out there trying to find something not dead to photograph, but must be content with indoor succulents.  Right now we’re under a “freezing dense fog” advisory–that’s a new one to me.  Climate change is always full of new surprises.

This is the day E’s son died, decades ago, so this is always a difficult month for her, especially with zero family emotional support.  He would have been just about my son’s age now.  One more reason I always feel fortunate just knowing my son is alive somewhere–preferably nearby!  I never take that for granted.

The last Chanukah lighting is always the bittersweet one, going out with a big nova.  I’m sad my son didn’t get to celebrate with us, but on the other hand, he’s back safely on the ground and in town.  I’m anticipating his visit.  I foresee a latkes reprise in our immediate future.

Outside, the snowmelt is pouring off the roof like waterfalls, but the ground is still dusted with white.  The average weather for this time of year should be almost twenty degrees warmer than it’s been, and continues to be.  A snowstorm affecting much of the southeast before xmas is not normal.  But then nowhere on earth is safe from human shortsightedness.

Here are the 7 lights from last night.

Little did we suspect we’d wake up to this!  What the–?!  Yes, down here in the South.  Before xmas–or at all.  And it’s still coming down in huge flakes.  Structures aren’t built for snow weight down here.  I can imagine the panic on the highways!  They’ll probably shut down the whole state.

It turns out this is a powerful winter storm heading across the southwest and southeast, causing heavy flooding in Texas and unusual snowfall and states of emergency in our area.

Misu took one baffled look, and immediately ran to the highest, warmest place she could find, on top of my printer up on the file cabinet.  There she perched, like a gargoyle in a snowstorm.  Even she’s not used to this crazy white stuff.

I don’t envy my son coming home to a scene like this, after being in a tropical paradise for two weeks.  He’s probably safer up in the air at the moment than down here.  He’s going to have more than jet lag to contend with!  Hopefully he won’t get stranded by delays and cancellations, but as long as he’s safe, I’m happy.

I had to cheat on the flowers and buy some, but there are still a few stragglers to be had.  The forecast is rain, snow (?!), freezing, etc.  Blah.  Not quite the temperate Southern winter we were expecting!

Chanukah is speeding along as usual.  I wish my son could have joined us for it, but he appears to be having much more fun in a land down under!  Melbourne looks like the pastry capital of Australia, if not the world.

But there are compensations, as my brother and bro-in-law graciously sent their annual holiday installment of See’s candies from CA., which raises the fest level considerably.

Joey the Cat, usually submissive to Misu, got up the nerve to chase her onto the back porch, where she ran up to the roof, outraged at his impertinence, and they proceeded to yowl and howl at each other for a while.  It was quite amusing!

Happy erev Shabbat and erev Chanukah 6th day.