Town

We have enough groceries in this house so my grocery trip this week was really short and I still forgot the milk.  I must have been concentrating on getting gas in the vehicle and a wash and then over to one of the parks to get a few photos.

The Christmas tree is on Main Street...Black Friday shoppers were out so there was no place to park.  It doesn't help that the tree and the fence that surrounds it takes up at least four parking spots.  I am not sure what trinkets people were buying...the only store I frequent on Main Street is the five and dime store where nothing is a nickel or a dime.

Far Guys infusion took a bit longer this week.  A pump problem.  

The light posts at the park are all decorated and the geese flew South.  I had a nice walk through the park looking at all the sculptures.  No one else was around....no tourists!   It was  26 F or -3 C eh.

The river is frozen.  It was a very nice November while it lasted.

Far Side

 

Trees and a new ornament

 Yesterday I picked up groceries curbside and then put gas in the vehicle and then waited for Far Guy to come out of the Infusion Center.   They stopped taking temperatures and just ask you questions now about Covid; have you been exposed, been around anyone with Covid, do you have an symptoms of Covid and do you have a Covid test which results are pending?  Go figure...of course throughout the whole Pandemic things have been fluid and ever changing. 

We headed downtown to see what was happening on Main Street. This is the new tree.

Even the heart that says Cindy Lou and the Grinch is upside down. 

There is a new tree in Pioneer Park.

At least it is a tree. 

Not nearly as pretty as the one that blew over in the wind and was too damaged to be saved. 

Then we dropped off some Christmas Ornaments for friends...tied one bunch around the drivers handle of a vehicle and the other on the handle of a garage door.  It kinda felt like May Day! 

This ornament was a gift from a dear friend...it was hanging on her garage door for me to pick up.  It is fabric.  Being a non seamstress I have yet to figure it out.

Grocery pickup was ok...missing oranges, yogurt, and Outshine Fruit Bars.  After disinfecting everything at home and washing Far Guys town clothing I went to my office on the couch to crochet until it was time to fix supper;  salad and Philly Cheese pretzel buns. 

Yes I still make Far Guy take all his clothing off that he wears to town and insist that he wash up real good.  We have heard of several people that have gotten Covid at a clinic...so he tries to be real careful not to touch anything...but he still has to press the buzzer to get into the Center and sit in their chair.  He disinfects his hands twice in the Center and then when I pick him up I hand him a Lysol wipe. It is all we can do to try to keep safe.  

Far Side

A Tree 2020ed

 Last week one night we took a trip down main street to see the tree.  

We both remarked that it was a very tall tree.  Taller than most years.  ( Yes there are parking spots on both sides of the street and in the center of the street)

On Sunday morning it was real windy. 

The tree came down.  Luckily no cars were coming up the street.  As far as I know this has never happened before.  I guess even trees can be 2020ed ...what a year it has been. 

Rumor has it that they will put it upright again.  We will see.

Does your town have a Christmas Tree?  Has it ever blown over?  Share the answers to those questions to be entered in the drawing for this years woodcarved ornament.  You can also send me an email if you prefer.  captainconnie2001atyahoodotcom

Far Side

Tree

The downstairs tree is up and complete.

We tuck it away in the corner of the living room. We started doing that when Chance chased his ball under the tree one year and it came crashing down...that and his big old fluffy constantly wagging tail would whop the tree...so the corner was a better spot.   Far Guy put the tree together and added the lights.  I brought down the ornaments and we both trimmed.

This is probably the earliest that we have put up our tree.

Other Christmas projects are being accomplished one by one.

Far Side

Tree Accomplished

We didn’t overload the tree this year.

It is simple and sweet.

Tree on Main

The tree on Main Street was put in place last weekend.

As you can see it is a very tall tree.  It has lights that were lit last night in a ceremony on Main Street.  The lights are lit in honor of Hospice patients.  Far Guy’s Mom was a hospice patient and received very compassionate care from Hospice…one of the lights was lit in honor of her memory.

Yes,  we have center street parking and diagonal parking on Main Street.  In the original townsite the streets were wide enough for a team of horses pulling a load of logs to unload at the lumber company and make a U turn in the street.

It is a very nice tree.  It is a Blue Spruce.  I will try to get a photo of it at night…but we rarely go into town at night in the winter.

As you can see we have the usual dismal grey November skies.  However it was 40 F yesterday or 4 C eh!  Much of the snow has melted.

Downstairs Tree

We took down the downstairs tree, of course I need to go through all those Christmas totes before they are stacked away properly in their corner.

Chance was greatly relieved that the living room is back to his “normal.”  The tree really bothered him.   He hates change.

Chance got a special ornament from Miney and Little Elvis.  It is a beautiful addition to our tree.   It says Merry Christmas Chance!  Love Miney and Little Elvis.  ( It made me cry.)

Our good friend Sue from Indiana sent another beautiful ornament to me this year! I have a big popcorn tin full of Sue and Joe ornaments!  I treasure them.

The blue lights have made it another year.   It is always a little sad when the last ornament is put back in its proper place. 

Now the tree is just a memory.  As Far Guy said “In 340 days we will get it out again.”

The upstairs Shiny Brite tree will remain up for awhile…Chance doesn’t go upstairs anymore so he is not bothered by it.

Brutally cold up here, it will warm up this week but the wind will blow making it seem colder than it is.  Oh well spring is only 5 months away.

One Tree

I am still working on the upstairs Shiny Brite Tree..it WILL be accomplished today.  Jen and her family are coming and they will want my mess cleaned up!

Here is the downstairs tree.

Chance really doesn’t like that the furniture has been moved.  He is still confused by the new configuration.  We put the tree in the corner …it is out of the main path of wagging tails.

A woodburned snowflake ornament from Jolynn.

The little deer ornament is the only ornament that I purchased for our tree this year.

It lights up the corner at night.  I think we are due for new lights.  Far Guy says maybe red…that may work…or clear…or multi color…time will tell.  Years ago we had multi colored lights before the blue.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Chance: The Trees

Hiya it is me Chance the most handsome Border Collie in all of Minnesota…and perhaps the smartest one too!

One afternoon they set up two trees in the house, one upstairs…I don’t care about that one but they moved furniture downstairs and put up a tree there too!

I can no longer play keep away or run around the circle…since it is blocked with a love seat.  I am not a fan of CHANGE.  Now I have to make a circle around the coffee table…so does Far Guy when he does his walk in the house.  Sometimes he loses track of his laps, so he puts ten pennies in his pocket and deposits one at the end of every round into a pretty little bowl on the windowsill in the kitchen.  Whatever works!

This is my loveseat and it used to be where that tree is.

Far Side says “Don’t worry Chance Christmas trees don’t stay up forever.”

I don’t go up to the way upstairs anymore.  They could put both trees up there!   I used to go up there to visit and look out the door…but I am getting older and the steps are getting to be too much for me. I still make it up the steps to the landing but not way upstairs.  Far Side says it is just as well, less dog hairs to clean up.

Downstairs Tree

The downstairs tree is done.  Complete. Two weeks to spare.  Yahoo for me.

We have Bubble Lights and Merry Go Round Horses at the bottom of the tree.  We are still using the Christmas Tree Skirt that Far Guy’s Paternal Grandmother made, it is velvet and Far Guy used to use it as a cape.  We are still using our artificial rendition of a Colorado Blue Spruce that we bought in 1996.  Twenty years and it has served us well.

The Post Office was delivering packages on Sunday. 

This ornament is from our friend Sue in Indiana.  I love it!

The upstairs tree is still a work in progress. It needs a few more days.

It warmed up to snow but has turned cold again.

OCD and Christmas Decorating

I have a fair amount of OCD. I betcha never guessed that.

This year I put the Nativity on the left and the Angel on the right above the fireplace. Really pressing the limits. I made the Nativity figures in a ceramics class in 1986.  Far Guy made me the creche out of pine lumber.  The tall Angel came from a  garage sale over on Bass Lake one year I think I paid a dollar for it.

We rearranged the living room for the tree…that is out of our usual box also.  Chance must have OCD also as he looks bewildered when he cannot make the circle…I have it blocked by the loveseat.

We have never had the tree in this corner before. The ornaments may survive dog tails better in the corner.

No ornaments on the downstairs tree yet but the tree is up and it has lights!  I am working on the tree upstairs…it is almost ready to decorate.

Had to take a break in the late afternoon.  I warmed up a corn bag and snuggled with it under a down quilt and watched the 1943 Movie Lassie Come Home and then I had a nap.  I got up and cooked us a wonderful supper.  Steak, sweet potatoes and green beans.  Far Guy was not sold on the sweet potatoes he said “I wasn’t looking forward to the sweet potatoes but they weren’t too bad.”

It was –20 F or –28 C eh on Saturday morning.  Too cold to snow…so it didn’t.

Shiny Brite Tree

I finally got all the Shiny Brite ornaments off the tree and packed away.  I am slow.  I had to get the ornaments off the tree before they got dusty.
Now the shorter tree stands there all naked waiting to be put in the bag and stuffed in the compartment under one of the twin beds.  I left that for another day…wouldn’t want to be an over achiever.

Kinda sad…but it was up for six weeks…plenty of time to enjoy it.

Adam was the only grand that noticed the new tree…he came downstairs at Christmas time and said “Where is the big tree ?  That one is so little.”  I explained that it was too tall…certainly nothing that he can identify with.

Since I sold the old too tall tree I now have room for all of the Shiny Brites inside the tree coffin….which should  probably be called a Shiny Brite coffin now. I actually feel kind of organized and it will be nice not to go on a scavenger hunt looking for boxes of ornaments tucked away here and there and notes in the tree coffin to the whereabouts of all the Shiny Brites…they are all in one spot now.
 
This is a ornament that Chance gave me one year.  It is painted yellow on the inside and has red stenciled skaters and snowflakes on the outside.  It is a one of a kind…since I only have one of them.

You probably don’t want to know how many hours I can waste looking at Shiny Brites on the net…between etsy and Ebay.  I find it educational and relaxing.

One Tree

The downstairs tree is up!  It sits across from my desk where we are working on cards.

 It turned out real nice.  I like all the personal ornaments that are on this tree.

It snowed, about 2 + inches of beautiful white stuff.

Looks like we will have a white Christmas after all.

Open water on Straight Lake on December 16, 2015.  This may be a no ice record. 

We delivered a few ornaments to neighbors.  All the ornaments have been mailed or delivered except for one and the weather was not good enough to travel up to Elbow Lake.

Far Guy has a real sore throat and is beginning to get a cough.  He got started on antibiotics, we hope he is all better by Christmas. 

Main Street Tree

The tree is up.  Every year a tree is donated and put up on Main Street.  It is a fundraiser for Hospice. One light was lit in the memory of Far Guys parents.  Hopefully I will get a photo of it at night.

This years tree is very tall and skinny.  Some years they are very bushy and almost brush oncoming cars.

Yes, we park in the middle of the street.  The Main Street is extra wide, the street was laid out that way when there used to be two lumber companies on Main Street and logs were delivered by horse drawn sleighs or wagons.  Once they were unloaded the team could make an immediate u-turn and head back out of town.

There is diagonal parking on both sides of the street and then center parking.  I prefer center parking, it is safer than the diagonal parking especially if a huge pickup parks next to you.  You have to then watch for approaching vehicles reflections in the store windows or back up very slowly.  There are crosswalks at the end of each block but no one uses them.  Everyone jay walks… always has probably always will.

 

Chance :The Shiny Brite Tree

Several of the beds upstairs have been off limits…they were full of Shiny Brites.

When I am invited upstairs I know something is up.  Can you see anything?  Someone keeps telling me to wake up…look alive!

Can you see how handsome I am?

How about now?

 

I am just about the best model ever…too bad it isn’t a paying job.

Far Side says it is done for another year.   She doesn’t know exactly how many ornaments are on that tree, she started to count and then lost track.  A few years ago it was approaching 450.  She added 48 new/old ornament this year.   She might count when she takes it down.  The tree is 9 1/2 or 10 feet tall no one can remember exactly…just like they can’t remember if they gave me a treat or not.

Just so you know there are no lights on the tree. Far Side is pretty darn fussy about her ornaments.  If the ornaments have old strings on them or grease pencil 5 cents or 10 cent marks they remain.  The ornaments are never washed.  Most are Shiny Brites, some are Coby ornaments a competitor of Shiny Brites. Some are Polish ornaments and some are from West Germany. All are beautiful. 

Recently Far Side had to take an ornament to an exchange…it took her forever to decide which Shiny Brite she could part with.  She finally chose a plain gold Shiny Brite because she has just a few.

New this year are the Shiny Brite Red Icicle Twirls, they were a gift from Edie.

Far Side has ornaments from; Edie, Madeline, Grace, Minnie, Susan and Lillian, Jo Lynn, Sandy, Tom and Linda, me and Far Guy.  (that is a Susan and Lillian in the photo it is the green one with the snow)

I am sure glad that tree is done now Far Side will have more time to play ball.