All posts by johncohn

Thursday evening – Xmas eve, all is quiet

Good quiet day.. I’m trying to keep in the moment and keep my own spirits up. So far so pretty good. Had a few pretty soulful  moments through the day.. but I guess that’s to be expected.

Last night Gabe and I decided to go sledding at abotu 10.  If you’ve never seen it , we have a fabulous sledding hill in our backyard. It’s there because our then neighbors brothers truck managed to slip out of park and careen down the hill. It made it about 2/3’s the way down.. and it wasn’t coming back uo.. so the guys cleared the trees to let it doan.. and it’s been a sledding hill ever since..   It was fast and cold last night.. Gabe and I raced, made tais and tried to beat eachothers distance records in the snow.. It was a reeally good time..

This morning.. we all slept late.. DIane had a Yoga class at 8L15 this morning.. She did a restoritve session, very slow and meditative. just what I was looking for.

Diane’s friends surprised her by offering her a christmas Chai Tea party after the class.. It was really nice !

As we sat there afterward we started talking about Christmas tradition which lead to Chinese food, which lead to Stephanie telling us about her favorite Chinese place in NYC. She really likes this place called Wo Hop on Mott St right off of Canal.. She told us to go in there and order this tofu dish …   check it out !

We spent the rest of the day just puttering and cleaning.. getting ready for tomorrow.. very quiet..  Max and Gabe came back from the mountain at about 3. Soon after we headed up in to the woods for our tradition of decorating a tree for the animals. This year we chose a tree off the Catamount trail.

We took all of our stale backed goods, peanuts and birdseed

Then we toss them into the tree.. we had a bunch of stiff.. so it took us a fair bit to decorate the tree… (Note. Diane and I go back and collect the strings after the food is eaten.. so no litter’s left. )

We left a candy kiss there for Sam…

And we put a Samstone in the tree as we have these last three years..   It’s good keeping this tradition up.. I remember decorating a  tree outdoors right after sam died.. it was so hard. I remember it well. I have a picture form that time I look at frequently..

Now we’re getting ready to go out for dinner.. everyone’s doing pretty well.. keeping to ourselves and quiet. Things feel pretty good. The stockings are layed by the… uh.. sofa.. with care.. One for each of us.. including Sam.. as in all years past.

And even ones for the pets.. including Gabby who passed away in 2006  The spirits we love stay with us….

So my friends.. I hope you’r eall having a peaceful and warm Christmas eve surrounded by the love of your family..

I am !

Merry Christmas folks.. merry Christmas Sam !
-me

Wednesday eveining – cookies

I took today off work to hang out with Gabe at his school. All the 8th graders were doing service projects in the community. Gabe’s group had been selected to go over to teh Elementary school and help the 2nd graders wrap presents  .. and do some other chores around the school.  We spent about 2 and a half hours making pinatas, taking down posters, folding cards, tearing out worksheets.. etc.    It was slow and peaceful.  The teacher we were working with. Emily, turned out to be something of Deadhead.. so we talked music while the kids worked.. . I wasn’t allowed to take pictures over there without getting permission from the kids parents.. so.. Phooooey..

After our work at the elementary school, we headed back to the middle school. Gabe and his group had an Exploratory class today which involved making cookies… again.. no pictures of kids allowed.. so I took pictures of their cookies.. Aren’t they lovely ?

I gave a post-cookie talk on the colony.. to Gabe’s class. I think it went pretty well..  then we all came home.. That was the sum-total of my day..  

TO be honest.. I’m not very good at this relaxing business… It’s kind of hard for me to stop suddenly lie that. My fingers are still itching to work or build something. .. But I’m going to really work on relaxing this break (wait.. is that an oxymoron ? ) One thanksgiving I stayed up most nights programming for fun.. this time I’m going to try and reduce my screen time and spend more time hanging out with family..

If you see me online.. tell me to log off….

like now

nite folks.. Nite Sam !
-me

Monday night – solstice

Quiet day.. hardly anyone’s at work which makes it a great time for catching up. I sent a good half of a day trying to get through  my email backlog.   I did take one break today and partook of a vry old tradition.. the annual GYM/View gift exchange. My freinds have been doing this for… 15 – 20 year (I think).. The rules are simple.. each gift must b under a certain set price (this year it was raised to $3) and it must be wrapped.   One year I wrapped a bail of bad hay..

This year there were only 7 of us.. The economy made the $3 entry fee too steep, I suppose..   Laura got a stolen appraisal sign,


Rich got a stylish dollar store apron

Mitch got.. uh.. rabies ?

A… and I got a nerf gun and popper things for less than 3 bucks !..

Wait, no.. actually Mitch got the gift I brought .. I chose carefully.. I thought about what I most valued form the past year that could be had for $3 or less.. I got a 4 pack of Charmin toilet paper and wrapped it prettily.. Let me tel l you that a 4 pack of toilet paper would have been worth its weight in gold in the Colony !

It was well past dark by the time I got home .. this being the shortest day of the year.. the longest night only made me feel good.. The days will start to get longer now.. very quickly at first.  It’s fun to watch the change.    The house was brightly lit and warm.. It felt.. well.. solstice-y..    Why aren’t there any good solstice carols, anyway ?   THe closest one I know is called the ‘Christians and the Pagens’  by Dar Williams.. At least it has the word ‘Solstice’  in it

The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams  (There’s a good recording of it here)

Amber called her uncle, said, “We’re up here for the holiday,

Jane and I were having Solstice, now we need a place to stay.”

And her Christ-loving uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,

He watched his son hang candy canes all made with red dye number three.

He told his niece, “It’s Christmas eve, I know our life is not your

style,”

She said, “Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you and it’s been

a while.”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,

Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,

And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were

said,

Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses.

The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,

Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, “Is it true that you’re a witch?”

His mom jumped up and said, “The pies are burning,” and she hit

the kitchen,

And it was Jane who spoke, she said, “It’s true, you’re cousin’s not

a Christian,

But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we

share,

And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere.”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,

Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,

And where does magic come from , I think magic’s in the learning,

‘Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.

When Amber tried to do the dishes, her aunt said, “Really, no, don’t

bother.”

Amber’s uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father.

He thought about his brother, how they hadn’t spoken in a year,

He thought he’d call him up and say, “It’s Christmas and your daughter’s

here.”

He thought of fathers, sons and brothers, saw his own son tug his sleeve,

Saying, “Can I be a Pagan?” Dad said, “We’ll discuss it when

they leave.”

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,

Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,

Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old,

And making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.

Well folks.. I hope you all have a blessed Solstice.. Tomorrow will be brighter… That’s a promise.

Blessed be folks, blessed be Sam
-me

Sunday night – keep unit away from pet tarantulas

Home again after a whirlwind visit to my in laws  We went down to get some holiday time with Gabe and Marcia and diane’s brother Joe and family. It’s always fun visiting there.. we have freinds liek David and Linda to see.. and lots of good local food.

Diane and Gabe came down Friday night, Max and I got in yesterday afternoon, but we  put off our xmas gift exchange until this afternoon so that newphew Vincent could make it back from BU.. we wanteed everytone to be there.. Well.. everyone can’t be there, now.. The first gift was to Sam.. both sets of grandparents have gotten into the tradition of making a donation to Sam’s fund in his honor for cristmas..

Coco’s painting of Sam was looking down on us as we all sat there. It’was a swet sad moment .. we all stopped and thought

of Sam.. shed some tears.. then .. dug into unwrapping.. Life goes on

…. it has to

It was great catching up with everyone (though it looks liek I didn’t get a picture of the whole group !)

I got a gift with the following inscription on the back.. “keep unit away from pet tarantulas”( I’m not making this up )  It’s designed to keep pests away.. but I guess you need to keep it away from the pests you love.

Afterwards we had the tradional Mariano xmas meal of chicken form Phils down the street and chineese food. I’m not sure where hte chinese food tradiion came from, but I love it !

It was also nephew Victors 18th birthday.. ! Happy birthday Veeeeeector !

We had planned ot leave abotu an hour after lunch.. I took advantage of the lul to catch a nap.. not a good idea t seesm when the floow as still strewn with wrappings. I woke up and I was wrapped !

We got on the road back to VT around 2.. It was a nice quiet drive.. Beleive it or not.. I like these long car rides now.. it’s good time to catch up;. One thing DIna eadn I did was listen to a new collectio of Malcom Gladwell essays from the New Yorker called.. “what the dog saw”. It’s good stuff. Today we listened to a piece on Poppiel > Morris dynasty of kitchen applainces  and a piece on Investors. I particulalry liked thtat one. Gladwell does a good job of explaing why folks who are confident that they know  things.. particulalry in economics.. are generally wrong..   The more we thoguht of it , the more we agreed. I’ve always been suspect of anyone who didn’t doubt themsleves at least a fair bit..   I think that’s why organized religion.. including my own.. poses sucha  problem to me.

Right now my biggest problem is sleep dbt.. Im oging to go work on that.. More tomorrow.. it’ll be the solstice !

Night folkd ! Night Sam !
-me