Why I Oughta...

As another year comes to an end, I figured I'd mark the moment of hitting 365 posts this year.  Once again.  This is the sixth year that I've hit a post-a-day and the fourth year in a row.  Due to a variety of circumstances, I've been fortunate to been able to keep posting here in my diary everyday and while I know there are some of you guys out there that are reading these, the point of this isn't to grow my audience but to flex my writing/creating/posting muscles and to chronicle some small moments/items/places/things in my life while filling up the funnel of my online life.  The years that I hit a post-a-day: 2018 2017 2016 (366 posts due to Leap Year) 2015 2011 2010 I'm looking forward to 2019 and to spending the year posting here on the blog.  There will be plenty of changes but some things will be certain:  we'll chronicle our gardening, pizza-making and vintage finds.  I'm also trying a new resolution that I hope will carry me through all

I was gifted two of these seven-packs of clicker pens for Christmas and they immediately went into my work bag to head to the Aon Center.  Erasable - yes.  Refillable? I guess so.  But who's refilling pens? 

The last time we checked-in on our Christmas Amaryllis, I was hopeful that we'd see a Christmas flower.  Alas, Christmas Day has come and gone and we're still staring at a bud with no flowers.  But, what is most interesting is that this is a 'short' bulb.  I've been - basically - p oisoning the bulb with a 8% dilution of alcohol in an attempt to keep it from getting too tall .  It appears to be working.  But that doesn't change the fact that our bulb isn't going to flower any time soon.   

On Christmas Day, we visited Nat's folks house out in Naperville as we do every year.  And, as I do every year, I ended up taking a little walk to get out of the house.  The weather was quite nice, so I wandered around and took in the neighborhood.  I went out one way and then doubled back to end up in the front yard of the house.  (If you know the house and the orientation, this would all make sense.  Those of you who don't, just trust me that it makes sense.) And out front I noticed that they have a medium-sized Bald Cypress planted near the sideyard that was striking in it's winter beauty.  You can see it above.  Plenty of the needles have dropped.  And all of them have gone orange.  But, plenty of them remain on the limbs.  The reason for posting it here is because our little Bald Cypress - that we planted near our driveway late this Summer - looks similar.  I was concerned that the clinging of the needles to the tree was a bad sign, but based on this species ab

This is a car that runs on the Mantleburg line.  Built in 1999 by Lionel, it doesn't have a box and is very heavy.  The yellow and blue look sharp on the tracks. 

Marking it down.  Owned.  And let go. 

One of my annual Christmas-related traditions is getting to Kirschbaum's Bakery in Western Springs on the day (that they are open) before Christmas - usually Christmas Eve.  This year, I arrived first (!!!), but because I wanted to stay in the car as long as possible, I waited until someone else got out of their car to get in line.  It always is someone who arrives like fifth who wants to get out of their car and start the line.  Then we all have to get out, bundle up and wait for the 45 minutes or so to open. I ended up with #2.  Not too bad.  Last year, I was #6 .  I was in-and-out in less than ten minutes this year.