Gettin Lit

 

A foggy start to the week.

And here, the penultimate Blogmas Entry.

I found it!

You may remember earlier this year when I talked about 

Robyn Davidson's book Tracks.

It is her memoir about her walk across half of the continent of Australia

with only some camping gear, a few camels, and a dog.

The book was an extension of this article she wrote for National Geographic magazine.

I'm pretty sure my parents have thrown out all of those old

National Geographic magazines, where I had first found this story, 

many years ago; so I decided to see if it was available anywhere.

One googler search later, and I found a copy on eBay.

It was priced very fairly, and was shipped and arrived to me quickly.

Some minor wear for a  40+ year old magazine, but in great shape.

All the photos I remember poring over and imagining having

adventures of my own someday; it all came back to me.

Another full circle moment for me.

There was the office holiday party this week.

Got this lovely gift from a friend.

And I chose the salmon salad for my lunch.

Beats my usual veggies and rice. Very tasty.

One of the bridges is lit up for the season.

Used my Best Buy rewards points to get a pair of wireless headphones.

My phone has no headphone jack, so I broke down and gave in to the Bluetooth.

A new Creature from the Black Lagoon toy.

The gift inside the red package.

Currently perched in the Christmas cactus.

The reason for the season.

Saturday was full of activity.

After morning music lessons, I had lunch at the African place,

walked to Bootleg Hill, the meadery to return some empty

mead bottles and taste a new blend.

This is an apple flavored mead, called Wapsi Willy.

Tasty

A few doors down from the meadery, I popped into the

record/vintage clothing shop for a browse.

I picked up a pair of vintage, tacky Christmas earrings (complete with bells)

and found this used record.

The cover photo is not representative of the time period the music came from.

After some light research, I learned that this record is a pressing from Spain,

and features David Bowie's early music, mid to late '60s.

I dusted off the record player when I got home and gave it a listen.

Sounds okay, for a cheap pressing. And Bowie's early music is a trip.

A nice addition to my small vinyl collection.

Dressed myself up to festive standards with reindeer antlers, the

earrings I had found at the vintage shop, and a Christmas sweater,

 and went out for some holiday fun with a couple of friends.

Our first stop was a small botanical conservatory in one of Davenport's main parks.

The Vanderveer Conservatory has a lights display in the greenhouse.

This year, visitors are supposed to search for 12 hidden pickle ornaments.

It was fun looking at the displays and decorated trees and poinsettia plants,

while looking for pickles.

Found one!

There were a bunch of gingerbread cutouts all over the place too.

They all seemed to have worried expressions on their faces.

I think they were afraid of being eaten.

Next we went downtown to a place called Cavort.

They had a menu and a list of fun and festive drinks.

I had something that had egg white, lime and some sort of rum.

Cheers!

For my meal, I chose the spring roll salad.

Mixed greens, noodles, a light dressing, and slices of seared tuna.

It was very good.

I wanted something on the lighter side, so a salad sounded perfect.

All of the flavors in this salad made for a delicious dinner.

Perfect amount of tuna, not too much dressing, crunch from the

almonds, some chewiness from the noodles.

Very good. I would order it again.

I ate the flower too. It looks like an orchid.

I hope it's okay to eat orchids.

Then we moseyed down the street for a cocktail at the distillery.

Egg nog seems to be my obsession this year, so I had a glass

of egg nog. Made with local bourbon, and garnished with a wafer cookie.

It was very delicious.

Then it was off to the fairgounds so see the new light display.

Here is rawkin Santa, directing the way.

There were a couple of neat light tunnels to drive through.

This display is meant to be seen from the car.

You tune your radio station to a specific station, turn off the headlights,

and slowly drive yourself along the path.

The lights changed and blinked and danced along to the music.

Doh! Got his tongue stuck to the pole.

At the end of the loop, there is a small indoor section to walk through.

Lots of lighted trees and a small petting zoo, complete with a fancy

rooster who really liked crowing. We heard him cockadoodle doo several times.

There were some vendors scattered around too. I bought a couple of

crocheted snowflake ornaments to put on the cactus.

You'll know the way by the giant lighted snowman.

I, for one, welcome our giant snow people overlords.

Finally, we drove to another city display, at a local park.

The light show ran on a loop, on the half hour, and we managed to

catch the last show of the night.

Another show to stay in your car, tune to a certain station, turn off the headlights,

and watch the lights dance.

Here we see Mother Goose, watching over all.

She is always watching.

A fun night with friends and lights and some tasty food and drinks.

Happy Winter Solstice!

And I found some butter rum mix and am now sipping on a tasty hot buttered rum.

Ready for a short week at work with a couple days off. 

Will drive home to see my parents, trade gifts and see the wintery farmland.

Oh, yeah. Tomorrow is Festivus. 

And oh boy, do I have grievances to air this year.

👿

🎅🎄