Photo Monday, eventually. First: a bunch of words.
Why hello, ‘bloomr peeps! Remember me, the one who supposedly runs this thing? Yeah, that one.
Well, this morning when I grudgingly woke up at dark-thirty to take Charlotte to school, I started thinking… which as we all know can be dangerous for everyone involved. But as I was making my coffee and thinking my Deep Thoughts, I decided that I needed to do a slight mental adjustment for my own good in terms of what actually constitutes writing and posting on this blog. The thing is, sometimes I let a post percolate in my head for long time before I actually sit down and write it out. And by ‘percolate’, I mean ‘obsessively turn it over and over in my mind and re-write it a few dozen times.’ The problem with that particular behavior is that by the time it finally comes out I am exhausted because I am such a delicate artistic flower AND the post has morphed into something roughly the length of the Constitution (see: anything written about my sweet dad). Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the thing is I’ve found myself holding off on posting sometimes because it feels like I need to spend some more time with it and flesh the idea out more blah blah blah instead of perhaps being a wee bit more spontaneous and spur-of-the-moment and just POSTING for crying out loud, like the things I mindlessly post over on Twitter or Facebook. The fact that both of those formats are limited in terms of space seems to free me up to write more on the fly, instead of feeling like everything I fire off there needs to be completely thought-through and double-edited. What I’m trying to say is that with your permission I’m gonna keep posting like I have always posted here, BUT with the addition of some smaller, less time-intensive, off-the-cuff entries as well, just to keep the dialogue flowing and the party going. In other words, how about I try to post more often with the patent understanding that sandwiched in between my usual Pulitzer Prize-worthy entries of staggering genius there will also be the occasional flufferbutter side dish that’s the literary equivalent of, “So… what’s up with you guys? How ’bout those Titans, huh?” This could also possibly include some posts about my underwear, or burping the ABCs, or maybe a few nekkid pictures of Bill Gaither because let’s face it, random inappropriateness is not exactly wild, uncharted territory for me. So whaddya say, gentle readers– you in?
And now for something completely different. Photos, baby! From Thanksgiving, Christmas and who-knows-when and in no particular order.
**Let’s start with food, shall we? Here is a spectacular buttery/shortbread/glazed pear tart as rendered by my brother Joel and my nephew Daniel The Computer Genius. Madi is in the background obviously not as impressed as she should be, rocking the side ponytail and wearing her yellow duckie pajama bottoms:
**Finished product, and yes it was as good as it looked:
** I contributed the entree to that particular meal, an old family recipe known as “Chicken and Dumplings I Stole From Momma Lloyd Because She Introduced Me To The Wonders Of Frozen Dumplings.” I’m still working on the name, that one won’t fit on the recipe card.
** Since Russ is a big ol’ Christmas fanatic, this year I put a little tabletop tree up in our bedroom this year. It has these gorgeous, handpainted-from-the-inside biblical scene ornaments from China (no, I’m not making that up) that Gloria Gaither gave us for Christmas one year. They are unbelievable, I’ll show you a close-up too. That lady in the background is a tapestry I found in a little antique store a few years ago when Madi and I were driving home from Family Fest. (I just love her. Apparently from looking around this house I have a thing for art that prominently features 1920’s-era dark-haired exotic gypsy women. I have no idea why.)
**Aren’t these exquisite, in a blurry-photo kind of way? This one appears to be the angel telling Mary she’s pregnant. She looks very surprised.
**Speaking of ornaments, my sweet reader (and longtime friend) Tanya Goodman Sykes surprised us with this one that for some reason she thought was particularly appropriate for the Taff family– hello, it’s a shark! Not just any shark, however, this one is wearing sunglasses, a grass skirt and carrying a purse. Perfect.
**More Christmas decorations. I bought these three kings two years ago at one of those day after Christmas 75% off sales at T.J. Maxx. I almost didn’t because they were still not cheap (enough for my cheap standards), but now I’m glad I did. They are marching across the mantle in front of my recently-painted-over brick fireplace.
**This is Charlotte’s beloved Snow Village that the two of us lay out every year all over the top of the piano. We (OK, I) spend a ridiculous amount of time meticulously placing and re-placing all of the townfolk around the village, creating imaginary scenarios to determine where they go– should the family of sledders go in front of the Paramount Theatre or would it make more sense if they were over by the Village Resort? (*asks myself why I do that, considers possibility of control issues, decides naaaah*) Anyway, painstakingly setting up Snow Village marks the official beginning of the Christmas season in the Taff household for Char and I.
Seriously, who wouldn’t want to live in this tiny, twinkly little imaginary town? (Just me? OK.)
**And here’s our slightly cheesy front porch angel. We happen to live in a neighborhood that goes all-out for Christmas decorations (some of them even HIRE companies to come deck their porches and yards), so this is the Taff’s Home Depot contribution to the holiday spirit. Please note the following white-trash elements: a) two milk jugs half-filled with water and wired to her skirt to serve as ballast to keep her from being blown over by the wind and b) her bent-up trumpet that resulted from a fall off of the porch before I figured out the milk jug thing. Now she looks like she’s blowing sweet jazz on her horn, Dizzy Gillespie-style, which I actually kinda like.
OK, that’s probably enough for now this post about how I was going to make shorter posts! I’ve got a bunch more random holiday photos, I’ll post them later in the week.
P.S. The latest report on Betty: Momma Lloyd emailed me this morning after talking to Betty’s husband Dennis, and said that the doctor said there is so far no evidence of a stroke (which is always a major concern with this kind of surgery), and there will be a scan done later today to further ascertain this. She has a temporary pacemaker in now and will probably get a permanent one later. She is still not awake, but again, this is still considered normal for this kind of surgery– the doctor said some people don’t wake up for a week or two. She is moving her arms and legs frequently, which Dennis says probably means she’s ready to go to a concert! Please keep praying.
