You are not supposed to generalize about global warming based on your local weather, but the lake is not frozen and there is no snow on the ground. Went for a walk a couple of days ago on a trail that goes from our house to the Troy General Store. Lots of bright green moss and shroom ecosystems. I went down to Baton Rouge for a week to be with my family and spend some time with my sister Vee who is dying. She is still in the process of buckling up her traveling shoes and moving on down to the Jordan stream. My sisters are all amazingly caring and competent. I learned from them what to do. It's a great blessing to have two sisters who are nurses (Claudia and Ingrid), one who has counseling experience (Colleen) and another who can fix anything (Georgette). There are six of us. They make a schedule so that one of them is always there. The hospice nurse checks in from time to time, but the sisters are the hospice team. I enjoyed time with Vee's daughter Brittin who lives in Corvalis, OR, and her 15 month old son Wren. It was a quiet time but not a real sad time. There were the comforts of local food including this wonderful seafood gumbo Mike made and some fresh Ponchatula strawberries at Anita & Malissa's on the way back to the airport, not to mention an excellent cup of coffee in Melanie Miranda's kitchen where I picked up the suitcase that goes to Louisiana filled with stuff people buy at Reny's when they visit us here and then back to Maine filled with coffee and spices, an often repeated circuit. Back home in Maine, we had a fun chaotic Christmas day, with Melissa introducing us to some new dishes like wild yam soup with attitude and Jicama pecan slaw and egg nog creme brulee and beef with a merlot reduction. We renamed the angel on top the tree Nancy Pelosi, surrounded her with assistant angels, and put a red light up her skirt. Get it done, Nancy. Note to Denver: stop grabbing our snow, just let it pass on through. Here's the December Mix. Bill Staines and the Flaming Lips on the same mix. I am large. I contain multitudes. And here is the 2007 Calendar. From the big box of old calendars in the basement, I dug out Niki Shumann calendars from 2001 and 1990. If I keep digging, I might find a 1979. Those three years are the same pattern as 2007.

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