Monthly Archives: January 2009

Old Fashioned Women

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I admit, I do like the Victorian era. At least, I like the books that come from that period. Tha ladies with their fabulous dresses and parties and entrigues.

Mr Darcy is a nearly endlessly fascinating man. How many movies, exactly, have been made of Pride and Prejudice? and how many more will be made?

Of course, it would not be so fun to actually live in the Victorian era. The not being able to vote thing, and the obsession with propriety would wear thin in about five minutes.

But one thing about those Victorian ladies I do admire and would like to emulate in my current modern life is their ability to ‘correspond.’ Writing letters and responding to gift and invitations seemed to be a weekly, if not daily, activity for these women.

I guess I write emails at least that frequently. But letters? with STAMPS? Those are harder to achieve.

Christmas just happened, and that is the time of year when a lot of people make the effort to send a physical card and/or letter to their wide aquaintance. I think that’s a beautiful thing. It’s really wonderful to send and recieve these missives. Perhaps it is one of the old-fashioned traditions that make Christmas so special.

Getting all the envelopes and cards ready reminded me of the efforts made last year for my wedding invitations. Checking and double-checking to make sure I have all the pertinent addresses for everyone is tedious, but it is pleasant to think of all these people who have been a joy to my life.

Because of my restricted abilities right now, I am triple-checking the address list. I know I just sent out the Christmas letter, but I intend to send out a birth announcement with little Daley Daughter picture to everyone.

Since I can’t reorganize the garage (a task needing doing, but not something I can do right now), I can at least pre-adress the envelopes for the next mailing.

The combination of being so dis- abled and preparing correspondence makes me feel rather Victorian. Also, I’m drinking copious amounts of tea. Very very victorian.

Maybe I could go rent Pride and Prejudice.

Playing with Christmas toys

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So my brother Mark sent a toy to Chris for a Christmas present: a remote control helicopter. After opening the package, Chris opened it right away and was impressed that Mark had also included the batteries for the helicopter. It was put to use right away.

The presents from my family get opened on Christmas Eve, since that has been our tradition as long as I can remember. So the helicopter had star billing for that night.

As you can read in a previous post, I got a video recorder from Chris. Since I’ve been sick and Chris has been busy, we didn’t get to put these two delightful toys together until today.

General Chris said that the controls were difficult to manage, but he seemed to improve with practice.

Perhaps the next exercise will include the cat.

UPDATE: Lucy Dog recognizes herself in the video, and will bark at her recorded barkings. Maybe it will take a while for her to get used to being a movie star.

January 2009 has arrived! Happy New Year!

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I consider the greeting of the new year an obligation to practice living the exciting life I want to have. I -always- try to do -something-.

Not this year. I went to bed at eight. And woke up every hour thereafter. Except for midnight. Chris came and shook me awake to say “Happy Birthday!” and hand me a present.

I smiled and said “Happy New Year!” I wouldn’t open the present because it’s nice to have a pretty wrapped present to contemplate opening for a while.

Of course, I couldn’t fall back asleep after that. I woke up and went to sit in the living room. I had my book, and Chris was reading a reference book about ships. It was very quiet.

Not much later he asked me if I felt older. He squeezed my arm to see if I felt older to him. I said, “I’m mostly glad it’s January.”

“That’s right! By the end of this month, you will definitely not be pregnant anymore!”

“I know! I’m looking forward to it.”

So, I’m up and having a midnight snack of Chicken Ramen noodles, my mainstay against sore throaty colds. The salt cauterized the wound of my throat and the hot water is always nice. Maybe I’ll be able to sleep again after I finish it.

Looking forward to this new month, and to the new year. It will be great.