Flu Blues

This image is "Snow Light" from Duane Keiser's blog. Duane is a local artist that I have posted about before. Duane paints a painting a day and sells postcard size oils for $100 each. Please visit his website Here


Ick. I've got the flu. I haven't had it in a long time. Maybe getting a flu shot every year helped after all. I didn't get one this year, obviously. Several people in the office have had it...and now I've got it. Why do people insist on coming to work when they are sick? I'll never understand it. Even though they may be feeling they are loyal to the employer by coming when they are under the weather, all they are doing is spreading the icky stuff.

My younger daughter, my baby, turned 15 today and I can't be with her. Probably couldn't be with her even if I wasn't sick as travel up Interstate 95 would be hellish with the winter storm that passed through here. We have some wonderful, beautiful snow/ice/frozen stuff and I can't go out and enjoy it, take photos of it. I would take some shots from the window, but I left my camera at the office where I haven't been since Wednesday. I have the flu.
Ick. Ok, sorry for the mini-rant, I feel bad.

"Salmon Chanted Evening"

Ok, sorry about my silly attempt at punning the South Pacific tune.

It was cold and I think I have a hole in my kayak, so we didn't go paddling over the weekend. Plus the river was above flood stage this past weekend. We decided that we would take a walk about 4pm downtown on Belle Isle to check out the river flow. We had a nice walk on the loop road which takes you around the entire island. On the way out, the sun was setting and radiating an orange glow on the skyline. With the sky a dark and stormy color, the color really stood out. The salmon-colored skyline can be seen in the last few photos.

You can click on the photos to view larger images.

The following photos have not been color corrected, no filters have been applied. This is the tone that the sunset cast upon the city.

If you look closely at this one, you can see that this poor redbud tree has already blossomed. It's been unusually warm until this weekend and the poor thing is confused. It was getting so dark, that I had to lighten the photo to the point where it begins to degrade. The sunset was spectacular yesterday.

A Painting A Day

There is a local artist who is creating a postcard size painting a day. They sell for $100 each. His name is Duane Keiser and you can find his blog here. I encourage you to visit the blog. I think his work, done in oil, is amazing. Some of his paintings are so realisic. Please see the "Bread and Water" painting on his blog and look at the glass of water. Astounding!

I was lucky enough to be able to purchase this painting of the James River. Kayaking the James downtown as often as I do, I knew the exact spot he was looking at while painting.

I met him today when I went to pick up the painting at his studio. He seems like a gosh-darn nice fellow who is very serious about his work. I hope to be lucky enough to purchase more of his work. I'll be visiting his blog daily to see his painting a day, so if he does any more of the river, you'll have to beat me to them!

Paradigm

A conversation scralled in the men's room of one of our breakfast spots. No, I wasn't in there, Chris came out laughing this morning and told me about it.

1st Guy: Anarchy=Peace. Protest the Present Paradigm
2nd Guy: "What's Paradigm?"
3rd Guy:"Four nickels."

I've laughed all day...

Hearing Voices

Life sucks sometimes, it just does. There are tons of articles and discussions about trials and pain being a necessary part of life. Experts purport that through trials, a person is stretched and pushed to make decisions about the direction of her life. I’m not here to jump in to that discussion. Well, except that when I was in college, I read a quote that has stuck with me. How could I have realized that I would need this quote over twenty years later?

“The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter.” ~Author Unknown

The year 2003 was one of the most awful times in my life. I separated and planned for a subsequent divorce. It was nasty and settling the property was a big battle. I thought, “Well, I have a great job. Surely I can survive with my daughters on one income.” Then, I got laid off. That was very bad timing. Particularly bad timing as my younger daughter was training and competing out of town and I was telecommuting.

I was eight hours away from the office in another state and we were scheduled to be out of town for 4-5 weeks. So I had gotten permission to telecommute for the entire time. Great set up, right? There was one catch, I was to report to a meeting on a Monday two weeks into my telecommute in order to complete a proposal I had been working on with an engineer. Ok, one day wasn’t so bad. Heck, I’m an Olympic driver. I could get through that. I could go up early in the morning and turn around and drive back the eight hours back if I wanted. My daughter was going to be busy that entire day and into the evening, so it wouldn’t matter that I wasn’t there. She’d be with her group the whole time.

I got up in the wee hours of the morning on that particular day and drove the eight hours. I had to be there at 9am. I arrived at 8:45 and was asked by the front desk person to report to HR immediately. People had been laid off the week before; there were a total of 101 positions being eliminated. Remember, my return on this day had been negotiated months before. I thought I’d made it, but now a feeling of dread washed over me. I walked to HR and an hour later I walked out of the building, laid off. I couldn’t believe they’d have me drive the eight hours in just to tell me that, but I suppose they wanted to get the severance agreement settled and signed quickly.
So here I was a single-mother with two teenage daughters, no income and having to stay out of town for another few weeks. Attorney’s fees and other bills would be piling up like crazy. I had a car payment, utility bills and other debts like most Americans.
Could anything else bad happen to me that year, I wondered to myself in the car on my return trip. What else could I lose? I was selling my home, I was no longer married, I had no job, there wasn’t much more that could be taken away.

A few months later, I was in an accident and totaled my car. An elderly lady came to a complete stop in the fast lane on I-95. I had a small SUV. I knew there wouldn’t be enough time to break before my vehicle rammed into the back of hers, so I swerved. I rolled my SUV. Twice. We tumbled around in the left median that divides the north and south bound lanes. Then, the SUV started spinning and when we stopped. We were upside down between lanes two and three of a four-lane section of Interstate.

The girls and I are lucky to be alive! Miraculously, the north bound traffic that had been following behind me all stopped. My vehicle was the only one involved in the accident. The elderly lady drove off not ever knowing that she had caused such a horrific crash. The Delaware State Trooper said he had never seen anyone walk out of an accident like that. He had never seen anyone left alive after an accident like that and yet the three of us were standing on the side of the Interstate. Fortunately my daughters were on their father’s insurance, but here I was standing on the side of the highway weighing whether I should be seen by a doctor or not because I didn’t have any health insurance. By this time, I had just gotten a new job and had to wait until I had been employed sixty days before I qualified for my employer’s plan. I couldn’t afford COBRA when I got laid off, so I had nothing. Very scary.

After the accident, I made an appointment with the counselor that I had been seeing for the past two years. She had been a God-send to me although I had cancelled most of my appointments when I got laid off. Having no health insurance, I couldn’t afford my visits with her. She asked how things had been going and when I shared all of my stories from the previous months, she asked me how in the world I was coping with it all. I told her that it had to be the Optimistic voices. She started to look worried until I explained what I was talking about.

OPTIMISTIC VOICES

You're out of the woods, You're out of the dark, You're out of the night.

Step into the sun, Step into the light.

Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place

On the Face of the Earth or the Stars.

Hold onto your breath, Hold onto your heart, Hold onto your hope.

March up to the gate and bid it open

I told her that in the beginning of all my troubles, the tune was ever so faint. I wasn’t really conscious of it at first. It was like I was unconsciously giving myself a tool. As I would overcome challenges, the tune got a little louder each time. Then, I noticed, I became aware. So then, I began to play this game with myself that every time I overcame a particular challenge, I’d sing or hum the tune a little louder. She started to laugh. Her laughter was infectious and we both were sitting there just laughing so hard we were practically rolling in the floor. She said in all her years of counseling she had never had anyone mention the Optimistic Voices and she marveled at how perfect a tool this had been for me. She asked me if I would mind her sharing that tool with other clients if they needed it. During subsequent sessions, she’d ask me about the volume of the voices. It became a wonderful joke between us. This was one time when a counselor rejoiced with her client for hearing voices.

The voices are very loud now. I made it through that year! I can’t think of a time in my life when I lost and found so much at the same time. It has taken me two years to feel like I'm out of the dark. I learned that all a person’s wealth and material possessions and the comfort of employment can disappear, but you can still have so much. I marched up to the gate and bid it open and it did!

We have an new year in front of us. Some of us may be in the midst of wrestling with more than we think we can handle. Whatever your worries, all you have to do is use your brain like the Scarecrow, be true to your heart like the Tin Man, and be courageous like the Lion. But above all, don’t forget to listen to those Optimistic Voices from within your soul. March up to that gate. Bid it open.

Here is collection of my favorite adversity quotes. If you have a favorite one, please share it with us by posting a comment.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey
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If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill
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A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn. ~Author Unknown
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The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello
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We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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You can't run away from trouble. There ain't no place that far. ~Uncle Remus
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Turn your wounds into wisdom. ~Oprah Winfrey
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How can something bother you if you won't let it? ~Terri Guillemets
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If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. ~Frank A. Clark
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We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa
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Bad is never good until worse happens. ~Danish Proverb
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It just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants. ~Author Unknown
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You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. ~Walt Disney
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If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
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Every path has its puddle. ~English Proverb
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A bad grade is only one letter in the Essay of life. ~Lee Drake
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When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. ~African Proverb
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We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one. ~John Updike
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best. ~Duke Ellington

S e e i n g R e d...and Purple

The Red Hats are coming! The Red Hats are coming!

Not since Revolutionary times and Britian's Redcoats has Richmond seen so much red. Chris and I went over to Carytown, one of the most eclectic shopping areas in Richmond, for breakfast Saturday morning. Before turning the corner of South Colonial and Cary Streets, we became interested in some ladies dressed in purple with red hats yelling across the corner at some other ladies also dressed in purple with red hats. It was a bit grey and rainy outside, so the red and purple really stood out. They were trying to discuss parking in Carytown above the busy street. Then we looked up and notice more, we turned in another direction and there were even more of the ladies. They were everywhere! What was going on?

We entered the small diner, ordered our breakfast and were beginning to eat when the restaurant began filling up to the brim with these ladies. The capacity/occupancy sign read 75 and yet they continued to roll in. We heard them singing and laughing and their manner of dress, everyone with her individual style, seemed fun and it was hard not to smile. The only ones not smiling were the three waitresses and the restaurant owner who were caught unaware that this huge crowd had taken over Carytown. They were unprepared for a crowd of this magnitude as most shop owners in Carytown were that day. And they continued to roll in. Hundreds of them, all happy, ranging in ages from 50 to 90 until it looked as if the diner would burst out of its foundation.

What was all the buzz? Who were these ladies? Did they take the wrong turn on their way to Mardi Gras? Nope, these were ladies that belong to the Red Hat Society.

The Red Hat Society calls itself a "disorganization" because they don't have any bylaws with their main goal to have "fun, fun, fun." The society was started by Sue Ellen Cooper, the Queen Mother. She was visiting a friend in Tucson and bought a red fedora at a thrift shop. It was cheap and she thought it looked "dashing." Later she read the poem, "Warning," by Jenny Joseph.

WARNING


When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick the flowers in other people's gardens . . .

The ending of the poem pleases its readers when the woman says . . .

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Cooper gave the red fedora and a copy of the poem to her good friend as a unique birthday gift. That is how the society started. According to their web site there are now 850,000 members in 35,000 chapters across 25 countries. You Go Girl!

This event was attended by mostly Virginia chapters of the society, but there were also a few from other states along the east coast. The ladies, somewhere between 1200-1300 of them, were in town to commerate what would have been Elvis' 70th birthday. The Byrd Theatre, one of Richmond's treasured historal landmarks hosted the even which included Elvis, Tom Jones and Neil Diamond. impersonators.

If you are a female over 50, you are eligible to join a chapter touting your red hat. If you are under 50, you are encouraged to join as a "lady-in-waiting." Ladies-in-waiting wear pink hats. I found this out while photographing the ladies. If your mother is of age, particularly if you feel your mother needs some companionship with others her age, then tell her to look up local chapters. You and she can learn more about this "disorganization" by visiting the society on the web.
The Red Hat Society

I saw this small group chatting among themselves and one of them was holding a plunger because...

...they are "full of themselves." They were giving me all kinds of information in an obvious attempt to recruit me. Although they look like they have a ton of fun, I don't think I'm ready to start thinking about life after 50, although it will be here before I know it, I'm sure.

"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. After all ... tomorrow is another day."

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The Byrd Theatre

The Byrd Theatre is named after William Byrd, the founder of Richmond, is one of Virginia's finest cinema treasures. The 1400-seat theater, the first in Virginia to be equipped with a sound system, opened to great fanfare on December 24, 1928. The first audiences paid 50 cents for evening shows and 25 cents for matinees. Children were admitted for only 10 cents.

The Byrd's creators spared no expense in creating the theater. Among its many features: mythically-inspired murals, imported Greek and Italian marble, spectacular crystal chandeliers, hand-sewn velvet drapes, fountains, a central vacuum system, and its own Wurlitzer which is still in use.

Another interesting apsect of the Byrd is that it contains a natural underground spring in its basement. Water can be pumped from this spring for use by the building's air conditioning system.

In 1978, the theater was designated a state landmark. And the following year, it was named a National Historic Landmark.

What may be the most remarkable thing about the Byrd is that the theater has somehow survived the past seventy years largely unaltered—in appearance and function. Today, the Byrd shows movies for $1.99 per ticket and you can still hear the "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ every Saturday night. It rises from the bottom of the stage floor in full glory and is a spectacular sight you really ought to see if you find yourself visiting here over the weekend. One of my fondest memories from when I first moved to Richmond was getting to sit in the balcony to watch a showing of Gone With the Wind. It was like being transported back to to 1939.

More Byrd Theatre Info

Byrd Theatre Photos

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More Red Hat Photos:

Hey Ya'll...As a Favor to Me...

H O L I D A Z E

Daze, that's what I'm in. After being off since December 23, it's back to work today. Catching up has been a challenge, especially with a work political coup going on during my absence. I'm irritated and I need a nap, but this situation will have to be the subject of another post (if ever) because I'm not going to let the feelings I have left from wonder holidays be taken away by a new guy that wants to control everything in the company.

So where to start? How about Christmas Eve? My mother and I got up early in the morning and made the 150 mile drive to pick up my two teenage daughters. After some miscommunications between their father and me (nothing bad or negative), they actually got to spend Christmas with me! Hooray! That was probably the highlight of my holiday season. So we picked them up and brought them home. Evertime I see them, I marvel at how tall they have grown and what nice young ladies they have become. I took them out to dinner with friends to our favorite Thai restaurant, the one at which I had celebrated my birthday less than a week before. We had a yummy meal and I got the girls to try different foods. I think they agree with me that the Siam Duck Curry is the best dish in the house. After that, we went home and watched Christmas movies. Among them were Miracle on 34th Street (black and white version of course), A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life and a new favorite of mine, Love Actually. My older daughter sniffed and said that Love Actually made her miss her boyfriend. I was a little bit embarrassed because I thought this film would be ok, but then there was the couple that met while light and set testing were being arranged for a porn flick. They had to assume several positions that I wish my girls had not been privy to, but I knew it would be ok when my older daughter said, "Gosh, that would be an awful job to have.:

I agreed to cook breakfast for everyone which included my mother, my step-father, my girls and Chris. So I got up early Christmas morning and got started. Actually, I think I cooked more over the holidays than I had at any other point during 2004. Here is a picture of our early morning selves.

From left to right my step-father, Chris, my mother, my younger daughter, my older daughter.

They would kill me if they knew I put a morning photo on line! Our house is the oldest one on our block. It was built in 1897, so please forgive our house it's wrinkles.We live in Church Hill, named for its many churches, the most renowned of which is St. John’s Episcopal, site of Patrick Henry’s speech. The surrounding neighborhood, also known as Church Hill, is Richmond’s oldest, and its antebellum homes, gas lamps, brick sidewalks, and national historic status make it the City’s most famous as well. Our neighborhood is in the first historical (sometimes hysterical) district of Richmond. It has one of the largest collection of original Antebellum homes in United States. It may be the largest, but I would need to double check my information. A great subject for another blog post. The blocks of my neighborhood are filled with history and you just don't find that in the 'burbs.

Anyway, after breakfast, Chris left to go to his family gathering. I was to meet him there later. We had yet to open our presents. Being teenagers of course means that the girls wanted cash or gift cards. I caved in and gave them cash, but I also gave them some little things to open. Things like Burt's Bees products, a headache kit from Bath and Body Works for my older daughter. Like me, she gets really bad headaches. A new mouthpiece for my younger daughter. She plays the trumpet and is quite good at it. I couldn't afford a $1500 silver trumpet, so I got her the nicest of mouth pieces since she has long progressed from the starter one that comes with a beginning band instrument. Incidentally, when she moved back in with her father, she had to audition for her new school's concert band. She was very nervous because many freshmen don't make it. She wound up with 1st Chair!

Later, I met Chris for his family get together. Our Christmas dinner wasn't until 4:30pm. It's been a long time since I had to sqeeze in two family functions, but we managed to do it quite nicely. On the way to my house, I was able to snap this beautiful sunset from Libbie Terrace. This is the way the sky looked and I havn't done anything to touch up the photo. Just beautiful!

For our dinner, my step-brother and his wife and a family friend joined up. My natural brothers live too far away. One is in Sweden, the other in Dallas. Tons of food, lots of laughs, too. Chris and I were stuffed!

I think here, Chris is praying for some TUMS or Mylanta and the two of us still hadn't exchanged our gifts to each other. We had decided to do that late Christmas evening over a glass of wine at his house where it was quite. So about 9pm, I went over to his place. He had wrapped up a huge box and I couldn't even imagine what was in that box. I had disguised his gift. I had asked him a couple of months ago what was on his Christmas list and he said kayak stackers that fit the new yakima racks he bought for the nicer of his two 4wheel drive vehicles. I knew if I wrapped up the box the stackers were in, there'd be no surprise for him. The stackers come with a pair of straps. I figured that would throw him off. I had given him a year's subscription to our local large newspaper which he started receiving Christmas Eve, so I wanted him to have at least one Christmas surprise.

He asked me to unwrap mine first. The box was big, but very light. I unwrapped it carefully and opened it to find a new pfd (personal flotation device), one made especially for women. It was the teal one I had been talking about for months but was too expensive for me to buy for myself. I was so hoping for a gear sale so I could afford this pfd, now I won't have to worry. I love the color, but more than anything I love the how the fitting is designed. The foam is scooped out in the front so your boobs won't get sqished when you tighten it. I can't believe he spent this much on me for Christmas!

Between my birthday and Christmas, I really racked up on paddling gear this year and I really needed it! All I needed to do was get back out there since my ankle has healed.

So now it was Chris' turn to open his package. He ripped it open and discovered the straps and said, "Great! Straps." He was trying not to sound so disappointed. So I said, "These are special straps. They have a coating on the buckle to prevent you from breaking the glass in your car if you throw it over too hard. But wait! There's a piece missing." He was still looking perplexed as I walked over to his front door and retrieved the big box with the stackers in it. I told him that the straps came with handy accessories. He opened the box and was excited to find the kayak stackers that he wanted. What a great joke that was! There were not cheap either! The stackers look like poles, attach to your rack system and allow you to stack more kayaks on your vehicle.

We said our "good nights" as I had to get home to the girls and my parents. Chris had made plans to kayak with my younger daughter the next day so I could spend some quality time with my older daughter. I was so jealous. Here I had all of this new gear and hadn't been able to paddle for 6 weeks. But I was taking vacation after Christmas and knew I would get in some water time. Besides, the weather was bitterly cold on 12/26. Here they are suiting up and stretching. "I can't put my arms down, " the line from A Christmas Story came to mind because winter paddling gear feels so restricive.

On Monday, 12/27, I got up early and took the girls back to their dad's house. My younger daughter is on the high school basketball team and had practice she couldn't miss. We had had a wonderful visit and I was sad to leave them. Other than going to our local paddling outfitter's store on Tuesday, Chris and I chilled out and digested until Wednesday, 12/29. The weather had warmed up to nearly 60 degrees. We were going paddling. He had picked up a new pfd for himself that his mother bought him for Christmas. Since she didn't know what to buy, she paid for it and he picked it out. So we both had new gear to try on Wednesday. What a wonderful paddle we had. The river had come up slightly which made it even more fun. I felt a little shakey though and paddled conservatively that day. I was able to bring along my digital camera because I had gotten a Pelican Box for my birthday. A Pelican Box is the tougest, water-tight equipment protector case out there. They come in varied sizes and can hold cell phones, keys, cameras, what ever you need to keep dry. You stow it in the back of your kayak under one of the float bags. Here's mine:

Along with my new pfd, I also go new neoprene booties and some fuzzy rubber pants which are fleece lined and rubber laminated to keep water out.

Since I was kayaking conservatively, I was able to snap several pictures of Chris surfing the standing wave at First Break, one of the first rapids on the downtown run. Here's one of them.

The seagulls were every where too. It had snowed over a foot a couple of days before in VA Beach of all places, so they came up from the coast. Here's a bunch with the Hollywood Cemetery river view in the background. I've written about Hollywood before. If you come to Richmond, you must visit it.

Not much had changed on the James since my last paddle on it. Some new debris piles from rising waters and I did notice that Greatful Dead Rock had been repainted.

On Thursday, 12/30 nothing too exciting happened. I went shopping because we decided to stay in for New Year's Eve. We had to go to another of Chris' family functions on New Year's Day which was two hours away. I wanted to do something different, so I decided to cook rosemary lamb and wilted lemon spinach. I also had to make an appetizer to take to this family function, and they requested I make the Mango Salsa Wontons I had brought before.

On Friday, 12/31, we finally got the see the Albrect Dürer exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It was wonderful. I kept marvelling at Dürer's skill and the detail of his prints, astounding! I also noticed how he laid out the information in his work and recongnized many examples of what is taught today as design/layout basics. I became amused as his work with a "new" concept, well at least new to the 15th century, called perspective. As his work progressed, he experimented he became quite skilled at it and advocated that artists use tools such as a grid to help them work with perspective better. At the end of the exhibit, there was a grid pane set up on a table with a fixed point. Beyond the grid was a mandolin. Grid paper was supplied by the museum so people could try it out. It was wonder to see several adults as well as children amaze themselves by turning out a nice copy of the mandolin when they thought they couldn't draw. What fun!

After the museum, we decided to go kayaking. The temperature was around 65 and the sun was shining. How could we not take advantage of that? The water however is very cold and I got caught on a diagonal wave which turned me over. It took me two attempts to roll up and I got an ice cream headache. It was like sticking my head in a glass of ice water. Brrrrr!

After kayaking, I went to Chris' place to cook dinner. Dinner was too die for! The lamb was delicious and very easy to make. It literally melted in your mouth. If you want the recipe, let me know. We toasted in the New Year by watching Napoleon Dynamite. What a great movie! Very different, very nicely done!

We got up early the next morning, 01/01 and I started making the Mango Salsa. We drove 2 hours into the Blue Ridge Mountains to Chris' uncle's house. His uncle is a retired Presbyterian minister living in a beautiful Presbyterian retirement community near Massanutten ( a ski resort). His uncle has the most spectacular views! The left is Massanutten Mountain. On the other side is the ski resort.

These are the Blue Ridge Mountains as seen from Massanetta Springs and the photos are not touched up:

Ahhhh, sunset:

Sunday, 01/02 we were lazy. We slept in really late until Chris' cat chased us out of bed. She's quite an alarm clock and wants you to know that it's her turn to occupy the bed, so you must get up. She didn't bug us until 10am. I hung around the house in my pajamas until noon. It was great. We met my cousin and her husband plus my mother and step-father at 3pm at one of our local microbreweries. Had a great time, but knew that Monday morning would come was too soon. Neither of us wanted to come back to work. Or so we thought.Actually, I'm kind of glad to be back in my regular routine. It was a great holiday season. The best one for me in a long time.