Post Christmas Tinkering (turn off playlist)

Recorded 12/27/10 (11 days shy of 18 months).

I edited this (took off the end where she moved off screen) and couldn't get it to post. No failure message just the clock running forever. So then I saved it as a QuickTime, no luck posting it as such either. So then I zipped it, no luck. So then I downloaded it on Vemeo. Worked but then I noticed the clarity is lacking, and it pitches up for some reason in all of them except the original. So I'm back to the original, warts and all. Well extra warts and all which are less bothersome than the conversion alternatives.

And just for the record, watching this reminds me that I am not as smart as I sometimes think I am (in many more ways than one!). I see now how interested she was in seeing herself (in the beginning - I did "get" that at the end) and should have pursued it more. And how she tried to follow the pot boiling concept and I'm stuck on the doorbell. Makes me want to "record" my whole life, watch it again and get to have a do-over. As it is, I think judgment day (for me) is going to be a long one....

In the meantime, Raygen, you are a precious toddler of God, and it was my pleasure to play with you, even if I'm a little slow on the uptake.

Went downtown tonight, courtesy of the Scarboroughs

(first time I've been downtown in years),

dinner at Taqueria Canonita in The Venetian.

I actually thought the sky was real until it dawned on me

that it was past dusk when we drove in!

We had warm chips with guacamole and salsa,

shared Cazuela de Camarones Y Almejas

(grilled skewered shrimp and clams in the shell, with blackened tomatoes,

Marisco broth and tomatillos with corn, white rice, and grilled bread),

and Tres Leches for dessert (sponge cake soaked with three different milks,

strawberry jelly, raspberry coulis,

topped with vanilla ice cream on a bed of diced cantaloupe,

decorated with a single raspberry, single blackberry and mint).

We watched the gondolas throughout the meal,

and listened to the boat(wo)men serenading their customers

and us in Italian as they floated by.

Then on to Phantom of the Opera at The Palazzo next door.

Jewel and I saw it in Salt Lake City years ago, her birthday request.

This one even grander as you can imagine Vegas being what it is.

We sat right behind the chandelier which came crashing down.

The Salt Lake crashing version was also spectacular

but we were a lot closer to this one.

Tons of special effects including several trap doors.

The place was packed - a sea of people

on the grand staircase when we exited.

Magic when we left as well.

Jewel had wanted to valet park to save my knee but they were full up.

We got in a row of about five cars waiting for people to pull out -

Jewel passed them all, pulled around the corner and snapped up

a spot right in front of the elevators.

Wonderful memories. Thanks Jewel and Johnny!!

Christmas Las Vegas Style

We'll, Hayd needn't have worried -

he must have been pretty high on the nice list

for Santa did 'deliver.' But I'm ahead of myself.

This was his school Christmas artwork.

The top ornament was made by his teacher, so picture another 23!

The other two ornaments were this year's annuals for Hayden and Raygen.

Jewel's visiting teachers came Friday morning

so their gift was the first on her list,

chocolate-coated carrot cake balls.

Then various other projects including

the dough for Christmas breakfast cinnamon rolls,

homemade pizzas for Christmas Eve dinner,

gingerbread men for Santa and chow for the raindeer,

Hayd's plate he writes his list on each year,

Despicable Me and the new and improved Horton Hears a Who,

Norma's crying Santa story just before bed,

honey-baked spiral ham for Christmas dinner

with green beans and cheesy creamy hash browns.

Various people in/out and round about!

I asked Hayden if he'd made a Santa list at his Dad's -

"of course not - the plate's at Mom's house."

Proof-positive that Santa showed up:

Jewel's blog recounts the family presents and mine awaits -

Dinner Monday night at the Venetian overlooking the gondolas,

then on to Phantom at The Palazzo.

Might I say ... wow now! ... and double wow later!!

Wishing all of you the very best holiday wishes!

Ruby & Neil Nursery Rhymes

Dawned on me one more possibility re finding the nursery rhymes tape. It's a Festivus miracle! (Sorry for the beep at the beginning - I got an email notice, didn't realize it would be so loud. Also, the picture's not very clear, but it's as good as it gets. This version of it that is.) Now keep in mind these are spontaneous recitings from memory from both of them. (You may want to avoid explaining to your wee ones what a word or two means. At least until they are old enough to understand the lack of PC-ness in those days. And I have to admit, my very most favorite book was Little Black Sambo which glowed in the dark so I spent a lot of time with it in the dark utility closet, perched on the canister vacuum.... The same vacuum I borrowed for sleigh-riding one year when I couldn't find my sleigh.)

Ruby Ordella Williams Fugal

Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death (1981). And also her mother’s birthday. And therein lies a tale. Often she would tell me – well, “often” as in several times over the course of a number of years – that she’d had a very vivid dream and in it her mother ‘came to get her’ when it was her time to die (and it was that vivid she believed it would happen). Me, being the skeptic that I am, didn’t think there could be any possibility knowing that Mom’s father told a tale about making a pact with his wife to ‘come get him’ at a specific time should she die first (and vice versa). [She did not show up.] Now, I suppose one could compare the relative merits of the two likelihoods, though plainly irrelevant to actual reality (as comparisons can often be meaningless), but were that the case, mom’s “wins,” hands down. Plus the confirming actuality that she did die on her mother's birthday is good for skeptics like me.

When I posted my Dad’s recitations on the day of his passing in September, Janeil asked me to post this one on Mom’s. It's a favorite long scriptural quote of hers and it’s true, I heard her recite it numerous times. It's on the same tape as the September posts (recorded in St. George) and Norma introduces it. I also wanted to post something with Mom’s voice and somewhere there’s an old tape of the two of them reciting nursery rhymes to Alan but I’ve searched high/low, and that one will have to be for another day. Assuming I ever find it.