O! Christmas Tree!

Taking his PhD exams has thrown dear Kenny into a slight identity crisis.

Imagine there's no John Lennon

25 years ago today John Ono Lennon was shot in New York City. Although I was too young to remember, John Lennon and the Beatles have given me so many happy memories. I'll always remember going on long drives with my high school buddy Shelley and blasting Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in her Jeep. I also will always remember being fascinated with that particular album cover that my mom had and thinking they were so STRANGE. I also remember listening to Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Under the Sea over and over again in my room in Pittsburgh. And Ken! Ken and I have spent more than one trip to Pittsburgh listening to al the Beatles albums we have in chronological order. In Scotia, my best friend Kate and I used to obsess about the Beatles (which got me sent to the principal's office for being disruptive during Math). She had a really cool Beatles t-shirt. The Beatles would never have existed without John Lennon (and the rest, but he was pretty key). So, if you survived that shooting, and are reading blogs from some remote location (along with Elvis), THANK YOU John Lennon. You changed the world.

Beatles memories, anyone?

Winter things . . .

Winter at the little red house

Well, winter has really arrived here. To welcome in the season I started weather-stripping (really, a good idea when the weather is nice, but a dumb one when you probably waste all the energy you may have saved by having the door open for gobs of time). Not as cozy as KT's cookie baking, but it felt good to get that done. I won't deign to belabor how many attempts I made at putting it up properly before finally (after lots of tacks and angst-y mumbles) doing so. I try to be handy.

And, Ken put up the Christmas lights yesterday! How festive!

Today was St. Mark's 50th anniversary mass. The bishop (one of the controversial ones--oooooo!) presided. It's so funny to see all the pomp associated with the guest. Some of it (like the brass quintet) I loved. Some of it is just FUNNY--like the pointy hat and the staff and the elaborate robes. Very THEATRE. It's like you expect a goblin to be a part of it. Or at least a wizard or something. Very interesting. Worth driving a little bit in the snow.

I'm going to watch the 1949 version of the film "Little Women" now.

Miss Marble helps Ken study for Exam #2

After Exam #1 . . .