Sunsets, Stars, West, Wind
http://explorekansascity.com/make-your-holiday-celebrations-an-historic-event-in-kansas-city/
Some of these sound very interesting. Niw to decide which ones to see.
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
As I pulled into the Hallmark Corporate circular driveway, I realized, with some dismay, that the Mayor’s Christmas Tree had disappeared from it’s featured spot at Crown Center. And as I walked one of the rider’s to the lobby entrance, the two Christmas Trees that had graced the corporate lobby were also missing. Another Christmas season packed away. No more twinkling lights on trees or houses. No more hopeful, joyful carols on the radio nor piped through the overhead speakers at the grocery store. I felt deflated.
At least Hallmark waited until the official end of Christmas. Yesterday marked the twelfth day and today is traditionally celebrated as Epiphany. On January 6th, we celebrate Epiphany as a Christian feast day commemorating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. Western Christians observe principally (but not solely) the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the Baby Jesus, and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God.
The Revised Common Lectionary for today, the Epiphany of the Lord (Year B), suggests reading Matthew 2:-12 for the Biblical narrative of the Three Wise Men:
1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Other definitions of epiphany include:
“epiphany.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 06 Jan. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epiphany>.
So here I sit, disillusioned by the passing of another Christmas season. I know that when I get home tonight, I need to pack away the Christmas decorations and dismantle the Christmas tree, storing both in the basement storage room.
Yet I am trying to initiate some enthusiasm for this new year. I continue to persevere in my quest for living healthier. Five days and counting now. It helps that everyone else in the family (including the dogs) has joined me in my Wii Fit adventure.
What I’m truly looking forward to won’t happen for nearly half a year. Rachelle will graduate from college in late May (or early June). Sometime between now and then, she’ll give her senior recital, which I plan to attend (in person instead of via live streaming).
Terry’s right hand is progressing well. The orthopedic surgeon saw him for a second followup visit this afternoon and prescribed some physical therapy and wants to see him again in six weeks. We’re still ecstatic the biopsy came back negative last week for cancer. Now begins the long grueling road to recovery and the welcome return of guitar riffs reverberating through the house.
I look forward to the ruckus with relish.
I did not have to drive the van today. I thought I might need to, since Hallmark decided the Monday after New Year’s Day would NOT be a holiday (day off from work) for it’s employees. But I spoke to my newest rider (a second Hallmark person) and she said she had already planned to drive herself to work today, so I got to sleep in (by about ten minutes, since I forgot to silence my alarm before falling asleep last night). I brewed some tea and finished composing the previous blog post (the one I forgot to finish last night and publish before falling asleep).
I woke Rachelle up just before nine o’clock since she had an eye doctor’s appointment after ten o’clock. On the way to Leavenworth, we detoured to Dillons so I could fill up the Bonneville, taking advantage of the eleven hundred points I earned in December. I opted to use five hundred points to save fifty cents per gallon. It still cost over $45 to fill it up (because I had waited too long and only fumes remained in the sixteen gallon tank). While at Dillons, we picked up a half dozen items we needed to make brunch after the doctor’s appointment.
I read about half of the January 2012 edition of Astronomy magazine on my Nook Color while waiting for Rachelle to finish her eye doctor’s examination. The prescription for her contact lenses wasn’t ready yet, so I told them to just mail it to me. We stopped at Walgreen’s so I could get a second ‘backup’ arch bandage to help my left foot heel and arch pain, especially since I’m attempting to increase my physical activity. We also stopped at K-mart to price other Wii game titles, but decided not to purchase anything at this time.
Back at home, Rachelle and I sifted through all of her jewelry boxes and separated out the jewelry she does not want. Some of that may end up as donations to our local Good Will store. We also stripped the pantry bare, wiped down the shelves and re-organized the contents. We did this prior to our ‘real’ trip back to Dillons to stock up for the coming week. Rachelle’s Christmas gift to her father included cooking meals for him over the next week or so. Tonight she cooked Garlic Honey Chicken with Sauteed Asparagus. My contribution included Parmesan Garlic Bread (made with the Italian bread I made last week).
I learned a couple of Yoga positions today, did a couple of strength training exercises and got better at the step aerobics programs via Wii Fit today. Both Terry and Rachelle are also using it – Terry to help maintain his current weight and strengthen his muscles and balance. Rachelle makes us all feel old, of course, since she’s twenty-two and in great shape.
Our after-dinner relaxation includes watching Ironclad, a movie about the aftermath following the signing of the Magna Carter. Not sure how historically accurate it is, but it’s gritty enough. I’ll review it in a separate post later this week.
I slept in, until six o’clock. That’s an hour longer than I usually laze around in bed. I knew I had two things to get done before long after waking up. The first involved the annual dissemination of sticky buns to friends. I started two batches of dough going, one in the bread machine and one via the mixer, with about fifteen minutes to spare before the sun rose at twenty of eight.
Since I had over an hour to wait for the dough to rise, I grabbed my camera bag and tripod and ran for the van. I drove a block to my south and setup on the grounds of the Lansing City Hall cul-de-sac. I experimented with the aperture priority setting so I can attempt to get a star like effect when the sun rose. I succeeded (see below) but also forgot I had accidentally smudged my lens with my fingers a couple of days ago and forgot to clean it. So some of the later photos with more star-five effect had to be trashed thanks to smudgy fingerprints obscuring the sunlight.
Click here for the slideshow of the rest of the photos.
I packed up the camera and gear as soon as the sun cleared the horizon. I still had plenty of time before the dough needed to be rolled out and sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon. I made a quick run to the grocery store to buy the disposable aluminum lidded cake pans I needed to place the sticky buns in for delivery to our friends. Once I returned home, I woke up Rachelle, who helped make the caramel glaze to pour into the pans and evenly distribute the individual rolls among the six pans. This year we only made about sixty rolls, instead of the usual hundred or hundred and twenty. We covered them with the clear plastic lids and attached the storage and baking directions to them. Rachelle and I then left to deliver the rolls.
Once we returned home, Derek and Royna had also arrived back from their overnight visit with their friends. I suggested that Rachelle, Royna and I drive to downtown Leavenworth to sample some of the loose tea available from the Queen’s Pantry. Royna found three she liked and Rachelle found one. We walked across the street to the antique mall where Rachelle found some jewelry and I found a paperweight for a coworker. Our last stop downtown was the Kansas Country Store where I tried to find some rawhide treats for the Rotts, but found a half-price Rottweiler 2012 calendar instead. I dropped Rachelle off at her friend’s house and Royna and I returned home to while away the afternoon watching movies.
We decided on Mexican for a family dinner out and traveled to Zona Rosa to revisit Aubelos. Terry and I had tried that restaurant back in October for my birthday. Derek and Royna had also tried and liked it previously. I called ahead and reserved a table for the five of us. I missed the sunset at five o’clock because I was busy getting ready to leave for dinner. I did step outside briefly, but the sky was so clear and devoid of haze or clouds that the sunset would have been ‘boring’ for me to photograph. The drive to Zona Rosa via K-5 and MO-152 was uneventful and our dinner was delicious (and fast). We were back home before half past seven. Rachelle donned her excessively ugly Christmas sweater and left to spend New Year’s Eve with her friends. Derek and Royna will start packing and get some rest before hitting the road southbound for North Texas tomorrow morning.
And so I come to my final paragraph of my final blog post for 2011. I believe we’ve had a good year. We had a couple of milestones (25th wedding anniversary and 15th year at my employer). We started renovating our house, replacing the roof and the driveway and repairing the chimney. I’m keeping the miles down on both our cars by participating in a vanpool, which also helps reduce my carbon footprint by taking at least four other vehicles off the roadways five days a week. We spent the holidays with our kids, always the highlight of our year. I hope and pray 2012 will bring all of us peace and prosperity, harmony and grace.
I received a welcome call from our family tax preparer. He graciously answered all our questions concerning some last minute year-end tax savings we could take advantage of. Terry and I discussed and weighed the pros and cons but ultimately decided to take advantage of the tax deduction to offset a one-time heavy tax load we will have to deal with for 2011.
The second even better phone call came in mid-afternoon from my hubby. He had just received good news from his doctor at his follow-up appointment. The biopsy results confirmed the growth in his hand was completely benign. No cancer! And no need for any drastic treatments to combat any further cancerous growths. He will need to go through some extensive occupational therapy, since the orthopedic surgeon does NOT want him moving his fingers, hand or wrists at all for several weeks.
Thanks to God and everyone who offered prayers on behalf of Terry. And thanks to Rachelle for driving him to his appointment today.
I endured endless meetings all morning, but received a last-minute reprieve from my final early afternoon meeting. A co-worker hand-delivered a belated Christmas gift from my favorite baking supply company (King Arthur Flour) to me when she arrived this morning, for which I thanked her. I attempted to deal with a last-minute tax deduction question, still unanswered and unresolved with the end-of-the-year clock ticking inexorably on. I even tortured myself by waiting more than thirty minutes on hold with the IRS before having to abandon that exercise in futility because of another incoming call. I tried to schedule my daughter for an eye doctor’s appointment since she informed me at the airport she is on her last set of contacts, yet much to my surprise (not!) the eye doctor’s office is closed every Wednesday. I did speak to my Internet service provider about moving up to the next tier of broadband service and will discuss my findings with my spouse this evening before ordering the upgrade. I wrapped up my goals for the final quarter Health Enhancement Challenge at work and will strive to turn them into New Year’s resolutions.
I have no plans for this evening (or the rest of the week nights) so that my kids are free to visit their local friends. Terry and I might watch a DVD my father lent us yesterday: Cowboys & Aliens. Or we could continue cleaning off the DVR, which may be leaving us soon if we decide to drop DirecTV and move to Dish or just stick with Netflix (or some other provider’s) streaming.
I am thankful for the gift of the Four Gospels, often associated with the fourth day of Christmas.
I got the best gift of all . . . my family. My daughter flew in from North Texas this morning. My son and his wife arrived on Christmas Eve, so today I had all of them together, as well as my father. We enjoyed dinner and then opened all of the presents. The dogs got a treat as well, since both Derek and Rachelle got down on the floor and played with them.
But tomorrow I return to work (for the rest of the week) so Terry will get to enjoy their company exclusively.
I spent the day baking bread. Always enjoyable for me and any of my house guests. The aroma of baking bread permeates our home.
My first loaf of the morning I made for my father. Since our family is celebrating Christmas (by opening presents and feasting on an Italian themed dinner) tomorrow, I wanted to make a fresh loaf of his favorite: White Sandwich Bread <= (click link for recipe).
The second loaf will be my version of the Italian Supermarket bread recipe I found last year at the King Arthur Flour web site.
The third and final loaf will be Rustic Sourdough, modified to mix and rise in the dough cycle of my bread machine. The original recipe from King Arthur is really a double batch (makes two loaves) and I would have to drag out my Kitchen Aid mixer to accommodate five cups of flour and the other ingredients.
Once the loaves are all baked and cooled, I will take some photographs and post them below.
I’m sharing with you an angel (and other ornaments) in a Christmas tree.
Click here for the slideshow of the rest of the album.