"Another one rides the bus"

Saw that on the back of a huge tow truck today. Laughed out loud. People and businesses take their parking pretty seriously here in Orlando.

Getting back in the groove after Christmas vacation isn't an event, it's a process. Finally last night I got the last of the ornaments put away. Funny how you admire the tree so much when it's first put up, basking in its beauty. Then after New Year's, you kinda curl your lip up in disdain at it--the green elephant in the room. But I guess when you've been looking at Christmas decorations since they were put out with the Halloween candy, you're over it by January 4. My ambitious sister said she took her tree down on Christmas night because "Christmas is over in this house." I hear ya.

We were almost 10 minutes late for school, and work was busy. Thank goodness Caroline had already done her homework at school, because John Sam's homework took some real maneuvering to get done. We had salad and spaghetti or ravioli, a rare dinnertime choice. I wanted to give myself a manicure, but it's so late and I need to get all the family's important dates onto the new Victorian calendar I treated myself to so I can get it hung up.

Over the weekend I got my rocking chair out of the garage, and it's going to go where the Christmas tree was with my new floor lamp I got from Target. Add in my footstool from long ago, and the whole thing's going to be my little reading area in the living room. I've got a nice stack of books ready to go--some of them I've already started on, some are brand new.

Auld Lang Syne

I always thought "Auld Lang Syne" meant old times' sake. Don't know why, but it seemed to make sense to me!! :-)

Well, Miss Smarty Pants was very wrong, so please make a note of it, hehe. According to the internet, it translates literally as old long since, and is taken from a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. The most popular version sung by drunken partygoers:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And ne'er brought to mind,
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne.

(Chorus) For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Here's are two lesser known verses that I also liked:

We two have paddled in the stream
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us broad have roared,
Since auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty friend,
And give us hand o' thine,
And we'll take a right goodwill draught,
For auld lang syne.

For me, provided I can stay up until midnight, it's time to remember old friends, old lovers, old family, old times, and especially, old dogs. I can't say I'm alone in calling 2008 a rough ride, and I'm not usually sentimental about the passage of time. This year is a little different, I think because of all the changes suddenly thrust upon me and mine. I feel old and new all at the same time. Do you?

May 2009 bring an abundance of the following to all the ones I love - and you know who you are!

Health
Prosperity
Kindness
Optimism
Blessings
Joy
Goodwill
Memories--old cherished ones and new ones to be made this year
Sweetness
Awareness
Bliss
Photographs (you can never take too many)

Happy New Year with Love, Fran and BaumgardnersFour
(plus our beloved Tokyo Jones)