Apple pie 2024 v2.0 is now in the oven. Hopefully I can avoid any kitchen disasters until I get it to tomorrow's family dinner.

Well, it's the dreariest solstice in memory, with grey skies and cold rain the whole day.

Topped off with me and Matilda attending the memorial of Astrid, yet another parent of one of her elementary school friends. We have gone to memorials for Blake (father of Lucy), Drew (father of Davi), Jacqueline, Astrid (mother of Angelica). All of these girls from Matilda's class lost a parent before they turned 20. And Isabella's mother, Lola, has Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer.

I have managed to order things online which I've sent (thanks to Shop's default addressing) to faraway cities, and feel wildly out of sync with the Holiday.

On the plus side, the sun starts coming back tomorrow.

On the plus side, the sun starts coming back tomorrow.

More light, more light, more light. That mantra is getting me through these days.

The second volume of The Catalog of Cool (Too Cool) had a whole chapter on Hammond B3 jazz trios! That's how cool you are. A whole chapter's worth.

That gig was definitely a chapter's worth of cool. Very fun! I think this will be a new holiday tradition, along with the Krampus walk.

Since I've always lived here, I've always listened to "Here Comes The Sun" with a shrug and "Makes more sense in England," since by winter, I'm glad to see its back for a minute.(the weather's great here rn, but in ways that...legit creep me out. I mean, we do have to have winter, sometimes.) That really is very heavy, Hec. Maybe they will be stronger for it, but it doesn't seem worth the intense price paid at a vulnerable stage. I'm sorry.

If you’re gonna get LDBed, Joan Jett is not a bad way to go out.

(I got got back in early November, but I’m told there’s some dispute about whether pre-Thanksgiving counts. So now it’s official.)

If you’re gonna get LDBed, Joan Jett is not a bad way to go out.

I lost last night to the Nat King Cole version, which isn't a bad way to lose, either.

You know what's bullshit?

I have to wash the dishes. Again!

I just washed them two days ago, and I was resentful about it then.

Did I mention here that I got my eyes checked and everything was OK for nearly 66, just a slight tweak to the prescriptions? So I am keeping with the Buffista zeitgeist.

The snowstorm on Friday here was awful for traffic, which was so bad that a work friend tried to drive me home, and I gave up on it about halfway, to a) hopefully let her go off in a different direction which was less awful and b) by walking get me home faster. This also meant that I couldn't go in person to get my drivers license renewed (can't do it online, because I'm due for a new in-person picture and sig). Made a new appt on Tuesday, sigh. My birthday (when it expires) is Thursday. And although I currently don't have a working car, I kinda have to be able to legally drive for work.

Ah, living on the edge there, Theodosia!

I hope the appointment goes smoothly, Theodosia.

Dinner for my sister and BiL went well. I might put a tad more salt in the butternut squash Alfredo next time, but it’s a recipe that’s easy enough for each person to season to taste. Yesterday I joined my sister at my nephew and niece-in-law’s place for cookie making. The older grandnephew is 3, so we wanted to get him started on the whole Christmas cookie thing. He was into it for a goodly while, possibly because the stand mixer was involved.

Today I had work, and after that I dove right into prep for the Christmas Eve party my niece-in-law’s parents throw every year. I’ve been going for years, but this is the first time I’ve had a kitchen of my own to work in before hand. So I’ve made sugared cranberries and two kinds of brittle—pecan and almond. Whole lotta sugar going down tonight. It’s very satisfying.