Earlier this week, set up the coffee, pressed the button. Later when I heard the beep, went to get the pot. It was on the counter next to the coffee maker. The mess wasn’t as bad as it could have been because there is a fail safe. There was some spillage. Had to start over.

A couple of days later, set up the coffee, pressed the button. Heard the beep. Went to get the pot, it was clear hot water. Had forgotten to add coffee to basket. Started over.

Christmas Eve … Ed noticed tire going flat. It’s a bad rim. We probably need a new rim. Expensive Ed says. We stopped at a pump (one pays for air now … when I was a kid, I could put air in my bike tires for nothing). Ed crouched down and put air in two tires. It took a while. He crunched his back and is now suffering from a bulging disk.

Later, despite his pain, he went for a walk with me after dinner because it was the night of the luminaria. For those of you not familiar with this custom, this is hundreds of candles set into sand inside paper bags and the streets are lined with them. It’s a lovely sight.
We didn’t go far. Our neighbors across the street were having an open house. I invited myself over. Ed, always trepid when he doesn’t know people well, went home. But some minutes he thought better of it and showed up and we had a lovely time. Gus (springer spaniel) and Maggie, Bella (yellow labs) and Liberty (Chesapeake) were there too and got their ears scratched and tummies rubbed.

Ed spent most of Christmas day in bed. I took him food on a tray. Meanwhile, I was cleaning house and roasting a leg of lamb and mashing potatoes. I forgot to cut the potatoes into smaller pieces so when it came time to mash, I had to work at it.

I knocked myself out cleaning too. It seems to me that the floor never gets clean no matter how often I go over it. Meanwhile, the charger for my Swiffer sweeper has a loose wire and is no longer working. Looking around for an alternative cordless because this is the second time I've had this problem.

The whole day was hard because Ed couldn't help.
He pulled himself together and drove to Walgreen’s and bought a back brace, got home, tried it on and it was too small so he went back and got one that fit better. He said the brace would help him sit through dinner.

Our guests came at 4 – Nadine (go-to-friend) and her husband, Mickey, whom Brunswick loves. The dinner went well. Nadine baked an apple pie for dessert. We had salad and the potatoes too. That was plenty of food. We have left-over lamb today and Ed loves that.

Nadine and Mickey left around 8:30. In spite of the fact that we only had two guests, the clean up took 3 hours. It is because I set the formal dining table, and got down stuff from high shelves. Wish I’d taken a photo. It looked really nice. Nadine brought me some white wine, bless her.

Then I watched a re-run of the Good Wife and did some more clean-up, and I can say I was really tired after all that. But I was happy I managed all of it. We didn't give our boat parade party this year -- usually have about 20 - 25 guests. I missed having it, but really wasn't up to it. Ed and I sat on our pool deck and waved at the boats all by ourselves.

xx, Teal