Both Dear Husband and I have been caught by the cold bug. This morning I realized that in the twenty years I have known him, DH has been noticeably ill perhaps five or six times. He’s very stoic about illness. He will ignore it and carry on, when I think he should pamper himself.
Part of that has to do with being a guy, and part of it has to do with being an employer, I’m sure. He feels that if he is not there to oversee a job, it will either not be done to his exacting standards, or not done at all. So, even if we can see that he is ill, he goes off to work long before the crack of dawn.
Dear Husband and I have talked about colds . There have been years when I have caught a cold three or four times in the colder half of the year, and other years when I have been cold free. He is of the opinion that I need to get out of the house more. I’m not sure if that is a euphemism for “get more exercise,” or if he really means “out of the house.”
I noticed yesterday, when I had to chauffeur my mother around, that I felt better when I was out in the cool air. That doesn’t make sense to me. What is there about cool, or cold air that would ease a cold? Conversely, what is there about my house that could be making me sick? Pet dander, dust, dust mites, fireplace ashes, colognes, scented cleaning products……the list is long, but could they be the reason my colds last longer?
I’ve also wondered if the fact that Dear Husband works out of doors plays a role in how quickly he recuperates from colds. Does cold air force a body to raise it’s temperatures, making it less hospitable to the virus? Or is it just that he gets so much more exercise than I do?
I know they don’t have the cure for the common cold yet. Believe me, when they do, I’ll be at the head of the line to receive it! Until then, a brisk walk outside each day, and an apple, may be the best medicine I can find.

Today, in the part of the United States known as the Greater Chicagoland area (and probably the rest of the Northern Hemisphere), we received thirty-three more seconds of sunlight. I don’t know if each day from now to the solstice in June will have thirty three more seconds of light, but each extra second is precious.
I was surfing to find just how short our day is on the solstice, and this site says that their day is seven hours and fifty minutes, while this site says their day will be eight hours and fifteen minutes. Clearly, it matters what your latitude is, in determining just how little sunlight you get. It’s interesting to note that we do not gain an equal number of seconds of light due to earlier sunrises and later sunsets.
This site has an explanation of how the Earth’s tilt, and the elliptical orbit of the planet around the sun cause a difference close to the time of the solstices in the changes of sunrises and sunsets. For about two weeks prior to the December 21st solstice the sun rises at the same time each day, while the sunset comes earlier and earlier.
As a gardener, I long for the time when I can get back out into my gardens in the Spring. I’ll be pushing it in March, when I go out to pick up fallen branches, and pull up dead plants that escaped my attention this fall. Some of my gardening friends start plants from seed, just to have their fingers in the dirt.
A day or so before Christmas, I received my first plant catalog in the mail, so spring can’t be too far behind!

We are a bit concerned here, upon hearing the news about the earthquake centered in Indonesia. Wednesday, Dear Husband’s third son flew to Japan to meet his wife, and then they flew to Phukat, Thailand for the Christmas holidays.
We didn’t know where they were planning to be in Thailand until this evening, and the news from Phukat is on the grim side. Those who were sunbathing at the edge of the water or snorkeling, or scuba diving apparently were lost as the tsunamis rolled in.
We have not heard from the kids, but we are thinking positively about this. Third son is a geologist, so he would have known to go to high ground when they felt the earthquake. I’m assuming that it’s nearly impossible to get a line out, or in, at the moment, so we are going to wait for word, and do our best not to worry.
I’d appreciate any form of good thought you care to send on their behalf, but your prayers would be really appreciated.
UPDATE:
There may be a ray of hope here…. The kids have not been able to call, but they did leave an itinerary with Third Son’s mother. Thru the grapevine, we’ve heard that they intended to go to Bangkok first, so they may be safe, if stranded. Bangkok is a coastal city, but it’s on the Gulf of Thailand, and may have been sheltered from the tsunami that hit Phuket. I think the kids may have a slightly different holiday than expected. We’ll continue to hope for their safe return.
UPDATE #2:
They’re SAFE!!! Third Son’s mother managed to find the travel agent that made the arrangements, and together they traced where the kids had gone from Japan. It turns out they were in Bangkok when the tsunami hit Phuket, and are safe. They got a phone call at 3:00 a.m. their time with a VERY angry mother asking why they hadn’t called to reassure us that they were safe. She also suggested that our daughter-in-law needed to call her family.
Perhaps it’s a function of their age. Maybe they didn’t realize we would all be concerned about them. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that they weren’t snorkling at Phuket when the tsunamis hit.
From the grapevine, we think they will be flying to Singapore, and then on to Japan. Please, God, if you could spare the time with so many lost and grieving, could you send them home to us safely?
Thank you, everyone, for your kind words as we worried for the kids.

The other day I was listening to the radio and the subject under discussion was receiving (and/or returning) gifts. I really need to put my two cents in on this discussion.
First, let me set the scene. A woman, probably in her thirties, called in, and said that she knew a family where everyone, INCLUDING the adults wrote wish lists. My head just about snapped off, because I thought she was going to talk about the family into which I have married. They all make wish lists, and now so do I. At first it was really upsetting, but then DH explained it all to me. These lists are what the kids WISH for…..not necessarily what they receive.

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As I start this post, there are just three minutes left of Christmas Day, 2004. It was a very nice day at Chez Buffy. I think I could use the trite phrase: a good time was had by all.
Yesterday I had a first in my life. I NEVER shop on Christmas Eve. For decades I have been teasing my husband about the male tendency to go Christmas shopping on the eve of Christmas. Then aliens came and took him and left someone in his place. This creature shops early and often, and has even used the computer to do some shopping. I was astonished to find that his shopping was complete several days prior to Christmas this year.

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Looking back over my blog for the past year, I can see that I’ve let things slide. I’ve taken the easy path and talked about the mundane details of my life, rather than my thoughts or hopes. I’m not rash enough to promise changes, but I hope the new year will bring a slightly different focus to what I share.
As we move toward Christmas, I’m reminded of just how fortunate we are here at Chez Buffy. We have a roof over our heads, regular meals, a job to go to, and family, including a new grand daughter, nearby. We are truly blessed. We pray that good fortune continues in the new year, and that we find ways to share it with others.
I hope that my blog friends are all doing well. For those of you who have had a difficult year, we hope that the new year brings you easier times, or the peace you seek. From our household to yours, we wish you a joyous Christmas, and the best in the New Year!

I believe in miracles! We have one right here in Chicago. In September, twin girls who had reached only 26 weeks of the normal 40 week gestation period, were delivered by Caesarian section. The smallest of the two, Rumaisa, weighed 8.6 OUNCES, and is believed to be the smallest baby ever delivered.
The miracle is this: Rumaisa’s doctors may release her from the hospital in the first week in January. Her prognosis is good, and her doctor believes that she will develop normally. At birth she was roughly the size of a pop can, and now she weighs two pounds, ten ounces.
Rumaisa is fortunate to live in an area that has such excellent neonatal care. Loyola University Medical Center doctors and staff have cared for more than 1700 newborns with birth weights of less than two pounds over the past 20 years. They have a survival rate of 90% for 28-week gestation, and that’s among the highest in the country.
For more details, visit here.

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he asked how much snow we had gotten. I was surprised, because the storm had missed us, and I had totally forgotten one had passed through south of us. What little snow we have doesn’t quite cover the ground, and it came several days ago.
I was astounded to learn that Michigan City, Indiana, the town on the south end of Lake Michigan just before you get to Michigan, had TWENTY SIX INCHES of snow. I’d say they got all our snow, don’t you think?
I recall an incredible snowstorm in 1978, when I was stranded in Chicago for two days. And there was one in 1967, I think. I made it out of the Chicago suburbs on my way back to school in the nick of time. And….some time in the last ten years we had snow so high that I couldn’t walk Defer anywhere but up and down the plowed driveway. His legs were too short to deal with the snow, and so were mine! But we lucked out this week.
Good luck Michigan City! Keep shoveling!

I spent the day making Christmas cookies, and I should have gone to bed long ago. I stayed to read a few blogs. It’s been at least a week since I had the chance to visit with my blog friends, and catch up with your lives.
My daughter-in-law is teaching English in Japan. A few weeks ago she wrote to beg chocolate and cookies for Christmas. Apparently, Midwestern “chocolate” and “cookies” don’t translate well into Japanese and beyond missing favorite foods, she sounded a bit homesick. I rashly promised I would send a care package with her husband. Of course, once he learned that SHE was getting cookies, he asked for them, too.

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