Beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

It has been a nasty cold rainy day here, and according to the forecast it's going to turn into a nasty cold snowy night.  Since it is December now, that does at least sound about right - more right than temperatures in the 50s and even 60s that we've been having lately.

Anyone ready for Christmas yet?  Not us (ho ho ho), despite the kids' efforts to get us in the Holiday spirit by playing 95.5, "the official Holiday music station" at every possible opportunity.  It's like living at the mall - Santa Claus constantly coming to town, the little drummer boy paruppa-pum-pumming like there's no tomorrow, and Mariah-bloomin'-Carey yodelling her Christmas wish-list (all I want for Christmas is youuuuuuuuu).  Or (the kids' version) "all I want for Christmas is a Wii".

Silent Night?  I wish.

Margin notes

Involvement with refugees in Albany has introduced me to a whole different world. 

I've found myself in interesting neighbourhoods I'd had no reason to visit before.  I've had bemusing encounters with the Department of Social Security, and dealings with agencies I never knew existed.  In a few short weeks I've already learnt a lot (not least, how much more I've still got to learn) about life on the margins.

Most of all, I've been meeting good people facing bewildering and frustrating problems, and other good people willing to spend every day trying to address those problems.  I'm endlessly impressed by the resiliance of the former, and by the patience of the latter. 

The Empire skates back

It's a funny place, the Empire State Plaza.  Great location for watching fireworks, achingly bleak place to wait for them, or even just to take a walk.  It could be a lovely, liveable downtown area (I've been getting to know nearby neighbourhoods lately, and they either are or have potential to be very attractive) but instead they bulldozed all the houses and tried to make it iconic.

I suppose the Egg is iconic, sort of - but really only if you live round here.  Because who, honestly, mentions the Empire State Building, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge and...the Egg in the same breath? 

However, a little life will be breathed into the Plaza this winter with the return of the open air ice rink.  The rink has not been available the whole time we've lived here - since 2007 - due to state budget cuts.  But this year (we learnt last night) Lake Placid Regional Winter Sports Committee is sponsoring the rink operations.  From early January and throughout the rest of the winter there'll be free skating for all every afternoon and evening.  Yippee!  And how nice of them to hold off  a few years until we'd learnt to skate a bit, so we'll be able to enjoy it properly.

Plaza palooza

Every year since we moved here the Boy has attended the annual Train Show at the Empire State Plaza. This year was no exception.  The rest of us came with him, as well as his best buddy.


To be honest, he's not the train fanatic he used to be and today's visit was more about maintaining a tradition than feeding a passion.  However he came away with a bag of track and a piece of rolling stock to add to his basement collection, so evidently railways haven't been totally overtaken by Pokemon in his affections.

Controversially (in the view of some family members) we then stayed around for an hour or so after the show closed for the annual lighting of the Plaza's Christmas tree.  This was billed to happen at 5:15pm, but in fact we first had to wait a full quarter of an hour in the freezing cold listening to various dignitaries telling us how excited they were to be there.  A chill, brisk wind whipped across the Plaza, and the audience grew restive. As yet another speaker took the mic a disgruntled man near us spoke for everyone when he fumed "Just light the damn tree already!" 

In fact there was a real spirit of camaraderie building by the time - at last - the tree lit up.  Fireworks followed immediately, and I must say they were worth standing around getting cold for - especially the final explosive barrage.

Christmas comes but once (sometimes twice) a year

The Girl had a friend sleep over last night.  They decided they were celebrating Early Christmas, so spent the evening making and wrapping little gifts for each other.  This morning they woke up and opened them, and ate a lot of sweets, and that all seemed to be very enjoyable.  However I don't believe it lets the rest of us off celebrating the real thing when the time comes.

Then another schoolfriend rang and invited both girls to join her on a Christmas tree hunt.  The friend's dad gamely took the giggling three of them off on a long car journey to a distant Christmas tree farm to cut down a fresh tree.  By the time they all returned the same dad looked a little less game, and was thinking longingly of a reviving glass of wine.

Meanwhile the Boy was reunited with his best buddy.  He has been away visiting his 81-year-old grandma in California, who took him on a glider flight as her birthday treat!  That rather throws down the gauntlet to grandparents everywhere...

With both kids occupied, the Man and I had a wander at Five Rivers, where there was no need to go on a wild turkey hunt - they were out in force at the birdfeeding station.

Advent ritual

I met for lunch with my two fellow Fair Trade Market organisers, for a quiet celebration of our success.  We haven't quite counted every last penny, but we do know that total takings exceeded....$24,500.  A tidy sum.

Then some fun in the evening, with the annual Holiday Parade.  Previously the local FT supporter turnout at this event has been modest (and, let's face it, mostly related to me), but this year a whole lot of Middle Schoolers - plus their teacher, his wife and their two enormous dogs - came along with hand-drawn banners to wave (and before you ask, OD, no - the dogs weren't waving banners).  So we were actually a decent-sized team.  And halfway along the route we received cheers and applause from a group of people I didn't even recognise!  It occurs to me now that they may have been the parents of the schoolkids - but still, it was very gratifying.

Disappointingly, we were rather far behind the sewer truck and didn't get to take its picture.  But at least we got to see it in the distance.  For some people it might be snowflakes or tinsel, but to many folks around here it really is the sight of that sewer truck that tells us Christmas will soon be here.

The Science Fair

The Boy took part in his school's Science Fair tonight, trialing an experiment to do with smell recognition.

Elsewhere around the school kids were demonstrating tornadoes, displaying giant spider models and identifying unusual fruit;  explaining the science of cookie-baking, demonstrating static electricity by rubbing balloons on their hair, blowing bubbles, summing up nano-technology...you name it, really - it was there.

I learnt a few new things (pennies are no longer made from copper;  some rabbits eat bananas), but most of all was reminded that science is in everything.  My hypothesis is that that is the main point of the whole Science Fair exercise, so I believe tonight's event proved my theory to be correct.