Holidays

The first morning in a while when the house wasn't freezing. The sun through the windows offers a pleasant illusion of warmth.

So, I have been working mostly on getting things ready for school. I have 7 assignments done for the SQL class, and 4 for the Visual Basic class. I have uploaded the materials for the Database class. Students will have to log in to look at the chapters there.

I want to finish them and then work on the main personal web site. And so much other writing I want to do, but time, for this sabbatical at least, is running out. The holidays are full of activities that pull me from work. Today, for instance, after putting up the Christmas tree, we may go up to Bothell to Molbak's Nursery (a seasonal trip we do every year) and then down to Green lake for the illuminarium--paper lanterns lit along the walkway all around the lake. A lovely, if chilly, thing to do.

And there is still Christmas shopping to do. (A difficult thing without money.)

The thing is, I am not even that fond of "Christ--mass," though I am willing to celebrate the solstice, the brief triumph of night over day (in northern latitudes), and the day's slow return. A reason enough for gifts. And I love the smell of a tree in the house. (Still not sure what the conifers meant to the druids or why they were incorporated originally by the Church--ever green I guess means never dying, or at least free from the cycles of winter dying and spring renewal? I should look it up.)

Anyway, a busy time. A time for scattered incoherent blogs. . .