Immersion

Today was the day to take the Christmas tree down, along with the wreaths and the rest of the decorations. Normally we'd leave the tree up longer, probably another week or so, but since it's been so dry here, the tree was already dry when we got it, and it was dropping a lot of needles and Bob was concerned about it being a fire hazard.

I had an artificial wreath on the front door, and one on one of the interior doors (the downstairs bathroom), so I took those off and laid them on the dining room table before taking them to the basement. Both of the cats were fascinated by them, and, apparently (since I ended up cleaning up the product) Dinah ate some of one of them . . . Why would a cat eat artificial greenery? I guess the same reason she ate the red tinsel cord last week, whatever reason that was.

I did get a chance to snap one picture of her--the other Christmas cat.

It's been a really lovely, quiet weekend--the kind I like best. I've been immersing myself in The Fellowship of the Ring extended DVD set. Friday night Bob was going over to his brother's house to watch the Ohio State game (some bowl game or other) with his brothers, so I picked up Chinese food from the grocery store buffet and brought it home, and watched the first disk of the Appendices.

Last night he did something else, but I don't remember what . . . oh, he went to Cabela's, the monster sporting goods store, with a friend; I had spaghetti and watched the second disk of the Appendices, and started a scarf for my brother for next Christmas.

On Saturday I went out to Lawrence to the yarn store, and spent my Christmas money on yarn. I bought yarn to knit a hot water bottle cover--silly, but it's been calling my name--and yarn to make a scarf for one of my sisters. I figure if I start now, I should be able to knit a large proportion of my Christmas gifts for next year. It's perfect for me--I love to knit, but I'd really rather just knit something mindless, like a scarf. Knitting is the meditation, the process; while I love to have a finished product, of course, it's really less important to me than the knitting of it.

So anyway, that's the plan. I might actually be able to get a head start on Christmas this year.

This afternoon I watched the first disk of the extended version of the movie, and I think I'm going to watch the rest of it in a little while. I'm watching it differently now, of course, after seeing the "making of" disks. The costumes and weaponry, and the special effects, and the whole scale thing of how they made the "hobbits" look so much smaller than the other characters . . . It's hard to imagine making a movie on this scale, and it's awfully impressive.

New desktop at home: