Jolly Bob in Bloom

 

I keep forgetting to mention that on Saturday night I was afraid Niko would smell like meat after joining us at Samba, the Brazilian steakhouse. However, he smelled lemony fresh, and I realized it was because of the tea I bought at the crystal shop, which he had been sitting next to all evening in my purse. Too bad the smell dissipated quickly - it was lovely!

Speaking of smells, I was the only one at work today because of vacations, illnesses, and just regular work from home schedules, so my colleague and I took a long lunch and went to the Botany greenhouse. There were some things blooming there, and lots of cool plants - she was particularly intrigued with the carnivorous plants and the cute succulents. She said the lithrops, which we call "living stones" in English, are called "butt plants" in Chinese, which I have to admit makes sense, since they look like tiny green butt cheeks. It was a cold day, so I was dismayed when the zipper on my coat broke and I had to walk around outside with it hanging open. I still have my super duper deep winter coat, so that's what I'll have to wear until I can get a regular winter coat. You know you live in Wisconsin when you have gradations of winter coats.

When I got home, I didn't sit down for over an hour: I put in a load of laundry, I watered all the plants, and I walked around while praying the rosary, since I had neither prayed a rosary nor gotten a 20-minute workout yet. Going up into the loft to water the big plants there, I smelled something divine, like lilies. It was Jolly Bob in bloom!! I wish I could post the smell. The flowers aren't that exciting to look at, unless you're a botany nerd like me. I geek out over every flower.

Travalon had to work late because of a Christmas party for the kids, where they mostly decorated cookies so he did too. He brought some home, and I ate one. He also brought home a snow globe with nothing inside of it, but I realized it had a little section to put a photo in, and it came with a red plaid background, so we put that in there. Maybe someday we'll find a photo to fit in there.

Blogspot appears to be allowing me to post short videos now, so here are some very short recent ones. First is one of those houses with coordinated music and light shows. The music is "Bohemian Rhapsody," only with Christmas words. What would Freddie Mercury think?

This is a close-up so you can see the singing tree.

And this is a very short video I took of the Christmas train heading off after it went under the bridge.

I didn't add it to the end of the montage video I made, but why not post it here?

Famous Hat