My cottage is now cozy with soft Christmas lights. Jordan has done an amazing job of decorating with all my favorite things—the tree (okay it’s fake, and I don’t love that, but I bow to convenience). The fake tree is redeemed by Scottish ornaments sent by dear friends in Omaha. And Santa Mac—a very Scottish Santa complete with bagpipes, gift from Jeannie Chaffee—dominates the coffee table. On the bookcase is a lighted glass block given to me years ago by a friend of Christian. It sits next to the Jim Shores Kris Kringle I bought myself as a treat when my friend Linda carried Jim Shores works in her store in Granbury. Like the cottage as a whole, each piece has a meaningful story.
 |
| Santa Mac |
What I love most is the
overall effect—the sometimes-harsh ceiling lights stay off, and the Christmas
lights, including the electric candles Jean gave me, give a soft glow to the
whole living area. It’s a cozy cottage look. And on my desk is the small faux
fireplace Jamie gave me. For safety’s sake, we have it turned so that it gives
almost no heat, but the flames inspire warmth.
I am all set for the season.
 |
| Jim Shores Santa |
I didn’t feel so Christmas-y
this morning, however. I usually get up about seven, feed Sophie her first
breakfast and let her out. By now, she knows I have a piece of cheese waiting
for her, so she doesn’t stay long. Once she’s safely back in the cottage, I go
back to bed for my second sleep. Well, this morning I totally missed my second
sleep because I had to get ready for a nine o’clock dental appointment.
I won’t say I’m a dental
phobic—although my dentist might say that. But as a young teen, around twelve,
I had to have extensive dental work, and back then, in the Dark Ages, it was
not as smooth, fast, and painless as it is today. The drill was clumsy and
slow, the noise in my ears horrible. Our dentist was a non-relative uncle, a
man I greatly appreciated when I was grown but who terrified me as a kid. To
say he was taciturn is an understatement. So I had a bad introduction to dentistry.
My desktop fireplace
not on my desktop here but you get the idea
I have been with the same
dentist now for fifteen years, and what I have learned about caring for my
teeth is amazing. I wish I’d known all this years ago. Even in fifteen years,
it’s been interesting to watch the developments in dentistry—tiny cameras that
get way back in your mouth, video screens that display an x-ray as soon as it’s
taken, a computer program so complicated I couldn’t begin to master it. I do
have a standing deal with my hygienist that if I continue to take such good
care of my teeth, she will not use the hydroelectric thing to clean off stains.
It wakens every old memory I have.
So cheers to Dr. Peter Ku and
to my hygienist, Stephanie. Got a clean
bill of health along with some cautions about being proactive. And that’s over
but only for another three months!
Going to the dentist pretty much
shoots the day for me—it’s not so much the time it takes (maybe two hours out
of the cottage) as the disruption in routine. But tonight Mary came for happy
hour and brought some cranberry relish she’d made—we put it over cream cheese,
and it was delicious. Then I fixed Mongolian hamburger and snow peas for dinner—Jordan
got busy on a work call, so Christian and I had dinner and a lovely discussion
that covered everything from Hunter Biden and Donald trump to Dante’s The
Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost. I am really delighted to have
someone to have such discussions with. Besides, he washed the dishes.
Life is really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment