Day #281 - Merry Christmas!

Have Yourselves a Merry Little Christmas

- original recording by Judy Garland in Meet Me in Saint Louis, the lyrics were written in 1944-45. The lyrics, ironically, are more relevant today than they were then.

I got butter and other items at the pharmacy this morning. (Yes, getting butter at a pharmacy is odd - I know. But I needed to get X-mas cards and gift cards for the Super and the Post Office Delivery Person (who my heart went out to - after reading that they were all working over time, with pay cuts and staffing cuts and struggling). )

This is the second Christmas in 53 years that I've spent alone, the first was in 2004 (due to a freak plane cancellation). But I'm grateful - I have more than a lot of folks...( Read more... )

Tonight, a young man - who had just moved to the area with his new wife decided to post about a party he attended to the Kensington neighborhood page - new friends, etc, and holiday cheer - as if there was no pandemic in evidence. He described the party, the tree, how grateful he was for his wife and his new friends. And..as expected, his neighbors were less than pleased with him or his post - and the administrator had to turn off comments before it got too nasty. In other words - his seemingly well-meaning and in another year, harmless if somewhat narcissistic post - was greeted with rage and irritation by those who were alone this Christmas and struggling.

Moral? Don't post about large friendly gatherings or parties on social media right now. Or for that matter what you have. One guy got in trouble earlier in the year for posting videos from his yacht.

According to mother, sis-in-law who dislikes Christmas has become obsessed with watching lots of Christmas movies. She's binging them on Netflix and Hulu. Niece despised Happiest Season (so apparently that's not to everyone's taste - it may help if you saw the truly atrocious Family Stone first. Also she might be too young for it.) but really enjoyed "A California Christmas", which I found interesting. I was the exact opposite.




The picture isn't from today, but rather the other day - when it was sunny. There's supposed to be a serious rain storm tonight and well into tomorrow - barreling along the east coast and dumping up to two inches of rain, and gail force winds. It's too warm here for snow - we're at 57 now, and by tomorrow 61 - then it will dive back down to the 30s and 20s in time for the weekend.

The Cemetery had a lot of cars and people wandering about - still less than on the weekends. Also all the gates were open to cars which surprised me, and they are open on Christmas Day - most likely for people to visit loved ones who've since passed away. Visiting graves doesn't make a lot of sense to me -( Read more... )

Here's a picture from today - the sky was sunny for a bit, but rapidly fell into the gray of "bleak midwinter".



After wandering around, I came home and watched another episode of the Great Pottery Throw-Down, and then reviewed mail - my apartment complex applied for permission to raise my rent by $47.50 or thereabouts in response to the maintenance work completed - the gas lines, kitchen rewiring, and new elevator. The notice is - if I want to protest the increase. I'm on the fence. Part of me does, part of me wonders if it will back fire. I'm under a preferential lease agreement - the last thing I need is for them to raise me up to the market approved rent. OTOH - rents have fallen in NYC and there's lots of vacancies and evictions ...

I don't want to move and I don't know what the future will bring. And I still have water damage that they have yet to fix. I can't say I'm all that surprised by this - it was expensive and it makes sense that the landlords would want to be able to re-coop some of that expense via rent. The question is are they entitled to that?

NYC apartments are a pain in the ass.

Anyhow..I did get a nice picture of the turtle pond today..and figured out that animal droppings, were most likely Canadian Geese droppings.



It was a quiet day all in all. I've avoided the news for the most part. COVID lurks outside of course. At the pharmacy they forgot to put the 6 feet apart stickers on the floor after they washed it. I'm thinking everyone is being hit with COVID fatigue, and we, alas, have yet to hit rock bottom. For change to happen - people need to hit rock bottom, or rather some do. And they haven't hit it yet - don't worry they will. It's kind of a guarantee.

Good news? My reasonable accommodation to continue to telework from home has been extended by Crazy Workplace without anything further required from me.
It's been extended until February 26, 2021 - where it will be reassessed. Not a big surprise, kind of predicted considering that NY State has had an uptick in cases since I applied for it. As has the agency.



Anyhow...have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas ...and perhaps next years will be brighter?

I end with a photo from 2016 - when times were slightly brighter.