songs of the year (6-10)

TOP TEN!!  Let's do this!

#10.  Old Recliners - ROLE MODEL

#9.  Lesbian of the Year - The Beaches

#8.  Idiot Box - Sharon Van Etten

#7.  Gordon in the Willows - Patrick Watson & Charlotte Cardin

#6.  Safety - Bell Towers 

 

bad, Peter!

Sorry!  I was lying in bed last night, just past midnight, unable to sleep.  It was then that I realized I had not posted like I said I would.  However, I thought that trying to sleep might be better than blogging.  Soooo… no entry yesterday.  Sorry!

It promises to rain today through into next week, both up here and back home.  Another dousing.  Ah well.  There are drops this morning, but I am barely dampened on my walk.  

Let this greeting serve as my make-up for yesterday.  Have a great last day of 2025 everyone!

songs of the year (11-15)

Top third of the list now.  In among the Christmas music in the past couple of weeks, I was listening to my top of the year list, and I feel like it's when we get to these songs here (working up from the bottom), we're really getting into the ones that I love, not just like.

And yes, there are two Pulp songs in this grouping.  Not the only artist to have two appearances on the list, though. 

#15.  We Didn't Know We Were Ready - Ólafur Arnalds & Talos

#14.  Spike Island - Pulp

#13.  Pull Together - Poolside & Satin Jackets

#12.  Don't Have the Words - Nolan Taylor

#11.  Got to Have Love - Pulp 

oh, deer

Almost lights out for me here at Carmel Valley Ranch.  Beautiful weather today.  Our big accomplishment was wine tasting, and I’ll blog that when I get home.  But I did want to check in daily, so here you go, this fine fellow who was near the pathway among the hotel buildings on my walk down to the lodge this morning.

songs of the year (16-20)

Ooooo... now we're getting somewhere.  My favourite songs of the year now into the top 20!  Exciting.

Here we go!

#20.  Guilty - Teddy Swims

#19.  Vampires - Matt Nathanson

#18.  HURRICANE - Låpsley

#17.  Lawdy Rolla - Paul Weller

#16.  The Second High - Liz Stringer 

road trip to close the year

Hello from Carmel Valley Ranch!  The four of us (yes, Olive is with us) hit the road today.  Late morning departure from Pasadena, early evening arrival at this beautiful resort.  I can’t wait to see it in daylight tomorrow!

I shall check in from here when I can!

Christmas 2025

Christmas was a mixed bag.  Weatherwise, that is.  As I posted before, I woke up to the sun peering through the trees at dawn.  There were blue skies for the most part as I took the little girl out for a nice walk. 

Few other people up and out at that time.  I love the peace of mornings like that.  Conrad and Van were in bed a goodly while Christmas morning, so I brought Olive home then set out on a walk of my own

for a little over four miles.  The rain and wind of the day before had left something of a mark in the neighbourhoods,

but for the most part, it wasn't too bad.  A clear, mostly sunny morning for a walk. I called my sister, and as I strolled, she and I chatted away.

It took a while for everyone to get up on Christmas morning, but we had no urgency.  Dinner was all to be reheated - we'd picked it up from Julienne the day before -  so I didn't need to worry about getting home and into the kitchen.  So I spent a lot of the morning messaging friends with Christmas greetings, and after the guys were up and we'd all showered and dressed, we headed to Starbucks and then came back to Van's where he got in the kitchen

and made us eggs, bacon, and flapjacks. 

On a sidenote, I'd looked all over for Saskatoon berry products when we did our BC trip this summer, and found none.  Boo.  But I found Saskatoon berry syrup online and ordered us some, and it's become a favourite for us with our flapjacks.  Good stuff!  I may need to order more.

Anyway, breakfast done - and it was past noon at that point - we finally opened presents to see what Santa brought. 

We didn't have a lot of tangible things this year, at least not until Conrad and Van got to their stockings later, because we're now doing experiences for the most part.  So there are trips ahead for the three of us and for me with each of them separately.  That should be nice.

Conrad and I got home by around 2 in the afternoon and had time to relax and even nap.  Van and Olive came over later on for dinner.  Cocktails to start, shrimp cocktail and veggies with dip and some potato chips, and then I set the ham dinner out on the table for us all. 

It was tasty, and it was easy!  We had leftovers on Boxing Day and that didn't even take care of all the ham or beans!  Ah well.  I opened a bottle of a nice NZ Pinot Noir

that Conrad had brought back from his trip this past August, and we toasted

and enjoyed that.  After dinner came the stockings at last, and of course the little girl had her own. 

Look at her! 

You know she ended up on Santa's nice list this past year.

Van and Olive headed home a while after that, and I sent Conrad, who was yawning a lot, upstairs to bed while I did all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen.  It was nice to get up on Boxing Day to a clean kitchen!  That work took me until about 11:30, at which point I felt a little too alert to head to bed.  I read downstairs, listening to Christmas music, until about 1:30 at which point I finally felt like I was tired.  And I was.  I was out like a light, putting an end to a lovely, relaxed Christmas Day. 

the lead-up to Christmas

I'm writing this after dinner on Boxing Day, leftovers from Christmas (of course!).  It's a nice, easy evening, which aligns with the past couple of days.  Rain aside (and we do need rain, but less at one time and more often), it's been just the most delightful Christmas in some time.  No entertaining, little cooking.  A really good time of it.

Christmas Eve eve, the 23rd, Conrad and I took ourselves to Maestro for the last time this year.  We're heading out of town Sunday, and we have leftovers still to eat, so yes, our last time.  We sat at the bar, as usual, and had drinks to start.  I've been loving the Fall Sour that they've had as a seasonal cocktail lately, so I had that. 

Conrad went with a Last Word. 

I love that he loves those so much.  We shared plantain chips with guacamole

and then the lamb shank, which was a huge portion, wow!

It was an early dinner, and we had the rest of the evening to enjoy, so we came home and put on some Christmas music and read.  I enjoyed a chocolate martini as well. 

The night wound down, we headed to bed, eager for Christmas Eve.

And then it was Christmas Eve.  And it was raining. 

We have a rain gauge on our roof, and it recorded almost 5 inches of rain on December 24 alone.  Official records are sure to be less, but we still had a month of rain in one day, more or less.  Conrad and I made our way - with umbrellas! - to Amara to enjoy breakfast sitting inside,

then came home to toss our clothes in the dryer and relax before heading out on errands.  We got things done on Wednesday:  picking up food, wrapping a few gifts, setting the table for Christmas. 

An accomplished day, not an overwhelming one.  We even made time to swing down by the Rose Bowl to see how much water was running in the channel through the arroyo. 

The answer:  clearly more than usual!

By the end of the afternoon, we were organized and packing up the car and heading to Van's for the evening an overnight.  We had presents to put under his tree

(and one to open early

so that we could use them for the cocktails).  Pre-dinner drinks,

and then a BC wine with dinner (2023 Joie Noble Blend). 

Van made us lobster tails and baked potatoes and peas,

and we dined very well, indeed.  Bellies full, we unwound after dinner (and Olive found her way over to her favoured Plan C). 

There was dessert, but even better, there were Grasshopper cocktails to sip after dinner.

We went to bed by 11, awaiting Santa.  No, not really, but the nostalgia of that is fun!  Just the same, though, we'd had a lovely couple of days in the lead-up to Christmas, and more enjoyable time was to come.