Solstice, part 1

Oakstone celebrated Solstice yesterday morning. Cold but sunny, so not too long outside but I still enjoyed it. Followed with good companionship for a few hours with fellow grove members.

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[EDIT: went to Amherst kung fu school and picked up the extender pole we'd lent to Sifu for painting the new school in Springfield. [/EDIT]

Then off to a friend's 40th birthday party -- a surprise successfully pulled off by his wife. His b-day's on Dec. 24, so he'd given up on ever having a party of any sort, given many of his friends and family would be busy with Christmas eve. activities -- so a doubly pleasing party :)

Interestingly, I'd say all the presents will get fair use - an ornament (dragon resting on a wreath, that he'd been admiring), a soft puppet in his heraldic colors (which undoubtedly will get used to entertainment their child), a superheroes t-shirt featuring Captain America prominently, maple brick pops in a leather pouch and also a bottle of mead (from me and L), and rather a lot of books. Some of the books may come in handy at work, it turns out... he's gotten permission to teach an additional class, and hopes to make it one on some the history of medieval tech - how and why things developed, etc.

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There was a chance to go to another solstice celebration in Buckland, but we passed on that for the chance to go back to S and J's to hang out for a bit more, before heading home.

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Part 2 Solstice will likely by Ashfield's on Thursday evening, unless I'm inspired to stay up Wednesday until 12:38 a.m. for the astronomical time...

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Time to go wash eggs. Delivery to make, and more flyers to put up for the Ashfield celebration.

Saturday

Oops, missed posting on Saturday... family gathering for Christmas. This day started earlier in the week, as we found out that niece Beth and nephew Chris's plans had gotten changed again (family gatherings are complicated), so they would in fact be at the Ashfield Grays gathering this year. B is expecting in February so the previous date for the baby shower was end of January... now I needed to get the present together just a wee bit sooner. Started a bib, then finally Friday morning we were able to run errands in Gfld, so I bought a bunch of cotton flannels while L got chicken feed.

Got home and needed to wash and dry/shrink the fabric, so while the machines did that with some supervision, I folded up 22 boxes (Ma had gotten 3 done before she needed to rest), and then Doris and I sorted and filled them all with cashews. Ma currently gives out cashews to almost all the immediate family (kids and grandkids) - Pa started the tradition a few years ago and she's keeping it up. One grandkid doesn't get them, as they were processed in a plant that also processes peanuts (allergy).

Then I think there was an egg delivery and lunch around 3:30-ish, plus maybe a stop at the post office but I'm not sure, plus posting a couple of flyers... and then I had time to work on making things, while L went to kung fu.

Between that night and part of the next morning, made a bag with multiple pockets/holders for stuff inside, 2 coverlets, and 3 receiving blankets. The bag was a combo of a berries print and a plaid primarily, plus a little bit of a third pattern from one of the blanket extras. The covers and blankets were mostly plaids, but also one in red/black buffalo check. Oh, and I had a picture frame with a cow jumping up to go over the moon which I put in one of the pockets, too. The bib isn't done yet, but they liked the bag, blankets and frame :)

SATURDAY
Great lunch, roast beef, veggies, a casserole, carrot jello salad (not my thing but it's a family tradition), salad. Dessert was mostly the usual cookies, and a fruit pie by Aunt Eunice, but also a cheesecake with a GF crust (vanilla wafers) made by B and C.

I'd decided on making a savory veggie dish so my SIL Marsha could have it this time -- carrots, onions, and kale, all chopped and steamed, together with some sprigs of fresh rosemary. I pulled the rosemary out after, and stirred in some butter (Cabot's unsalted natural creamery). Local food! You could salt it if you wished to, but eaten in combo with the other foods it wasn't necessary.

Between lunch and dessert is gift time, so everyone got settled in and Beth and Chris got the first present, a rather large gift bag... when she opened it, a floating mylar balloon that had "It's a Boy!" written on it came out, and the surprise part of the day began :) They received quite a few nice and useful things - onesies, rattles, a cute John Deer outfit, disposable diapers (for emergencies/travel, as they plan on using cloth), baby thermometer, etc.

Regular gifting happened after that, which is mostly for the kids these days, with some between Ma, Dean, and Eunice. Ma couldn't be there, needing to stay closer to home, but we did our best to give a report of goings-on when we got back. We left before dark so L could tend the chickens -- he still ended up using the red head lamp, but at least we were closer to their bedtime than we would have been, so they still had a little light for getting their last drink of the evening.