purple room vents: CHOKING

I am sitting here choking. I had Monte bring up the 'Christmas bag' from under the stairs. It is an immense red plastic zippered bag that holds the four foot xmas tree and the decorations etc... He plunked it down in the middle of the living room floor. After a while I went and opened it and this incredibly strong smell rolled out. It was very much like pachouli, my most hated oder. That was yesterday. I thought it would abate overnight but it clearly hasn't.

I was talking to Ange and Monte and they both think it is mold of some sort. And that is exactly what happened with the last fake tree in a bag. But that one was outside in a metal shed for two or three years. This one is only from last year and it is totally mold free and dry under those stairs. I don't get it. The whole thing is going to have to be chucked out. Grrrrrrr....Maybe this year we will get a small real tree. I have the decorations for a small one. I would just need a tree stand.

Yesterday Ange and I took advantage of the warmer temp outside, plus 2 degrees, and ventured out to a couple of stores. I did a pretty lengthy shop at NoFrills and my tailbone was screaming by the time we got home. So I put the frozen/fridge stuff away and sank into my chair. After about a half hour I heard Harry next door out rescraping his driveway. At that point it dawned on me that the whole sidewalk along the street in front of our house was a slippery dangerous half frozen mess. Every single other sidewalk as far as the eye could see was beautifully bare. Damn!!! In this town if you haven't shovelled or arranged for it the fine is about 150 bucks. And like I have mentioned before we have a fat old dude that slithers around in the night looking for infractions.

As I have mentioned before Monte does not sleep at night. He is incredibly light reactive so night time is when he writes, reads or makes music. He loves winter and the increased dark time. He has been like this since he was born. It was hard to take him to the beach because of the brightness. So consequently he sleeps during the day. Mind you if I need him and call him, he readily wakes up and willingly gets out of bed and does whatever it is I need. I just hate doing that.

Well yesterday I didn't want to wake him so I decided I would at least try to do the shovelling. Boots on, coat on, Ange went and got the shovel for me and out I went. And I guess bending over the shovel, taking the weight off my arse, made the whole exercise possible. It didn't even hurt one inch!!! And it felt so good to get some exercise! I must remember this....bent over stuff works!!!

But whilst I was shovelling, at least three neighbours came and offered to do it for me. Wow!!! Poor Monte...I think their opinion of him sank a little. I gratefully declined their offer and said that I had a grown kid in the house. I wanted the exercise and if it got too much I could just let him do it. But it was so nice of them. Monte was horrified when he got up and found out his old crippled mother had shovelled! Jeez!!! Brother our world here is getting too small if thats all I have to report. Sidewalk shovelling and stinky xmas trees. Great post this.

Okay I can't stand that smell any longer. I have come to terms with losing my awesome little tree so its time to bundle it up and chuck it onto the ever growing mess on the back deck. Have a great day, have fun present buying and TTYL

'Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and everything is softer and more beautiful.' Norman Vincent Peale

random shots of Viet Nam. I don't remember which city it was.