We made it to Little Rock, and the traveling troupe is safely ensconced at my friend Cynthia's house. Bless her heart, Cynthia has taken pity on us, and graciously opened her home to the entire menagerie...the kitties are locked in her laundry room, Phoebe is exploring the grounds, and I'm so glad we don't have to spend the night in a motel. Maybe I'll actually get some sleep tonight.

Spouse says the carpet cleaners did an excellent job; he's almost got the glass shower in the master bath semi-presentable (damn hard water -- in the new house, we're either ripping out the glass shower stalls and replacing them with tile and/or shower over tubs with a curtain, or installing a water softener...I have a suspicion the water softener is less expensive). The movers loaded up all the furniture yesterday, so he spent the night on the floor last night. I told him to go get a motel room tonight. He'll be on the road tomorrow, just in time to hit all the storms I missed.

Cynthia's gone off to the store and to pick up her kids. I need to clean the trash out of the car and make a few phone calls.

Tomorrow is our last leg. Woo!

Anger grows in quake-hit Haiti over aid delay

Ummm. Folks? Your country's entire infrastructure collapsed in that quake. And you're on an island. Your neighbor, the Dominican Republic, was Johnny-on-the-spot with assistance and the rest of the world is doing its level best to get relief workers, food, water, and other necessities to you as quickly as we can.

But....

The Port-au-Prince airport runways are too short to handle the biggest cargo planes we have, so we're using the smaller ones. The control tower is non-functional so pilots have to coordinate takeoffs and landings with each other by sight and by radio. It's a miracle no planes have crashed. There isn't enough jet fuel for return flights and space to park the empty planes is filling up. The cranes that usually offload cargo ships were knocked into the harbor, making large shipments by sea impossible. The roads are in sorry shape, so delivery of what aid can get through is hampered.

We understand your situation is desperate, and we're getting stuff to you just as fast as humanly possible. But seriously, how is stacking corpses in the street as roadblocks going to help?

( Text of articles for posterity )

READ IN 2009

1. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
   
2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
   
3. Fragment by Warren Fahy
   
4. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
   
5. A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
   
6. Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
   
7. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
   
8. The Plague Maker by Tim Downs
   
9. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
   
10. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
    
11. The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo
    
12. The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
    
13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
    
14. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
    
15. The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
    
16. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
    
17. In the Woods by Tana French
    
18. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    
19. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
    
20. Fool by Christopher Moore
    
21. Eight Great Tragedies: King Lear by William Shakespeare
    
22. Best Friends by Martha Moody
    
23. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels
    
24. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    
25. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
    
26. God Came Near by Max Lucado
    
27. Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends by David Wilton
    
28. The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr
    
29. Mildred Pearce by James M. Cain
    
30. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

Twice as many as last year! And I still got a lot of knitting/crocheting done. Balance: it can be achieved. Except, I think I bought more books than I read. Mt. TBR has not been reduced one iota.


(Books without links were borrowed from spouse's online store or from a member of my book group.)

As usual, I blame all voice quality issues on the inadequacies of telephone transmission. :-)

VoicePost 543K 3:06

(no transcription available)

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you, and may you be blessed beyond measure in the New Year to come.

Any traditional holiday foods?
For Thanksgiving, the usual turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and other assorted vegetables, fall asleep during the movie after dinner, dinner. Served at roughly 2 in the afternoon.

For Christmas, enchiladas. Homemade handrolled enchiladas. And maybe German chocolate cake from scratch, if I'm feeling really industrious.

Traditional holiday treats you don't care for?

• Egg nog
  
• Candied yams/sweet potatoes
  
• Ambrosia -- You know, that god awful salad made with drained fruit cocktail (either with or without mandarin oranges), shredded coconut, and whipped cream. *shudder*
  
• Green bean casserole

When faced with a box of assorted chocolates, which one goes first?

• The caramels
  
• Followed by the fruit creams
  
• But if there's a chocolate covered cherry in there, get out of my way

Which ones go last?

• Any of the brittles
  
• And any that are mostly nuts

My transfer to Alabama has been approved! I guess it pays to be the squeaky wheel, and to have a high-ranking union official on my side. :-)

Let the packing begin!

In The Bleak Midwinter.

Tune in on 12/24/2009, round about 6 PM Pacific Time, for your listening pleasure. In the meantime, I leave you with The Final Countdown. :-)