Merry Damn Christmas!

Today has been blessedly quiet.

There is a good medical reason for that - last night I had dinner at the W's, then went home to pick up two bottles of champagne for an informal gathering of our little tango crew.

Sadly our magnificent piles of snow were being ruined by continuous rain - things were really slippery.

Particularly things likes steps.  

I managed to slide down the stoop of the apartment house and gracefully throw myself into a small lake at the curb.

Needless to say I was soaked to the bone after just lying there.  Once changed I decided to just stay home.

With nothing to do I celebrated my return to dryness by putting one of the bottles to the use God intended for it.

Needless to say I was fantastically giddy for the rest of Christmas Eve and woke up on Christmas morning (thank you, Sebastian) with the hangover from Hell.

So having it be a quiet day has worked out quite nicely.

It's a very quiet time downtown and I find that strongly attractive.  It was this attraction that led me out in the afternoon.

My first stop was my parking garage.  Mrs. Beadle, my wonderful Corolla station wagon, had her generator light come on as I pulled after Tuesday and she wouldn't start.  It was a great relief to her it suddenly fire up today.  I think it was just the cold - but she's going in the shop this weekend anyway.

While leaving I found a small crowd in front of the garage elevator.  Apparently someone's mother-in-law was trapped in it.  As I watched a firetruck pulled up and three firefighters - two guys and a gal - showed up with a roof pike to force the door.  Picture is above.  I asked permission first.  It was neat to see them, especially after watching them work in the Sunday snowstorm.

They forced the elevator doors and the mother-in-law was free.  Now there's crime scene tape on the elevator.

The dog you see was in the window of a new workout gym by Joe's Smokeshop.  He just seemed to be calmly watching me walk by.

Later in the evening a friend from the Orchard posted on open invitation to help finish eating a Christmas dinner, which I gladly accepted.

Again, there is a strange, peaceful quiet to the streets - no bars are open, no lines of cars. Just quiet lights, stars above - not even the sound of traffic on the Interstate tha cuts the city in half.

I think such quiet sorts well with the mood I've been in ever since I got home Tuesday.  It's a very meaningful silence, one that has me taking time to listen deep inside for how I really feel on this Holiday.

It's not been like any other and I suspect, given time, I'll be able to say why.