Meandering Missive: Happy New Year! :)

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year! :)

Happy 2006! :)

Each time there's some holiday or special date in history, Google's resident cartoonist alters the logo of my favourite search engine to reflect it in a cute way. Even though the Google doodle above is understated and hasn't much connection with typical New Year's themes, I really like it! It's bright, happy and hopeful. :) Plus it features a beaver, and since I'm such a rodent-lover, I like them too. (Yes, they are indeed in the same buck-toothed family as rats, hamsters, chinchillas, squirrels, prairie dogs, et. al. Come to think of it, I had buck teeth as a kid before my orthodontic work, so perhaps that's ANOTHER reason why I love rodents! *giggle*)

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve. I was a little worried upon arising on Dec. 31, because it was rainy and wet and the newspapers predicted more of the same throughout the day. Normally that would be fine, but Tony and I had planned to make the Fantasy of Lights part of our NYE celebration. It's a festive spectacle of animated holiday light displays set up throughout Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos. (My fave county park). You drive slowly through and enjoy it from the comfort of your warm vehicle. You also can tune your radio to a local frequency to complement the interactive experience with Christmas songs!

Here's a sample of what the displays look like at night. I'll post more photos when I've Photoshopped them and decide which to keep and which to trash. It's so hard taking this type of photo! You can't use the flash or all the lights will be wiped out. But without the flash, the shutter speed is slow enough that any motion of camera or hand makes everything blurry! I like this one, however...

Anyway, fortunately the rain STOPPED raining during the day on the 31st and never resumed. This was good news not just for us, but for everyone else whose plans would have been even more dampened by inclement weather. And so, we had dinner at one of our fave restaurants, went to Fantasy of Lights, hung out at Starbucks where we drank Java Chip Frappuccinos and laughed hysterically while playing Mad Libs, and then drove around Los Gatos and South San Jose (Almaden Valley and Blossom Valley) looking at Christmas lights and holiday displays and almost getting lost. Oh, and listening to some profane guy on the CB radio B.S.'ing with some other guy (who was out of our range) about spending NYE alone on the CB and that they really ought to go get themselves some beers or margaritas! LOL It was hard to follow the one-sided conversation, but what we heard was quite funny!

I know this isn't everyone's idea of celebrating New Year's Eve, but that's okay -- WE had fun. :) I used to prefer wild and crazy parties but nowadays I'm just as happy with lower-key stuff. Plus Tony actually wasn't feeling so well, so it was just as well that we didn't make reservations for the annual NYE party at ComedySportz. (If you enjoy hilarious competitive improv comedy skits, CHECK THEM OUT! There are ComedySportz places throughout the U.S. with performances several nights every week!) Anyhoo, Tony and I attended the show and party last year and had a blast (there's even a midnight post-show dessert buffet), so I didn't mind skipping it this year. In the spirit of New Year's festivities, here's a pic of me taken at the party. It was indeed a challenge getting all the streamers and silly string out of my hair! *giggle*

Today (Jan. 1) wasn't so good, as the weather made up for lost time by storming with a VENGEANCE! I truly haven't experienced this much rain and wind in many, many years. And it went on ALL day! There is so much flooding in the South Bay, and entire Bay Area, that I can't even name all the places. Rivers and roads have just washed themselves away! Additionally, many trees have fallen, and those that haven't fallen have dropped branches all over the place! Lots of accidents too. I feel just awful about all of this! NOT a good way to start the new year! And here on the home front, I think one of our resident Anna's hummingbirds lost his nest, because he hung out on two trees on the patio nearly ALL day! (A small, half-dormant, topiary-style blue potato bush and an even smaller, totally dormant Valley oak sapling.

Here's a photo of the scene; CLICK the photo for a close-up of the hummer...

Some of the gusts of wind were so strong, I couldn't even look at the little hummer, because I thought for sure he'd be blown away. Miraculously and tenaciously, his little feet held tight to the branches. In between gusts, he zipped up to the nectar feeder for much-needed sustenance. As night fell tonight, I stopped looking out at the patio, because I DREADED the thought of seeing him dead on the patio. I hope he flew back to his tree and found better shelter there for the night. These plucky little birds can survive a rainstorm; it's the damn WIND GUSTS that made today so awful for them and I'm sure caused many to lose their nests. I think some of our resident tree squirrels also lost their nests, but at least they're bigger and stronger and thus better able to ride out a storm. (Also more adaptable!)

To end on a happier note, my 4 o'clocks growing along the fence (which I wrote about in the entry just prior to this one) chose TODAY to open their first flower! And here it is -- commentary following. As always, click the pic for a larger version. :)

I'd been watching the couple of developing buds for a few weeks, and the largest finally bloomed! When I went outside this morning, there it was -- pure magenta! It stayed open all day, due to the cold weather. I can't even imagine how mixed up that poor plant must feel! *chuckle* The flower was smaller than normal for fours, but I'm sure that's because the plant is immature. Four o'clock seeds sown in late summer/early fall are actually (per Sunset Western Garden Book) supposed to spend fall, winter and spring growing leaves and bulking up their tuberous roots, then bloom in spring or summer! I guess mine want to "practice" now. The flower is so bright and cheery, and so unexpected this time of year, that I almost feel like it's a good omen, since it finally opened on Jan. 1, 2006. :)

Hopefully future blossoms will display the gorgeous magenta-and-white petal variegation of the parent plant. You never know with fours! In fact, on the SAME parent plant were some solid magenta flowers, some solid whites, and some with various magenta and white stripes, chunks and speckles. When spring comes, I'll plant even MORE fours and see if they catch up with the ones that got their start in September. Please don't try what I did if you don't live in a mild-winter climate. You can't sow 4 o'clock seeds in late-summer/early fall in most parts of the country (they won't make it through harsh/cold winters), but here in the Santa Clara Valley, you can.

And now that it's after 11 p.m., I'm going to catch some Z's, since last night I stayed up late and woke up too early (due to the loud storm). Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, and may it be a good one for us all! :D I don't generally make "resolutions," per se, but there are a couple of things I definitely plan to accomplish, or at least valiantly attempt, in 2006. But I won't go into those now. I'll leave it with this -- two of my favourite quotes -- "If you can shape it in your mind, you will find it in your life" and "The mighty oak was once a little nut that stood its ground."

Today I am feeling sleepy, contemplative and optimistic.

posted by ScaryShari @ 9:18 PM

2 Comments:

At 8:51 AM, Unknown said…

Heya! I am finally catching up on your journal. :)

It sounds like you had a lot more exciting NYE than we did. I think I fell asleep at about 10:30 after doing nothing much after getting home from the football game. Wow, that was some run-on sentence. :) Anyway -- I'm pathetic!!!

Happy New Year!!!
At 1:40 PM, Anonymous said…

rodluvan is testing your blogg. how nice with the hummimg bird. They cannot live in the North of Sweden.

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