Saturday stuff

Guess what we have again: a washer! Yeah! and it works very nicely. I've already done a load of clothes and they SMELL WONDERFUL! And they are spun almost dry. So now, even though we don't have much in the way of direct sunshine, the clothes should dry in a very short time, thus avoiding the mildew odor. I will only be taking the big stuff to the laundry now - heavy blankets and such.

Today I had a conversation class at the institute, and following that, there was a short Christmas get together. All the instructors were given Christmas "baskets"...actually, a small duffel bag containing a jar of strawberry preserves, two cans of condensed milk, a couple of bags of pasta, a liter of cooking oil, a half-kilo bag of sea salt, a bag of rice, a panetone, and a bottle of champagne. That was quite a surprise and quite heavy to haul home on my shoulder. I had to stop halfway home and catch a bus. The contents of the duffel bag is enough to make a couple of good meals for O and me. Celeste has been eyeing the duffel bag...maybe she's suspicious of the strange black lumpy thing in the living room, or maybe she can smell the panetone inside, I'm not sure which. I hope the panetone will be safe in the kitchen cupboard until Christmas... got two bites of the last one we had. Where the rest of it went I can only guess....

There is a fireworks fair in the park down the street from us. The other night, they shot off several displays and Celeste and I ran down to the park to watch. They were beautiful and very close. Celeste was intrigued by the lights and the booming of the pyrotechnics, but not afraid. Until the last, that is, when they shot off several at the same time for the finale. The noise was MUCH louder than before and it caught Ms. Blue Eyes off guard. She jumped some, but after this, I don't think she'll be one of those dogs that tries to hide under the bed on New Year's Eve.