We'll start off with the Christmas Tree. (That's the tall, leafy thing you see wedged between a black guitar case and wooden shelving unit.) Because we have 2 cats, we can't have a traditional tree. (The cats would find a way to climb it and knock off all the lower ornaments.) So, I came up with the *brilliant* idea of decorating a regular fake tree. I think it's an elm. Anyway, we loved the idea so much we've done it for the past 3 years.
Also, because we don't have a regular piney-type christmas tree to put things under, we had to find another place to put the christmas presents. That place wound up being the dining room table. There's one of our cats pretending she's a christmas present. It's an awkwardly festive way of doing things.
Then there's the weather. Up here in Toronto, we don't just get snow at christmas, we get lots of it. It actually snowed so much, I woke up to find a pile of it on the INSIDE of our window. I've always wondered what it would be like to spend christmas somewhere where there was no snow - somewhere where it didn't even get cold....
On Christmas day, I went to visit some of my family who live in Mississauga (2 towns over from Toronto). Recognize the lady in the red shirt? Read my posts from last August! All that snow made getting there lots of fun!
Their house is big enough and their cat is tame enough for them to put up a *real* christmas tree. The giant stocking you see in the middle was made by me when I was around 8 years old for my childhood cat Soda Pop, who has since passed away. It took 3 whole cats to replace her.
Here's one of them - Nova. She lives in Mississauga with my mom. Is it just me, or is that a giant cat?Anyway, that was a really lazy re-telling of what last christmas was like for me. I wish I had more to give you, but I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did. :( Oh well. Now we wait for New Years. Am I the only person who really really dislikes the period of time between Christmas and New Years? I find those 6 days extra boring for some reason.
The Intrepid Pie (Jade)
This picture was taken by me in New York City. I literally just stuck the camera out the window and pushed the button. I was shocked at how well it turned out. It's the view from the Marriot East Side. I was there in 2003 for New Years Eve in Times Square.
This is a statue in some plaza in Havana, Cuba. I was there in 2005. I was staying in Veradero, and went into Havana with a tour group for the afternoon. Unfortunately, I have absolutley no clue what this statue is or in what part of town I was even in when I took it. I took so many pictures that day....anyway if you know what it symbolizes or why I would want to take a picture of it, please comment.
After posting my last...post...Heather picked us up at the hotel, and we headed out to Clints for night 2 of 2.
There, of course, Bob hopped on stage and provided the "crowd" with a rocking version of "People are Strange," "Hey Lawdy Lawdy" and "Juvenile Delinquent" - a song that I got to help out on by singing backgrounds. This time, Kootch stayed in the audience and guarded our drinks.
After the show, we met up with Bruce Allen, who escorted us back to our hotel (and stayed until 4 am.) Which was fine, until I realised that we had to leave the hotel by noon that day. We spent Sunday afternoon at Kootch's apartment while we waited for our train.
(An actual panorama of Kootch's living room.)
As you can see by the pictures, we obviously had far too much fun. Kootch told me all about his time in the navy (yes, the boy in the middle is THE William Trochim!!!!)
...and how he still knows how to fold his clothes in a military fashion...
Thrilling. 
Al (very photogenic) and Heather joined Bob and I for dinner...
...While we watched Andrew Henderson and The Big City Band play. Amazing stuff - they do a great version of that Canned Heat song....you know the one.... Of course, the highlight of the evening was when Kootch and Bob stormed the stage to perform a few tunes.
They started off with Little Queenie (I just noticed I'm on a French keyboard, and there aren't quotation marks. There are, however, accents and cedillas galore...) - a brilliant performance by Kootch.
(Halfway through the song, he got hungy and tried to eat the microphone.) Followed by a rousing version of Hey Lawdy Lawdy, headed by our very own Mr. Segarini.
...With Kootch and Andrew singing backup.
All in all, it was a wonderful evening that resulted in Kootch coming back with us to the hotel, and not leaving until 3 am.
Good on ya, Uncle K!
We're just getting ready to head out to Clints again for night two of the action. Word was circling yesterday that Juvenile Delinquent is being concidered for the Half-Wack tune tonight.
(that I of course HAD to go sit in....)
A cool old-timey roadside diner (the last picture is of the lady who worked there!)
An airplane....
Old Billboards....
And of course, lots of cool cars.
The chair President Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated
