Loose Leaf Notes

1. She spoke at Bobby Weir’s Celebration of Life gathering in San Francisco on Saturday. She talked about her friendship with Bob and all the shows she has been to over the years.

2. After celebrating to Grateful Dead music at the Buffalo Mountain Brewery with friends and our hometown band Rosebud, Joe and I came home and watched the livestreamed Celebration event, a touching and joyful sharing between speakers and  Dead Heads. At one point, and to the amazement of everyone, a single hawk flew above the crowd when Weir’s wife was speaking on stage.

3. I had to laugh when one of Weir’s daughters told the crowd that Weir was a proud lifetime Democrat and that he referred to the other side without fail as “our friends the Repubs.”

4. Although Bob has been quoted as saying, “No politics, no religion. The stage is not a pulpit or a podium,” and I appreciate that. I also know the good humanitarian work the band did behind the scenes.

5. I pretty much stopped going to Grateful Dead shows after Jerry died in 1995, but I finally saw a show with one of the Dead incarnations in 2022. So it had been a couple of decades since I had seen Bob Weir on stage and, of course, he had changed. I joked that he looked like someone from Gilligan’s Island with his bushy white beard and clamdigger baggy pants.

6. Our hometown celebration was touching and joyful too.

7. The open-to-the-public tribute event was billed as “Let Your Words Be Yours,” taken from the Weir song Cassidy… Fare-thee-well now / Let your life / proceed by its own design / Nothing to tell now / Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine…

8. It’s one of my top favorite Grateful Dead songs, and it was the second one that Rosebud played. I only got this quick clip, which sadly doesn’t include the lyrics, because I was excited to dance to it, and I did.

9. After Rosebud’s set, the stage was open to other musicians. Barry LeNoir played Black Muddy River, a sweetly dark emotional Jerry song. It brought a tear to a few eyes, which was fitting and felt good…I will walk alone by the black muddy river / And sing me a song of my own / I will walk alone by the black muddy river / And listen to the ripples as they moan …

10. There was also this comfort… Sleep in the stars / don’t you cry / Dry your eyes on the wind, la, la, la, la… which was the encore song sung by The Greatful Dead before Jerry died in 1995.

11. It was a communal sing-along dance party.

12. The Grateful Dead has a strong following in Floyd and the surrounding towns and cities.

13. They came out in strong numbers and filled the Brewery and McDaniels Tavern with love, gratitude and celebration.

____________Thirteen Thursday

Floydian Prayer by Tom Ryan: Yeah, though I walk through the Valley of tie-dye and tofu I shall fear no evil for though I am in Floyd, I am not of Floyd. Thy art is with me. Thy grants & Thy tax subsidies comfort me. Mine is the kingdom & glory of slackers & Hatcher Burgers. I will two-step & high lonesome in green pastures. I will seek the stills next to spring waters & getteth me a table at Oddfellas without reservations. Shirley, or one of my ex-wives will haunt me all the days of my life & I will dwell in the Hotel Floyd forever.

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 17, 2025.

The late Tom Ryan may not have coined the term “Running on Floyd Time,” but he elevated its sentiment in his business and in the way he lived. Ryan was the original owner and the visionary behind the Republic of Floyd, the popular downtown Emporium that features craft beers, wines, gourmet snacks, gifts and brand merchandise with a humorous twist.

Designed by Ryan and drawn by commissioned artist Emily Williamson, Republic of Floyd hats, t-shirts and art posters were described by Ryan as takeoffs in the blended styles of Soviet Communist posters, San Francisco poster art of the 60’s, playing cards, Looney Tunes and more.

When Ryan passed away unexpectedly in the winter of 2013, his close friends banded together to buy the business and keep his legacy alive. More recently, the shop was purchased by Terry Tishman, who is skillfully carrying on the tradition. Tishman had previously worked at the Republic of Floyd and with Ryan at his Floydfest booth when she wasn’t fulfilling her duties as the festival’s Area Director of Administration.

“Floyd Time” has not only been a theme in Ryan’s designs, but the phrase also fits his self-effacing laidback attitude. His longish hair and signature Hawaiian shirts belied his business savvy and his college degree. Along with being a successful entrepreneur, Ryan was also a local bartender, a music event promoter, the founder of a long-time annual Mardi Gras fundraiser for Blue Mountain School, an art agent for under-celebrated local artists, a festival vendor, a one-time Chamber of Commerce Vice President, the author of Floyd Family Dysfunctional Cookbook and the founder of Floyd Family DysFUNctional Picnic.

Ryan was also a noted satirical writer of The Floyd Enquirer, a Floyd-centric online and email publication that featured his tongue-in-cheek stories, advice columns and mock scandals with titles like Curse of the Cute Puppy Syndrome, The Floyd Gene Pool, Ask a Hippy, The Floyd Rumor Mill, The Buddhism of Bartending: How May I Serve You? and A Visitors Guide to Floyd. No one was immune from being spoofed in Ryan’s stories, including himself. He frequently invented nicknames for friends and referred to well-known Floyd hang-outs and landmarks.

Inside jokes, tourist tips and other Tom Foolery kept his readers entertained. One of his Enquirer missives began: The ubiquitous “Floyd Wave,” performed when approaching another vehicle, has been a hallmark of local civility for generations.  However, due to the influx of new residents and the increasing number of tourists, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors will be publishing a handbook on the etiquette of the “Floyd Wave.”

Another entry concluded with advice to tourists, “During your Floyd wanderings remember… a little bit of tie-dye goes a long way!” He jokingly referred the mountains of Floyd as “Your End Times Destination” and created a high fantasy styled Republic of Floyd map based on the county.

“Floyd’s version of Will Rogers meets Robin Williams, someone who rarely bites his tongue and is more often known for getting it stuck in his own cheek,” is how one fellow writer described Ryan. Another referred to him as a “pillar in the Floyd community, an unapologetic writer, a jester and a good soul.”

In recognition of Ryan’s writing, his entrepreneurship, his fun-loving spirit and his engagement in the community, the group that recently formed Floyd Times – the independent community news source that was launched in July 2025 – had Tom Ryan in mind when the named the publication.

It’s not hard to imagine that if Ryan were still with us, he might be writing for Floyd Times, Running on Floyd Time, of course.  -Colleen Redman

Note: Above painting by Greg Ward, titled Elvis Has Left the Building

1. “The world comes to an end and the world keeps on going. Life is a series of sinking ships but still people go sailing as if it hadn’t happened. Disaster strikes and people wake up the next morning and have breakfast.” Garrison Keillor

2. Exist and Exit about sums up life.

3. Older or Elder?

4. Ladies to the rescue.

5. “I’ll say this: I look forward to dying. I tend to think of death as the last and best reward for a life well-lived and I’ll get around to it sometime”. Bob Weir, founding member of The Grateful Dead, 1947 – January 10, 2026

6. Wavelength: My life is a dream text / I cast and interpret / My mind is a magnet / that attracts alignments / With a field of awareness / beyond the body’s limits / My senses tune and transmit / signals of the universe

7. “Collective neuroscience is a rapidly growing field of research. An early, consistent finding is that when people converse or share an experience, their brain waves synchronize. Neurons in corresponding locations of the different brains fire at the same time, creating matching patterns, like dancers moving together. The experience of “being on the same wavelength” as another person is real, and it is visible in the activity of the brain.” -Scientific American

8. Still Grateful – The miracle was that Joe’s brother Mike got us 4 box seat passes. We had bought one extra ticket that we sold in the parking lot… We’ve come a long way since working in the parking lot and hoping for a miracle when we couldn’t afford a ticket, but those years were formative and magical and once a Dead Head always a Dead Head… More HERE.

9. Brown-eyed girl or Brown-eyed women and red grenadine?

10. “Wonder is where it starts, and though wonder is also where it ends, this is no futile path.” – Herman Hesse

11. When I look out my window, I think the red bow left over from Christmas on top on an the evergreen tree and behind the birdfeeder is a cardinal.

12. I had a dream that my car was parked in the  middle of our yard. I went to get out the passenger seat but saw two dogs who had come up to either side of the car. I called to Joe to come and get me. He came but started to play with the dogs who I saw were not violent at all. They didn’t even bark, so I got out of the car on my own.

13. Where’s the beef? It’s venison.

____________Thirteen Thursday

My life is a dream text
I cast and interpret

My mind is a magnet
that attracts alignments

With a field of awareness
beyond the body’s limits

My senses tune and transmit
signals of the universe

_______Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United/dVerse Poets Pub 

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on January 6, 2026.

The Plum House Ramen Noodle Bar welcomed patrons to a special preview of its offerings on Friday evening. The official opening of the new downtown eatery, located in the plum-colored house on 101 Old Hensley Road, is scheduled for January 9th from 5- 8pm.

Soft opening diners were presented with an Asian-inspired menu offering dishes from Japan, Korea and Thailand. They were nourished and warmed with spring rolls and noodle bowls featuring broths and sauces with add-on choices of pork, chicken of tofu. Some sipped hot tea and sake, a Japanese rice wine.

Several diners commented on the restaurant’s warm atmosphere, the lighting and décor, which is not surprising since the Plum Noodle House owner, Barbara Gillespie, has an artful sensibility and was the ambiance director at the original Floydfest site for many years.

“The ambiance here is artsy and comforting at the same time,” said Stephanie Weisman, who was enjoying a shared dish of kimchi (house-made salted and fermented vegetables seasoned with garlic, ginger and red chili powder) with friends.

“It’s very traditional,” Sudha Wilburn said about the Noodle House decor.  Wilburn, who has been to Japan on a walking pilgrimage and enjoyed the food there, spoke highly of the Noodle House cuisine and showed off her Bim Bop bowl of sautéed vegetables black rice, sesame seeds and soft eggs.  “I love it. I’m very impressed,” she said.

Gillespie was the baker/owner of Grateful Bread Bakery, adjacent to the Noodle House, for years and is currently the owner and operator of Outer Space, the popular and whimsical outdoor food court and music venue on Locust Street. Outer space, which closes during the winter months, is known for its healthy local food, and Gillespie, the menu creator and head chef, has extended that standard to the Noodle House.

“We make all our own broths and sauces in-house. We take pride in that,” Gillespie said. “We buy fresh noodles and will eventually make our own.” She also noted that they will eventually do take-out and that there is parking for the restaurant (including handicap parking) in front of the Grateful Bread Bakery house.

The idea for the Plum House came to Gillespie when she was making repairs to the rental house (before it was purple/plum) that her father and his wife owned. After all the scraping, caulking and priming she started painting and enjoyed using purple because she wanted something bold and fun. “You’re painting it purple?” someone questioned. “It’s Plum,” she answered, and the idea of a Plum House Ramen Noodle Bar came to her in a flash, Gillespie said.

Gillespie is joined by her skilled staff, Holly Mae, Meridith Tillery and Lindsey Gillespie, who work as hostesses, servers, assistant and back-up cooks. She reported that the Noodle House will be open year-round, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with winter hours from 5 to 8 pm. “We encourage reservations,” Gillespie said, which can be made by calling 540-745-PLUM or texting (540) 558-9395. ____Colleen Redman

1. My New Year motto: 2026 and so much to fix.

2. Or: In one year and out the other.

3. We went to a soft opening at the Plum House Noodle Bar this weekend. The official opening is this Friday. Call 745-Plum for a reservation… Full story and photos at Floyd Times.

4. Purple was some of the light show color effects at our local Dogtown New Year’s Eve bash. Full story HERE.

5. Joe and I got Christmas presents from eachother that we had no idea what they were. He got two things that looked like hooked boomerangs in a box that read ‘Focus on seat gap storage box.” It turned out to be ‘seat clearance plugs’ for a car’s space between the driver’s seat and the console where stuff falls through and is hard to retrieve. I got a vintage tea kettle with a hole on the bottom and a hole in the front above something that looked like a distiller spigot. It turned out to be a repurposed birdhouse.

6. Purple Rain or Purple  Haze?

7. We’ve been listening to the Telepathy Tapes, “a popular 2024 documentary podcast by Ky Dickens that explores claims of telepathy, particularly among non-speaking autistic individuals who communicate through facilitated spelling, raising questions about shared consciousness, hidden abilities and the limitations of science versus personal experience.

8. “The morphic field hypothesis proposes that minds are systems of fields that are located inside brains but also extend far beyond them, just as the fields of magnets are both within magnets and extend invisibly beyond them, and as the electromagnetic fields of mobile telephones are both within them and extend beyond them. Minds are extended beyond brains in every act of perception…”  From Can Morphic Fields Help to Explain Telepathy and the Sense of Being Stared At? by Rupert Sheldrake

9. “The Telepathy Tapes podcast investigates a controversial yet compelling area of inquiry: observational reports of nonspeaking individuals with autism who appear to demonstrate telepathic abilities. As part of the project team, my primary role was to collect and analyze EEG data during these demonstrations. In addition to this technical work, I have personally observed five nonspeaking autistic individuals consistently achieve near-perfect accuracy on telepathy-based tasks involving randomly selected words and numbers. In each case, responses were spelled out using letter boards—with no physical contact from facilitators—and, in many instances, under testing conditions specifically designed to significantly minimize the possibility of conscious or unconscious cueing. This situation is not without precedent in the history of science. Consider savant syndrome, in which individuals—often with autism or other neurological conditions—demonstrate extraordinary abilities in areas like math, memory, music, or art, often without formal training. These abilities once seemed impossible to explain but are now recognized as legitimate expressions of atypical brain function and are actively studied. Dr. Jeff Tarrant, Psychology Today 

10. “While wandering down the path of wonder, I briefly escape the world of separation and enter the world of unity.” -Herman Hesse

11. I’ve always liked purple. When I was 13, I paired this (left) blouse with a purple skirt and wore it a lot.  This was right before my left eyebrow and eyelashes and streak of hair went white (segmental vitiligo). The hairdo was called “the bubble.”

12. And the below one, taken some 40 years later is titled “I Call My Latest Halloween Get Up “The Real Me.”

13. On Dec. 10, Floyd Times released its first hardcopy — a Special Holiday Edition —for free to reach more county residents and make our mission clear: “To inform and connect the people of Floyd County and its surrounding region” and “to deliver local news to power civic engagement and highlight a wide range of community voices…” …Our goal for 2026 is to better what we’re already doing by increasing accessibility, adding more regular content, establishing a print schedule, and providing clear, comprehensive coverage of local government happenings, particularly throughout the budget season.

To do this — and to do it well — we need your help. Check out Floyd Times HERE and consider subscribing or donating to this local cause. ________Thirteen Thursday

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 23, 2025.

Attendees of the Celtic Christmas Concert, held at Springhouse Community School on December 17, were treated to a spirited selection of traditional songs and carols from Ireland, Scotland, England and Brittany in celebration of Christmas, Winter Solstice and the New Year. The talented concert ensemble of acclaimed musicians featured Katherine Wiley on fiddle, cello, rebec; Julie Kinn on vocals, bodhran, whistle; Josh Kinn on vocals, bouzouki, octave mandolin; David Scheim on Celtic harp, piano and Geoffrey Saur on pipes, whistle.

Springhouse’s co-founder and executive director Jenny Finn welcomed the crowd before introducing the musicians. “The concert is a fundraiser that we’re grateful for,” she said, reviewing the school’s foundational mission “to envision, practice and share ways of living that contribute to a world where all life thrives.”

“We have a K-12 school and adult programming. Our economic model is that we turn no one away. It’s important that we creatively raise funds for what we’re doing here, and this is part of what we do,” she added.

The two-hour program included Celtic lore, storytelling and poetry, along with a wide range of soulful airs, fiery dance tunes and a hot cider intermission.

Some tapped their feet and sang along to recognizable tunes, such as the 17th century English Christmas carol, I Saw Three Ships… “O they sailed into Bethlehem / On Christmas day / on Christmas day / And all the bells on earth shall ring / On Christmas day in the morning…”

Other program titles included A Christmas Jig, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, The Sheep Under the Snow, Over the Moor to Maggie reel, Gloucestershire Wassail and Don O’iche Úd I mBeithil (That Night in Bethlehem), which was sung in Gaelic.

Wiley gave some historical background before the performance of The Wren, which was included in a medley. The ancient Irish Wren tradition is still practiced today on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26th) in Ireland. It includes a costumed parade, singing and going door to door to collect money for charities.

The concert concluded with a moving rendition of The Parting Glass, which preceded Auld Lang Syne as the most popular parting song… “So, fill to me the parting glass / And drink a health what’er befalls / And gently rise and softly call / Good night and joy be to you all.”

The audience responded with rousing applause. – Colleen Redman

I may not make New Year resolutions, but I sure know how to dance out the old year and ring in the New Year with friends.

A New Year’s Eve party is a yearly tradition at our local Dogtown venue, and this year three favorite area bands, Father Sun, The Ambassador and Music Road Co, combined their talents into a super band.

The place was decked out to the max and the stage light shows added to the celebration.

I love the good vibe dance music and the energy that the musicians raise.

Now that we found love, we know what to do with it.

The Grateful Dead’s Scarlett Begonias was a surprise, reggae style.

I love the musicians.

But I mostly zero in on the dancers.

I love to see how much fun they (we) have and how the band and the dancers build the energy connection together.

The music took us higher and came to peak with a midnight toast.

There was even an on stage marriage proposal.

The crowd went wild.

I do!

1. I often have no idea what I’m going to write for my 13 Thursday weekly round-up, but for me, every blog post starts with a good picture, like a meal starts with olive oil and an onion, and I go from there.

2. New Year’s Resolutions – I don’t want to announce them, hold myself to them. If it hasn’t happened yet I won’t hold my breath. I’m not one to make resolutions, although when the New Year arrives I do find myself reviewing the past year. I weigh what was meaningful and what was not. I stay curious and open about what will happen next and trust that I’ll rise to the moment.

3. It takes time in the dark room to bring lived-experience into focus and to develop the meaning we’ve made of our lives. -More on Poems From the Dark Room HERE.

4. I bought my first camera in Jackson Square, Weymouth, Massachusetts, when I was 18 years old.  Before that it was Polaroids and those black and white strips from the photo booth at Paragon, our town’s amusement park.   I don’t remember the camera brand or how much it cost.  It wasn’t very good, but I loved it from the moment I started snapping and was only sorry that I hadn’t gotten one sooner instead of spending all my babysitting money on clothes.

5. Speaking of cameras, this is one of my favorite self-portraits. I call it straight shooter.

6. “Winter is a Time of Deep, Hidden Work. Like bulbs beneath the frozen ground or bears in hibernation, profound internal change happens in the quiet dark. This is a time for composting the past, for dreaming, for the invisible mending of the psyche. The growth is underground, but it is vital. When grand purpose falters, small, repetitive rituals provide anchor points: the making of tea, the daily walk, the lighting of a candle. These acts are not mundane; they are sacred practices that build a small, warm shelter of meaning in the cold.” – Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

7. Led Zeppelin runs in our family.

8. And is passed down like an inheritance.

9. I saw Led Zeppelin before they were famous in 1969 at The Boston Tea Party. A friend and I only went because we called the venue to see who was playing and they said that one of the members used to be in the Yardbirds. We were blown away. I later learned that Steven Tyler, well before Aerosmith, was in the audience too. This picture shows me holding their 1970 album after two albums in 1969. It’s a Christmas present and that’s my dad sitting behind me.

10. Floyd native Morgan Wade was welcomed like a rock star to her Saturday night Home for the Holidays concert at Dogtown, the local venue where she had her first show in 2015. Tickets for the show sold out within five hours… At one point, Wade called young Dayson Crawford, daughter of Blue Ridge Diner owners Travis and Kristin Crawford, and presented her with a surprise, a custom guitar with a Morgan Wade design on the front.Wade frequents the diner when in Floyd and the Crawfords have been following Wade’s rise to fame, which includes performing on CBS Saturday Morning, the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards (where she was nominated for an award) and the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She has toured with Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton and others. Since her first live show at Dogtown, Wade has released five albums, Puppets with My Heart, Reckless, Psychopath, Obsessed and The Party is Over (Recovered).” – More from Morgan Wade Returns to Dogtown for Sold-out Holiday Show HERE.

11. Seeing a blockbuster movie at Christmastime is a tradition started by Josh, Star Wars, Avatar etc. This year’s blockbuster was a meet-up with Josh and Dylan’s brother Skye (who most of us hadn’t seen in more than 5 years) and his family, which included his wife Jessica (who we hadn’t met yet), her sweet daughter and their new baby! “I got a new nephew for Christmas. I got a new niece too!,” I heard my son Josh say to someone on the phone driving home from The Hotel Roanoke after we just had an epic lunch and a heartfilled family reunion. More from The Christmas Blockbuser HERE.

12. Solstice Shakedown: The light trickles back / through the skinny-waisted squeeze / of winter’s hourglass grip.

13. Review of The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd by Reading is my Therapy: “Identity Must Be Rebuilt After Achievement Falls Silent – When external markers of success are removed, identity trembles. Millerd captures this disorientation with honesty—the strange grief of no longer being able to explain oneself in a single sentence. This lesson unfolds as a slow reconstruction. Without titles, roles, or scripts, the self must be rediscovered through values rather than validation. The book reveals how fragile identity can be when it rests solely on productivity—and how resilient it becomes when rooted in curiosity and alignment…

__________Thirteen Thursday

-The following was first published at Floyd Times on December 24, 2025.

Floyd native Morgan Wade was welcomed like a rock star to her Saturday night Home for the Holidays concert at Dogtown, the local venue where she had her first show in 2015. Tickets for the show sold out within five hours.

The Dogtown house was full-to-capacity with an enthusiastic crowd who sang along to many of her songs. The front of the stage was lined with some of Wade’s most ardent fans from all over the country, many who knew each other from past shows. Waiting for the show to start, Cheryl Fitzsimmons, a moderator from Morgan Wade’s Official Fan page, spoke of the diversity of Wade’s followers.

“When you see the people that follow her from around the country, they’re all so different,” she said. Fitzimmons, who is from California, pointed out fans from Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Florida and Washington State.  “This is my 25th show,” she added.

Wade, who followed singer-songwriter Brennan Edwards’ opening set, took to the stage with her band and belted out a rendition of Elvis Presley’s Santa Clause is Back in Town.  She later performed an original from her new Christmas EP called Christmas in My Dreams.

With her longtime bandleader/producer and lead guitarist Clint Wells by her side, Wade traded off her electric and acoustic guitars throughout the two-hour set and went from powerhouse rock and roll numbers to her slower soulful songs.  Some of her songs played like anthems, as the crowd loudly sang along, and Wells played some exceptional guitar solos.

Wade gave a shout-out to her band, saying, “We’ve been to a lot of shows this year. We’ve been a lot of places together, and I’m really appreciative of these guys for packing up the week before Christmas and coming back out on the road.” She teased, “It’s been nice. Lots of bus sandwiches and lots of weird conversations.”

At one point, Wade called young Dayson Crawford, daughter of Blue Ridge Diner owners Travis and Kristin Crawford, and presented her with a surprise, a custom guitar with a Morgan Wade design on the front.

Wade frequents the diner when in Floyd and the Crawfords have been following Wade’s rise to fame, which includes performing on CBS Saturday Morning, the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards (where she was nominated for an award) and the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She has toured with Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton and others. Since her first live show at Dogtown, Wade has released five albums, Puppets with My Heart, Reckless, Psychopath, Obsessed and The Party is Over (Recovered).

 In closing, Wade referred to Saturday’s show as “the last show for a while,” adding, “It’s nice to end it here,” as someone in the crowd shouted, “Welcome home, Morgan!”

“I got a new nephew for Christmas. I got a new niece too!,” I heard my son Josh say to someone on the phone driving home from The Hotel Roanoke where we just had an epic lunch and a heartfilled family reunion.

Seeing a blockbuster movie at Christmastime is a tradition started by Josh, Star Wars, Avatar etc.

This year’s blockbuster was a meet-up with Josh and Dylan’s brother Skye (who most of us hadn’t seen in more than 5 years) and his family, which included his wife Jessica (who we hadn’t met yet), her sweet daughter and their new baby!

It was a love fest!

The baby made the rounds, happily getting introduced to everybody as everyone got caught up.

It was the best Christmas gift of all!

P.S. Later that night, back at home, Josh, Joe and I did see a blockbuster movie, “One Battle After Another,” which has been nominated for best picture of the year.

Cheers! More Christmas Merriment HERE.

It all started with the arrivial of the boys and grandboys.

There was the traditional family Christmas photo-shoot.

And the exchange of gifts.

At one point the tree fell over but was rescued before it hit the floor.

The Open House Neighborhood Kaluah and Cookies Christmas Eve party was smaller than it had been in years past but was warm and cheerful.

There was a new baby to meet.

And some Yankee Swap to play.

The Swap included a Zephyr Farm Starter Pack.

A personalized and coveted spread of coffee from those creative people at Chantal Coffee.

“Everything you need to become one of us (a little bit of chaos and a lot of love).”

Josh got a turntable for Christmas and we listened to The Resonance Sessions, a three disc set of regional musicians playing haunting and uplifting songs, recorded in the bones of Josh’s Old Marshall Jail after the devastation of the Helene Flood in Marshall. It was heartful to listen together.

Now I’m  all decked out in my new slippers and Vermont Store cotton bathrobe, Christmas classics.

And the boys are getting some rest.

It only happens once a year!   More Christmas Merriment HERE.