Lying Abed

Its another chilly morning, but with a difference: we have a Christmas tree. My wife says that this is the earliest that we've picked one out for quite some time, and she may be right. I set my 'gotta getta tree' timer running by the occurance of Thanksgiving, which she tells me came early this year. Whatever, we got a nice one (we always do, or at least always think so; its only when you go late that you have to ask for 'the least haggard looking tree, please'). In fact, we got two; my daughter got, and partially paid for, a very small artifical tree for her room. I have hesitated to actually go into her room to see where it is, as I cannot think of any unencumbered flat spaces, so I fear that I'll see it teetering on the edge of an overloaded bureau -- or being nibbled at from underneath by one of the guinea pigs.

Ever have something that is so good to read that you can't stand to read it, because a) the concepts are so juicy, you have to slow down and savor each one, and b) because the act of reading is a destructive one that will eventually wipe out the article so that it is past tense, not future delight? I'm having that experience now, with an article in the New York Times on the growth of information sharing among US intelligence agencies. Its probably because I'm a bit of a geek, but the ideas that they are talking about, how to find and classify and retrieve disparate bits of information, how to link pieces to form a coherent whole, is so interesting, it makes my ruff stand up.

Last night we got a call from the husband of my friend who died three years ago. It was an enjoyable conversation; for all that he is a gruff sort of person who tends to think in the style that was popular when he was in school (which for him was the US Air Force Academy), and make the kind of heavy handed jokes popular there, we like talking to him and finding that he is okay. So okay, in fact, that he mentioned he is dating a woman he met last year. That took me back, a bit; I think of him as her husband, and always will be - in fact, it was a little difficult not to ask him how she was doing - so to see him in another role was startling. We talked for a while about his children - I remember the daughter running naked out of the bathroom at 3; and the son crying at the door because we were taking his sister out, and not him -- now she's out of college, and he's close. I shall not tell them that story. I also learned he had ten years of classical piano training, and can speak limited amounts of ten different languages. Amazing. When she was there, she was the person I was interested in, and he was just an adjunct. Now, he's the primary, and he turns out to have more depth and breadth than I suspected.

I didn't get to do any baking last weekend, so I'd like to get some done. We did do cooking; that recipe that I posted here for NSS Joes, which was a little bit of work but quite good. Last night we had more comfort food, something that we call Rice with Beef and Pineapple, which is simply flavored rice with browned hamburger and bits of pineapple. I love it. I told my wife that I think she is a better cook than me, but that I'd like to be better, and when the opportunity arises, I usually at least try. Neither of my parents were particularly interested in cooking; in fact, my mother said once that she never really learned how because her mother used to chase her out of the kitchen when she was making dinner. Thats one reason that I like involving my daughter when I bake -- so that she can be comfortable with the concept.

Another is simply because it's fun.