Winter's Comin'

Started a cold, partly cloudy day with a call to Mom to say "hi" and see how things went last night. She was fine, but very busy. She and the family in Cape May are just starting to get ready for Christmas. Keefe had just woken up after participating in the West Cape May Christmas Parade last night. He'd apparently sprained some fingers not long before the parade and found himself carrying large drums...and in pain. He didn't make the full parade.

Mom had a good suggestion for next year that I'm going to pass onto Rose. Instead of trying to get to the West Cape May Christmas Parade, perhaps we could try to attend the one for Lower Township - ie, North Cape May, Town Bank, Erma, and the Villas, the towns closest to Cape Island on the mainland. Their parade is shorter, but there would be more parking - no searching for the car for twenty minutes with a toddler or having to take a round-about route to avoid traffic. Not to mention, a lot of the bands, floats, and groups who appear in the West Cape May parade also appear in the one for Lower Township.

Spent the rest of the morning listening to Brunch With the Beatles while doing the budget and updating my finances. The budget wasn't too bad - most of my expenses last month were food-related, including eating out more than I should have. (I'll likely see a lot of eating out this month as well, since I'll be away from home fairly frequently on shopping and riding excursions.)

John Lennon had the spotlight on Brunch with 25 of his best songs. I was surprised with the top song. I was sure it would be "Imagine," but that was number two. Number 1 was my favorite of his solo songs, "(Just Like) Starting Over." I'm a big fan of the Double Fantasy CD, which also spun off "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels." Both were also in the top 25, along with "Help!," "Power to the People," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," "No Reply," "A Day In the Life," "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "The Ballad of John and Yoko," among others.

Headed to work after finishing the budget. Work was steady all day, a bit surprising on a chilly day when the Eagles weren't playing. (They played Thursday.) We're probably still getting beginning-of-the-month people. There were no major problems, and I was in and out quickly.

I wanted to go shopping, but I forgot today is Sunday. I made a quick stop at FYE and saw nothing I wanted, but they were closing at 6. So was Toys R Us Express. I'll have to go to both places later in the week. I ended up having a very filling dinner at a busy Golden Corral instead. I even won a green stuffed elephant from a crane game on the way out. I named him Vert, which is French for "green."

Got home in time for a shower and the second half of The Dress Circle. "The Shows of December" was the theme tonight. I got to hear the title song from the 20s Gershwin hit Lady Be Good and "She Likes Basketball," as performed by Jerry Orbach in the original 1968 cast of Promises, Promises.