Thursday and Friday involved intense work in downtown Dallas. Each day ,the start time was a bit later than the 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. time at which my downtown Dallas meetings often involve. Thursday this proved a real blessing, as the weather was rainy and the traffic was slow. Thursday night the weather forecast for Friday was for high winds and rain admixed with snow, but the weather turned out very pleasant, if windy.
My business downtown went very well. I dislike getting into details of my work due to the confidential nature of client matters. But I can say that I put my mind to doing my work, that it felt good to do things I enjoy doing, and that things came out very well indeed.
Friday night I headed to my office, checked in a bit, and then headed home. I had dinner at Dickey's BBQ. I spent a quiet evening at home.
I woke up at 3 in the morning and watched the Christmas movie "Prancer". I often think of this movie as a bit dark for my taste, as light holiday fare goes. But I really enjoyed it. Other Christmas movies filtered into my weekend--my favorite, "The Miracle on 34th Street" and that lovable standby "White Christmas". I read an article about Rosemary Clooney that disclosed that her wedding took place not far from here in Durant (pronounced "Doo-rant"), Oklahoma, a marriage locale famed with Texans in the 1950s because it was just north of the Texas border and state law then required no three-day waiting period. What an odd thing in the 1950s for a 25-year-old singer to elope with a 41 year-old actor to small-town Oklahoma.
Saturday morning I took a walk in Bethany Lakes Park. The weather improved dramatically. I logged some 20 species of bird. That park often has dozens of ducks in varying species. In this time of year I watch for less-usual suspects, such as Canvasback or Red-Headed Duck. But this trip showed me a less exotic set of floating customers.
Later in the afternoon, I took Beatrice for a walk around the pond. Here, too, I saw lots of birds. I went to Kroger afterward to do some shopping. I bought a white potato, a chayote squash, and some broccoli. As my wife is out of town in Kansas City, I made my dinner using my boiling water hotpot. It all came out very good, as I cooked up portion after portion in little 10-minute cooking waves.
Saturday night I spent several hours putting together a Christmas-themed song remixing ccMixter participant Scomber. I like that Scomber is a name for a mackerel. I had originally wanted to use his samples in a rendition of "Veni Veni [O Come, O Come] Emannuel". But instead I did an instrumental piece about the flight into Egypt.
Sunday I walked on the Chisholm Trail. I was pleased to see a Golden-Crowned Kinglet. This brings my Collin County eBird list up to 105 for the year. Last year I hit 110, but I doubt that I will see 5 new species in the next 14 days. This is the time of year to see a Merlin, but I cannot think of the other 4 I could hope to see.
My weight was up a little at Weight Watchers, but that was okay. Then I went to church. My church was having a "Contemporary Lessons and Carols" I was tempted to go to Suncreek church instead, as I was more in search of traditional Christmas carols. But I am glad that I chose to go to First UMC. The a capella rendition of "Mary Did You Know" was grand. I tried to sit near the front for a change. But I prefer the rear rows. I also prefer, though, not to be too wed to pew location.
I walked Sunday afternoon in Allen Station Park and listened to a football game on the radio. I turned in early on Sunday evening.
Monday I worked a solid but not staggering day. I ate chicken chili at Jason's Deli. Tomorrow my wife comes home. I am glad about that.
from Dreamwidth, because two posts of the same text are twice as nice