purpleglitter just ending a four day weekend and trash day shifted to Wednesday combined to completely addle my internal clock. The trash came and went and I completely missed it. What's worse, this week is recycling pickup. Recycling pickup in Arlington only happens every other week, so missing it causes things to really pile up. Fun fun, I guess I'll move it down to the basement for storage until it can be picked up — which won't be until after New Years.

This has been a wonderful and merry Christmas so far. purpleglitter got me wonderful gifts, including a new birding camera — the same model as the broken one, so that it will work with my telephoto lens.

My parents gave me a brass clock once owned by my great-grandfather. It's an old electric clock and wasn't made with the ability to start up on its own. A knob in the back must be spun just right so that it "catches", then the electric power will take over. The neat thing about the clock is that it will run backwards if the knob is spun backwards. I used to always set it running backward when I was a kid, and it is running backwards in my livingroom now.

Prince Henry woke purpleglitter and me up this morning with his best imitation of an alarm. The bedroom is the only room we have that is appropriate for quarantine, so I guess we have a new alarm clock. He's definitely louder than any of the other birds we've had, even Sir Dubbins.

He's gotten plenty of scritches so far today and while the cage he came in is far from toy deprived, we plan to give him a couple of the birdy booty toys from shadowrabbit. I'm sure he misses his old humans, but I think he'll come to like it here.

I've been holding off posting this until the lease was signed so as not to jinx things. However, getting everything done by snail mail between California and Massachusetts has been taking a bit longer than we anticipated, and I can't stand not to mention it. So at the risk of jinx, I post this anyway:

purpleglitter and I are moving in together at the end of the month. We're moving into one side of a wonderful duplex in an historic district of Arlington. We're near the bike trail and a stream. I'm going to be able to see a good variety of birds just sitting on the back porch. The place is idyllic. I'm very excited.

I will miss the house_of_clocks. Unlike last time, I will not be taking the clocks with me. Last time the household moved, this time it is individuals moving. It's the end of an era for me. Perhaps those who are in the house after me will continue the tradition, perhaps not. I hope they will, as it would make me happy if the house_of_clocks still existed.

Things are changing so fast. You'd think I'd be used to rapid change by now. Perhaps I am, and I'd just have to experience a period of time without rapid change to notice.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States.

Happy Thursday to everyone else.

I'm having a good visit. Maddie is a ball of energy, literally bouncing off the walls. She knocked on my door and got me up around 7:30am this morning showing me a clock that had been set to 9:30. Tricky, but I'm glad I'm up. I don't really like to sleep too late these days.

Dinner last night was good and I loved the port later in the evening. Christian is intelligent and charismatic, making conversation with him generally a pleasure. And, of course, it's always great to see Bridgette. She's made quite the life for herself and has not ceased to amaze me. I'm proud to call her sister.

zarthon and purpleglitter came over for tea this afternoon. zarthon brought a gift. A SubGenius clock! Bob's holy image can now grace the kitchen walls of the house_of_clocks.

zarthon also brought lotus seed cakes to eat with the tea. The three of us sat under the playroom chandelier enjoying the tea, the cakes, and each other's conversation. Quite an delightful and picturesque way to spend an afternoon with good friends.