House of Cards

Joy to all!

Sending cards at this time of year is one of my favorite things to do.  Every year

I fail to get them all done - please forgive me.  Following in Bibliomama’s footsteps,

I decided to document for the centuries to come some of my favorite cards

and my process.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Cards using my own photos

Cards using my own photos.  Clockwise from upper left: 

Suburban Pittsburgh Gothic, Feb 2010. In which the Common Household Mom and Husband seek to re-enact a famous American painting.

Cat of Hope in the Neighbor’s Driveway.  This cat, posed perfectly at the end of our unshoveled driveway, has never been seen again.

Gingerbread Houses at PPG Place, Pittsburgh, 2011.  This was from the Gingerbread House contest, brilliantly displayed.  After that year, the display moved to a different location and was not as elaborate, for instance, no train.

Card with skyline of NYC, pre-21st century

Long ago, we lived in New York City (Manhattan).  I loved to send this card

with its stylized skyline of NYC.  After 2001, it became too sad.  

I have kept one copy because it includes the Twin Towers, to remind me of

what was, but is no more, due to hatred and violence.  

Winter chickens, with pun:
Have a sPECKtacular season!

Winter Chickens, 2020.

Fabulous art PLUS a pun!  The art is copyrighted original art by

Patti Gay (Two Can Art).  The description on the back reads: 

Two Can Art is a collaboration between artist Patti Gay and her

son Noah who is autistic.  Noah creates all of the painted textures that

become Patti’s palette from which she creates beautiful, layered images.

And I am delighted today to find that this art work (and much more) can be purchased at allport.com/twocan. They also sell puzzles, towels, and napkins, using recycled paper.  A portion of proceeds go to charitable organizations.  

Eight Nights of Excuses card,  and headline card

Hanukkah cards

I don’t know how these particular cards, which aim to be amusing, are

received by our Jewish friends and family.  We’re just trying to bring levity

to the world.  We have already used Excuse #3 this year -

went out to dinner, missed sunset.

tiny owl card and 3-D card

A few more

The owl card is by artist Kristal Serna.  I don’t remember how I happened

across this artist’s products.  Many of them are way too cutesy for me,

but I like this owl. (And I really love her fall and spring scenes.)

The 3-D card on the right is an example of homemade cards.  I have

known two people who can make cards like this and I have been the fortunate

recipient of some of their work.  I am in awe.  

Humorous

Do yinz appreciate humorous Christmas cards, even if they border on rudeness? 

I haven’t had the right frame of mind to send these two.  Yet.

Chaos

The process begins at the computer desk, for the selection of photos and the

writing of the paragraph describing our year.  I fuss and brood over this part. 

After using most of a print cartridge to print (on regular paper), it’s on to

the actual cards.

Commandeering the dining room table

The card-writing operation takes up the entire dining room table.  I spend

some minutes agonizing over which card to select for which person. 

Would this person prefer seeing a fun card, a profound card, a religious card,

a homemade card?   I can’t listen to music while doing this task, lest I write the

wrong word or make a mistake on the address.

I have a fondness for envelope seals, partly because the glue on the envelope

sometimes is defunct.  The envelope seals are both festive and functional.

I told my husband that this year I decided not to use the Hanukkah envelope seals for the cards to our Jewish friends.  He said, “We can’t live in fear.”  I agreed, but said that I can’t make that decision for someone else.  Why should I potentially identify a household as possibly Jewish by sending them a letter with a Jewish symbol on it?  It’s extremely sad, but these are the times we live in.

After I complete a few, it’s time for the concluding ritual:

Seal the envelope

Affix address label on front

Carefully choose and affix envelope seal on back

Affix stamp

Assign Common Household Husband to take the crop to the post office.

Signed, sealed, and ready to mail

So far, as of Dec 20th, I’ve gotten halfway through my list.  

These days, I wonder if it is worthwhile to continue - all the paper used, you know, and the energy to transport them.  But I decide maybe it’s good to support the post office, and maybe one of those cards will bring some cheer to someone desperate for it.  In conclusion, I guess sending holiday cards is a dying ritual, and perhaps rightly so, but I will continue it while I can. 

Happy holidays from the Common Household!

Snow Day

A family tradition

In our parts winter usually waits until January to truly arrive but the White Witch seems to be on the move.  We had about 4 inches Saturday afternoon into early Sunday morning.

The Common Household Son came over before the storm hit to wrap a present and help me put up the Advent-Hanukkah paper chain. Our interfaith family was in need of our own tradition for this time of year. This one has withstood the test of time, although some of the paper has disintegrated.   You can get a detailed description here.

The weather outside turning frightful, I set to work on a most enjoyable task – writing Christmas and Hanukkah cards.  The irony here is that Hanukkah cards are not really a widespread thing, but I like to send them, and since Hanukkah is often before Christmas, sometimes the Hanukkah cards are the only ones that get sent.  This time I managed to finish more than 40 cards.  It’s a whole production which I may or may not describe in a separate post.  

Then, another homebound activity - checking out the music for tomorrow’s worship service.  I have always sung soprano, but my range has been contracting as I age, so I sometimes try to sing the tenor line.  Singing harmony is a real challenge for me, as I’ve always played or sung the melody.  I spent some time at the piano enjoying playing through some Advent hymns.  It turns out this cozy music session was fortuitous.

It is my tradition to always
measure the snow with this ruler.

The next morning I measured the snow on the deck.  I usually like to measure in front of the house too, because we often have a mullet fall of snow - short in the front, longer in the back.  But I wasn’t going to put on my boots just for the sake of measuring.

I got the notice that the church music director was not able to make it to church at all.  But wait!  I played through the hymns just the previous day.  Knowing that very few people would actually be in church to hear it, I volunteered to play the music.

The perfect drip takes several tries.

I put some oatmeal on the stove.  Porridge (as my dear uncle of blessed memory called it) – the non-instant kind –  is just the ticket for a cold winter morning.  Then I achieved the perfect drip to keep the water pipes flowing, and went outside.  

The deer visited in the night.

The world is a special kind of quiet on a Sunday morning after a snowstorm.  

The Common Household Husband and I set to work shoveling the driveway.  In past years, the Snow Fairy has done this, sometimes at 3 AM, but the Snow Fairy is getting old and wanted help.  Together we got the job done.  We have never used a snow blower and I will keep using the traditional method as long as I can.  As we shoveled, the township snowplow/salt truck did its magic.

The Common Household Husband
starts at the other end of the
driveway, which is harder, because
of the snowplow snow.

There were a few slippery spots on the roadways to church but I made it just fine with ten minutes to spare.  There were a handful of people gathered – probably fewer than twenty.

Folks, it turns out there is a LOT of music in a worship service besides the hymns.  It turns out that ten minutes is barely enough time to get organized to play all of the worship music.  All that in between music, such as after the lighting of the Advent wreath, after the assurance of pardon, during the offering, etc etc, was waiting to be played and sung, too.  I was very nervous and muddled through, playing some interesting melodies and harmonies.  It is my strong belief that all musical mistakes are corrected on their way to God’s ears.  Maybe not on the way to the congregation’s ears, but God is the actual audience.

About halfway through the service I remembered that the Best Practice is to determine the key signature, time signature, and tempo before starting to play.  I was sight reading some of the music, and I’m sure it showed, but I was glad to be able to contribute to worship.  I did get to play a few of my favorite Advent hymns for some of the in between music.

While we were shoveling snow,
a huge flock of geese flew over head.
By the time I got my phone out for
a photo, they were gone, leaving
just the winter sky.

And that was our snow day.  Did you get snow this past weekend?  Was it enjoyable, or a chore?

First Lines: November 2025 edition

 

I am thinking about getting a different device than a kindle for my e-book reading. 

Kobo?  Are there any others?  Suggestions and commentary are welcome on this topic.

As of mid-month, I had not completed reading a single book.  What was I doing instead?  Up to Nov 4th I was door knocking and/or obsessing about the election.  On Nov 4th I was in the polling place all day as an election officer.  On Election Day it’s not possible to concentrate on reading, as there is usually a steady stream of voters.

Then we had 6 days to celebrate our wins, until the federal government reopened.  Yes, we all knew we would not get what we wanted from the government shutdown but it was super important to put on high blast what was going on.  You can read elsewhere about the nefarious things in the bill to reopen the government, and I mean BESIDES gutting the money for health insurance.  Since then I’ve been dealing with medical stuff I put off until after the election.  And my brain has been stuck in Youtube mode.  Must get out of the rut.

The other thing halting my reading progress was that the ONE BOOK that I needed to read before book club on Nov 24th was on hold FOREVER for the kindle version.  I was trying to read it in physical copy.  I find it difficult to read a real print book because I now do most of my reading in the middle of the night, on a dimmed kindle screen.  Reading a print book requires a blazing lamp and sitting upright.

I managed to finish 4 books this month, two fiction and two nonfiction = 1,224 pages.  I am satisfied with that outcome.  There were three more that I read a few pages of and decided not to read.  I am not even counting them as DNFs because I basically didn’t start them.

 

Book 1

Why measurement matters

The very first measurement, like the first word or first melody, is lost to time: impossible to localise and difficult even to imagine.  Yet it was a hugely significant act: another addition to that nest of primeval consciousness that grew in the brains of our ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Measuring this morning's snowfall: 3 inches.

 

 

Book 2

Tomoka, 21, womenswear sales assistant

When Saya sends a text to tell me she has a new boyfriend, I instantly write back: What’s he like?  But all she replies is: He’s a doctor. 

 

Book 3

Sunday October 19, 1919

I thrust open the taxicab’s door, and the moment my T-strap heels hit the pavement, a cacophony of city sounds welcomes me.

 

 

Book 4

1. The Grand Staircase

In the basement of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, below the Arms and Armor wing and outside the guards’ Dispatch Office, there are stacks of empty art crates.

 

 

The titles and authors revealed:

 

 

Book 1

Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants

By James Vincent

The text is 346 pages.  Total with notes, etc 416 pages • first pub 2022

nonfiction history

I recommend this book, although it is a slow read.  Perhaps no one else would find a book about metrology, i.e. measurement, interesting.  But this book also includes examination of philosophies behind some systems of measurement, and discussion of the effects of measuring things.  The final chapter about national and international standards was quite fascinating to me, although I read it SO quickly, in order to finish before the library snatched it back.  And, get this, it includes information about producing a cup of tea!  That bumped it up from a 3.75 to a 4.0 rating in Storygraph.

 

 

Book 2

What You Are Looking For is in the Library

Michiko Aoyama with Alison Watts (Translator)

253 pages • first pub 2020

fiction literary

For book club in November.

It should not have taken me this long.  I had a slow start, and ended up enjoying this book, especially the last chapter. It’s like 5 short stories but the characters weave in and out of each story.  The larger message is one that I have been hearing from many directions these days:  be a part of your community; reach out to others.  

 

 

Book 3

Harlem Rhapsody

By Victoria Christopher Murray

385 pages • first pub 2025

fiction historical literary

For book club

This is a fictional portrayal of part of the career of Jessie Redmon Fauset, literary editor of The Crisis in the 1920s, and her relationship with W.E.B. Du Bois.  For book club in December.  We will have a lot to discuss.  

Misogyny, racist oppression, white do-gooders, the importance of poetry, who gets to write whose story – these are just some of the facets of life broached in this book.  In short, human beings are complicated, and so there is plenty for a book club to dive into.

Do we give a moral pass to a man who doesn’t ascribe to traditional marriage ethics but whose wife does?  Does the man get to say with impunity, “I have different needs.”  Do we give a moral pass to the woman he has an affair with?    What if that man and that woman are spending their lives breaking down unfair racial barriers, fighting against the deeply immoral Jim Crow system?   

 

Book 4

All The Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

By Patrick Bringley

240 pages • first pub 2023

nonfiction art memoir

This is a memoir with a most interesting perspective on museums and art and grief.  Recommended by C.B.   And now I recommend it to you.

Self portrait in The Broad Museum, Los Angeles

Einstein in the Carnegie Museum
of Art, Pittsburgh