Sylvia's Journal

December 26 is, traditionally, leftover day. We shared our turkey leftovers with Anne and Chuck and Edith and Hugh who brought their own leftovers (salmon bisque and Christmas cookies). We sat around the table and caught up while nibbling at all the dishes set out before us, including Brazilian leftovers from yesterday’s spectacular spread at Steve’s brother who married into a family of Brazilian cooks. He is both lucky and it shows.

We visited Sula and Jacek whose parents lived in Kabul in the 1950s where he was helping to get Ariana airlines of the ground. They have hundreds of slides from that time, and a promise to show these to us one day. Not today as they were getting ready to leave for Scotland.

I have been knitting on an off. I bought several skeins of interesting yarn and knitting as much as I do is proof that i am really on vacation. I produced a third batch of baby booties that I can now knit in my sleep. Before I leave I have to show Sita how to make them so that she can stop making scarves, something she has been doing for years in spite of the multiple knitting books I have gifted her for Christmas. Her friends are starting to have babies so this would be a little more practical than scarves.

I am now walking around with a mindmap in my pocket of the things that we want to put in our shipment. They are, and have to be, objects that we won’t mind losing in the case of a quick exit/evacuation but that would add a little to our comfort while in Kabul.

The shipper comes on Tuesday to pack us up which means that sometime between now and then we have to make a trip to the shopping mall, a scary thought for someone who has managed to avoid the entire Christmas shopping season.