It rained all day again today. What a drag. We must keep telling ourselves that, at least, we are are not shoveling. We probably would be up to the rooftops if this was snow.

Dick has an echocardiogram today. Sometimes called just an echo. It is just a checkup on the heart because of the irregular heartbeat, the atrial fibrilation, that exists. The technician said that everything looks the same but the doctor will review it before his six month checkup next month. Then we mailed the packages to the out of staters. NOW, I can relax. Anything else can be done last minute.

We had salmon croquettes for supper. They are SO good. I had some fresh green beans to go with them. I also made up a batch of lentil soup. We can have that for lunches and dinners if it is cold and damp. I used a hambone from a Market Day ham. It was such a rich tasting ham. I wish you all could have had a dish of the scalloped potatoes.

I am doing up a little folder about my Uncle George to share with my brothers and sisters. I think I will send one to Patty and Doug too. They drive me nuts but they are my cousins and did grow up in Grandma and Grandpa Deeley's house with Uncle George. He was my bachelor uncle. Never moved away from home.

Years ago, when I was about three or four years old. I saw Billie the Brownie at our front door one Christmas Eve. Now that I am "grown up", I believe that it was really Uncle George that I saw. He was peering through front door to watch me come from the kitchen to the living room of our old house to see the tree and the presents. I entered the livingroom and saw a movement at the door. There was this tall brown thin "brownie" with a pointed hat and big eyes. Uncle George was home on leave from the Army and in his khaki uniform with his pointed garrison cap, to my toddler eyes he WAS Billie the Brownie, who I heard on the radio every night. I was in my 30s before it dawned on me that it was probably Uncle George.

Have a Christmasy weekend

Mary