Blwyddyn Newydd, croeso cynnes i 2005 (English / Welsh)

It's here, a new year! Actually I really don't get all to exctied about new years. For me, they're just a chance to change the calendar and have some champagne. For me, it's any excuse for a party. The weekend has been quite profitable in the French sense of the word, in that it has been entertaining, debaucherous and midly lecherous, which, in my humble opinion, is just the way any good holiday weekened should be.

Tom arrived here on Thursday afternoon, ac wedyn ar noswaith Iau, mi ges hwyl da efo Tri ar Hugain, felly roedd ar ei werth yn wir. Mae mwy i'w ddweud yno, ond dwi ddim eisiau rhoi gormod o famylion, hyd yn y Gymraeg. Mae'n ddigon i ddweud y ces i hwyl mawr, ond roedd yn rhaid imi adael Tom ar ei ben ei hun am awr a thipyn

Friday Tom and I went to Th. and M.'s house to pick up some cookies for our little shindig later that night. Going to Taiyebeh's however always involves stopping for an hour for coffee and light refreshments, and so it was, and so we did. It was nice to have a chance to visit with them both and talk for a while, and enjoy some very nice coffee.

Next on the list came Tom's least favorite activities, shopping, more's the pity for him that we had to go to three stores to get it all done. First was Walmart (perish the thought, hehe), then Englebardt's for booze, and finally Price Chopper to get the stuff I couldn't get at Walmart. Normally I wouldn't even go to Walmart for any party or entertaining food, but I needed to buy more champagne flutes, and Walmart was a willful and convenient place en route from Amsterdam where Taiyebeh and Mo live back to Schenectady. Likewise, it was then convenient to proceed to Englebardt's for the hooch. The rest of the afternoon was spent in repose and preparation for the party.

It was a small affair, smaller because there were three cancellations, leaving just five of us to consume far too much food; supper today will be leftover from last night. It seems, tho, that many are being felled with colds of sundry sorts. Th. and M. had related to us that their daughter Mona was ill, and friends of theirs whom they had seen the night before were also suffering. Jon, who was to come with his wife Kim, called Friday morning to report that he too was stricken and would be convalescing, and poor Anna was felled on Thursday afternoon with terrible pain in lower left abdomen. She went to the emergency room only to be sent home with the unwelcome news that she probably has a kidney stone! These dismal iniquties left us with Tom, Carolyn, Holly, Bill and myself.

And so, we were five, and five we were with tons of sweet and sour meatballs, cocktail weenies, a giant sandwich ring, three kinds of cheese, pâté, a veggie tray, sweet gherkins, grapes, chips, dips, rivers of wine and booze, cookies, coffee and highly flammable trifle.

The food was tasty, the drink was lovely, the company was pleasant. At midnight we had champagne and went out on the front porch and woke the dead in Vale Cemetery tooting, rattling and hooting.

Thanks to the vast amount of protein I consumed, my body was able to proces the equally vast amount of alcohol, and today I awoke with no ill effects. Nonetheless, this will be a day of quiet repose, reflection and leftovers. Holly and Carolyn will return this evening and I will force feed them meatballs and trifle.