— पांच हजार तीन सौ पच्चीस —
I was such a good boy all day at work yesterday, knowing I would have treats in the evening—I even ate an unusually small-portioned lunch, having just an 8.8oz
Tasty Bite Thai Style Curry & Rice Bowl, a sample snatched from the pantry cupboard.
What this meant, though, was that I was acutely hungry when I got home, around 5:10, having walked part of the way and taken trains part of the way (Monorail + Light Rail). There was still leftover lentils I knew Shobhit would be fine with eating, so I immediately made myself a sandwich, even though I was out of veggie ham. I toasted the last of our "Aritsan Roll" bread, and had it with mayo and mustard, cheese, basil, and instead of veggie ham, had veggie bacon. I was almost shocked at how tasty it was.
After that, I made hot chocolate. This was Shobhit's suggestion: a plan had been made for Alexia, Shobhit and I all to go to the
annual Holiday in the Park at Volunteer Park. This turned out actually not to be the case this year, but over text Shobhit noted that the hot chocolate was often not hot enough in the past, perhaps because of the chilly weather, and thus he suggested we make it at home. I didn't even think about putting booze in it until Alexia suggested it: she would make her own if we were going to make it "boozy." Shobhit responded that we only add booze afterward so I could easily make her one without it, which she was good with.
I made mine the booziest. I added one shot of Irish Cream and two shots of rum. I asked Shobhit if he wanted Makers Mark in his, and he said yes, but only one shot. He had hardly drank even half of it by the time we got back. I also added vegan marshmallows to all of ours, and made it a point to put Alexia's in a smaller to-go cup, as I knew she wouldn't want as much. Evidently I should have done the same for Shobhit. Oh well.
Alexia got slightly stuck in traffic, so although the event is officially from 6 to 8 p.m., she barely managed to get home and eat a sandwich of her own real quick—while Shobhit had his lentils with a couple of tortillas—and then we all left, walking the mile or so up to Volunteer Park at 6:15. It must have therefore been 6:35 when we got there. The time stamp on the first photo I took was 6:41.
— पांच हजार तीन सौ पच्चीस —
— पांच हजार तीन सौ पच्चीस —
This has been an annual event since 2012, having been canceled only twice: once in 2014 due to a windstorm that had been forecast but then never actually happened; and again in 2020 due to the pandemic. Of those that actually happened, the only one I have ever missed was 2015, likely due to how shortly it was before my then-annual trip to Wallace, Idaho that year. As a result, I did not experience the event in either 2014 or 2015, the one time I had two off years in a row.
I keep thinking I really don't need to go every single year regardless, because it's basically the same every year, with only slight variations—and the Christmas display in the Conservatory, with trees and a working model train set, is exactly the same every year. But, part of my regular return is going with someone who has never gone before: last year, for instance, I invited Alexia, who had never heard of it.
I went with only Shobhit in the years 2017 and 2018. In 2019 (when I went by myself on the event date but returned later with Laney to see the holiday display in the Conservatory) and then last year, he had work conflicts, but right now he is consistently only working until 5:30. So, although I had initially just made the plan with Alexia, I asked if he wanted to come with us and he said yes; thus he returned for the first time in four years.
Even with homemade hot chocolate in hand, Shobhit and I both took a free little cup of the hot chocolate they had there. We both opened our insulated cups and poured the new hot chocolate in. I discovered it to be peppermint flavored, which effectively "pepperminted" what I already had, which I found delightful.
In years past, they typically had
fresh cookies available to pick right up off of plates at the snack booth. The pandemic changed that, and after the 2020 break and the event returned last year, they just had pre-packaged
Grandma's cookies available, a definite step down. This year reversed course, sort of halfway: back to fresh cookies, but still
in individual clear plastic pouches. Some with an extra Ghiradelli peppermint bark in them. Score!
There was something new this year though:
a couple more booths outside the Conservatory, which we passed by in line to get in; one of them with
embers burning, the other with little crafts for sale. I took a picture of a crocheted mushroom, but only discovered after I got home that I moved too much in the low light and that shot was just an unusable blur. Oops.
The line into the Conservatory was long but steadily moving. The number of people inside was packed, and would absolutely have been triggering by anyone still triggered by crowded spaces after the pandemic. Some people wore masks in there but most did not.
On our way out, I saw the Water Tower was actually open, so Alexia and I both climbed in while Shobhit waited for us on the ground. Going up those stairs was exhausting and my legs ached for a while after we came back down. I got a couple of quite lovely shots of both the city and the park from up there, winding up with
32 shots for this year's photo album on Flickr, which I quite easily loaded after we got home—thanks to iCloud already being open and my
not rebooting my computer in the morning.
After that, as of only December 8, I already have
nine photo albums for the Christmas 2022 collection. I may wind up with as many as
six more by the end of the month, but we'll see. I'll almost certainly exceed last year's record of 13, but am not certain at this point whether it'll be as many as 15.
— पांच हजार तीन सौ पच्चीस —
[posted 12:28 pm]
