The only handmade Christmas present I made this year:This is obviously from one of those felt ornament kits. I know they're a bit ticky-tacky but my friend loves Winnie the Pooh so I think they'll go over OK. I guess she can always hang them on the back of the tree!

I got tagged by Jeanne on the infamous "6 weird things about me" thing. Here's my list:

1. Although I can converse with others and although I do have something of a social life, I’m truly an extreme introvert. I just need A LOT of time to myself and I tend to feel drained after social events.

2. My strangest phobia is probably my fear of water. When I say this, people always hold a glass of water up and are like, “oooh, does this scare you?” But it’s fear of large bodies of water. I’ve had minor panic attacks from swimming in lakes and I absolutely refuse to go in the ocean unless it’s very, very calm. I think this started when I was about 5 and I went to a day camp that had an indoor pool (this was when we lived in the city), which I was terrified of. I would try begging off, playing sick, anything to keep me from having to swim but they would always make me go in anyway! Mean camp counselors! By the time I was 8 or 9 I was still with the guppy group (or the “rocks” as my father called them), and I don’t think I learned to dive until I was about 13. On a positive note, I’ve worked on this problem in more recent years and I’m much less afraid of water than I once was.

3. I embarrassed to admit that when I’m alone in the car, I will totally sing along with cheesy modern country songs. Even if they’re really bad (except for the ass-kicking, “I’m so patriotic” songs. I hate those). My indie credibility just went right down the drain.

4. When I was a kid, I hated meat and LOVED vegetables. I distinctly remember a time or two when my parent had to wheedle me into eating “just a few more pieces of meat” before I could leave the table. The spinach and peas would be long gone. This could explain why I eat vegetarian now.

5. I know all the words (in French) to “La Marseilleise” and I frequently sing it in a loud obnoxious voice. I think I need to start learning all of “O Canada” in French so I can add to my repertoire. Also, I know all the words to the “Star Spangled Banner” which is supposedly a weird thing even for citizen of the US.

6. I am obsessed with old (or even not so old), decrepit buildings. Especially abandoned ones. I find it fascinating that buildings get abandoned, and I think there is just a certain feeling to decrepit buildings…like the place has a soul or something. If I can get inside and it’s not too dangerous, I will stand there and absorb that feeling. The best is when there is still detritus from the people who lived/worked there, there's something so banal about that stuff and yet full of a deeper essence. Apparently this fascination is not completely weird!

Now I'm supposed to tag six other people for this, but I'm pretty sure most of my blog buddies have already done it! So, if you are reading this and want to do it on your blog, go for it.

I'm sure you're all getting sick of photos of the lake, but I thought this one was spectacular:

It's amazing how every day this lake has a different mood, color, etc. I think I have about 8 million more photos of the lake from this viewpoint. Maybe I should do a photo mosaic someday of all of them, that would look really cool.

I'll be back before Christmas with some photos of my tree, just didn't have the room today.