Did anyone else know that Christmas is a week from today? And no one told me?? Thanks!
I mean, I knew it was December, and Christmas was coming, but I really hadn’t paid much attention to the details.
IT’S ONLY A WEEK AWAY!
Boy, that one snuck up on me…
Filed under Paul, Photography
Big picture, like, we’re talking “annually,” the timing of sunset shifts with the seasons, so knowing when it is (ballpark figure, at least – 16:30 or 19:30?) keeps you in touch with the planet you live on and the progress of the seasons. The Winter Solstice is next week! Are you ready?
Looking at the more near-term picture, check the weather, look at the sunset (sometimes it’s just okay, sometimes it’s spectacular, most of the time it’s somewhere in between, like today), see if anyone else in the neighborhood has put up any new Christmas lights, (especially if it’s windy as all get out like today) see if any of our lights have come down, and so on. You should be getting out a few times during the day anyway to stretch your legs, but the sunset one is particularly important.
Looking for the meaning of life? The odds are against your finding it out here with this view, but they’re a lot higher than they are sitting in front of a computer playing a game, working on a spreadsheet, doing data entry, or doomscrolling through social media.
Filed under Photography, Sunsets
It was quiet. It was warm.
I was taking a break for a couple of minutes, stretching my legs.
It was good to get away from my desk, to not be staring at a computer screen that was twelve inches in front of my face. To be reminded that the Universe is bigger than that.
A tiny bit of white atmospheric condensation gives the blue sky some texture, some character, some depth.
Keep your eyes open! Stretch your legs! Stay hydrated!
Filed under Health, Photography, Weather
New home, nice home, Forever home. However bad 2025 might SUCK, and believe me, we don’t have to look far to see evidence of that, this will be the year that we got our Forever Home.
Our old Christmas tree was probably 20+ years old. It was a bit ratty, and most/all of the built in lights were shot. It’s now part of the outdoor decorations in the front yard and makes a wonderful substrate for a couple of strings of lights. But for the new home with the tall ceilings and the gorgous Great Room and kitchn, we needed something bigger and newer.
There are eight or nine different modes for the built-in lights here, both colored and white, twinkling & steady, switching back and forth, very complex. For now we’ve settled on the steady white lights for this first “layer.” We’ll add strings of colored lights over the top, then ornaments of all kinds (we have a “garbage” tree design), then decorate the rest of the room and the interior.
In addition, the rest of the outdoor lights have arrived and I think I’ve hit (barely!) all of the super critical deadlines at work, so I’ll be able to take some time to get the rest of the outdoor lights up.
Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography
The Long-Suffering Wife noticed an announcement on the FaceBook page for the local town we’ve moved to about an event at the Civic Center park with Santa, music, food, and the town Christmas tree lighting. We’re trying to be proactive about getting out and getting active in the town that we’ve chosen as our Forever Home, so off we went.
IT WAS LOVELY!!
Booths with lots of crafts and toys. Tons of people with their dogs, including an incredibly sweet and patient Great Dane. Free cookies & hot chocolate. Other food trucks, everything from pizza, crepes, Mexican food, coffee, and ice cream. Dozens and dozens of inflatable figures and a gazillion lights on the trees all through the park.
We had a wonderful sunset, then the place really lit up. The park itself (first time we’ve been over to the Library and Civic Center area) is great, plenty of benches and room to roam, fountains, and so on. We heard that during the summer there are Friday night concerts there – something to watch out for in 2026 and beyond! Plenty of parking. All in all an extremely pleasant place. We picked a good place to live!
The fountains were off but still had water in them, so there were reflections to be seen. The stage had music from a local band as well as the bands and choral groups from at least two of the local high schools. There was a dance group made up of grade school and middle school students. Santa and Mrs. Claus came in via the local LifeFlight helicopter and were scheduled for a couple hours of taking pictures with kids.
My goofy “Dr Seuss” style sproingy Christmas hat was a big hit, I got many compliments.
We didn’t stay for the tree lighting since we were getting hungry, but you can bet we’ll keep an eye open for other community events such as parades, concerts, or other holiday celebrations.
Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography
With the maple tree in our front yard becoming increasingly denuded and looking more and more like the White Tree of Gondor, it only makes sense that as I allow my hair to grow back out and I’m starting to look my age, I’m looking more and more like Denethor (son of Ecthelion), the 26th and Final Steward of Gondor, as portrayed in the movies by John Noble.
I hope this doesn’t mean that I have to fight an orc army or Ring Wraiths on flying Nazgul. So far it’s just Two-Tone and the owl and they seem friendly-ish.
Filed under Forever Home, Photography
About sixteen months ago, I wroteTake Advantage Of Your Opportunities When You Get Them:
At our old house on Pomelo, the streets were flat and we were about five houses down the street from the elementary school, so we would have the ice cream truck by almost daily during the summer, every year. I would always hear it and always be busy, so I always figured that I would go out and catch the truck and get a random, spontaneous ice cream treat some other time in the future. Tomorrow. Or the next day. Next week, maybe. Next month…
Six years ago we moved to this house, which is at the top of a really long, steep hill that the ice cream truck might or might not be able to actually get up, and we’re nowhere near a school. Thus, NO ice cream trucks here. EVER.
And something made me think about that and realize that I had the opportunity almost daily for DECADES and I almost never took advantage of those opportunities. And now I’m out of luck.
Something else to check out when we’re shopping for the Forever Home. And you can bet if I find out that we’re on a regular path for an ice cream truck, I’ll be dropping everything and sprinting out for an ice cream sandwich when I hear that tinny, electronic circus tune. If I happen to be in the middle of a work Zoom meeting? C’est la vie! A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do! I’ll be older and wiser the next time.
Today it happened. Fortunately, I was not in the middle of a work Zoom meeting.
While I’ve never heard an ice cream truck on our street before in the past 4+ months, this afternoon the sound was unmistakable. Tinny, electronic Christmas music.
I do not normally have my wallet or any money on my person when I’m working from home and time was short (our block only has six houses on each side, so he didn’t have far to go and head back out) so I broke the land-speed record getting to the bedroom on the other side of the house, grabbing my wallet, and sprinting out the front door. Fortunately, some kids from next door had slowed him down.
Mr. Reyes’ van has seen better days and looks like it’s been ridden hard and put away wet more than once. But it was chock o’ block full of frozen goodness, EXACTLY the way that I remembered it from my childhood. It was practically an out of body experience.
I got a Blue Bunny Chips Glaore! Cookie Sandwich, 300 calories, 12g of fat, 15mb of cholesterol, and 46g of carbohydrates, all of them delightful. For the Long-Suffering Wife I grabbed a Blue Bunny Drumstick. I asked the driver (perhaps Mr. Reyes himself?) to remember us and come back soon, I would be listening for his signal.
Then, planning for the future, since I almost missed him while sprinting through the house for my wallet, I grabbed some singles and have designated them as “Emergency Ice Cream Truck Money.”
When singles pile up I normally stuff them in a drawer and try to remember to take them when I travel for tips, but now I have a stack right where I can grab them quick and head out the front door. My office is at the front of the house, right by the front door, so when he comes back, next time I’ll be ready.
Just because it’s a simple, fondly-remembered experience from childhood doesn’t mean that the adult can’t stack the deck to make it successfully happen again!
Filed under Deep Thoughts, Forever Home, Paul, Photography
Literally.
When I’m going to take a picture with my iPhone at night and I don’t realize that the phone is set to the forward facing camera with the flash on instead of the rear camera with no flash.
Damn, I look like shit!
Filed under Paul, Photography
I need to lower my A1C numbers and shave off a few pounds, despite the oncoming holidays and associated feasting, so I’m trying to eat healthier. Tonight it was just a small piece of broiled chicken breast and a small portion of steamed green beans. No carbs at all.
Hypoglycemia, here I come!
Crashing and burning, trying to stay awake, it’s a good excuse for some ice cream and OJ and grapes, but my head is still floating.
This “healthy” shit is going to kill me!
Filed under Health, Photography
It was a joy watching the leaves on our front yard maple tree turn bright red. (See here and here, for example.)
Now –
The white branches and few straggler leaves look cool against a bright blue sky.
But, of course, all of those leaves had to go somewhere.
There they are! What a mess.
And the astroturf acts like Velcro as they blow up on there.
Once I get the final lights done I guess I’ll have to move into “homeowner maintenance” mode. Ugh!
Filed under Forever Home, Photography
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We Love The Stars Too Fondly 