December 21, 2025 · 23:04

Winter Solstice 2025

As the light dies at the end of the shortest day of the year, we try to supplement the remaining light in the beautiful sunset with those of our own celebrations.

You can think and believe what you want about the Bible and the story of Jesus’ birth, but I’ll guarantee you that he wasn’t born in late December or the middle of winter. Too many things point to a spring birth. But the reason the early Christians celebrated around the winter solstice was so that they would blend in, not stand out, and not be targets for persecution.

The winter solstice was known and celebrated a thousand year or more before the Roman Empire. Pre-historic peoples needed to know the seasons in order to know when to plant crops, when to hunt, how to survive. The days gettting shorter and colder had to be terrifying with no knowledge of what was causing it (Earth’s axial tilt) and whether or not longer, warmer days would return. So when the solstice came and the days started to lengthen again, it was a cause for celebration, often with symbols of light being prominent.

Millenia later, I put up a gazillion Christmas lights. Slightly different reasoning and knowledge bases perhaps, same celebration.

Welcome back to the light!

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Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Photography, Sunsets

December 20, 2025 · 22:33

Hesperia Christmas Lights 2025 – Day Four

When last we saw our plucky hero, the new Forever Home had a substantially larger roofline than the old houses, so while the “baseline” colored C9 lights and white icicle lights had been put up, there were large gaps in the front that didn’t have lights at all. By the time this was discovered, buying additional lights in the store was out of the question and it took a couple weeks for them to be found and shipped in an online purchase. Now they’re here, and it was time to get those “baseline” light sets up.

Because I’m working from both ends and meeting over the front doors, there are more lights there than anywhere else as the sets overlap. That’s fine. It draws attention to the front doors, which is also where the wreaths are and where the roofline naturally is larger and more distinct.

I also started throwing strings of small colored LEDs into the now leafless maple tree. It’s a good start, but I would like to double the number and get some into the upper branches. We’ll see if I can spare any time tomorrow.

Overall, I like it, a lot. It’s a much bigger canvas than we’ve ever had at the last two houses, so I’ll need to step up my game next year to fill it better, but this year has given me valuable information to use to plan that.

Another area that can use some more lights to wrap up is over by the driveway, where only three of the seven trees have lights right now. Again, we’ll see if I have any time tomorrow to finish it up.

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets

December 19, 2025 · 22:18

National Basilica – Brussels

My brain was empty, awaiting imprinting or guidance. I ran across a social media thread full of stained glass…

I had stumbled into the National Basilica in Brussels by accident.

Since our hotel was near the city center, my strategy was to get on the subway and go out a dozen stops or so and then make my way back, stopping to see churches, parks, sculpture gardens, architecturally interesting buildings, etm.

This was near the station where I got off the subway and came up, and it was open. At least, no one yelled at me for wandering around like The Ugly American and taking pictures. (I was actually very polite and well behaved.)

The stained glass offerings were pretty straightforward, nothing too abstract or spectacular. But all very bright and lovely.

I found the sunbeams coming in through the dome windows, piercing down into the darkness below.

I’m glad that I stopped!

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Filed under Art, Photography, Travel

December 18, 2025 · 23:49

No Context For You – December 18th

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…

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Filed under Paul, Photography

December 17, 2025 · 23:45

Go Outside Around Sunset!

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.

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets

December 16, 2025 · 23:28

Wispy Redeux

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!

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Filed under Health, Photography, Weather

December 15, 2025 · 23:56

The New Tree – Layer One

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.

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography

December 14, 2025 · 23:41

The Pit Of Despair

I don’t know who created the meme. The images are obviously from “The Princess Bride,” one of the finest movies ever made.

Sunday nights tend to lean towards “ugly & depressing” these days, often because A) the weekend that I was hoping would be restful and relaxing was anything but, and B) because the week ahead is expected to be Hell on Wheels, with Monday earning its reputation as “MONDAY! 🤮🤯🤬😐”

The news feeds from last night and pretty much one thing after another all day today didn’t help, AT ALL.

One foot in front of another, having each others’ backs, we will all get through it.

But would it freakin’ kill the Universe / God / Karma / {insert deity name here} to cut us just a little bit of slack? Really?

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Memes, Paul

December 13, 2025 · 22:29

Community Christmas

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.

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography

December 12, 2025 · 23:28

Morphing Into Gondor

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.

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography