Holiday Road Photos III

More photos from my road trip. My sister’s family’s dog, taking up the sofa Christmas morning. He likes to bark at me. He also likes to bark at the cats, who live upstairs, safe behind a gate. On a walk around the neighborhood this morning, there was a pirate statue. Before going to look atContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos III”

Holiday Road Photos II

Today was the second stage of my holiday adventures, going from Lynchburg to Raleigh. My siblings and I had discussed with my dad the possibility of me bringing him to North Carolina, and while he was receptive Sunday and Monday, yesterday he didn’t feel up to the trip. He’s eighty-four and frail, and it’s aContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos II”

Christmas Tree Lane

Every Christmas, Lancaster’s baseball team holds something they call “Christmas Tree Lane,” a display of decorated trees on the stadium concourse. There’s also a drive-through Christmas lights display on the field. I went tonight, even though it was bitterly cold and hellishly windy — temperature of 26 degrees right now, with a wind chill ofContinue reading “Christmas Tree Lane”

Updates from Social Media

What follows are a series of social media posts from the past several days relating to my mom’s hospitalization and death. The artwork I use may not match exactly what I used on social media, but it’s similar, and in one case there’s more. From Facebook. Friday, December 12, 10:30 PM. Saying goodbye to myContinue reading “Updates from Social Media”

Simply Having a Jazzy Christmastime

What if the Vince Guaraldi Trio recorded Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” for “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? That’s what this delightful little cover of Macca’s Christmas favorite by the Jason Frederick Cinematic Trio imagines. “Favorite”? Well, “money pump.” It’s a money pump. Last I saw, McCartney earned something like one million dollars a year in performanceContinue reading “Simply Having a Jazzy Christmastime”

Christmas Tales from Gilded Age New York

“New York is a place long shaped by the forces of unbridled capital, where form follows finance and landowners get to build “as of right”, citizens be damned.” — Oliver Wainwright Recently I read John Kendrick Bangs‘ 1912 short story collection, A Little Book of Christmas. Bangs was a short story writer and magazine editorContinue reading “Christmas Tales from Gilded Age New York”

Winter Solstice

It’s a cold one today! The winter solstice. “Halfway out of the dark.” It snowed furiously all day yesterday, and this morning everything was icy and frozen. I like seeing the snow on the hills over Red Lion and Windsor way, shining white in the sun. I really should have gone Thursday night to seeContinue reading “Winter Solstice”

“No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Wear an Ugly Christmas Sweater”

We’re getting closer to Christmas — Thanksgiving is this Thursday — and the Facebook ads have taken a turn toward the festive and unlicensed. Case in point? James Bond-themed uply Christmas sweaters. For the record, I do not own an ugly Christmas sweater, and these will not change that. I do not care if they’veContinue reading ““No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Wear an Ugly Christmas Sweater””