Sweet December There is a Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves movie, made twenty years ago called Sweet November, a remake of and even older movie of the same name. It is a strange love story about a straight-laced man and an iconoclastic woman, who meet through a chance encounter at the DMV and decide to spend the calendar month of November together. The whole point of the story is the randomness of life and why…
Stop and Listen to the Wind This is a strange day in a constantly strange year. What is making this day so much more strange is that I was awoken at 6am, somewhat earlier than normal given that I was up until 11:45pm watching Brian Williams trying to once again recap the strangeness of the day yesterday in the news. The reason I woke up early was that I heard a strange sound that I…
Mission Impossible When I was growing up, there were several shows that I especially liked because my mother liked them as well. There was that early courtroom show, The Defenders. I once asked mom why she didn’t like Perry Mason and she said she just couldn’t get into Raymond Burr for some reason. She liked Gunsmoke because she knew James Arness from her days in Pacific Palisades and she thought he was a handsome and…
Every Day is Special Yesterday was apparently Cyber Monday. Last Friday was Black Friday, whatever that is. Whatever it is, the marketplace seems to feel its necessary to advertise it excessively for two weeks before and a week after. Its like those old signs on the highway that said, “You just passed X, so turn around and drive back to find X”. And today is Giving Tuesday, which I imagine we are supposed to feel…
Occupying the Suitcase We are on our first road trip (or any trip for that matter) since July. That was four months ago. For years during my active working life, I had a private view that it was important to plan some sort of getaway every two months. Of course, that was in addition to weekends in Ithaca, business trips to here or there and nights out. I mean I would plan something “special” to…
Dashing Through The Snow There is only one Thanksgiving song I think of when the season is upon us and it provides a great start to the holiday season. That is none other than that ubiquitous Jingle Bells that ranks up there with Happy Birthday as one of the best-known American songs in the world. It is supposed to be about going over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go. It…
The Holiday Spirit I am not sure that A Christmas Carol, the Dickensian story of the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge makes my top five favorite holiday movie list (It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Love Actually and a tie between Four Christmases and The Holiday…and maybe Elf), but it is a very memorable tale that I suspect any one of us could recite with ease. It all revolves around the spirit…
The Heirarchy of the Jungle The lion sleeps tonight, but the boss man is ever-vigilant. Despite yesterday being Thanksgiving, that’s a distant memory on this particular hilltop. Strangely enough, I am not talking about myself as the boss man. I have delegated boss man status to Handy Brad and wasn’t altogether certain he would assume the mantle of responsibility, but he has done so and more. We are at full strength today with Handy Brad,…
Deck The Halls and Haul The Deck Did I mention that I am playing contractor on my deck renovation? Even if I did, I need to howl at the moon over this and so this story is what comes out. Long ago I thought I wanted to be an architect. That morphed into wanting to be a structural engineer, which evolved into an engineer more broadly, and that drifted based on a nasty run-in with…
Nothing But Blue Skies This crazy sun keeps me guessing. I’ve lived here now full-time for ten months and I am still amazed when I go to different parts of my property how the sun is in places where I don’t expect it. Part of that is about me and my orienteering capabilities while on my property and part of it is about the full range of motion that the sun (I guess I should…