The Stuff on Your List

There is much that you want to do and much that can be done but fortunately there is much less that really needs to be done.

Don't let the first two categories distract from the third.

Quote of the Day

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. 

- African proverb

The Man with the Lights

I still miss it.

I thought it would never go away, then one day it was gone and my world was diminished. Some of my neighbors may not have noticed but I immediately spotted the gap and told my wife.

She replied, "It's about time." That was unworthy of her.

Here is the story. A man who lives around the corner had the lights of a white star strung along a side of his townhouse. Every year at Christmas time, I looked forward to the night when he would push in a plug and the lights would shine.

Very nice, but that was not the beauty of his display.

Its true appeal was that he never took the lights down.

They would be lit only during the Christmas season. The rest of the year they remained in place and a keen eye could discern the faint outline of the star. It was the quiet statement of a man who'd decided that putting up Christmas lights once was enough of a chore. I imagined him shuffling out, cigar in one hand and a drink in the other, and plugging in those lights.

The repainting of the townhouse ended this practice.

Progress has its penalties.

KBACH's Top 100

KBAQ [a.k.a. KBACH] is Phoenix's classical music station. 

Here is the link to its listeners' 100 "most wanted" list for 2015.

Find Something Beautiful Today

Music Break

Judy Collins sings "Silent Night."

Look Ma, No Hans

Cultural Offering cites a key point in the Christmas season.

Americana

A Christmas Story House and Museum.

There was an auction. The winner gets to spend Christmas in the house plus gets an extra day to explore Cleveland. 

That is an especially nice touch.

No wonder someone bid $8,700.

First Paragraph

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive. . . ." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?" 

- From Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson

The City for Christmas

Is there a dream location for Christmas?

Consider these options:

• London. Scrooge and Tiny Tim territory. Perhaps the ultimate Christmas locale outside of Bethlehem and certainly far safer. Dickens as tour guide.
• Some hellish place in Maine. Snow is nice but only if you can hide from it. Throw another log on the fire. Drink some nog. Cancel all meetings.
• Hawaii. Now we're completely off the reservation. At least Arizona resembles the Holy Land.
• New York City. There is some Christmas aura about the place. I'm not sure why. It may be the camels and the elves.
• Others?