when it’s late in the season
the elves have to go to santa
he doesn’t have time to be flying back and forth
looks like I just missed their weekly board meeting.
—
‘never schedule a board meeting on Wednesday because it kills two weekends.’
-kurt vonnegut
who wants to play ‘wine box jenga?’
—
that was the question on the listing.
once again
I love my local ‘next door’ website
for its creative and fun content
you never know what you’ll find .
even these
which you didn’t know
you had to have
until you saw them there.
—
‘enthusiasm is the great hill-climber’
-elbert hubbard
*Elbert Hubbard ( 1856- 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Hubbard is known best as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community, an influential exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. He and his wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915.
1936, John Steinbeck’s dog Toby, an Irish Setter, turned the first draft of Of Mice and Men into a snack. In a letter dated May 27 of that year, the future Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner wrote that he “was pretty mad, but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically.”
Steinbeck estimated that Toby making “confetti” of the manuscript would set him back by about two months, but it may have been worth it: Steinbeck’s short, tragic tale of two migrant workers eking out a humble existence in California during the Depression is among the author’s most moving and accomplished works, which is saying something for the man responsible for both East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck, a lifelong dog-lover, later wrote a travelogue featuring his poodle called Travels With Charley.
—
‘a critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote.’
-mignon mclaughlin
when you realize just bit too late…
—
image credit gary larson, the far side
teen girls at the mall seek out santa
where teen girls are
teen boys can’t be far behind
“kids believe in Santa; adults believe in childhood.”
-cate kennedy
british/australian author, poet, writing professor, editor
—
The phrase “kids believe in Santa, adults believe in childhood” means children naturally accept magical figures like Santa as real, embodying wonder, while adults see Santa as a symbol of generosity, family, tradition, and the magical innocence of youth, realizing the idea of Santa (giving) is more important than the literal person, often transferring that spirit to their own acts of giving and preserving that joy for the next generation. It highlights the shift from literal belief to understanding symbolic meaning as we grow, with adults becoming the keepers of the “magic” for kids.
teens are somewhere in the middle,
still wanting to believe in the magic
but knowing the truth.
it was the other cat’s fault.
suspect #1: olive, loves to loll around, take things slow, enjoy the day
suspect #2: pete the cat, loves to stand up tall, climb on things, pull them down,
deconstruct them, carry them around, hide them, reuse, recycle, repurpose
i’m still investigating to see who might be behind this caper.
one will end up on santa’s naughty list
one will not.
—
‘crime takes no holiday.’
-thomas h. louis
The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service oversee some of the country’s most treasured natural resources, from the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone to 154 national forests. Budget cuts and layoffs – more than 4,400 park rangers and other staff were fired in February — have put these lands and their stewards in jeopardy, but a grassroots initiative called “Adopt-a-Ranger” aims to help.
Sandra Ramos, known as @nationalparkpatchlady on Instagram, launched the movement when she realized many people wanted to lend a hand but didn’t know how, she said on the Rangers of the Lost Park podcast earlier this month. Built on the “idea of community and mutual aid,” the program allows public lands staff to sign up to be ‘adopted’ by a supporter, while members of the public can sign up to ‘adopt’ and employee. Ramos and her colleagues make the matches, and ensure each adoptee receives a care kit for the winter holidays.
More than 500 people signed up to participate when Ramos launched the initiative – far more than the 50 she had initially expected. “Things are rough all around, but the generosity and abundance of spirit we are seeing on this project is so, so good,” Ramos wrote after seeing the response.
—
‘
‘a park ranger is a protector.
you protect the land from the people,
the people from the land, the people from each other,
and the people from themselves.”
-kurt caswell
—
source credits: NPS, Good News, Nice News, photo image: joe raedle
time to try on those new glasses
i can see so many new things now
everything looks bigger
even my hair looks big
think I’ll have to get used to them
do they make my eyes look big?
—
“find a pair to make you who you are.”
– jack nicholson
—
image credit: pinterest
(this is not me, but the baby model and i share the same birthday spirit)
—
november was my birthday month
i really made the most of it
celebrating at every opportunity as it presented itself
meeting up with family and friends and committees
indulging in treats and meals and tastes of all kinds
special surprise desserts from special people
offers from community businesses
yes, I happily welcomed them all
cakes, pie, breakfast, mexican lunch, coffee,
beverages, bread, ice cream, chocolate…
my birthday month knew no bounds
ah, those were the days
now it’s december
it’s cold
there’s snow
it’s not
my birthday month
time to pay the piper
why don’t the community businesses
offer free after-birthday
gym memberships, personal trainer, black coffee, online workouts?
—
‘i like to have my cake and eat it too.’
-anonymous
—
image credit: google images
‘in december the world sparkles with possibilities.’
-terry guillemets
—
art credit: Welcome To The Woods, Canvas Print by Toshio Ebine
I didn't have my glasses on.... 