My head feels full of cotton

I am battling a real creeper of a cold.

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Charity, Beginning at Home

I want to give some money away.

I do not want to give my money to people who will use it to send me more solicitations for money.

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Happy Winter Solstice

I’m going to go have a beer this evening with my friend Brian to celebrate the solstice. We generally get together for a pint this time of year, to note the days beginning to get longer. It’s dark early now, but getting brighter, which sounds pretty good to me.

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Feel Better About Your Bad Decisions

Every so often you read one of those stories that represents a string of very boneheaded decisions that can make you laugh, incredulously — which decisions would unhinge your world had their consequences happened to you. Hopefully, you haven’t made any such decisions, or a string of them, like this young woman did.

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A Little Wind in Our Sails

Every so often when it seems the world has motorized the handbasket in which it’s being carried pell mell to hell, a story comes along that gives you a little bit of hope.

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The Sleighing of Christmas, Continued

How many people still eat a Christmas goose? A figgy pudding? I’m not even sure what a sugar plum fairy is, outside of little ballerinas in the Nutcracker. Are real plums involved?

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The Myth Around the Christmas Myth

Once upon a time sleighs were practical conveyances in wintertime. Horse-drawn wagons were impractical on icy, snowy roads, so it was logical to take a sleigh ride if you were off to visit friends or relatives.

How many people do you know who’ve ever ridden a sleigh for practical reasons? Now sleighs exist for us mostly on Christmas cards and in corporate beer commercials, selling us that nostalgia.

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So, Was It Worth the Trip?

I’ve mentioned my wife’s talent with stained glass before, and you can see more of it here.

When she first mentioned taking a beadmaking class it was in the context of learning how to make buttons, so I didn’t quite grok it. It was part of a design element for her lamps, and the prospective Portland trip was way off, so my reaction several weeks later was, “you’re going to make what, now?”

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One year old

It’s been a year since I started writing this blog. To begin the experiment, I posted a couple pieces I’d written earlier about our dogs Ernie and Vinnie, and how they’ve amused us and enriched our family.

I had definite ideas about what I wanted to do with this site — and as happens so often in life, I’ve meandered off the initial path; but quite pleasantly so, making numerous new friends and doubtless repeling a few lurkers. Still, I’m hoping to get back on the inital track a bit, and toward that end have a writing project I’m still shaping up and into installments, so stay tuned, please, or watch this space, as they say.

In the meantime, check out Mrs. Ombud’s beads up there. Gorgeous, aren’t they? I’ll write up a post about them, next.

Finally: thanks for stopping by, especially those of you who toss in your two cents on occasion — it’s worth much more.
*wink*

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Lost and Found in Portland

My grandfather was very afraid of getting lost while driving. He would not drive down to Minneapolis, later in his life, for fear of getting lost. It was because of him that I taught myself not to stress about these things. I am on vacation. Mrs. Ombud is in her beadmaking class (pictures to come). The dogs are in the backseat. I am driving, consulting a map of Portland, and missing my turn. I have all the time in the world. What’s there to stress about?

Thank you, Grandpa.

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