The Thursday Ramble: Two Weeks before Christmas

Two weeks until Christmas, three weeks until the New Year, my how time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was seeing the early spring bloom. 

I often become very reflective at this time of the year, looking back at the year that has gone by, planning for the year ahead. 

2025 was a good year.  We lived well, and traveled comfortably.  I have done some good reading this year. I have become increasingly engaged in my community.  I have had some fun playing in the kitchen, exploring new arts and rediscovering arts from the very distant past. 

Highlights of the year? 

• Bermuda, Brugge, lunch with Duncan and Stephen, St. Andrews. Flying home first class. 
• Getting the top fixed on the little VW, and enjoying putting the roof down through the fall. 
• Getting to know the neighbors.  This one takes some effort.  A couple of years ago we started hosting a monthly LGBTQI+ gathering here at the condo.  We have made some dear friends through this. It does take some effort to remember to plan something, each month.  I have become very involved in the community Arts group, and through that have met more neighbors. 
• Lots and lots of long walks. Rediscovering the joy of going into the City and wandering a museum for an hour or two. 
• Getting back into the pool. This started with water aerobics, then some laps, and now deep water active movement.  I have even lost a little weight. 

Regrets for the year?

• I coulda, shouda, visited some family and friends. I intended to, and just didn't.  I have excuses. 
• Worrying about money, when I don't really didn't need to. Related to coulda, woulda, shouda.

Now to plan themes for the blog for 2026. 

• The Sunday Five has to continue by popular demand. It is a grind to keep coming up with questions.
• Monday Moods prompt me to do a check-up from the neck-up. 
• Tuesday Travels will continue
• My World of Wonders on Wednesdays
• I enjoy the Thursday Rambles, it gives me a place to write essays about whatever I am thinking about. 
• The freestyle Fridays will continue. 
• The Saturday Morning Post - looks like a series on creativity. The 50 states was fun, it is done, and in the end was probably the least popular theme day. Still I did it for me, to record the unimportant little things that shouldn't be forgotten. The challenge will be to sustain the creativity, but then that is one of the challenges of creativity.

My World of Wonders - Wednesday Ws - December 10, 2025

 Where have I been this week? Last Thursday I took the subway into the city for a long walk, including the Folger Shakespeare Library, and National Gallery of Art. Friday was spent installing an art gallery show, then in the evening bowling in the condo community center with our LGBT neighbors. Saturday morning was the monthly community coffee, and Saturday afternoon was the opening reception for the new art show. Sunday I went out to Mt Vernon for a walk in the cold. Tuesday evening we went into Old Town Alexandria to have dinner with an old friend. 

Who have I talked to this week? Wow, lots and lots of friends and neighbors.  

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Last Thursday I made Swiss Steak, Friday I made Pizza, Sunday beef stew and homemade bread. 

What have I been reading? Barbados the Island of the Yellow Bird by Ralfy Mitchell. I need to go to the library soon, very soon. 

Who did I reach out to? The daughter of one of my high school friends, I stumbled across a christmas photo of her from 28 years ago - scanned it an sent it to her.  She has had an eventful year, and sounds like she has found happiness.  

What else did I do? I mailed a dozen Christmas cards, the stack seems to get smaller each year. 

What is on the easel? A self Portrait, it is coming along and looks somewhat like me.  

What made me smile? I was exercising in the pool this afternoon, and there is a great view of the community Gallery from there. Two people walking down the hall, stopped suddenly to examine art on the wall. Mission accomplished if someone noticed. 

Travel Tuesday: Adventures in My Neighborhood

A Clever Sheep at Mt Vernon 

The old Main Drive at Mt Vernon 

Ms. Fox at Mt Vernon 

Aladdin the Camel is spending Christmas at Mt Vernon.  His keeper, replaced all of the doors in my condo shortly after I bought it. 

Stay Away!

Good to see the youngins are playing safe.

A Stream through a nearby park.

Nice Bike Racks at a local park 

Behind the Building, updated steps. 

 

Monday Moods: December 8th - Becoming Less of a Capitalist

I agree with you, I have grown to hate the advertisements on my blog. It has been a noble experiment. When I started them, I had no idea how much revenue they would produce, and Google makes money on our content, so why shouldn't I get a little slice of that? And I have, a tiny-tiny slice, like less than $100 a year. If you have a super popular blog with a thousand or more followers, and 1,000,000 views a month, you can probably earn that much per month, but for me, it has been a tiny amount of money.  

I can remember when $100 was a lot of money.  When I was growing up, mom and dad had envelopes for each of the kids to keep their savings in. Despite being the youngest of the four, I was the first one to accumulate $100.  Once a tightwad, always a tightwad. My ex and I saw the musical South Pacific, and I acquired a new nickname that night, "Stingy Bastard!" 

As much as we all hate the advertising, I have a strange request that will speed up the ads going away. 

Please click on the advertising and look at the offerings.  You don't have to buy anything, but if you do that might speed things up even more. (The adds pays a tiny amount for every ad placed, quite a bit more for a click, and some of the adds pay a bonus for a purchase.) 

Let me explain this strange request.  The account account only pays when it has accumulated to a threshold amount, at the current rate I am a couple of months away from reaching the next payout level. The more adds that are clicked on, the more credits to the account. When I reach the next payout level, I will shut off the adds. I am so close, I don't want to walk away from months and months of accumulating credits, but once it reaches the next payout, I can take that final payment and turn off the adds. 

Another nail in the coffin for my working career.  Letting others earn the profit without going after my tiny share. A little less entrepreneurial spirit of capitalism. 

A great relief for all of us at being able to read my content, unencumbered. 

The Sunday Five: Footwear

1: Describe the shoes you wear most days? 

2: Do you wear shoes in your home? 

3: How often do you replace your shoes? 

4: Do you have "hiking" boots? 

5: Do you have shoes for special occasions? 

My Answers: 

1: Describe the shoes you wear most days? I wear running shoes, mostly Asics Cumulus, almost all of the time. 

2: Do you wear shoes in your home? No, I prefer to be barefoot at home. 

3: How often do you replace your shoes?  I wear running shoes because of the way they support and cushion my feet, they need to be replaced a couple of times a year. 

4: Do you have "hiking" boots? A couple of pairs, including one nearly waterproof pair. 

5: Do you have shoes for special occasions? I have two or three pairs of really nice leather dress shoes that I wear a few times a year, for relatively short times.  

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: 50 States in 52 Weeks - Wisconsin

Wisconsin is on the western shore of Lake Michigan, north of Illinois and south of Minnesota. I have been there only once. It was strange I had been to all of the states around it, and not Wisconsin for a long time. So a few years ago when we were in Chicago for a few days, I scheduled a day-trip. We took the train from Chicago to Milwaukee, had lunch, wandered around the spectacular art museum on the shore of Lake Michigan (image above) and took the train back to Chicago in time for dinner.  We wandered through a great market near the train station and had lunch in a working class local bar. 

Much of the state is farmland and woodlands. It has a rust belt post industrial vibe. The southeast of the state is close enough to Chicago for commuters. Someday I will see the interior of the state. 

We will visit next summer, Cousin Ray, who produces the podcast Life Between the Vines lives about 90 miles north of Chicago O'Hare, in Wisconsin horse country. I have promised him we will visit next summer when we are in Chicago for ABA Meetings. 

A nice place to visit in the summer. A chilly place to visit in the winter.  

 

Fabulous Friday: Music

I enjoy a wide array of music. There is almost always music playing in the background of my life. Classican, jazz, rock from the last half of the last century, a little country and western, folk music, solo piano, harpsichord, or cello. I prefer a singer that I can understand.

I dislike and avoid music that is angry, or vulgar. I also avoid classical Opera, the one's where it sounds like the vocalist is being tortured. Some modern Opera in English and in a register within the spectrum of normal human communication is enjoyable. 

Music adds a rhythm to my life. It can make me laugh. It can bring me to tears. It can quiet the noise in my brain. 

Music is fabulous.