PN:
Merry Christmas!
To one and all short and tall boy and girl (and those other folks too).
Wishing and hoping your Christmas celebration is replete with family, friends, good cheer, shelter from the weight of the world, and optimism for the coming year. Peace on you all!
Christmas Stress
It has been Joe’s observation that around the Christmas holiday, the ladies seem to get a little high strung.
Getting everything right, preparing seasonal dishes and treats, decorating the tree and house, buying all the gifts, organizing, coordinating, et cetera, causes the lasses some stress.
Some of the stress might be the lack of concern or help given by any male entities in her orbit.
An example of a lovely woman strung a wee bit tight:
It is not spoken but inferred that the focus of our lovelie’s ire, the center of the irritation, is a man.
Stress can manifest like that.
Of course, men don’t stress during the holiday season, which turns the amplification up to 11.
The solution?
Alas, as the survivors of a large number of Christmas, New Year, Easter, Summer holiday, Halloween, and various other special events and celebrations, Joe and I have no easy answer to resolve the distress.
Only time fixes the problem. Or a glass of wine….
Joe and I take our collective hat off to all the women who make Christmas so special every year. You are the heart of the seasonal celebration.
Thank you all!
12 Days of Christmas
In the last week Joe and I have asked two dozen women around town (while shopping and preparing for Christmas) a question they to a woman could not answer with certainty.
Grandson Rourke likes to sing the song loud and strong, as do his compadres at school. During the Christmas Concert, the music instructor cautioned the kids to not be too enthusiastic at the break; “FIVE GOOOLLLLDENNNN RINGS!!!”
While singing along with Rourke at breakfast, it dawned on me that I didn’t know which days, precisely, are the 12 days of Christmas.
For all to know, this is what it is in most of the Western world –
The first day of Christmas is as you might imagine, the 25th of December, and January 5th is the last i.e. 12th day. Of course, nothing is so simple. Reference here.
If you are as lucky as we and have a little cherub who likes to sing Christmas carols, when the song is the Twelve Days of Christmas you now know all about it!
Winter Solstice, 2017
The amount of daylight on December 21st was 8 hours 5 minutes 31 seconds, in our little piece of Heaven.
Shortest day of the year.
Facts are facts, even when you don’t have a clue how to verify / validate them ( Joe is toying with the idea of building a measurement tool – a task that will consume a few cases of beer, minimum just to think about).
In this case, without validation by direct measure, an emotional response.
We feel the day was very short.
Reflecting on Joe’s absolute revulsion with cold snowy weather, with short days and long inky black nights, a small oddly glaring paradox emerges, much like the diamond bright winter stars in the cold dark sky – Joe loves the Winter Solstice!
For instance, just knowing that the days get longer starting with the 22nd of December ( 3 whole seconds longer!) fills Joe with a joi de vivre that brings tears to both eyes.
For those not intimately familiar with the machinations of solar mechanics – Joe and I are in that number – the fact that on the 23rd there were 10 more seconds of precious daylight, and that the 24th brought 17 additional life-giving seconds of solar radiation are hints of a non-linear progression.
To Joe, these few seconds each day are more precious than all the frankincense, myrrh, and gold in the world.
Tonight it is the night before Christmas.
Joe and I will sleep well, knowing tomorrow is a day of celebration and spirituality, of family and friends, of giving and receiving, of good cheer and hope.
Can’t forget the traditional supper closely followed by the malaise and drowsiness felt by every well meaning Christmas feasting glutton.
The topper, the glazed cherry on whipped cream, is 21 additional glorious seconds of sunlight….
Life is good! And getting better!
Joe’s Lament
Perhaps not the lyric but the sentiment.
To corruptly paraphrase Yossarian (Catch-22), “Ou sont le testosterone d’antan?”
Three versions of this up-beat anthem to manly manliness, the ode to testosterone:
Once more with feeling:
And again:
Joe’s Garage
Strangernest – There is a beast called Hoffmann.
Stranger than strange…..
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
SUNDAY SERMON
Continuing Jordan B. Peterson’s lecture series Personality, here is segment 10: Humanism & Phenomenology: Carl Rogers:
WEATHER (OR NOT)
This week in Vernon, Old Man Winter showed up to set the stage for a very white Christmas.
Ever the bitter critic of Winter, Joe admits the old man did a spectacular job this year.
A fresh foot of snow, some sunny days, not too damn cold.
The furnace is busy…..
Joe (sweatered) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez for Christmas! –
