Snow measure

December 5, 2019December 3, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Piles on tables and chairs around the house and yard are one way of seeing how much snow we’ve had recently. The depth is harder to guess when you’re looking out at the ground. This kind of reminds me of a white-frosted cake.

Looks cold to me

December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

A squirrel on a branch outside our dining room window reduces a walnut to nothingness. The meal took a good quarter-hour.

Ten things I don’t like about December

December 3, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Too dark. It’s not just waking up and going to bed in the dark. Where I live, it also means going to work in the dark and coming home in the same. And that’s coming from someone who’s officially retired.
Too cold. Where I live, we’re just not used to it yet.
Too many shoppers. That means long lines at the cash register everywhere.
And all that shopper traffic. Parking lots are full. Traffic lights are backed up.
Everybody’s snarly. Can’t blame them. So am I.
Santa Claus ditties. They’re coming out of ceilings everywhere. They have nothing to do with the birth of the Christ Child.
Lying to innocent children. These presents don’t come from a fat man in a red suit, for starters. He doesn’t come down a chimney anywhere in the world. And telling them all this blarmy undermines their trust in anything else we tell them, especially about Jesus.
Guilt, paralysis, and panic. For guys, especially, this hits hard about three days before the big event, when we still haven’t figured out what to get anyone.
Everything else stops. Do I really need to explain this?
It’s all about the Holiday Season. Or more accurately, holiday shopping. Let’s be honest and admit that what’s happening has very little to do with what should be happening.

How about a few firsts?

December 2, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday was not only the first day of December, it was also the first day of Advent.

(Make that Advent in the Western Christian calender, which runs between 21 and 27 days before Christmas, depending. The Eastern Orthodox faithful, in contrast, observe it as a 40-day fast that began November 15 this year.)

For us, our first snowfall of the year also began yesterday, and it’s already delivered seven inches, a bit under half of what’s expected by tomorrow morning.

My wife was pleased to have all of this also fall into the extended Thanksgiving Day weekend, a welcome break in what’s been a chaotic schedule.

How’s the month kicking off for you?