a thousand hairy savages sitting down to lunch …
or something to that effect, as I either paraphrase or quote the inimitable Spike Milligan, in honour of my American friends’ turkey festival. A very Happy Thanksgiving to you late celebrating folk.
We have become increasingly aware of American Thanksgiving as it has for one become bigger than Christmas in the States almost, or perhaps has become a part of it, a forerunner, a season opener. But as my athletic therapist pointed out yesterday as the insane blackness of the ill-named Black Friday was plastered all over town, your dollar has our border retailers salivating, so perhaps we are more aware this year than usual.
The fluctuation in the exchange rate has currently put a dead stop to a great Canadian tradition of cross border shopping, where the strong US dollar was offset by cheap prices and low taxes. But as the cold weather approaches and our snow birds all look south, it is with dismay. A dismay I am sharing, as while the boat must stay home, there is just a chance that we will imitate our old lives and manage a Bahamas trip to stay with the elderly in-laws who have a sweet setup with friends in Treasure Cay, where they have a little bungalow community where the average age is about 862. But one does one’s own cooking, etc., so it is really just the flight that is an added expense. And we are worried about them. They soldier on remarkably, but age is age and pop-in-law is 86.
But back to the present, I hope you enjoy your holiday, see family if that is a good idea, don’t see family if that is a better idea, and if football is part and parcel of your sweet potato pie day, you might enjoy listening to this episode of Radiolab. Their endless NPRness eventually wears one down, as episode after episode seemed to delve into transgenderness and then sort of horrible stories about death, and shooting Rhinos because they do have an agenda and kind of hate a lot of things, or at least I began to find it more depressing than inspiring, but many of the episodes cover very interesting ground, and this one, about the invention of American football was an astonishing tale, and I heartily recommend it while you are peeling those sweet potatoes or just curling up on the couch fending off wolves:
Today, we tackle football. It’s the most popular sport in the US, shining a sometimes harsh light on so much of what we have been, what we are, and what we hope to be. Savage, creative, brutal and balletic, whether you love it or loathe it … it’s a touchstone of the American identity.
Along with conflicted parents and players and coaches who aren’t sure if the game will survive, we take a deep dive into the surprising history of how the game came to be. At the end of the 19th century, football is a nascent and nasty sport. The sons of the most powerful men in the country are literally knocking themselves out to win these gladiatorial battles. But then the Carlisle Indian School, formed in 1879 to assimilate the children and grandchildren of the Native American men who fought the final Plains Wars, fields the most American team of all. The kids at Carlisle took the field to face off against a new world that was destroying theirs, and along the way, they changed the fundamentals of football forever.
It makes one appreciate the use of indian names for sports teams a little more … perhaps a compliment not an insult?
We used to go camping for Thanksgiving, and gathered around the table I actually enforced a giving thanks, each person in turn. I think our middle child was thankful for potatoes one year, and really when you think about it, me too! So just to be preachy for a moment, do remember to be thankful for something or someone or both … even for yourself. We are lucky to be alive and it doesn’t get better than that, as far as I can tell.
So I hope your brine is salty, and your beer is malty and that you are able to eat, drink and be merry. But maybe don’t go shopping tomorrow. It is getting a little unseemly. Unless you want to drive up here … but our Black Friday started Wednesday, so it is all a little confusing.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving and I hope a couch features prominently in your day.
And another good morning. Quite green.
Always a favourite, and though I haven’t watched it all, someone put a lot of effort into the video.
You have the world at your fingertips, no one can make it better than you … challenging lyrics at the best of times …
I did listen to the whole album, and dang but it makes we a little weepy in a happy way. Of course, many things do but not always with the happy component.
Can’t sleep. I am getting a cortisone injection into the region of my unmentionables today. It was booked for February but I phoned and asked about cancellations, and they said how about Friday?
I am hopeful but a little nerve-wracked. Had one against my wishes in my hip (couldn’t get referred to a hip doctor without trying it first even though I was sure my hip wasn’t the problem – but if I hadn’t taken that route I would never have met my current sports med doctor and that would have been bad – you just never know) and it was a very painful procedure for some reason. But this is being done in the hospital with some sort of x-ray guidance, and the other was done in a clinic with a doctor I did not see eye to eye with and while a bit of a last resort, it might well help with a portion of my problems!
But it has eradicated sleep apparently as a pre-side-effect.
So good morning.
And on a happier note, tonight is our Community Association’s Kris Kringle event and we give out free hot chocolate and cookies (that somehow hubby and I have now provided for years) to what used to be the deserving poor. I was in NFLD last year and poor hubby had to wing it alone, but the year before it seemed to be transforming into some sort of cocktail party atmosphere. But there are crafts for the kids, organized by the employees of the Community Centre who have a competition amongst themselves to come up with the best one, and Santa comes and there are free photos with him that turn out to be a big big deal for some families.
There used to be a palliative hospital near by that a neighbour would organize carolling for but that has all changed and we need a new plan for carols … I will at least cobble together a playlist.
So I think I will try to worry about how many cups we will need (100-150?) and not about large needles to the groin. But apparently it works for hockey players, and my doctor said it worked for Mike Fisher, but I think that was his achilles tendon. But anyone who wants to treat me like an injured NHLer gets treated is more than welcome to! Socialist paradise indeed.
Well the freezing was the worst part. Think dentist and then think where you really wouldn’t want that needle and then move an inch up. But all in all not too bad. The doctor was about as old as Doogie what’s-his-name, but very nice and seemed steady and confident. Now we wait and hope. Maybe one pain down?
So far so good … morning.
For reasons of neighbourliness and breaking out of hernitness, I agreed to do a cookie exchange with five neighbours, assuming we would get together of an evening … but no, tomorrow morning at 11:00. But a simple shortbread that turned into plain, chocolate and mocha is filling the house with yummy smells, and I managed to score it into enough pieces. But ghastly to give away one’s own cookies … and not even a glass of wine to soften the blow!
sorry for being so gone. some heavy stuff going on, but it is all good. powerfully good.
i played Hurt covered by Johnny Cash yesterday morning and thought about posting it. i never made it to logging on here before work though. today i see you posted that Neil song.
this is for someone i have known for a very long time…
guess i should post this too while i am here…
this came in my email today. if i could title this post it would at least contain the word perspective, or maybe that should be plural.
Dear XXXXX and XXXXX Christmas 2015
The year 2015 was – to put it mildly – eventful. Forget the weather, forget the first three months. The fateful day was April 20.
That day was a Monday. Each Monday morning my lady gardener XXXXX, a neighbor, comes and cuts the lawn, pulls weeds, plants flowers, etc. She is much better at this than I ever was, even at my younger days.
I had gotten up and was taking my morning shower in the bathroom on the upper floor of my house when I heard strange noises. Fully naked I opened the bathroom door to the hallway and the staircase and found myself engulfed in thick smoke and heard the sound of fire. I couldn’t see anything and made my way down, groping along the wall. Coughing like mad I made it to the door to the garden. “XXXXX”, I shouted, “Fire, Fire!”
The heat had begun bursting some windows and you could see the flames coming out. Standing there naked I started to go back to grab some clothes (in a situation like this you don’t think rationally and worry about “little things”), but XXXXX followed me and pulled me back – in effect saving my life.
By this time other neighbors had come and called the fire service which arrived after about 10-15 minutes. A fire service ambulance took me to a near-by hospital where I was treated for smoke poisoning. (Oh yes: one neighbor had given me a bath robe.) I was released from the hospital the next day.
My house was practically all demolished. While the roof, the outside walls and the basement had no fire damage, the insides of the ground and upper floor were now muddy ashes. Just about all was lost: papers, records, addresses, phone numbers, clothing, computer, everything!
Fire experts determined that the fire began with an electrical cable shortage on the ground floor. (The house was built in the 1930’s and the sum of today’s electrical devices had become too much.)
To really make things bad – I have no fire insurance and have to bear all the cost myself.
The good thing however: I came out alive and with no injuries!
Friends and neighbors were of tremendous help. It was overwhelming! The biggest support, of course, came from my friend XXXXX.
Concerning the weather, spring was mild and the summer was exceptional. Only twice since the meteorologists started keeping records about 100 years ago was the summer hotter. In Berlin we had eight days with approx.. 38°C (100°F). There was little rain – the driest summer in 50 years. Ship traffic on Germany’s large rivers, the Rhine, Elbe and Oder was down to a minimum or totally stopped. Grass in the public parks used to be green – this summer all you saw was brown.
An early, hot and dry summer creates an ideal climate for wasps, and we had plenty of them!
Sitting outside a restaurant and drinking juice, eating cake or ice cream quickly attracted not one wasp, but a small squadron. They say when you sit still they won’t attack you, but I wonder if the wasps know this.
Autumn was sunny and mild. November was unusually mild. 65°F on November 8! But then on November 22 we had the first snow of the season. After that, however,the mild weather continued.
From August 17 – 28 XXXXX and I were in Munich. I wanted to show her the Alp Mountains. But the weather was mostly cloudy and rainy. Our visit in Bavaria was a flop.
In September XXXXX and I spent a week in Warnemuende, a resort city on the Baltic Sea. We had been there last year and liked it very much. Warnemuende has been a resort for over over 100 years and was also a favorite vacation spot for the Communist party leaders of the German Democratic Republic. Regrettably the weather was rainy and windy.
But we escaped the bad weather in early October when we spent one week in Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranian. It’s only a 2 ½ hour flight from Berlin and rather than taking the free transfer bus from the Palma de Mallorca airport to our hotel (which took four hours on our visit last year), we booked a different hotel near the airport, took a taxi and paid only € 15 for the fare. And we had lovely weather all week.
Back in Berlin. Perhaps the biggest problem facing Berlin (and Germany) is the huge number of refugees seeking asylum. In the first 10 months of this year, some 80.000 came to Berlin (1 million to Germany) mostly from Syria, Africa and Afghanistan. No one was prepared for such an onslaught. And there is no end in sight! The city is desperately looking for lodgings. The registration offices are working 24 hours a day but can’t catch up. The refugees are sleeping on the ground hoping to get registered the next day. Once registered, they get some money each day, free health care and hopefully housing (which sometimes takes weeks). And the coming winter isn’t going to make it easier. The big problem in the immediate and distant future is to integrate them. Many are illiterate, many have little or no education and, of course, most cannot speak German. The situation is going to cost the tax payers (and that includes me) a lot of money.
So much for this year. I wish you a joyous Christmas and a healthy 2016.
XXXXX
I must confess I do not want to be overwhelmed by Syrian refugees. Or any refugees. But I have no idea what to do about them. Perspective is vastly important. When you downsize the Jones’s you are trying to keep up with, everything changes. And I don’t mean that strictly materially. Accepting that the cherries have pits is key.
And another good early morning.
I didn’t expect all these pits, though. But other people sure have more and worse ones.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
Dec 12, 2015
For Those Who Would Play With Fear, Intolerance, and Anger
In 1990 I was at an international communications conference in Berlin hosted by Deutsche Bundespost Telekom.
On the weekend I took a long autumn walk from my hotel down the Tiergartenstrasse past the park, and up to the Unter Den Linden, and from there to the Brandenburg Gate. The famous ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ was no longer standing, but you could see where it had been.
I had wanted to see the Pergamon Museum in what had been East Berlin on ‘Museum Island’ in the Spree River, to see the famous Pergamon Altar, and the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way. I also visited the Alte Nationalgalarie.
Some of the other buildings were old and in a state of disrepair. I remember how many still carried bullet holes and signs of the war, even after so many years.
But on the way there, between the Brandenburg Tor and the Staatsoper Haus, I happened to spot a memorial at Bebelplatz. And in the middle of the square was a metal plaque.
“In Der Mitte dieses Platzes verbrannten am 10. Mai 1933 Nationalsozialistische Studenten die Werke Hunderter freier Schriftsteller, Publizisten, Philosophen und Wissenschaftler.”
In the middle of this square on 10 May 1933 National Socialist students burned the works of hundreds of freelance writers, publicists, philosophers and scientists.
In the federal elections of 1928, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP received only 2.6% of the national vote. They were widely considered to be an oddity and a joke.
Even though the German economy had stabilized by that time in the aftermath of the Weimar hyperinflation of 1918 to 1924, the Crash of 1929 drove unemployment rose from 8.5% to 30% by 1932.
In the federal elections of July 1932, the NSDAP received 37% of the national vote, but 230 seats in Parliament, it had become the largest single party.
In the federal elections of November 1932, the last free election in that nation for some time, the NSDAP received 33% of the national vote, and 196 of the seats.
In a January 1933 compromise promoted heavily by industrialists who feared socialism and communism, the NSDAP party leader was named chancellor of a coalition government.
In February 1933 there was a fire that destroyed part of the Reichstag building that was blamed on the communists. In response, the government passed the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State , Reichstagsbrandverordnung, which suspended civil liberties and outlawed all other political parties. This is also known as the Machtergreifung.
In March 1933, in an election marked by violent repression and the silencing of most political opponents, starting with the left but moving quickly to include the Social Democrats and the Zentrum, or Center Party, the NSDAP received 43% of the national vote, and 288 seats out of 647.
The Enabling Act, Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich, was passed, and plenary power was granted to the Chancellor to enact laws without the involvement of the Reichstag.
By July 1933 there were about 27,000 key political leaders and journalists, in opposition to the NSDAP, housed in newly established concentration camps in Oranienburgm Esterwegen, Dachau, and Lichtenburg.
There were no more meaningful elections until 1949.
In their fear and anger some of the German people reached for a strong and decisive leader who promised them a return to normalcy and freedom from their confusion, and sought to preserve themselves as they wished to be with the heady fumes of power. The will to power serves none but itself.
The great majority of the people looked on, and did nothing.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
“Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort
wo man Bücher verbrennt,
verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.”
Heinrich Heine, Almansor: A Tragedy
Usually comparing people to Hitler is bad form, but Trump is a dangerous, dangerous man. He sows hatred of the other with every opening of his repellent cake hole. I feel tremendous sorrow that the Anti Slavery Party could have come to this pass.
it is like living in a bad dream. Trump could be president. dope isn’t even legal yet. but i read that the reptilian controlled government has been lacing municipal water supplies with LSD, and then using HAARP to influence softened target voter preferences.
i dedicate this computer painting to my new old friend.
Good morning. Yoga beckons and it looks like we might finally paint the bathroom we renovated a scant 3 years ago …. but I hope to be back to my usual verbose self very soon.
And yes, Trump is a nightmare.
Good Morning.
A strange decisiveness came over me, and after stumping along with the dog down by the river, which followed some internet shopping yesterday and early this morning, I did some retail shopping and actually have possibly got my lovely kids some lovely Christmas presents. Came home and made roasted veggie soup with the stock from Sunday’s chicken which actually jellied up really nicely. And now to actually start in on that painting project, after I eat my soup.
As anyone reading between the lines as well as just the actual lines themselves will know, I battle anxiety and probably depression and lately they have crept back up. And I must thank you all for being my therapists, for I do find sharing extremely helpful. Sometimes it is partly that I try to be positive in public, and this is an extension of that positive self. Yesterday I was somewhat horizontal … but today it is getting better.
And I have been listening to interesting and occasionally unintelligible books that I will certainly share soon. In the meantime, I did really enjoy even if it is not news, the latest econtalk, in which amongst other things Russ Roberts explains why he doesn’t want to interview Bernanke himself, who has it would appear written a book with the most hubristic (hey it’s a word!) title ever, The Courage to Act, because as Russ explains, it would just be a press conference because Bernanke will never say, hey, maybe I was wrong about anything. And Russ thinks Bernanke was and is wrong about many things.
George Selgin on Monetary Policy and the Great Recession
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/12/george_selgin_o.html
And another good morning! Bathroom coming along nicely. I am a bad painter in many ways so made sure to cover and tape everything and cut all the edges … that took forever, but the actual first coat of the first colour went on great. And the second colour already mostly had its first coat. So this morning second coat on first colour and then hopefully finish first coat of second colour and then maybe tomorrow second coat of second colour.
Wasn’t that fascinating? But that is where my mind is …. Offspring #1 home on Saturday and still need to make up her room and get rid of the last vestiges of #2’s occupation of her erstwhile space. But good busyness, and house getting into better order than in the last 5 years. Looking forward to the oddity of bringing a fresh cut tree into the house. Smells so nice and such a weird thing to do it appeals to my quirky nature, even if it is following a tradition. It is an odd convention. And nice to for the kids to come home to.
Somehow my birthday seems a little different this year, but I will nonetheless happily accept any and all compliments and good wishes. I think I will now need to reach 106 to keep my positive train of thought going that if I get to have this much experience again, it will be a lot!
I had a day of very slow minutes the other day, and even though it was a tough day, I remembered to be thankful that I got to experience it so completely.
I would like to coin a word: refreshedovers, leftovers with fresh ingredients.
Procrastination is not painting the bathroom … soon, grasshopper, soon.
Well, oddly I suppose, the light colour paint was fine, and the second coat went on like a charm, and any errors are simply to be considered character. But the second can of paint, the darker colour, was a thick spludgey mass. Moral of the story? Don’t take three years to paint your bathroom. But off to buy paint tomorrow, and there is just enough time.
Meatloaf for supper, and I just have to boast that it was really tasty. I totally cheat and use Knorr onion soup mix, amongst other things, and don’t over work the meat, and those two tricks allow almost any other bunch of ingredients. In this case an egg, some panko breadcrumbs softened with milk, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce (thank you spell check) and some grated mozzarella and parmesan and cheddar. Shape into a nice brick and roast on a roasting pan. Pour off the fat when it is cooked.
I got so excited reliving the experience typing that I went and took a picture. We happened to have a slightly tired tomato, two parsnips and some celery, which I roasted together in the oven with butter and olive oil and then topped with breadcrumbs and provencal herbs and the same three cheeses at the end. But they were too devoured to photograph.
someway, somehow, Freddie Mercury and Joan Jett had a child.
and Good Morning!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good Morning ❗ Hope the powerful good is continuing. We could all use some powerful good.
Painting pretty much done. Tiny touch ups this morning needed and a second coat of darker colour on about a square metre that for some reason had never received a first coat eons ago. Dare I dream that we could even trim it up before Sunday? It is just possible.
I really must be feeling better. For years it has been a triumph for me to walk the dog, buy groceries and cook dinner, all in one day. I know that sounds ridiculous and obviously in the midst of it all more than that happens. But I am finally well rid of the Lyrica. That also probably sounds ridiculous because I stopped taking it in I think March. But it has been a long road and the way my brain is starting to work again I can only attribute to its getting its chemicals in better balance and I know the Lyrica was causing a pseudo-Alzheimer’s effect where I would suddenly just go blank, in the middle of a sentence even, and have no way of recovering the train of thought. Now I remember all sorts of things, names included! It was terrifying and I tried to cover it up and never talked about it then. But it has gone away entirely. And then the broken leg. But lately I have been able to make decisions, and choices, and not feel like I am in a total fog. Still vaping my awesome legal weed, although less smoking going down, but otherwise I really didn’t curtail myself much, and the stomach has almost settled down. The only things that are really different is no Lyrica, further distance from the hernia operation and whatever I seemed to catch or not be able to handle that happened then (it was the worst “recovery” from a surgery, short of identifiable infection, I have ever had – felt dreadful from the moment I awoke, but there is no explanation and so it has just been sort of an incidental codicil to life) and yoga. Oh, I lie. I have been eating better and every morning since August have been drinking a somewhat ghastly protein shake, the only one I have found that doesn’t make one gag, that is like a vitamin and mineral pill, plus calories. Metagenics is the company and the rice chocolate 360 is the flavour. Anyhow, yesterday I had an appointment, then walked the dog, bought groceries including a little butchered bone in leg of lamb, came home, made lunch for me and hubby, went out to 3 different places and finished all Christmas shopping, dropped off a bag of stuff for St. Vincent’s, painted the second coat in the bathroom, roasted the lamb with a crust of mustard, garlic, rosemary, pepper, olive oil and salt and a bit of honey ….
I used to be like that … it may sound very homemakery, but that is my first priority, and it had slipped to a minimum. Dang, what a nice surprise. I even had a hair cut.
it is as simple as baking cookies! that’s it. 🙂 🙂 🙂
i am fucking broke but couldn’t care less!
and this…
Merry X-mas Xty.
just read the side bar. wow. was just talking to my wife about that very thing. how do you explain the color hot pink to someone who is color blind? how does one explain unconditional love?
get your head around this. to exist in any dimension, there has to be one more acting as a sort of container. so we cannot experience that n+1 dimension, though it has to exist, and this has been (well almost) proved by math. so there are at least 5 dimensions (probably). but string theory has now shown there to be eleven, and even that is so far.
and they may have just discovered the graviton. but i ramble! 🙂 🙂 🙂
i call this computer painting the Higgs Boson. seems to work right about here.
gotta go to work. see ya.
Yes I was always infuriated when people tried to say there was “nothing outside the universe”. If the universe has an edge or boundary, then there is something on the other side, even if you want to call it nothing. Otherwise there is no edge. Ahhh multiverses … have to accept them, but don’t like them much!
And as to baking cookies, yes. But it is the wanting to bake them that is often the problem …
Glad to see we are all doing a little better … and the painting is done! Finito, tidied up even! Now to invigorate trim-guy.
Oh, and while quale and qualia are interesting concepts, the use of the first word out loud makes one sound like a pretentious prig. Better in the plural. But you just can’t go around talking about quale without people wanting to punch you. It is the sound of the word. Thought it should come with a warning.
Higgs Boson with melting glass.
been duped and feel like a dumb ass and was hurried but s**t f***K, check this s**t out, Log Cabin All Natural Syrup..main ingredient Brown Rice Syrup. F Log Cabin products forever.
And my general resolution is to be more positive.
Trying to figure out what to swap for some Canadian Maple Syrup. http://thedelicioustruth.blogspot.com/2010/12/log-cabin-all-natural-syrup-in-jugs.html
Much respect for the living out loud part. (Xty)
I actually had this strange psychic ability and it was mostly about other(s) and it left and seems to have returned but differently.
And you likely don’t remember but I played this exact song for you last year around this time, and what is so fascinating is that it is a very obscure tune and was on my mind the other day (Wed i think) and it came across someones radio in the office and sent me back to the notion that maybe there really are no coinicidences and stuff,
anyway,
wrong song and no edit button, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9TTOPG4cV0
just WOW! goodbye.
Hello? I hope that was just a good night kind of goodbye.
I would have thought Canadian Maple syrup would be quite affordable since our dollar is in the toilet. Last I checked, obsessively yesterday, we were at 1.39 and rising. The Snowbirds will all have to stay home. I like the point about dog poop also being all natural.
But good morning, and all that jazz.
How can there even be brown rice sugar. Guck.
I saw ELP live back in the late 70’s and for the first and almost only time was mesmerized by a drum solo. The drum set turned slowly around as I recall, but it was the 70’s, it was a massive outdoor concert, and the odds are pretty good that we had ingested a famous drug with a three letter acronym, so maybe the drums stayed still.
I really liked Oh Lucky Man until I heard the lyrics properly. Now it haunts me.
“And my general resolution is to be more positive.”
bah fucking humbug! 🙂 🙂 🙂
things are going to get amazing. we all went through hell to get here, but it was all worth it. all of it – including that black hole TFMR.
when you touch consciousness it is all love – the kind that leaves you trembling. but it is like describing the color hot pink to a blind man. i believe i am here to help the blind to see. that has been my mission all along – i am pretty sure of that.
love you all.
and no, i have not been to Michigan’s UP lately (medical mj) well, not physically anyway. probably could use some weed though to tune out so much noise.
well, i have to figure out a way to explain some stuff. love you guys forever and with all i got.
i renamed this the love amoeba 😉 …
merry Xmas all. 🙂 🙂 🙂
wtf?
did Mr. Fix put the whammy on my picture? fu fix even though i love morons. 🙂
well, i am momentarily spiritually blocked. be back later with even more!
one last thing before going to work. you can quote me on this. all it takes is a little evil to control a lot of ignorance.
and this job is going to ruin my holidays only if i let it. it won’t. i am dressing like i am going to the beach today. it is hotter than hell, rephrase that, warm like a tropical afternoon at work!!!
OK. i really will go now. ttyl.
Well, you need to set a dress code example for those robots …
Helping the blind to see:
eSight
Hubby has done some work with these folks … most rewarding. But I did take what I assume was your metaphorical meaning, and it is a goal of mine too.
But no beach wear here today, we finally got a wee dusting of snow.
And yes to no regrets, even the years in the Swamp. Most invigorating intellectually, eventually, once the madness wore off.