Visited the Swiss town of Villars – winter, ’73. We were up so high, and the mountain peaks were still taller, that the sun finally shown over the peaks an hour or two after daybreak. Our friend and host, Frank (it was his folk’s vacation home), had a shelf filled with Charlie Bown/Snoopy books. I read them over a few nights – in front of a window facing the Alps, with the curtins drawn – by the light of the moon!
Just wrote this to a friend who had experienced being in an airport for the first time, alone: ferried from Dublin to Liverpool, hitched to London, across the channel to Belgium, caught the train to Geneva (where i was based), and a plane back to the states. My dad picked me up at O’Hare – i was 23! Met a girl (curly-haired Irish lass) on the transport crossing the Irish Sea. it was so rough we slept on the floor together. She was at Hendrix’ last(?) concert at the Isle of Wight only about 5 years before.
23/1974 – Nice, Fr. The gal who took it and i, later went to Ireland to look up her family roots. We kissed the Blarney Stone together, but that’s another story!
First full day of winter (Dec. 22) in Chicago and it’s 50 degrees!
A young man called me ‘pops’ today. Dug it – that’s what i used to call my dad.
Couple of cell phone shots of the full moon from a couple of weeks back. That’s the big white blob in the train station.
Full Moon Rising – Metra Station
And some of the neighbors’ Christmas handiwork:
North Kilpatrick Ave. North Kilpatrick Ave. – on the way home.
From this afternoon – ‘Big Buddy.’ He’s claimed that hole in the tree to the right – where i put nuts – as his. He and ‘Li’l Buddy’ fight for it!
Despite all the aches and pains, i have a lot to be thankful for. Have a great Christmas week!
From ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ – Linus said it best:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” –– Linus
It’s a good thing to wear steel-toe shoes on a CTA bus. Baby carriages.
I really like my bone doctor. He’s young, intelligent, concerned and is helping my messed up shoulder. Plus, his first name is Igor. Great name for a sports injury doctor.
Watched Diane Keaton’s first appearance on the Tonight Show Sunday night – from the mid-to-late 70s. She hadn’t yet blossomed into the star she became – even after the Godfather. Probably not until Annie Hall. But less than a minute into the interview and I realized something I’d never thought of – Shelly Long’s character on Cheers was a parody of Ms. Keaton. Btw – what a great singer the real Diane is! Remember her spot in Woody Allen’s Radio Days?
Thought my Lil’ Buddy – the squirrel – was gone forever. She was MIA at ‘the spot’ for a couple of days. The way squirrels bound around traffic and fight amongst themselves, you never know. I’d have missed her. Fed her since the summer and watched her grow. I kind of make a noise when I get to the spot to let the squirrels know I’m there, but I think they can smell my pipe smoke from a block away. She was back, saw her coming down a large tree, then hopping along the top of the wooden fence, headed…towards me? No, headed to a big meal! A yam leftover from Thanksgiving yesterday and an apple and plenty of nuts this afternoon.
If the sun was out today (it wasn’t – heavy clouds), it would have felt like the first day of spring, instead of heading into winter. Almost 50 in Chicago – it wasn’t long before the cold winds began blowing in. We’ll be frigid the next couple of days, then a good warmup. Only four months to opening day for baseball!
Should’ve taken a pic: I usually finish my pipe by the Jewel before I grocery shop. I heard the Salvation Army guy, who stands near the door, singing. Now these good folks are on duty, in one place, about 8 hrs. a day, from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. It’s got to be boring, just ringing a bell for such a long time (I know, I did it about 10 years ago), so the guy was passing time by singing Christmas carols. No great voice, but instead of complaining to myself, I figured I can’t do any better, so I put my pipe away, went over and joined him. We finished White Christmas together – in harmony! That was fun.
Yep – I still play guitar. Till the day I die. Just tried an impromptu jazzy Jingle Bells. Will record and post if I can edit out the clams!
Decorated the apartment in about an hour this year. Only put up a third of the decorations I did last year, but this time, I had enough energy to wrap gifts! I wonder where I put that box of Christmas lights. Maybe I’ll find it next year!
Well, Christmas is shaping up. Hope it is for you, too. I’m going to take a stab at making almond crescent cookies with the powdered sugar. I’ll experiment after I see my cardiologist this week. I lost 21 lbs. this year – wish someone would tell that to my waistline!
I hope to watch the end of Polar Express later tonight. Real cool Pixar movie from a few years back, with Tom Hanks playing the conductor on a train that takes kids to the North Pole. Now what young girl or boy wouldn’t want to do that?
A few more things to do this evening and then, before I settle in for the movie, maybe I can edit a couple of more pages in my book. It’s not over yet – everybody asks me when it;s going to be done, but it’s about getting the best out of each scene. And that takes time and concentration. But the closer I get, great and strange feelings.
An Aquarium in Tennessee has found a way to use its electric eel to power Christmas lights and spark some awe in holiday visitors.
The eel, named Miguel Wattson, releases low-voltage bolts of electricity whenever he’s looking for food — and a special machine hooked up to his tank uses the shocks to light up the nearby tree. The intensity of the flashes depends on what he’s currently doing and how he is feeling.
“The bigger flashes are caused by the higher voltage shocks he emits when he’s eating or excited,” Kimberly Hurt, an aquarist at Tennessee Aquarium, said in a press release.
Wattson, who has his own popular Twitter account with over 30,000 followers, posted a video of himself “shocking” around the Christmas tree.
ICYMI, here’s a video of yours truly attempting to use my discharges to power the lights on a Christmas tree. (SPOILER ALERT ::: Of course I pull it off. My phenomenal cosmic — well, bio-electric — power is basically limitless.) pic.twitter.com/g4r5JPHWoH
— Miguel Wattson TNAQ (@EelectricMiguel) December 2, 2019
In fact, the clever eel even powers his own Twitter account. Coders at Tennessee Tech University’s iCube center created the algorithm, powered by his jolts, in 2015 to help give Wattson a voice and an ability to better engage with the public.
He typically tweets out fun messages like “za-BOOSH!!!!,” “KRASNAPPA-TAT!!!” and, most recently, “BAZINGG!!!”.
The aquarium hopes its latest festive effort will spur further interest in the freshwater fish.
