Sunday, December, 22, 2019
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.
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.
And some of the neighbors’ Christmas handiwork:
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!