First Night

Downtown, after the wonderful Parade. Annie and I are wandering through the Public Garden, waiting for the early Fireworks. This is me trying to put a little hat back on one of the Ducklings from the famous "Make Way for Ducklings" Sculpture. It's very cold, so before we even left the house, there was a definite "girding of the loins". I'm wearing two pairs of socks, long underwear, and a hat and earmuffs underneath the hood attached to my jacket. And, in spite of the thick gloves I have on, my hands are cold.

 

 

Dump The Tea!

Monday, December 16th, was the 240th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Annie and I went downtown for the Reenactment. First was the meeting of "The Body of the Public" at the Old South Church, then the march to the Waterfront, and then the boarding of the Replica Ship and the dumping of Ye chests of tea in Ye Harbor. We got to sit on very authentic aluminum bleachers and watch from the other side of the Fort Point Channel (and yes, it was wicked cold down there.) 

 

 

Each attendee of the Meeting part had a slip of paper in their program which assigned them a character. To create the appearance that the Public at Large was participating in the meeting (and to kill time until the "Indians" were ready), we were encouraged to read aloud our Character's words. 

Samples include: "I am a Weaver. While my business has benefited from the Patriot boycott, others have not been so fortunate, We must not let politics continue to hurt the economy of this great town." And, "My name is Samuel Hale. We are all Englishmen who must obey the laws of King George. How long must we live in fear for our safety? This violence must stop and order must be restored!"

The whole time they were going back and forth about refusing the Tea, or landing the Tea, I was hoping for someone to get up and say, "This tea we speake of was brought from India, halfway around the World, at what coste in energy, and what coste to ye environment? Why do we not seek to drinke local? Simply brew a tisane from the leaves of the very plante ye grow to make your rope, and you will be happy to pay a tax, so that it might be safe and legal." But, alas, no Colonial Bro came forth. (Note: Pictures by Michael Blanchard and/or Tea Party Museum.)
 

Thrill Ride

Wow, you may not want to go on this particular Ride (it's actually a 3-D Chalk painting by Artist Julian Beever ):

 

And here's another cool piece of conceptual artwork, posted by Nicole Jordan:

 

 

All Through The House

Hilary Price has nailed it. It's the last night of Hanukkah, and all through the house, Jews are frantically looking for candle-like objects to fill the gaps in the Menorah.

The Festival Of Lighted Turkeys

[From the Book of Faces: "Well, it was still early on Thanksgiving Eve when we got our Turkey Day Tree up and decorated. Of course, this year, we also put little potato latkes and menorahs on it. Feel free to submit pictures if you have also put your Turkey Day Tree up already."]

 

 It won't happen again for more than 76,000 years, so I figured I might as well have fun with it.

 

Black Friday? Bah, Humbug!

I hate Black Friday. The very idea of it, never mind the actual thing itself. It tears us from the peace, quiet, and, yes, thankfulness of Thanksgiving, and hurls us willy-nilly into the "shuffling madness of the locomotive breath" that is the Holiday Shopping Season. There is something fundamentally wrong with our economy if even our largest Retailers depend on Christmas gift buying for up to 40% of their yearly receipts. It makes them look a lot more like souvenir Shoppes at a Tourist resort than soundly-run enterprises.

 

Desperate for Holiday $$ or not, why couldn't they slowly amp things up by having 'Light Gray Friday', followed by 'Gray Saturday', and then 'Really Dark Gray Sunday'? I know this makes me sound like a Grinch, but I would very much like to see a social compact (or a harsh Law, to be brutally honest) that there be no Christmas Decorations or Music in stores until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

 

Not In This House

Cara Terez posted this picture of her Father, Kevin Brooks, with the caption, "Dad, festive tree killer."

 

 

Which reminded me: At the Storytelling Potluck this past Sunday, Pepper Green said emphatically, "We don't kill trees in this house!" To which I replied, "Nor in my house, either. We kill them outside, and then drag the bodies in." Sounds like that was what was happening here...

 

(Please note that I  do NOT actually go around chopping down trees, NOR have I ever put up a Christmas Tree.)

 

Questionably Content

On Saturday, I went to hear Cartoonist Jeph Jacques talk at Brandeis. He draws Questionable Content, a wildly successful Web Comic. He is not only quite a character, but also one of a handful of people who can entirely support themselves by doing so. It was in the common room of Usen Castle, which has to be one of the coolest-looking College Dormitories ever.

 

Usen Castle (an actual Dormitory at Brandeis University)

 

Larger view of Usen Castle

 

Cartoonist Jeph Jacques (and the young woman from Usen who organized the event)

 

Me standing in line to say "Thank You" to Jeph.

 

Me, still waiting in line.

 

 

A Sad Story

Jen 'n' Berry, makers of Premium Ice Cream, have come out with the "Euphori-Lock" Pint Protector: 

It's not only a combination lock for your pricey frozen dessert, it has a morally-uplifting slogan as well: "There's no u in my pint"! This is apparently meant to reassure you that, if you did ever leave your apartment, your "Okey Dokey Artichokey" would be safe from your roommate (who, if they're at all like you, presumably has no self-control whatsoever.) But, alas, if that were true, this is what would happen about five minutes after you clumped down the stairs: