Later in the same week.

The sun is out.

All our celebration is having it's effect.

The day is longer.

There will be growth in the spring.

Short days

I'm mad as hell!
The sun seems to just get lower and lower in the sky every day.
What if it never came up at all?
How would the wheat grow?
Where would we get our bread?

I'm going to do something about it!
I mean it!!


I'm going to bring the sun back
You just watch me!!!

In the meantime

As a Christmas gift to the world, and to show their belief in the sanctity of all life from conception on, the catholic church is making a saint out of a Nazi collaborator.

Why am I not surprised?

Way to go, religion.

Today

Grabbed a bus downtown, which we would have done anyway seein'zaz how the car is in the shop getting a front fender replaced, and trotted up the ave to Le Pichet for brekkers.
Had a wonderful meal of two oeufs sur jambon avec guyere fromage.
Later my hypochondria reacted to the caveat at the bottom of the menu concerning the inadvisability of consuming eggs in any condition other than fully cooked.
Pfui!
Didn't stop me and I am still alive.
The occasion is out annual celebration of Beethoven's birthday/ Holiday shopping trip.
We wandered around the Pike Place Farmer's Market and bought a lot of stuff to give to the folks we related to.
Mainly food cause they don't have to remember to have it on display whenever we visit.
Even if they don't want to eat it they can feel safe tossing it.
But how could anyone not want a pound on chocolate linguine?
The highlight of our peregrinations was the acapella quartet singing just across the street from the park.
Almost put me in a good mood.
This park has a name but I don't know it.

So that was fun.

After that, we had dinner at the Pike Place Brewery.
Crab stuffed salmon on a bed of rice and spinach.
And a pint of Pike Place XXXXX Stout.

M had a Kilt Lifter and shrimp.

Then we waddled up to 3rd and Union just in time to catch the #7 Prentice St. bus which ferried our weary butts to within a block and a half from home.

It was all downhill from there.

Snore

Got a cold.
Been zoning out on NyQuil and egg nog spiked with Wild Turkey.
Been sleeping for the last three days.
Gonna take the Prius to the body shop tomorrow.
The Bass Concerto is a magnificent piece of music.
Time to put it away in a drawer and forget it.

I am accomplishing nothing ans thinking nothing.

Bought chains for the car.
There's about four tiny snowflakes per cubic foot of air.
It might snow enough for the chains, but I hope not.

I'm now going back to sleep, hopefully to avoid as much of this dismal, totally useless time of the year as possible.

I've mentioned this before

Weather report, December 7 1941,

"there's a nip in the air".

This annual Pearl Harbor joke brought to you in memory of
Dean Chabreau Mercer, pharmacist's mate, USS California.

A great Guy.

One day, perhaps, i shall think up something original. In the meantime, i shall continue to surf'n'steal.

'Once upon a time there was a Council rowing team.

The Council and a company from the private sector agreed to hold a race. Each boat would contain eight men.

Both teams worked really hard to get into the best shape. On the day of the race, despite both teams being in a similar condition, the private company team won by one mile.

The mood in the Council team was really close to freezing point. The top management decided to win the race next year. So they established a committee of analysts, mostly internal but with representation from each service, the stakeholders and a member…oh, and some guy who knew something about rowing (he’d been on a boating lake when at school). Their remit was to observe the situation, do a risk analysis (ensuring each risk was marked red, amber or green) and recommend an appropriate solution.

After several weeks of detailed analysis, the committee found that the private company team had seven rowers and only one captain.…and the Council team had 7 captains and only one rower.

Facing such a critical scenario, the management showed unexpected wisdom: they hired a consultancy to restructure the Council team.

After several months the consultants came to the conclusion that there were too many captains and too few rowers in the Council team. A solution was proposed based on this analysis: the structure of the Council team had to change. With immediate effect, there would be only four captains in the team led by two Directors and a new Head. Besides that, they suggested that the Council improve the rower’s working environment, ensure his work/life balance was OK and offer a reward and recognition scheme to incentivise high performance and maximise impactfulnessisation. There was to be a 5-day workshop for the rower.

The next year, the private company team won by two miles.

The Council management dismissed the rower from the team (following a long and drawn out competency and capability procedure, followed by a voluntary severance package) on the grounds of his unsatisfactory performance.…but a bonus was paid to the management team for strong leadership and the motivation that the team had showed during the preparation phase.

The consultancy prepared a new analysis which showed that the strategy was good, the motivation was O.K, but the tool used was sub-standard and had to be improved.

Currently, a new Council out-of-focus group has been formed and is having a new boat designed. Human Remains (HR) have advertised nationally for a new rower for the next race in June. Assessment centres will be in place in May.'

Here's some Moore about Christmas

Night before Christmas

As written by Old Father Hemingway

Lookin' out my back door

The moon is big and orange, but the flash does a nice job on the tree.





So, anyway, I just got back from a faculty recital at SPU.
Got to hear J.S.Bach's Suite No.2 in D minor, BWV 1008 for solo violincello.

Played on a Double Bass!!!

It was well enough played and interesting to hear, but, the Double Bass doesn't really have the tone quality for those suites.

Also on the program was W.O. Smith's Quintet for clarinet and string Quartet.
This is a piece that was played at the last salon. I was so full of myself then that I didn't hear it properly.
I heard it properly tonight and found it fascinating, rhythmic and playful.

Like it.

After that piece all the youngsters left.
Missing out on a fine set of south American inspired works for Flute, Piano Bass, and percussion.

Reception afterward.

I didn't know anybody, so I took two chocolate chip cookies and left.

Pretty good day, actually.
The these kind of clear skies during a full moon sometimes make for nice pic-ops.

And sometimes .......Snow!!

We have no chains for the Prius So if it does snow, I have an excuse for not driving in it.
Hopefully not before the weekend is over, 'cause we've got a play tomorrow night and the ballet Saturday abend and more stuff Friday and Saturday noche.