Steel Kaleidoscopes

Lyrics of the Day

"There's a story that the grass is so green. What did I see? Where have I been? Nothing is planned, by the sea and the sand."

— Pete Townshend, 1973

Disney World

This is a special blog entry by The Little Person Who Lives in Our House.

Disney World is a very, very fun place for children and adults.

I think the scariest rides are Expedition Everest, Rockin' Rollercoaster and Space Mountain.

There are six parks — two water parks, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

My favorite ride was Rockin' Rollercoaster. I like it because it starts out like a rocket and it goes upside down.

Disney World is my favorite place on Earth!

Quote of the Day

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

— Benjamin Franklin

The Continuing Saga of Dave

Dave Tomlinson woke up on Neptune after going to sleep on Uranus.

In the end, the coffee choices in Shaw's were seemingly limited. He had perused several coffee-aisle inventories over the past few days in search of vanilla hazelnut that he could grind. But there was no luck at Stop & Shop, Price Chopper or Wegmans. And now Shaw's was a disappointment.

Earlier in the day, Dave thought he needed toothpaste. He checked the small closet but only found an old rolled up tube of Ultra Brite. He wondered if toothpaste had an expiration date. Assuming it did, he started a short shopping list.

Dave suddenly realized that "Jeopardy!" had been repeats this week. He'd correctly answered two of the last three "Final Jeopardy!" questions correctly.

It didn't matter. Alex Trebek was not able to damper Dave's enthusiasm with a "sorry, but we can't accept that. Our judges have suggested that you knew the answers ahead of time."

Dave realized his paisley shirt needed ironing. He paused, looked out the window and was confident that his leather Spaulding baseball glove still fit.

Reflections

The sun shines through the front windows of the Sandwich Glass Museum.

'We Have a Deal'

In a classic "Seinfeld" episode, a distraught George runs over a pigeon and yells "We had a deal."

In other words, when birds fly in front of your car, there's no need to swerve. At the last second, they will get out of your way. No harm, certainly no mess.

The same can apply to driving courtesy with merging vehicles.

When traffic is heavy on back roads, there are certain intersections with a line of cars waiting to enter the main road. The "deal" is that courteous drivers on the main road will let one car out. That way, no one is left waiting.

Not two, one.

So when someone tries to piggyback on your courtesy, they are breaking "the deal."

Pay attention, people.

Rush-hour courtesy is limited.

Merry Christmas

Peace to all.

Christmas Eve, 1967

My brother, Bob, pulls me on a wooden Flexible Flyer sled through the woods behind our house.

The banks of snow seem enormous underneath the tall pines. We watch birds flitter across the bright blue winter sky.

Back at the house, my mom is making us hot chocolate. The kitchen is steamy warm, a clean well-lighted place the reward for kicking off our snowy boots at the top of the basement stairs.

We sip from our hot chocolate as we work on a jigsaw puzzle.

Soon we will open gifts, but only after church service.

It's a magical day on the calendar, easily the best day of the year.

'Tis the Season

Surf, sand and holly.

Question

Are deep-sea fishermen thoughtful?