66 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-23-18”

  4. Pretty pink leaves.
    Ready to turn loose.
    When I hear of Vegas Gold, I think of gambling, not football.
    Good morning everyone but Jo.
    Her Friday is already over.
    I suppose everyone knows why it’s called “Black Friday”.
    Yesterday afternoon, I thought I would never be hungry again.
    But. It’s off to breakfast now. 🙂

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  7. I JUST HEARD BING SING1
    It was just a short rendition of “No Place Like Home for the Holidays” as lead into a segment on FoxNews. But I recon it counts. The only time Bing sings is at Christmastime and nobody sings White Christmas like Bing.
    So? It’s officially the Christmas season.

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  9. Morning! I am not a young person and I still “swoon” when I hear Bing sing! 😊 I have told ya’ll that my Dad crooned just like Bing and he sang Kiss Me Once Kiss Me Twice to me all the time….I still cry when that song comes on the radio….
    Yesterday was relaxing and today I need to run into town to purchase a furnace filter…I am hoping it’s not too crowded at Home Depot on “Black Friday”….and why is it called that anyway?
    The wind is howling in the forest this morning. There is a change of weather headed our way. The mountains received snowstorms yesterday and it is coming our way for tomorrow…another blustery day of winter ⛄️

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  14. Crosby was in several movies, but I don’t remember which.
    Crosby has a legacy, Sinatra and Como, et. al. were famous but no one remembers them.
    Crosby could put it over because he looked so natural.

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  15. The movie White Christmas was one of Hubby’s favorites.

    I have a Bing Crosby Christmas album, and also Christmas albums (all on cd) by Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and two by Andy Williams (my favorites).

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  18. Lest we forget Going My Way and the Bells of St Mary….and all those “Road to” movies with Bob Hope which were quite silly in my estimation…..
    I do watch White Christmas every year which iritates my husband 😜…..as well as It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th St…..we did sit down and watch Wizard of Oz last night….that is an annual tradition around here as well….

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  19. White Christmas is my son’s favourite Christmas movie. We always watch it together 🙂

    Today is the last day in the office for over a week. We’re all heading to a conference in Banff and then it will be my side of the family’s Christmas celebration next weekend.

    Kitchen light switches are finally installed. Having 2 gangs, both dimmers, for 3 light switches is a lot of wires! Tomorrow the ceiling starts to go up and then we should make quick progress 🙂

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  20. If you like old Christmas movies and have a chance, watch It Happened on 5th Avenue. It’s a funny, heartwarming black & white Christmas movie.

    I don’t like It’s a Wonderful Life enough to watch it again, but love the rest, NancyJill!

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  21. I was accused of pushing nearly twenty comments ago. Clearly, I was nowhere in the area.

    Cheryl, no, he has to drive over seven hundred miles a day to get back to Spokane by Saturday night He got just over seven hundred yesterday and was whupped.

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  22. The Philadelphia Story is one of my all-time favorites–I agree with you, Kizzie.

    I just like the music better in High Society. 🙂

    I like While You Were Sleeping at Christmas time–I write Christmas cards to it.

    Though, this year, I’m thinking I may not write Christmas cards until January!

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  23. It’s the “day after” Thanksgiving and I don’t have to go to work. This is so strange for me. Every year we’ve had to work this day, you didn’t dare ask for it off as a personal vacation day. I feel like I’ve joined the *rest* of the country this year.

    I made coffee and turned on the heater.

    Painters are supposed to be back to day to (supposedly, again, for the fifth time) “finish up.”

    Are those poinsettias?

    Kare, the words “quick progress” never, ever described any of my house projects. Ever. None of them.

    “It’s a Wonderful Life” is, well, wonderful, but I’ve seen it so often now I don’t care to see it again. For now. “Miracle on 34th Street” was always one of my favorites.

    And I agree with Kizzie, Sinatra is far better known than Crosby. But Crosby was the soundtrack to many baby boomers’ childhood Christmases. My mom liked him a lot.

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  24. Oh, Perry Como? Or Crosby? Who were we talking about? They were probably nicer people than Sinatra who was a bit of a scoundrel I’m thinking? But he sure could sing.

    My cousin told me she was at her doctor’s the other day and realized she was standing in the elevator with Diane Keaton.

    Tom Cruise has been seen filming Top Gun 2 in our town this week. NCIS LA guys, meanwhile, will be “brandishing weapons” and shooting “car scenes” on the waterfront our, according to a filming notice that we got for one day next week.

    And does anyone remember “On The Waterfront”? I remember it from my childhood and someone said the episodes (all shot on ‘our’ waterfront) are now on YouTube and are fun to watch if you live here now. I’ll have to look them up.

    Why did so many men have those pencil mustaches back in the day? Even the cowboys on TV?

    What were your favorite childhood shows?

    And I see AJ has posted our rocking Christmas light show video.

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  26. Good morning! That tree is at our local library. I went to the park beside the library in remembrance of gorgeous trees there last year with tremendouy brilliant leaves. The leaves were all gone, but then I found this beautiful Japanese maple in red.

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  30. The end of the lights video I see shows a cat sitting politely at a table, front paws folded (video: “Strange Cat Behaviors Explained”) … Yes, it’s a great country 🙂

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  32. I think there’s a lot of truth in this (explaining why so many of us feel it’s hotter now than it was before) — that said, there is a warming trend generally speaking, but the ‘sky-is-falling’ interpretation put to it is highly questionable and is more politics/religion than it is real science.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/hot-times-in-your-home-town.php

    ______________________________________

    … I think the reason is that today, we live mostly in a climate-controlled environment. Thus, it comes as a shock when we venture out into midsummer heat. That wasn’t true circa 1960. At that time, I believe my town had one air-conditioned building, the Plaza Theater. Our cars weren’t air conditioned, either. When it got hot, we rolled down the windows. In the Summer, my family lived in a shack (we euphemistically called it a “cottage”) on a lake near my home town. Our shack didn’t reliably keep out the rain, so we lived in the elements. My brothers and I could sometimes go from Sunday to Sunday, when we dressed for church, without wearing clothes other than a swim suit. Sun tan lotion was a new product, but not one that any boy would dream of using. We turned brown in the Sun.

    Did it get hot then? Of course. But by the time temperatures got into the 80s and 90s, our bodies had adapted and we were ready for the heat. Today, most of us never do adapt. The time comes when we leave our air-conditioned cocoon and walk outside when the temperature is in the 90s. We think the heat is horrific and scurry back indoors or into an air-conditioned vehicle. That’s what I tend to do, anyway. …
    ______________________________

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  34. DJ, we ordered it just yesterday. 🙂 I think it’s due the end of the first week in December, somewhere in there. We just ordered sheets for the sleeper sofa, too. When are you coming?

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  37. I just went to one of our local Ace Hardware stores, I was out on a credit union run to transfer some more money (this has been a very expensive couple months with the paint purchases, etc.) when the painter texted wondering if I could pick up a can of black spray paint — he’s painting the large hinges on the garage black to match the hardware on the garage door. The can also should be enough for me to put on my weathervane, one of my vacation week projects.

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  40. Beautiful day out there today, bright and cool, saw a couple horseback riders on the peninsula and the family-owned Christmas tree lot on the corner had the first of the trees set up, including the giant one they decorate every year — so far just the star on top, but I’m sure by the end of this weekend it’ll all be aglow. They use a crane to do the decorating, it’s so tall. We all look forward to that going up every year, it’s the sign that Christmas has indeed arrived in the port.

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  41. It’s a Wonderful Life was another favorite of Hubby’s, and mine. I was thinking of watching it this year – haven’t seen it in at least a couple years – but am not sure, as it may be too emotional for me. Another movie, more recent, that Hubby especially enjoyed is Elf. It is a cute movie.

    Michelle – Oh, yes, The Philadelphia Story (I don’t know why I left out the “The” earlier) is one of my all-time favorites, too.

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  43. My husband and I talked over lunch about how many different elements have got to have changed Black Friday considerably, and made the day far less insane. (For the record, I have never participated; he has. He has done the 5:00 a.m. thing, including going out with the girls a few years.) We talked about going to Target this afternoon, and I asked was he sure he wanted to go out today, and he said they were open yesterday and it’s mid-afternoon and should be OK. We drove there “the back way,” and when we got there, the back of the store (overflow parking) was full of cars, and the parking lot itself looked like it was 100% full, so we turned around and came right back home.

    So I still have never shopped on Black Friday. We did get a Starbucks date, though. Even during their weekly “happy hour” (which today was buy one, get one free), there were empty seats. We didn’t really expect that.

    Hey, anyone here root for Houston Baptist? We just saw them beat Wake Forest in basketball (overtime); we only saw a few minutes, since my husband saw the score as regulation was ending, saw it was tied and then Wake Forest pulled ahead, and then tied again at the buzzer, so we turned it on to watch overtime. Kinda cool when a little school gets an unexpected win–on the road.

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  44. Couldn’t stay awake last night. Today is our store sale, the only time all year that it is open on a Saturday. They said that they didn’t get much in so I will wander down that way later.

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  45. I don’t think I’ve ever done the “Black Friday” thing either, but at some point I’ve interviewed people doing it. 🙂 I had a roommate who used to get up before dawn on the day after Christmas, she and a girlfriend had a tradition to shopping all the sales on that day every year.

    But I also heard that most of the shoppers were out yesterday, our local Target opened at 5 p.m. Thursday and there was a long line apparently. Not as many this morning, at least according to our story.

    I also think online shopping has replaced the mad rush to some extent, although from what I’ve observed in interviewing people it’s the “fun” of going in a family or friends group to line up before the sun rises, drinking coffee and eating donuts, that holds a huge part of the appeal. It’s the “experience” they seem to love, it’s like an outing that’s become part of the holiday tradition.

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  47. I would probably enjoy it if I did it with the right people . . . but I’d pretty much have to stay up all night, then do it, then crash all day, and that would throw off my sleep for at least a week. So . . . not something I’m likely ever to do.

    I was up before sunrise this morning, though, quite a rarity for me. Went to bed about 10:00, so when I woke at about 6:00 this morning, I figured I’d already gotten pretty close to eight hours of sleep and would probably survive if I didn’t get more. I never did go back to sleep, and about 7:30 I left to go down to the pond. It was about 35 degrees and the horizon was pink. The world was all frosty and lovely, but I knew it was warm enough it would be thawing as soon as the sun hit. We still have enough colorful leaves–particularly on shrubs–that I ended up getting some lovely photos of autumn-tinted leaves edged with frost. How they have survived multiple frosts, a small snowfall, and being encased in ice last week, I have no idea. Each winter weather event I think That’s it, everything will be dead now. But I even found a stand of goldenrod with some yellow left and a bright yellow dandelion (iced over). And then the sun came up, and everything was misty with shafts of sunlight.

    It’s not enough to turn me into a morning person, but quite enough to begin to understand the subspecies.

    And while I was out there, I found a lovely new parable for those who think they can earn God’s favor or make any steps at all toward God. At one point there are two parallel paths, no more than 20 feet apart, jogging around both sides of a small pond. (The napping beaver was between those.) I was walking along the western one as the sun was coming up, bathing everything around it in misty light because of the melting frost.

    What would a photographer say if you urged, “You need to get onto that other trail, better light, closer to the sun?” Now, the other trail might offer a better view of a specific clump of vegetation, but 20 feet closer to the sun is truly nothing, nothing at all. You’d still be 93 million miles away!

    It made me think of Jesus’ words that the servant who has done everything the master has commanded him to do should say, “I’m an unprofitable servant; I’ve only done my duty.” The God who created this beautiful world, gave me life in it, chose me as His own and saved me . . . the least I can do is obey Him, and I gain no merit by doing so. I’m like the two-year-old who makes her own bed and thinks that in doing so she has “helped mommy.”

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  49. I have never participated in “Black Friday”
    Sometimes something happens to get a song on my mind and I go around hamming or singing it. Since Karen mentioned “True Love”, I got it in my head and went around singing it this afternoon.
    Some have said that I can carry a tune, but the line, “Love forever true” is almost out of my range.

    Six would like this. On TV there is an eight year old girl playing the piano and singing “You are My Sunshine”. She is doing a good job.

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  53. You should have been here this morning! The full moon was glorious in the west as it was setting over the hoarfrost covered trees and the sun was glorious in the east as it rose. I did get a few pictures so I should probably send those to AJ 🙂

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  54. Speaking of early mornings, I’m worried as I’ve pulled the “a.m.” New Year’s Day shift. A few colleagues have said that means I might have to cover the Pasadena Rose Parade. Good grief. Do you know how early I’d have to get up to do that?

    I would probably do what Cheryl said she’d do — just stay up all night. I did that the last time I went to an Easter sunrise service. It’s just easier, really.

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  56. It was disappointing, but good to see a lot of alumni and other community members who drove 3 hours to watch a high school football game on a cloudy, breezy, 40° November morning. The disappointment was the final score: 44-7 in favor of the other team. Oh, well. I got to sit next to two sisters who are former beauty queens, and who are also my former students.

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  57. Thanks Chas.

    No one answered the question about why it’s called Black Friday. I heard it is because a lot of retailers get back in the black ink on this big shopping day. I just wish it would stay on Friday and not bleed over into Thanksgiving.

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  58. Peter, that’s correct — stores go “in the black” with all that extra business once a year, often it’s what “makes” their year (combined with other Christmas season sales).

    It only ‘bleeds’ into Thursday for those who are attuned to it. I had no idea what was open yesterday, but apparently Target and some other retails had really big deals going on. Who knew? Those who stood in line, but not many of the rest of us.

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  59. Chas, 6:17 pm, that sounds so sweet. Well, I’m imagining it sounds sweet; I didn’t see the TV show you did.

    It reminds me of a poignant moment from back in my school-teaching days. At one of the elementary schools where I taught, we had a variety show in which children who wanted to could participate.

    One year a little girl — I don’t remember her age, but it was pretty close to eight years old, IIRC — was going to sing You Are My Sunshine with her grandpa. But before the day of the show arrived, her grandpa died.

    She still went through with singing her song, by herself, and dedicating it to him.

    I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience as she sang so sweetly and sincerely. The tears are forming even now in my eyes as I type.

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  60. Just spend the night like the young’ens, Donna.

    Yes, I do know how early you have to get up–I marched in the Rose Parade back in the last century. 🙂

    I bought some clever items on Etsy today, 15% off. That’s it.

    We avoided Office Depot–but I do need ink by Tuesday.

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  62. I saw (on the dog walk) that there are some early-bird lights out in our neighborhood already. Good for them. 🙂

    I am looking forward to moving into the “accessorizing” stage for the house now that the big jobs & painting are finished. But I can’t spend too much right now, I really need to let the bank accounts replenish a little. And property taxes are due soon, ouch.

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  63. Thanks for the passwords tips/advice the other day. (Kizzie, Kim.) Got all my passwords changed now.

    I’ve got another question. Not sure how many will see it tonight, but I think some of you go back and read what you’ve missed of the previous day’s thread?

    Anyway, here’s some background and my question.

    I’ve run out of inspiration on what to write in blog posts on my website. Very few site visitors are reading my blog, anyway, and I don’t think it’s doing much, if anything, to bring in students, which is why I started a site in the first place.

    My question is, what should I write about it in my last post? I’ve posted once a month this year, and really want to get in one more — for the month of December — and tidily wrap it up, because closure. Really, though, that’s kind of dumb. I don’t want to just write for the sake of having something to finish the year. If it’s not impactful, it’s a waste of time — mine and anyone else’s who might see it.

    Two warring factions there: write something, anything, to end the blog at the end of the year, or just be done with it already if no creative inspiration comes.

    If you were searching for a piano teacher for yourself or a child, what would you want to see on a prospective teacher’s site?

    Thanks.

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