Clink, Clink

I’m kind of not feeling this project this year. It’s likely because we’ve been short-staffed at work for the better part of the last eight months, largely because a prior director had no business managing other people or their workflows, and I’m hella burned out so I don’t feel like writing yet more at the end of the day.

That may or may not change as I have two three-day weekends in a row, but I wonder what the point of all of this is as I get so few hits and almost comments. I’m thinking ProseBox should have been the place to do this.

In keeping with my current mood of “blah,” here is the thing I most disliked getting for Halloween when I was a kid: Pennies.

Like, what was a seven-year-old going to do with that in 1973? I wasn’t old enough to go somewhere on my bike and spend it, and the candy you could get for a penny or two back then was more tease than satisfaction, like one mini Tootsie Roll from a bunch that the guy at the mom-and-pop grocery store sold loose in an old baseball-card box because one of the bags in his candy shipment was open. I hope no one still gives out pennies. That’s just plain trolling little kids at this point.

A Snoopy Christmas

I’ve always loved Snoopy. When I was a kid I had a nine-book set of hardcover Peanuts comics. Each book had two volumes of comics, and when you got halfway through a book, you had to flip it upside down to read the other volume. Snoopy was my favorite volume. I also had the hardcover of A Charlie Brown Christmas and Home Is On Top of a Dog House.

With such a love of the black-and-white Beagle, how could I not have a few Snoopy Christmas ornaments?

Back in 2003, at Most Favorite Job, staff had the opportunity to purchase Lenox Christmas ornaments at a good price, so I bought one for a coworker who loved Peanuts, and Snoopy in particular, as much as I did. It was a Secret Santa gift. Well, turns out he was my Secret Santa and had gotten me the same one!

A china Christmas ornament featuring Snoopy and Woodstock on a sled.
Lenox Snoopy and Woodstock having a blast sledding.

This next one is from around the same time, back when I was still an avid skier.

A Christmas ornament featuring Snoopy skiing.
Snoopy hitting the slopes!

Not sure when I got this one, but Snoopy makes a great Santa.

A Christmas ornament of Snoopy dressed as Santa Claus.
Santa Snoopy

A couple of nights ago, I noticed there were some gaps in the tree that really needed an ornament, so yesterday on my lunch break I ran up to Macy’s and CVS to pick up a few ornaments. Here’s one of them, taken with flash so you can see the lovely slate blue. Yes, I wish it would snow. I love, love, LOVE snow.

A Christmas ornament that says "Let it snow," featuring Snoopy and Woodstock.
Snoopy and Woodstock say “Let it snow!”

And now for tonight’s state Christmas tree, going out to the dearest friend I have yet to see face-to-face, Guy. We have been reading one another’s blogs and journals since 2002 and he is one of about five people on the planet who knows pretty much every detail of my life since I started spilling my guts and venting my spleen online, and I’m honored that he has let me into his head and heart the same way. So help me, my friend, if I can get on a plane to Michigan in 2024, we will break bread together. Heck, we might even bake it together!

Michigan's state Christmas tree, 2023.
Michigan’s state Christmas tree, 2023. Click to embiggen.

Smoke and Ash

A black and white photo of two birds in a bare tree.
Image: Zach Lezniewicz

I don’t believe in any gods, but I do believe that the earth is a living thing. If there is judgment to be rendered, it will come in the form of our extinction for all the destruction we’ve wrought upon the land and all the harm we’ve done to all the living things upon it.

The creatures of air, land, and sea do not need us and will not miss us.