Good Education for Christmas: The Teaching Company. They are the best invention since Books on Tape. Great fun, and I wish libraries would stock up on them. You'll have to find out for yourself how excellent these are - they use great teachers - not (necessarily) great researchers - which is the right approach. Get the CDs - there's never time to sit down and watch the DVDs. Hey - listen to 'em twice (assuming you have ADD too), then share and trade with friends and relatives. Like baseball cards.
Goldfish Hates Bowlmate. This will ring a bell with lots of people... life must be better somewhere else, outside of this bowl. Like jumping out and becoming a dried trisket of tiny bones on the carpet.
I wanna go. Hacienda de los Santos. They have a dove shooting package too. Happiness is a warm gun (but hmm, I wonder how nasty that sounds to non-hunters, especially at Christmastime. These are White-Winged Doves - not doves of Christ or of the Holy Spirit or Doves of Peace - they are practically almost sort-of pigeons, really.) Tasty things broiled medium-rare with a strip of bacon on top of each one, and stuffed with sauteed chopped onion, apple, and pear, their livers or maybe a hunk of foie gras, and served on a buttery, garlicky piece of toasted French bread with the drippings on top...man, getting hungry. Shmoosh some of the liver into the drippings, and some cognac, before drizzling on top. Lots of pepper. Great compensation for the sore shoulder from all of that arduous shooting.
Gene McCarthy. What a fine fellow he was. Fine people can be wrong. He was wrong about the war, and would have made a rotten and probably Minnesota-socialist president - but a superb gent, and more poet than politician, although some people I know say he was craftier and more calculating than he seemed. His death saddens me - I was in New Hampshire for him in my callow youth, and met him at a Georgetown party, in the 60s. A special person who followed his own path and who asked God for answers to his questions.
The US economy is in great shape. Why don't we hear about the Bush Boom?
Department of No Gratitude: Katrina rescuees complained about Red Cross. Jeez - that takes some nerve. I do believe this country has somehow inculcated the ethics of grievance and entitlement over gratitude. Big mistake. That path leads nowhere except to wasted time and a wasted life.
Have enjoyed this for years - still have it on vinyl: Christmastime with The Judds.
