I'm so tired of cold and snow.

I'm reminded of a joke that a guy my dad worked with in North Bay used to tell. "I'm going to take the wife and kids camping this summer, if it falls on a weekend."

How can my body be so tired and my brain so awake? Humans are so stupid. You don't see cats with insomnia.

Maybe they're sucking up all the sleep around me...

OK, so in a fit of giddiness after Minnesota's caucus in February, Seth and I signed up to be delegates from our ward/precinct to the DFL (Democrat Farmer Labour) Senate District 50 convention.
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My friend Bob died today. He found out in October that he had a brain tumor, and now he's gone. It seems like it's been a long time, and no time at all. He was always bigger than life, and I suppose he always will be now.

"Death is just another path, one that we all must take.
The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and then you see it...
white shores...and beyond, a far green country, beneath a swift sunrise."

Nothing really to say, just wanted to make sure that I got a post in in January!

Hi everyone!

Kathye

Instead of a song, a letter today:

Fra Giovanni Giocondo (c.1435–1515) was a Renaissance pioneer,
accomplished as an architect, engineer, antiquary, archaeologist,
classical scholar, and Franciscan friar. Today we remember him
most for his reassuring letter to Countess Allagia Aldobrandeschi
on Christmas Eve, 1513.

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there
is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it
today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not
hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it,
yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in
darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their
covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the
covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor,
woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it,
and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me,
that angel's hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder
of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not
content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty
beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks
your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all! But
courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims
together, wending through unknown country home.

Happy Solstice, Blessed Yule, and Merry Christmas, y'all!

And to celebrate, here's a song by (natch) Peter Mayer

Where is the Light?
When it’s late December, dark and cold
Where is the light?
When old man year is bending low
Where is the light?
When the sun runs off to bed too soon
Where is the light?
And there’s nothing but a skinny moon
Where is the light?

CHORUS:
Where is the light?
Where is the light?
Where is the light? Oh…
The light’s inside of me

When it’s dark each morning when I rise
Where is the light?
And it’s dark when my eggs are fryin’
Where is the light?
And it’s dark when off to work I go
Where is the light?
And it’s dark again when I get home
Where is the light?

CHORUS:

It’s in my skin and in my bones
In my heart and in my soul
That light of life, so bright and golden
Like a summer day
When the sun goes missing in the sky
It is rising in my eyes
Chasing all that winter gloom away

I’m burning bright like kerosene
Where is the light?
I’m twinkling like the Pleiades
Where is the light?
I’m dancing like a candle flame
Where is the light?
I’m flaming like a fruit flambé
Where is the light?

CHORUS: (2X)

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Not going to say much, but... where would genre films be without Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen?

Gotta quick get an entry posted, so I can have one in November.

On November 9, we went to Omega con, which is a relax-a-con (where there aren't that many activities planned, so you just relax amongst like minded geeks).

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All in all, a good time was had by all. Especially me, because I ended up sleeping 12 hours in a row on Saturday night. Hey, it's all about what relaxes you...

Wow, time flies!

Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain (depending on your persuasions)

For anyone celebrating New Year tonight, here's a song from Peter Mayer


We have been weighed down by sadness like a stone
And we have yearned, we have yearned
And we have sometimes felt so utterly alone
While we turn, while we turn

And we’ve been stricken by the wonder of it all
Stricken dumb, stricken dumb
And we have sometimes felt so faint we want to fall
Overcome, but all in all

CHORUS: I’d say this year in flight together has been fun
What say we make one more circle around the sun

We have raised our fists in anger and we’ve tried
To work it out, work it out
That we need each other, we cannot deny
There is no doubt, there is no doubt

So let us weave another dream in outer space
While we’re turning, while we’re turning
On this planet home that holds our human race
We still are learning, but all in all

CHORUS:

I’d say this year in flight together has been a good, good one
What say we make one more circle One more circle
One more circle around the sun

http://www.petermayer.net/