The annual Lakeway Walk of Lights officially opened on Friday. Using my time travel alarm, we are going back to join the festivities. We’re being catered by Craigo’s pizza, and there are smores and hot chocolate as well. Our entertainment is Michael Bublé.
Let’s go.
The giant screen is playing A Christmas Story and one of the best scenes.
Who put the Howdy in Holidays?
Santa will be here after he lights the walk.
The bookmobile is here, too.
A place to write and mail a letter to Santa.
Face painting.
Ah, the fire to roast marshmallows for smores.
There’s Craigos.
Hot chocolate (After all, it’s 64 degrees F and 17.7 C.)
A reindeer to ride.
Ornaments to make.
Cookies to decorate.
The Liebolt cabin to visit.
The mayor introduces Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The countdown to plugging in the Trail of Lights (notice the lights in the upper right-hand corner)
Santa is happy the lights work.
A quick view of the trail.
Another view.
And another. We may need to come back for a trail tour, but for now, we should relax with the music and pizza.
When brewing coffee using a magic machine, you have to have confidence that everything will work. Much like a sophisticated car, the magic machine does not suffer incompetent fools lightly. No butterknife screw removals or fork probes are going to fix the problem, so if it goes south, there is only one thing to do. Cry. Oh yes, and a call to the magic machine helpline can be of benefit.
Today is not the day to worry, however. Like the previous 365, the saving grace fluid flows from the twin spouts like it looks forward to my lips. A few sips and the clock once again comes into view. The power of being able to set it to December 2, 1923, is a great feeling. The time is set for one hour, and the plunger is pulled.
It looks like the clock took us to a hospital in New York City. The name on the stuff in the hallway says Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. Looking ahead, the sign over the door says “Maternity.” It is anybody’s guess as to why we are here. There is only one baby still in a bassinet, and above the baby is a large tag with the name Sophie Cecilia Kalos.
While scratching my head at what this could mean, the alarm goes off, and I drop back into my living room. It seems one hour in the time travel business is too short. Looking at my phone gives me the idea of looking up Sophie Cecilia Kalos. The stunning answer comes in an instant. We just visited Maria Callas when she was born.
I also have a text from Linda Hill. It reads. Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “confidence.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.
Couple Plants 2 Million Trees in 20 Years to Restore A Destroyed Forest, and Even the Animals Have Returned
By Andy Corby – Nov 30, 2023
In 2001, the legendary photojournalist Sebastião Salgado had a dream of restoring the forest near his home in the state of Minas Gerais. Now, 20 years later, his family property is a biodiverse paradise.
His work over long years saw him, his wife Lélia, and volunteers plant 20 million trees from 290 different species across over 1,500 acres of desiccated hillsides, recreating a natural forest ecosystem into which rare animals have now come to live.
Salgado’s story is a famous one. The photojournalist documented some of the most dramatic events of human misery of the 20th century. He authored half a dozen books, exhibited his photos around the world, and was the subject of a documentary, Salt of the Earth.
When he came home in 1998 after reporting on the exodus of the Rwandans into the Congo, the land around his family home had been completely destroyed.
“The land was as sick as I was—everything was destroyed,” Salgado told the Guardian back in 2015.
“Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees. Then, my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest. And when we began to do that, then all the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees, I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment.”
Tree cover surveys – Instituto Terra
That same year, he and Lélia founded Instituto Terra, which focuses on environmental restoration and sustainable rural development in the Rio Doce Valley. Located in Southeast Brazil, it makes up a part of the other great landscape of the country—the Atlantic Forest biome, which is far more temperate than the Amazon or the Pantanal and far more threatened.
Today, the property is officially titled Private Reserve of Natural Heritage Bulcão Farm, and hundreds of animal species have returned to the Rio Doce, including ocelots, purple-breasted parrot, and the Atlantic titi.
173 bird species alone have been identified; you can listen to some of their squawking here. Interested conservationists can donate to Salgado’s project on his website or even schedule a visit to the reserve.
The good news here is one man and his wife took it upon themselves to right a bib wrong. Today’s JohnKu talks about individual effort. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
In Keith’s words. “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put your offering (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before Sunday evening UK time. If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here. Thank you for taking part.”
The inspiration for this list came naturally from having decorated several houses over the years. I guess I could be guilty of some of these, but not all. I hope you enjoy it.
10 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not ignore the number of lights on a continuous string instruction on the lights. If you do, at best, you will trip a circuit breaker. At worst, you may take down the Eastern seaboard grid. (Who’s going to pay that bill, Caelan? Don’t forget the lawsuits that range anywhere from unwanted pregnancy to being trapped in an elevator.)
9 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not hire unlicensed contractors, especially if they are named Tiny, the WWF champ who just got out of confined anger management care. If you do, at best, you may get off with a broken window or two. At worst, you may find your lights wadded in a ball in your neighbor’s living room. (How were you to know your neighbor would yell at Tiny and tell him to turn down the rap music, Cane? Also, how would you know Tiny would jump through your neighbor’s roof and take out a floor and ceiling on his way to the living room. The big question to be answered now is where is Tiny and your neighbor?)
8 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not use the twenty-four-foot ladder to reach the peak of the roof. If you do, at best, you’ll be stopped by someone who loves you. At worst, you’ll plant that corner star just before your free fall to eternity. (Man. that was a mammoth first step down, wasn’t it Calder?)
7 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not think all garland is alike. If you do, at best, you’ll have a mismatched mess. At worst, just as you finish with the final strand and just before frostbite sets in, you will be told to change it. (You had the courage to go up on that ladder once, huh, Caly? How about now?)
6 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not think you must out-decorate your neighbor. If you do, at best, you’ll end up spending too much money. At worst, your neighbor increased his light and display capability last year when all the decorations were seventy percent off. (He has way too much stuff for you to finish on top, Carlton. You may take a lesson and wait for the sale and catch him next year.”
5 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not think everyone in the neighborhood likes all green lights. If you do, at best, there will be no comments. At worst, you will find a picture of your house on Facebook with the caption, “The most non-original decoration on the planet.” (Kinda hurts your feelings, doesn’t it? Cartland? Green is your favorite color.)
4 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not forget to fasten the decorations well. If you do, at best, there will be no wind. At worst, your decorations will be at the mercy of the nighttime winter winds. (It is no problem collecting your lights from the next-door neighbor, right Chadwick?)
3 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not forget to double-check the timer. If you do, at best, the lights will come on too early. At worst, the lights will come on at the right time but burn throughout the night (What would be even worse is they come on at six am and go off at six pm, Chas.)
2 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not use blow-up lawn decorations. If you do, at best, they look like piles of plastic during the day. At worse, the blow-up machine could get a short, and your blow-up decoration looks like an entry in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. (Whoever thought Rudolf could get that big just before he exploded, Clemens?)
1 If you are decorating your house for the holidays, do not have Holiday music on an outdoor speaker. If you do, at best, your neighbors will complain. At worst, you unknowingly violated the town noise ordinance. (Not a good idea to tell the SWAT team to get off your property, Cleveland. Too bad about that new storm door.)
Today, we are visiting Lakeway City Hall, where an exhibit of artist Gordon A. Phillipson is underway. In fact, we are in time to attend a reception in his honor. We are being catered by L’Oca d’Oro of Austin. Our entertainment is Peter Paul and Mary.
A word about the photos. The lighting in the exhibition area is great for viewing the art but challenging for photographs. Please excuse the odd angles and what will appear to be uneven photos. I intended to get the best shot of the art, avoiding blub glare and ignoring the frames.
So, let’s all get on the bus
There is city hall. We need to go inside.
Refreshments are set up for the exhibit.
I want you to meet Gordon A. Phillipson – The talented and award-winning artist.
His bio is very impressive.
Titled: Sea Fury over Giza – A Hawker Sea Fury WWII British fighter
Titled: SB2c Helldiver over the Golden Gate Bridge – The Curtiss-Wright SB2c was an aircraft carrier-based bomber used by the Navy in WWII
Title: Mosquito Over London – The British De Haviland DH98 Mosquito was a multipurpose warplane used in WWII and was the fastest airplane in the World then.
Title: US Airmail Over the South Rim – The Swallow OX5 was built in 1928 and used for airmail stops in Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
Title: Mikoyan-Gurevich Over Red Square – The Russian-made MIG 15 brought advanced swept wing design into the air combat role. Used during the Korean War with advanced versions as late as VietNam.
Title: Super Constellation Arrives in Paris – The Lockheed L-1049H flew on November 20, 1956. Called “Super H” and “Husky,” the L-1049H was a convertible passenger/freight aircraft
I hope you enjoyed the show. It is now time to relax, have some food, and enjoy the music.
The brew machine delivers a cup of steaming stuff faster than usual. There is more time to fool with the clock. The clock is in the pantry, and the pantry door closes after fetching it. Another dial appears on the back of the clock for the first time. There is a small clock face and a dial. The word ‘alarm’ is beside the face. Looking at my watch, the local time is nine o’clock. So if the alarm is set for Ten o’clock, it will give me an hour in the past.
The alarm is set, and the day and year are chosen: November 24, 1923. Now, to pull the pin to engage. Whoa, that was fast. According to the stadium sign, the location is Forbes Field. That’s a stadium that was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It looks like the game is over since most are leaving. Inside is a giant scoreboard with the names Carnegie Tech and Visitor. It looks like the visitors won the game 23 to zero.
A program is on one of the seats, and the visitors have been identified. It is Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame football team. It looks like the game was a little one-sided. The local folks don’t look too happy, but the Notre Dame folks are all singing and laughing.
A guy from the radio station is interviewing Rockne, saying that the game didn’t reflect his team’s strength. He mentions that they could have done more but decided to allow some first-year members to get some experience. That seems reasonable since, for Notre Dame, the score seems modest indeed.
A bell goes off, and my living room replaces Forbes Field. In my hand, the program has turned into a message from Linda Hill. It reads. Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “something that closes.” Write about the first thing that pops into your head that closes. Enjoy!
Unrelated teenage surfers rescued swimmers from drowning off the south coast of Australia on two separate occasions last week, proving that while the stereotype of young surfers is one of laxness, it isn’t all a bad thing.
It was November 18th when six friends aged between 12 and 15 were boogie boarding on Kiama Beach in the Australian state of New South Wales. Just 20 minutes after rescue personnel finished their shift and went home for the day, they became aware via screaming that 6 people had been swept hundreds of meters out to sea in a rip current.
A mom with her three young daughters and two young women were all caught in the violent water, leaving buddies Max Laird, Braith Davidson, George Griffin, Harrison Smee, Alex Norris, and Zach Marsden as the only entity on the beach able to affect a rescue.
Luckily, these strapping young lads are all members of the Kiama Surf Life Saving Club, and Harrison, the oldest of the crew at 15, led them back to dry land on their boards to save some lives.
George described the event as “shocking” but told ABC News Australia that “we just had to do what we could.”
“I got to an 8, 9-year-old kid called Matt, and by the time I got to him, he was completely underwater, just his hand above the surface of the water, so I was pretty worried,” said George.
Harrison, George, and their comrades rescued all 6 girls, just nights after another group of surfers on another beach rescued another person—this time a distressed teenage boy swimming alone after safety patrol hours.
Rescue on Jones Beach – supplied to ABC by Lucas Mak
This rescue, which took place on Jones Beach about 2 miles north of Kiama Beach, was carried out by high schoolers Lucas Mak, George Kalajzich, and Dax Cairncross, who used a surfboard to reach the drowning fellow who had also been caught in a “rip” as they call it Down Under.
Lucas and his friends – supplied to ABC by Lucas Mak
“We met the guy out in the rip and started paddling back to the shore slowly. He couldn’t really walk, so his mates picked him up,” Lucas said.
A spokesman for the Surf Life Saving Club said that the rescues were a testament to the awareness, bravery, and focus that can be shown even by young people when given the proper training, as the youngest rescuer was 12 years old.
The good news here is that the stereotyped behavior of teens is just that, a stereotype. Today’s JohnKu talks about stereotypes. I hope you have a great weekend.
“Twiggy is in her soft prison cell with her Benny wishbone and has a wish for you.”
“Thanks, Dad. I am speaking from my position of exile here in my place of incarceration. Even though I’m denied some of the finer things of life, I am grateful for the gourmet food, the roof over my head, and my two times-a-day exercise periods. I know this isn’t forever, so I keep smiling and pestering the jailers as much as possible.
My wish for you today is that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love, just like me. Dad has closed comments, and we all hope you enjoy the day.”
