We welcomed some old friends over for our annual "tree cut "party. Some background here. When I met Maria, she had a tradition of joining with friends to travel to a tree farm to harvest fresh cut Christmas trees. After the selections were made, tied to the top of cars or loaded into trailers, and transported to Maria's house, everyone, plus other honored guests, supped on chili and bread and partook of the beverage of their choice. Over the intervening years, the event was reduced down to the family cutting trees and everyone else just coming to the party. This year we cut the tree the weekend before. The table has morphed into chicken tenders cooked and peeled shrimp, cheeses, veggie trays, store-bought deserts and other good stuff. Some people remark that they miss Maria's Vegetarian Chili.
Every year there are new guests. On the other hand, some of the guests have been coming for many years. Helen Nagler has developed a following for her "Chex mix" and cookies. Lenny is honored for his paintings that proudly cover our walls. Frank and Mary Pat, John and Claire, and Bob and Bobbie have multiple punches on their loyalty card. Our new friends get to meet our old friends, and we get to see everyone have fun. The only thing we missed was the Badger Football Team playing some kind of a must-win game. That happened two years in a row when we were in Milwaukee.
Each year we end up at the end of a great evening sitting with a smaller group of friends talking about stuff. This year our Snowbird couple, the Van Asten's, regaled us with their experiences volunteering in Florida in the effort to help people caught in the mess after the hurricane. These two are the typical give-you-the-shirt-off-their back people. To hear that they volunteered was not surprising, To listen to their experiences in a community coming together movement to help others was inspiring.
Is there room in our world for more caring?
Maria and I are regular consumers of news. Almost every evening we watch the NBC Nightly News and follow that with PBS Newshour. I will sometimes catch Meet The Press on MSNBC.
It appears to me, that to cover positive news about people NBC does a lot of stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. This week's viral video was the bullied kid.
But what has tugged at my heart is the video of the horses trapped in the wildfires of Calfornia.
Governor Jerry Brown has called this late and violent wildfire season, the new normal. He lays it squarely at the feet of climate change and warns us all that we are going to have to live with it unless we begin to deal with the causes.
The scene of horses escaping from soon to be burning corral is bad enough, but how much more wildlife was lost? The little animals that we don't see on the evening news. The domestic animals that for one reason or another get lost in this destruction.
If there ever was an example of how we are the caretakers of our environment, it is these horrific fires in California. The natural environment is cruel enough to some species. There have been naturally occurring fires throughout history, but the conditions of these fires are manmade. The sooner we admit it and act on it the better off we will be and so will Mother Natures innocent creatures.
I'm hoping your Holidays are happy, so far,, with prospects of continuing in that direction.
From the lightly snow covered environs of Camp Jeff, I am The Poppa Jeff
Every year there are new guests. On the other hand, some of the guests have been coming for many years. Helen Nagler has developed a following for her "Chex mix" and cookies. Lenny is honored for his paintings that proudly cover our walls. Frank and Mary Pat, John and Claire, and Bob and Bobbie have multiple punches on their loyalty card. Our new friends get to meet our old friends, and we get to see everyone have fun. The only thing we missed was the Badger Football Team playing some kind of a must-win game. That happened two years in a row when we were in Milwaukee.
Each year we end up at the end of a great evening sitting with a smaller group of friends talking about stuff. This year our Snowbird couple, the Van Asten's, regaled us with their experiences volunteering in Florida in the effort to help people caught in the mess after the hurricane. These two are the typical give-you-the-shirt-off-their back people. To hear that they volunteered was not surprising, To listen to their experiences in a community coming together movement to help others was inspiring.
Is there room in our world for more caring?
Maria and I are regular consumers of news. Almost every evening we watch the NBC Nightly News and follow that with PBS Newshour. I will sometimes catch Meet The Press on MSNBC.
It appears to me, that to cover positive news about people NBC does a lot of stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. This week's viral video was the bullied kid.
But what has tugged at my heart is the video of the horses trapped in the wildfires of Calfornia.
Governor Jerry Brown has called this late and violent wildfire season, the new normal. He lays it squarely at the feet of climate change and warns us all that we are going to have to live with it unless we begin to deal with the causes.
The scene of horses escaping from soon to be burning corral is bad enough, but how much more wildlife was lost? The little animals that we don't see on the evening news. The domestic animals that for one reason or another get lost in this destruction.
If there ever was an example of how we are the caretakers of our environment, it is these horrific fires in California. The natural environment is cruel enough to some species. There have been naturally occurring fires throughout history, but the conditions of these fires are manmade. The sooner we admit it and act on it the better off we will be and so will Mother Natures innocent creatures.
I'm hoping your Holidays are happy, so far,, with prospects of continuing in that direction.
From the lightly snow covered environs of Camp Jeff, I am The Poppa Jeff
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