Vegging out…
Been taking a break during the holidays, vegging out, staying away from the keyboard and trying to get moved into a new home.
We will be back for the New Year with new photos, new musings and, hopefully, new energy.
In the meantime, Happy New Year to everyone.
It was a very good year…
Comes now the end of a year of change in the Thompson household with the view outside my window as I write this the biggest difference in where we were at this time last year.
This was the year we decided on a grand experiment — a new photography, video and digital printing studio in the county I left 40 years earlier with a vow to never, ever, return.
Yes, Virginia…
The following editorial, among the most famous ever written, appeared in The New York Sun in 1897 and remains appropriate for this holiday season 107 years later.
IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor! I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ”If you see it in The Sun it’s so.” Please tell me the truth: Is there a Santa Claus?
Sun and Ice
On Monday, the wind howled and the wind chill dropped to 20 or more below. By Tuesday, the sun came out, the wind calmed and it was almost balmy in the Blue Ridge.
We only have ice for you
Freezing temperatures combined with high winds produced sub-zero wind chills throughout Southwestern Virginia Monday as winter arrived one day ahead of the official date on the calendar.
Early arrival
Winter arrived a day early in the Blue Ridge with sub-zero temperatures and howling winds, leaving thousands without power, water pipes burst and propane tanks running dry.
Cold
Damn it’s cold. The thermometer on the back porch read 2 degrees this morning and the talking heads on the telly say wind chills are 20 degrees below in many parts of Southwestern Virginia.
The wind howled all night but none of it made it into the house. The insulation did its job, the windows did not rattle and the combination of electric baseboards and gas logs in the fireplace kept everything warm and toasty.
But, sooner or later, I have to go out there into the cold, harsh reality of a Blue Ridge Mountain winter morning.
Our apologies…
…for being offline for so long. We’ve came down with a case of pneumonia towards the end of November and am only now getting back on our feet.
Getting old is a bitch.
57
Yegads! Another birthday? Yep. Number 57.
They say you’re only as old as you feel and when the weather gets wet and cold I feel a hell of a lot older than 57. Too many broken bones, torn muscles and other assorted injuries from my youth now add up to creaking joints, arthritis and just plain hurt.
Some find the 40s traumatic. I didn’t. At 40, there is still a chance you can live to see 80 so your life may not be half over. But at 50, the odds of seeing 100 diminish and the mind starts thinking its all downhill from here.
Only as old as you feel? Damn, I’m in real trouble.
Spoken Word
Spoken word night for the Floyd Writers’ Circle at Cafe del Sol.
Sally and Frank Walker’s eclectic coffee shop in the Winter Sun building turned out to be an ideal place for members of the group to read selections of their work, including fellow blogger Fred First (right) with a tale of finding their current home in Floyd County.