Happy(ish) Mutt Day

The Monday Morning Mutt Day photo that says it all.

Buster knows what’s what.

Consider The Taco

 

Another day, another argument.

Remember when Mexican food was a taco?

And a taco was simple? Crunchy shell, taco meat, cheese, lettuce, bam, you’re done. Now you have to choose between tacos and burritos. And if you choose tacos you have to pick your wrapper: hard or soft. Then there’s the filling for both: everything from chicken, shrimp, fish, barbacoa, carne asada to grasshoppers. And the topping choices are seemingly endless as well. I ordered a burrito online the other day and needed a nap before I could eat it.

So, it’s taco Tuesday: everybody be careful out there and try to keep things in perspective.

“Butterflies Are Free To Fly”

You can pick up factoids in the strangest places. For example, I saw this on my box of Kleenex this morning:

“Butterfly wings are transparent. The colors you see as a butterfly flits across the yard are actually the reflection of various colors through their scales.”

Malachite Butterfly

 

Butterfly on Cyprus

Sometimes it is hard to believe in God. Other times it is hard NOT to believe in God.

The Butterfly Nebula

Taco Tuesday The Day After The Iowa Caucuses

Some people think Taco Tuesday started as cultural appropriation. Actually it began as part of the Body Positivity movement:

Enjoy it while you can as you won’t be we allowed to celebrate Taco Tuesdays come February. It’s Black History Month and diluting the victimhood will not be allowed.  You’ve been warned so be prepared.

 

Oh, and that caucus yesterday? Not really a contest. So enjoy your tacos steer clear of emergencies and dream of making America Great Again.

Too Soon?

Is it too soon to dream of Spring?

 Picnic Table In Winter - Scott Prior

And spring flowers?

Flowers – Constantine Font

I think not.

Sorry, still too weary to do a real post. No wonder they call anemia pernicious.

Happy New Year 2024

2023 New Year post updated: Last year it was my eyes, this year it’s a severe energy deficit due to anemia so, like last year I’m not posting anything new but I have assembled a few excerpts from previous New Years’ posts which are mostly still relevant.

From revelry:

To those who made it to midnight on purpose to usher in the  new year I salute you. To those who were forced to make it till midnight by merrymakers in your neighborhood ushering in the new year, I sympathize. And to those who were awakened from a sound sleep by neighborhood merrymakers ushering in the new year, I empathize.

to predictions, 

I’m not making any more predictions because I just realized they’d be mostly pessimistic which somehow doesn’t seem appropriate for a New Year post. I’m still optimistic about some things but at my age it takes infinitely more effort to convince myself that logic and circumstance warrant such irrational exuberance. So I tend to conserve my optimism these days for really important stuff, like saving the world. [Relevant current article]

and resolutions:

Happy New Year everyone! We’ve made it through one Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year.

I don’t know what year that last excerpt was from but I must say, it  applies to 2022/3 as well.

When my eyesight improves I might just muster enough energy to make a couple of casual promises to myself.

Until then I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year.

I Don’t Make The Rules, Hallmark Does (Redux)

You should know that I have a love-hate relationship with Hallmark Christmas movies. I sometimes love the simplistic, mind-numbing love stories with happy endings that require absolutely nothing of you other than your presence. No thinking, emoting, relating or empathizing really required for the 2 hours (or 90 minutes if you record and skip the commercials). You simply need to have the TV on to watch a misguided young woman’s drama as she finds her one true love and the real meaning of life all within 2-3 weeks in television time. It’s Christmas magic!

I hate the shallowness of it all, but for insomniacs it’s a bromide which you can set the TV timer to and nod off to. Completely inoffensive which is more than can be said of most offerings.

So, as it’s seemingly 6 month season finally draws to a close, I re-run the Hallmark Christmas movie post originally from December 31, 2020. It’s not too late to catch one.

I Don’t Make the Rules, Hallmark Does

Hello, my name is MOTUS  and I’m addicted to Hallmark Christmas movies – don’t judge, especially if your idea of a Christmas movie is Die Hard.

In fact, I’m watching one – A Boyfriend For Christmas - as I write this. It is one of the first of 5 Christmas themed movies that Hallmark made way back in 2004. There are now 136 Christmas movies if Wiki is to be believed, although I’m not sure if that includes the whopping 40 new ones they cranked out in 2020 despite the cooties. So I think we can all agree then when I say of Hallmark:

Now when I say I’m “watching” I mean that in the same way I once “watched” Fox and Friends First when I woke up at 5 AM: it is providing a low buzz of background noise as I work on my post. And for about 6 months at this longitude it also provides background light in an otherwise dark bedroom.

Now I’ll bet there are some of you that pride yourselves on never having seen a Hallmark Christmas movie. Too bad, as that means you are unfamiliar with the unique genre in which 15 actors, 2 writers, 5 settings and a plot generator -

are used to create an endless array of escapist movies that are both cheesy and predictable while at the same time as comfortable as a pair of old jeans, assuming they still fit.

Up until this year the movies were, well, embarrassingly middle class and white.

But with BLM’s “encouragement” and the LBGBT community’s shaming, this year’s 40 entrees made up for that. You have never seen so many ethnic characters and mixed race couples enjoying Hallmark romance.

“Memories of Christmas,” “Majestic Christmas,” “Christmas Everlasting”

Plus, the yuletide has certainly never been gayer on the Hallmark channels.

But aside from those new twists, everything else is the same: a plot selected from the matrix above, a conflicted main character meets his or her true love but doesn’t realize it: tension/misunderstanding ensues followed by a happy ending. To say that the movies are formulaic is an insult to formulaic fiction, but then…did you miss the part about a happy ending? Every. Time.

Is there anyone out there who couldn’t benefit from a happy ending once a year or so?

And if you’re still not convinced allow me to point out other benefits of the genre: you can organize a whole evening of games around a Hallmark Christmas movie. There’s bingo of course:

And if that’s not enough there is the Hallmark Christmas Movie Drinking Game, which is basically bingo sans the markers.

So as the New Year approaches, and the Hallmark Christmas Movie season draws to a close – at least until July – you should consider catching one before it’s too late. There are worst things than happy endings you know…

Hijinks ensue.

Or you can just watch Die Hard again I suppose. It does have a happy ending so I suppose it technically qualifies.

Happy endings to one and all!

Christmas 2023

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Raj and I would like to wish all of our wonderful friends here a very, very Merry Christmas. We all deserve to set the world’s burdens aside and simply embrace the beauty and miracle that is Christmas.            

We send our love to each of you and wish you all a wonderful Christmas. Fill it to the brim with all the merry and the bright you can muster. For we are blessed.