Sunday Night...

- rock chalk jayhawk. there, I said it. See ya in the Alamo Bowl, Mizzou Tigers. This is the price you pay for messing around and letting KU win yesterday. Now lick your wounds and prepare to take another whuppin' in KC next Saturday. If ya cain't beat KU, ya ain't gonna beat OU. (BTW, I'm not rippin' on the Alamo Bowl, which is really where Mizzou should be, given the strength of the Big 12 South, but they had BCS dreams to start the season. I always thought that was unrealistic. They had a shot at the Gator Bowl or Holiday Bowl but this just wasn't their year.)

- 13 more bags o' leaves done yesterday. Total for the season now stands at 33, with ending goal of 40 well in sight. Now if I can just remember to get my weekly limit of 10 bags out to the curb on Tuesday night. That's the hard part, apparently. Yesterday's leaf bagging was not made easier by listening to the aforementioned football game on the radio. double urgh!

- just paid some bills. man, am I laying out some cash between now and January 1. am just now receiving bills for my recently-troubled tooth. first from my regular dentist who examined but didn't do any work, second from the oral surgeon who examined but didn't do any work. personal property tax, mortgage escrow shortage, christmas shopping...makes me glad I am gainfully employed.

- picked up a book at my local Hallmark store yesterday. "On A Personal Note" helps one write notes for any occasion. I had a need to do so and it helped me word it perfectly.

- helped decorate my church for Christmas after services today. got a delicious free meal out of it (thanks, RS!) and lots of yummy cookies. the weather outside was appropriately frightful, with pretty snow falling intermittently but not sticking to much of anything.

- Christmas-music-listening season officially starts tomorrow for me. It's been in the stores for weeks but I count that as ambient noise! : )

- no, I don't know what I want for Christmas, yet. check back later!

The Inevitable Thanksgiving Day Report...

So yeah, today was a good day. traveled to Columbia, MO, enjoyed dinner with 15 people plus Chili-dog, enjoyed one slice each of pumpkin and apple pie for dessert. Weather was delightful. Baby Lydia was in a sunny mood for most of the day. She got lots of lovin' from both sets of grandparents all day long. Christmas card pictures were taken for my brother and his little family and me and my doggie. I had been disappointed that I forgot about having one made for this year so I'm glad we got it done. This year's will top last year's, folks, guaranteed. If you didn't receive one last year and would like one this year, e-mail me your address and I'll put you on the list. I snapped this picture while my Dad was taking family pictures of my brother, sis-in-law, and Lydia.

Chili was a great doggie guest today, by the way. No other dogs came to dinner but she did have a run-in with the family cat, who crept out of the basement shadows for a moment. She and Chili stared each other down for a few seconds and when Chili made her move, the cat swiped her face with a de-clawed front paw. Chili jumped back in surprise and I jumped in to, um, save her. Otherwise, she stayed out of the way and generally behaved herself. Her tail wagged constantly so it may be sore for a few days!

Mad props to my brother for successfully smoking the Thanksgiving turkey this year.

I cranked up my iPod to pass the travel time. Pat Metheny Group's "(Cross The) Heartland" seemed immensely appropriate so that got a listen. Menahan Street Band's "Make The Road By Walking" positively pulsed through my earbuds. The groove grabs hold and just does not let go.)

Heading West...

The dog and I have an early wake-up call tomorrow morning. We're traveling with the parents to Columbia, MO to enjoy Thanksgiving Day with my sis-in-law's family. The parents are in the midst of a kitchen remodel and it's not quite done yet so we were invited to Columbia. My mom will have to whip up her famous dressing after we get there. Consequently, they're picking us up at 7:30 a.m. sharp.

Yes, Chili was invited. These folks are dog lovers and they are OK with visiting dogs. So, I gave Chili a bath/shower tonight so she'll smell nice and clean. I'm praying she does well with all the unfamiliar people and *other dogs* that will be there.

A Thanksgiving Song...

I love these lyrics:

Thankful Boys And Girls

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For eyes and ears and toes,

And puppies with wet noses.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For lessons we have learned,

And love we have not earned;

Follow the beat of amazing grace;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For kisses on the mouth,

Teenage heartbeats pounding.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For lightning in the sky,

Laughter in the eye;

Follow the beat of amazing grace;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls.

For all that brought us here,

And all that will bring us through.

The passages of life that lead to You,

Lead us to You.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For a little common sense;

And painted picket fences.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For packing all the plans;

in rented motor vans;

Follow the beat of amazing grace;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For Mendelssohn and Brahms

Shadows growing longer.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

For grandkids we can hold;

Years that slowly go;

Memories to keep; sorrow running deep.

Follow the beat of amazing grace;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls.

For all that brought us here,

And all that will bring us through.

The passages of life that lead to You,

Lead us to You.

Let us be thankful boys and girls;

When hope is not enough;

That death won’t bury love.

For wine and bread and hymns;

Remembering again;

We follow the beat of amazing grace;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls;

I want to be a thankful boy;

Oh let us be thankful boys and girls.

"Thankful Boys and Girls" by Billy Crockett and Milton Brasher-Cunningham ©1994 Radar Days Music

It's Thanksgiving Eve...

Today's "Mutts" comic - it reminded me that I am always thankful for my doggie friend Chili.

My Kind Of Humor...

"In The Bleachers" by Steve Moore - 11/25/08

One Way To Feel Good About Yourself...

Break your own NFL record for longest interception return!

To Start Off Your Thanksgiving Week...

What kind of music did the Pilgrims like?

Plymouth Rock!


Why did the Indian chief wear so many feathers?

To keep his wigwam!

No, This Won't Save The Big 3...

Check out what I saw as I was leaving the church parking lot today. It is what it appears to be.

Roomies...

Some friends of mine recently had their pictures taken together - they are roommates and all really great people.

Roomies

From left to right - Katie, Kim, and Gina.

In The Fading Light Of Day...

I remembered I needed to pick up my dry cleaning before the store closed, so I hopped in the car and off I went. This is what I noticed when I stopped at the stoplight. A retreating cloud bank lit by the setting sun. Magnificence.

WowGod!

The Me, Fall '08

dressed to rake leaves today

sepia-style

Good Old Lola...

Because it turned sharply colder and gray-er overnight:

The Fresh Prince Was In The House!...

The actor Will Smith is in St. Louis today to promote and locally premiere his upcoming movie "Seven Pounds." He was just here IN MY BUILDING for an interview and photo shoot in our newsroom's photo studio.

And I just missed seeing him. He had just left by the time I wandered upstairs.

I did see his tour bus parked on a side street outside the building.

small consolation.

Here's a video of him entering the building from the tour bus

Here's a blog about it from P-D movie critic Joe Williams

Ticket Tracker: SLIFF - "One Bad Cat"

Tonight I joined some friends from the P-D at a screening of the documentary "One Bad Cat." It was shown at The Tivoli theatre as part of this year's St. Louis International Film Festival, which started last week and runs through this weekend.

"One Bad Cat" tells the story of 'Reverend' Albert Wagner, a self-taught African-American outsider artist and preacher. Wagner was a self-proclaimed "sinner and womanizer" who found God at the age of 50 and felt a strong call to begin painting. His home in East Cleveland, Ohio became a museum and gallery for his work. The movie paints a fascinating portrait of a complex man. I found it most interesting. My friends did, as well, and we discussed it at length outside the screening room afterwards.

My aforementioned P-D colleague Elie Gardner alerted me to this via Facebook. She took part in a photography workshop in Cleveland a couple of years ago and was assigned to photograph Albert Wagner. She was at his house during the filming of the documentary and got a "Special Thanks" mention in the credits. Very cool!

We ended the evening at Fro-Yo, a nearby frozen custard joint. At Fro-Yo, you choose from a variety of ice cream flavors, dish it yourself, then top it with any number of available toppings. You pay $.40 per ounce and then indulge! For $3.85 I had vanilla soft-serve topped with fresh strawberry and kiwi slices, and a couple of chunks of chocolate-chip cookie dough.

(why? because it was there!)

Traveled Through The Root Canal....

For my St. Louis readers - if you ever have a tooth in need of a root canal or need an old one re-done (as I just did), I can easily recommend Dr. Maher at Southwest Endodontics in Sunset Hills. Excellent, friendly dentist and great staff.

Something New And Different...

In my 34 years of grocery shopping, I have never see this before...but I saw it tonight at my local Dierbergs. Anyone ever heard of this? This has to be some of the plainest packaging I've ever seen.

Sunday Night...

- having trouble gathering my thoughts tonight, folks...hang on tight.

- upon further review, I have decided that the aforementioned electric guitar symphony sounded like what a migraine headache feels like.

- memo to self: from now until Christmas, no shopping on weekends...confine thyself to weeknights if possible. Your sanity is at stake.

- I'm very adamant that Christmas music should not be played until after Thanksgiving, at the earliest. So, it follows that it would bug me that it is playing in ALL THE STORES currently.

- I have made my first, and likely only, Christmas music purchase of the season. In one of my earliest blog posts, I blogged at length about all of my Christmas music. I mentioned Christmas Songs by the Eddie Higgins Trio as being one of my favorites. Well, not long ago I discovered Eddie Higgins made a sequel to that CD, titled Christmas Songs II. Great!, except that it's not available anywhere in the U.S...which is why I had to buy it from a Korean eBay seller. It sits on my entertainment center, unopened, and will remain so until December 1, when I will begin playing Christmas music. I'm just odd like that.

- finally got around to buying an external USB hard drive; 250GB of backup space for my pictures and iTunes music library.

- can you hear me, major Tom?

- had a nice visit with niece Lydia last night. I babysat for her while her mommy and daddy went out for a couple of hours. We visited for a while then daddy fed, bathed, and bottled her before bedding her down for the night. She really is precious and such a blessing.

- had a nice lunch after church today with Ben, Katie, Kim, and other friends today. good times.

- you owe it to yourself to check out questblog.org - it's the new online presence for the contemporary-casual church service that I am a part of within my church.

My Sense Of Humor...

GO!!!...

This "For Better Or For Worse" cartoon ran yesterday and it hit home for me, as I have a dog who puts me through this in the winter, too!

TIcket Tracker: 100 Guitars...

Just returned from an interesting night of music. The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra made a rare appearance away from Powell Symphony Hall to make their debut at The Pageant. The SLSO had never before played The Pageant, which is one of the area's top concert venues for, um, non-classical music. Works by modern composer Glenn Branca bookended the program. Branca is composing a new symphony and the orchestra performed its first movement. His style is unabashedly post-minimalist avant garde, so the music was often cacophonous and brash. Works by Frank Zappa(!) and Edgard Varèse followed, then the orchestra exited and the stage was reset for the second half of the program.

The rest of the evening was devoted to Branca's "Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City)" for 100 (!) electric guitars and percussion. It was a sight to see; 100 guitarists on stage, divided into 4 SATB sections all playing loud, cacophonous, atonal sheets of sound. It was challenging listening and not for everyone, to be sure. Good stuff...

(ironic that I would be listening to a straight-ahead jazz CD as I write this. Tadd Dameron with John Coltrane, "Mating Call" from 1956. A classic.)

Katy Trail Pictures...

I finally sat down tonight and edited some pictures from my bike ride on the Katy Trail on November 1. They're posted on my Flickr page here.

Happy 90th, Billy Graham!...

The Man himself, Billy Graham, turned 90 years old last week. In honor of this, I post the lyrics to the Swirling Eddies' tribute to him:

Billy Graham

from the album "Outdoor Elvis"

Words and Music by Camarillo Eddy ©1989 Broken Songs

I don't know about those other guys
There's something in the back of their eyes
But Billy, you're the man who don't use sleight of hand
Ain't wearing no disguise
I love you, Billy

I love the simple things you say
And you never seem to get in the way
No one is quite like you, compassionate and true
'Just as I am,' I say
I love you, Billy

Sunday Night...

quickie tonight....not much time to say what little I have to say.

- full weekend:

- started the annual battle with the million leaves that have started dropping from my trees. 9 bags yesterday, many more to go before the season is over.

- hayride/bonfire last night. not truly a "country" hayride as we were only in suburban north St. Louis county and could see the lights of civilization at all times. did pass by a spooky cemetery, though. the weather was, um, cold but the bonfire was warm. many s'mores were created and consumed. I tried to emulate Bethany's technique and I think I was pretty successful.

- no rest for the weary, though. spent this afternoon and evening at the parents' house. They're having some work done on the ol' homeplace and needed me to pitch in and help get some things done so the work can start. after all the time they've spent at my place helping me out I was happy to help. Chili came along for doggie support.

- Niece Lydia turned 10 months old on election day. Happy Birthday, adorable one!

- My Jefferson County homeboy Jay Nixon, of DeSoto, MO did get the guvernorship. Kenny Hulshof's a nice guy but at his concession speech he looked like a guy who ran a race because someone told him to and gamely gave it his best shot. I don't think he was surprised at his loss. I feel sorry for the guy...he gave up his seat in Congress, only to lose his election.

- am contemplating a rare blog post on political matters re: the recent election. pray that I construct my thoughts carefully and, well, thoughtfully.

Because It's Friday...

One of my very favorite jokes of all time:

A wealthy woman is giving a garden party, and several well-to-do guests attend. While the party ensues, two gardeners are out on the back lawn working. One of the guests was watching the gardeners do their thing, and while one gardener was busy weeding the other jumped up and did graceful swirling dance movements.

Taken by his grace, the guest remarked to the host, 'That man is such a talented dancer, that I'd pay him a thousand dollars to demonstrate his dancing before my aerobics class! 'When the host asked the first gardener about such an arrangement, he yelled, 'Hey Fred! Do you think for a thousand bucks you could step on that rake again?'

Yes, I Did...

I did do my duty today, walked to my polling place in the GORGEOUS sunshiny goodness today. Chili also did her duty, but in my back yard. You won't see that here.

Now I'm off to Krispy Kreme for my free voter's doughnut. What a country!

Sunday Night...

- The "Sunday Night Stream Of Consciousness" is hereby officially retired...to me, it became gimmicky, like a sitcom that you tune in for every week at the same time. Can't have this thing become stale and predictable.

- I biked a good long way on the Katy Trail yesterday. Knocked out 23(!) miles between Greens Bottom Road and Weldon Spring, with a little detour to explore a new side trail that led to, um, a sewage treatment plant. Yeah. That's 23 miles, round-trip. I took loads of pictures because that stretch of trail is especially scenic this time of year. The picture above looks west down the trail. The rest will be posted, eventually.

- Way too many nitrites tonight at The Gathering's bonfire gathering. 3 Oscar Meyer weiners of indeterminate meat sources, 2 S'Mores, 1 piece of apple pie and several fresh strawberries.

- was almost too warm for a bonfire. wish November would return us to our regularly scheduled Fall, already in progress.

- last week's word of the day was 'apicoectomy' and I was scheduled to have it done on Tuesday. However (and there's ALWAYS a however in life), the oral surgeon determined that that was not yet necessary and referred me back to an (new word of the day, folks!) endodontist. This after I got all psyched up and prayed up for oral surgery. wasted an entire day off for 30 minutes of drama. urgh...

- the entirety of my mail yesterday was campaign literature. THE ENTIRETY OF IT. when it comes to mail, I'm like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin. can you say LETDOWN? into the recycling cart it went. wish I could do the same for all the annoying robo-calls that I've gotten in the last week.

- bro and sis-in-law celebrated anniversary number 3 on Wednesday. I hear they got away by themselves for an overnighter somewhere. Can't believe it's already been 3 years.

Not To Be Outdone...

...by the trees pictured below, this little guy has poked his way through the fence between my neighbors' yard and mine:

The Trees Of My Neighborhood...

My neighborhood is blessed with an abundance of mature trees that explode into a symphony of color in the fall. This is some of what Chili and I observed on our walk this morning.






See the rest here.