It’s the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. It’s also the seventh day of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Christmas and Kwanzaa are four days away, Festivus just two. I’ve been out and about, shopping, going to appointments, eating in restaurants, and visiting museums … not one person has laid a “Merry Christmas” on me. It’s always “Happy Holidays,” which is what I say in return. As is only right.
Looking at that fuzzy face, you may deduce I’m growing another beard. If you disapprove, don’t worry: beards never last long with me. A friend, seeing my photo on Facebook, texted: “I can never figure out the tidal cycles of men’s beard growth. What makes you suddenly decide to stop shaving?” I don’t have an answer for her, but I like the idea of a tidal cycle. I’ve been paying more attention to the lunar calendar lately, probably because I’m adding a moon phase wristwatch to my collection, and the moon of course is why we have tides. I’m in the waxing beard phase now, and it’ll be a full beard soon enough. The difference with beards, though, is the lack of a gibbous phase … one day it’s full, the next it’s gone.
A while back I downloaded the Merlin Bird ID app to my iPhone. I use it to record birdsong during my daily walks with Fritzi and Lulu. During yesterday’s walk Merlin reported hearing black-throated sparrows, a northern mockingbird, Gila woodpeckers, house sparrows, curve-billed thrashers, Mexican house finches, and mourning doves. I was able to ID the doves and woodpeckers on my own; in time I’ll learn to distinguish the others.
I’m in the habit of taking selfies and photos of the dogs on these walks, which I share on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Why those three? Because they’re part of Zucky’s Meta empire and one entry can be auto-shared across all three platforms. If I want to share photos on other social media platforms (Twitter, Mastodon, and Bluesky), it’s more work, requiring new individual entries. Anyway, here are a couple of photos from recent walks through the hood:
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Our nomadic friends Bill and Terri are in town, taking a short break on their travels. They’re coming over for dinner tonight, then, tomorrow, hooking up their 45-foot trailer and motoring on to the winter campgrounds at Quartzite. You wanna talk beards, check out Bill’s:
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Those photos, by the way, are from the Rolling Through Time Auto Museum here in Tucson, which we visited Friday. Amazing place, heavy on Fords and Model Ts in particular, but also home to all manner of non-automotive collections: Barbie dolls, old cameras, tools, equipment, even an exhibit containing every version of those once-popular rubber trolls from Norway. Speaking of which, Bill’s beard? Dude’s been in full tide mode for years and shows no sign of going clean-shaven again. More power to you, brother!
Our shopping and decorating is done and we’re looking forward to a quiet Christmas, the holiday we observe. Happy solstice to you, and happy holidays too.