Morning Mississippi

This is the morning haze and frost of Fulton, MS, small town about 30 miles east of Tupelo near the Alabama state line. Frost almost looks like snow.

It's a Dog's Life

This is my aunt's dog, Sheba. Sheba is the happiest dog yet she seems to have not that much to be happy about. It's about 34 degrees in this photo and probably the eve prior it got down to the upper 20's. She's an outside dog and never is permited inside(country dogs are NOT allowed inside for any reason, some would think it like letting your cows in the house,...not my way of thinking, but it exists). Yet look how blurry her tail is. That's because it's wagging,...and she does her version of smiling too,....alot. More than I do and I know I have a much better lifestyle. Maybe I could learn a valuable lesson from Sheba and wag my tail and smile more often, even when I think I've got a dog's life. Merry Christmas Sheba!

Christmas Memories Already

This was a family photo from our Christmas in Texas prior to hittin' the road for Alabama Monday, 12/19. We were blessed to have Eleanor and Michael Walker spend some holiday moments with us. The other two are Amy and Holden. You can use your imagination to move me from behind the camera to the composition, if you wish(maybe over Michael's right shoulder would provide some balance for the photo). Merry Christmas! Attend a church on Christmas Sunday that isn't closed in honor of Jesus's birth!(my little pet peeve that I will not go in to).

Merry Christmas to you and yours! This is one of my favorite songs of the season. We have it on cd and prior to cd's we had it on tape, both renditions from the King's College Cambridge Choir,...in England. Wouldn't be Christmas without it!

The Infant King
Words: Sabine Baring-Gould
Music: Basque Carol

1. Sing lullaby!Lullaby baby, now reclining,Sing lullaby!Hush, do not wake the Infant King.Angels are watching, stars are shiningOver the place where he is lying.Sing lullaby!
2. Sing lullaby!Lullaby baby, now a-sleeping,Sing lullaby!Hush, do not wake the Infant King.Soon will come sorrow with the morning,Soon will come bitter grief and weeping:Sing lullaby!
3. Sing lullaby!Lullaby baby, now a-dozing,Sing lullaby!Hush, do not wake the Infant King.Soon comes the cross, the nails, the piercing,Then in the grave at last reposing:Sing lullaby!
4. Sing lullaby!Lullaby! is the babe a-waking?Sing lullaby!Hush, do not stir the Infant King.Dreaming of Easter, gladsome morning,Conquering Death, its bondage breaking:Sing lullaby!

New Englander

Well, I have been in New England now since Tuesday(Boston and New York). Nice place to visit(in Boston on business, in NYC visiting my brother). These are much more beautiful than the state within which I now reside. Incredible amounts of significant history,...not that Texas history is insignificant,...it's just that you can't compare the founding fathers to the Alamo crew,...and not that that was a less important or somewhat of a second class act of patriotism,...it's just that you couldn't have the second without the presidence set by the first. I had clam chowder and lobster and lobster bisque and last, but certainly not least, Boston creme pie. The first two were good, the third was too salty, and the fourth was worth the trip to Boston independent of anything else. Took the train from Boston to NYC, to visit my brother. Tons of snow this am(Friday),...but it melted off. Saw Matt, Katie and Al as I stood in the huge flakes of snow getting drenched as it kept collecting on the ledges of my coat as it draped on my body. I would occasionally dust it off,...but to no avail. It was coming down that hard. I was so soaked, I had to take the NBC studio tour and saw the SNL set and the Conan O' Brian Show set(really smaller than they appear, amazing). NYC is fun, but I will definitely have to go back to Boston. So much history, so little time. I was only able to take a couple of steps on the Freedom Trail. Still have a day and a portion(Sunday) left here. Drank a martini(or two) in the Algonquin Hotel(photo of lobby bar above) in Manhattan, where several famous patrons drank them, including author, Dorothy Parker, whose quote graces their cocktail napkins, "I love a martini - but two at the most, Three I'm under the table; Four, I'm under the host." Hope she had someone to pay for those four martini's. I think the $14 included a surcharge for atmosphere. You can't feel that atmosphere like you can feel a martini.