VFW: Entertainer with Squeezebox

Lunch today at the VFW, a benefit, featuring homemade Italian sausage, peppers and onions, and mostaccioli pasta -- & sprinkle on that Parmesan. Diners were serenaded by this concertina player. He isn't blind, he just wears shades. He told me the concertina was made in Louisiana by a Cajun, and for such a small instrument it had surprisingly deep sound. This guy sang, too: "Never on Sunday," and "That's Amore," and I had a wonderful lunch hour today. Yeah, I ate everything on the plate, plus I drank the beer.

Not at Home

Downtown in the big city at the Fox Theatre to see Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. When I came out abt ten thirty p.m. it was snowing. As I drove west on I-44 the roads not having been salted or sanded or plowed became a problem. Reluctantly and knowing it was best I pulled off the interstate & checked into a Holiday Inn from which I write you. Slept 4 hrs. Prefer my cabin with its few amenities...now under a nice snow blanket, & God knows when I will make it home. The flood of '07 kept me out of my home 4 days. I expect the MODOT plow crews will have roads ready by now.

Ring Around the Moon Tonight

Usually the atmosphere is full of ice crystals, but at times some do line up to party, and moonlight reflects off their hexagonal bodies at a 22-degree angle, causing a 22-degrees-diameter iridescent ring around the moon. Majestic!! Rare here in Missouri, but it happened Tonight, with a first-quarter moon. When clouds began to drift in, the ring vanished. Why do I never think about the beauty of ice rings until I see one? It's always a surprise gift! Hardy migrating birds such as flickers and sapsuckers may appear any day now.

Letter in the Snow

Before holing up for a winter night I take the bird feeder and suet cage onto the porch, or else I'll be woken up later hearing fuss and turn up the floodlamp on an obese raccoon hanging upside down from the wire grabbin' at the suet cage, or waddling off with it...

And the porch door's warped, so after I shut it from the inside I have to go outside and kick it firmly closed (can you say Green Acres?) and I happened to look down...

(Heard a joke today. What's the difference between an introverted engineer and an extroverted engineer? The introverted engineer looks down at his feet. The extroverted engineer looks down at your feet...)

. . . and saw bunny tracks, and my heart was filled with delight. I love their "Y"-shaped track. Bunnies used to own this place but numbers have been down in recent years. So happy to see evidence of my otherwise invisible, secretive little friends. P.S. Rabbits are not rodents. They are members of the deer family.

Jack Frost Lives!

Jack Frost's icy renderings of trees rival those visible through the window in this photo -- taken in the garage, which has single-pane windows. The sun was melting Jack's artwork and I had to shoot quickly! It's been decades since I've thought about Jack Frost. Back in Wisconsin, windows seemed full of his ice paintings, and we sang at least one song about him. But the Disneyfication of life, and a move to Missouri, elevated Frosty the Snowman to first place as the embodiment of winter. But that doesn't mean Jack's out of business. Frosty is winter's peasant; Jack is its poet.