Four hours of a little boy's life speeded up to last two minutes.

Looks like little Mr Miggs in real time to me.

Here she is... little Irish girl disguised as a Vietnamese dancing girl...

Charlotte doesn't get a lot of snow but sometimes .... (from a reader of The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan's blog).

About that family story about Cuba ...

... the one Carmen's brother coerced the whole family into posing for a commemorative picture of. Seems like the Old Port City Tribune is actually going to publish the story. Only the picture is not good enough so they wanted their professional photographer to do a new picture. He was so excited about it that he flew Carmen down for the weekend to have the picture taken. Sometime next week you people who have to rely on the Old Port City rag for news will get to see it.

And Carmen got a couple of days away from the cold just as the bottom fell out of the thermometer. Then it snowed, just as she was driving back up the mountain from Charlotte Airport.

Ben the Cat was so happy to see mom return she actually came out from under the bed.

Since I recently returned from Minnesota...

... I thought I would link to this story from that state about ... well, Minnesotans, for one thing. Duck hunting Minnesotans. I always liked Minnesotans because they were so grounded, down to earth, no nonsense sort of people.


Carmen's sister found this one and Carmen thinks it is hilarious.

I am in Minnesota now which explains why ...

... I have not been writing anything on the blogs for a week or so. I am staying with old friends. I came to help have a memorial for a dear friend who died a few weeks before Christmas. I might write some more about that friend, but not just yet.

I have spent a lot of time in my old neighborhood in St Paul. It is the place I still feel like is my real hometown. The area from the river bluffs to the Cathedral, between University Avenue and Ford Parkway. There is no other place quite like it.

But as I said, I will write some more about this when I get home, get ready for my classes on Tuesday, and have had some time to think about it.

New Year's Day back in the windy city ...

... of Boone. Carmen and I just got back from that unnamed pestilential swamp to the south, the crumbling port city. Everything went well except that Dianny-Bananny now has a little puppy to play with the little lummox, or as lummox refers to her (I am sure): the crazed lunatic devil dog from Heck. Or something like that. He objected to puppy touching his butt. He is very particular about that. Chewing on his neck was ok on the other hand. But then he's a dog.

I went up to Boone today to try to correct some of the many mistakes I made in my hurry to get out of town right before Christmas. Then I met English Will and his wife for dinner. We went to Tupelo's which has an international menu, including several Cuban things, like Arroz con Pollo. Which is good because apparently the new Cuban place has closed down already after only a few months. Didn't even last until the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, an event Carmen remembers well. In fact her brother coerced the family into reposing for an update of their 1960 passport photo to get the heck out of la patria. Now he is trying to peddle the story with photo to the local port city rag.

Well, it could happen.

New Years in the mountains ...

... with Máeráed and her family. First person to greet us was her little brother Miggs. It was a semi-formal affair and Mulan and her folks were there. And at least two Presbyterian ministers. The food was of course good, since most of it was fixed by Maire (with a little help from Murty and Máeráed). We did a bit of dancing, a lot of talking, and tested Murty's new Blue Ray technology by watching a few scenes of "Mongol." Even I was impressed with the Blue Ray: you could see every hair in Genghis Khan's beard. The steppes have never looked better.

Máeráed and Miggs went up to bed, which some how ended up with Carmen reading, or rather singing, the saga of Skippy John Jones to Máeráed. Just as we were getting ready for the final countdown Carmen woke up, so did Máeráed, and everyone got to usher in the new year. I feel as if an entire decade of bad news has ended. So the Double Zero decade is gone and a new day dawns.

I hope.