New Years In The Twilight Zone

Again this year, we are celebrating the changing of the calendar by watching The Twilight Zone marathon on SYFY (The Sci-Fi Channel). 

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/how-to-watch-syfy-the-twilight-zone-new-years-marathon-2023

For a decade or more, year after year, we have spent these same hours pouring over the shadowy stories, perfect for whiling away the liminal space between past and future, memory and anticipation, "the pit of Man's fears and the summit of his knowledge".

I've heard it claimed that however you spend the New Year, that's what you'll be doing the whole year through. Perhaps that's why our years of late have been so downright weird. I don't mind. What better way to spend the year than wondering upon fantastical tales, twisting and turning through the twilit corridors of imagination?

Egg Nog and Real Tree

 Our annual batch of Egg Nog is bottled and in the ice box, aging its way to Christmas.

 

It's based on "General George Washington's Recipe" which I first saw a couple years ago on "Tasting History" with Max Miller. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bsHOxQtBW4

The recipe is also available here: https://www.almanac.com/george-washingtons-christmas-eggnog

But my concoction also has a pinch of good old Alton Brown's take from "Good Eats". 

https://altonbrown.com/recipes/aged-eggnog/

https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/good-eats/videos/school-of-hard-nogs

 

I mean, ya gotta have some nutmeg!

 

What makes this batch extra special is that we'll be enjoying it this year in front of the very first REAL tree I've ever had for Christmas -- extra, extra special because the tree came from Casper Mountain.

 

 

 

 

Perpetual Preparation

Seems like I'm perpetually preparing. 

Scrambling to locate glasses for last week's annular eclipse (I have dozens left over from the eclipse in 2017 still hiding somewhere).

Working to finish remodeling my Mom and Dad's kitchen--or at least to reach an acceptable stage of functionality--before this past Thursday so the family could properly celebrate the 50th anniversary of them signing the mortgage and moving in.

Now spinning like a whirlwind to get ready for Hallowe'en. Decorations still awaiting. Costumes to finalize. Groceries to gather. Cookies and cakes to bake. Chili to concoct. Cider to mull. Pumpkins to carve. On and on and on... All we must do in order to enjoy the evening's feasts and festivities.

Then, already looking forward to the work needed for Thanksgiving.

And nevermind Christmas!

With Winter looming ever closer--snow icing over the horizon this very moment--and all that must be done to prepare for its wrath.

All the while haunted by the thought that I simply must locate those missing eclipse glasses in order to get ready for next April's trip south to witness another solar eclipse.

 

Ready or not, the future keeps on a'comin'!

 

 

 

 

Submitting to Submission

Today I sent a submission in the mail. 

In the mail.

Haven't done that in twelve, maybe thirteen years. Perhaps even longer. It's been all electronic submissions for so long that the entire process of typing up a cover letter, signing my name, and sealing the envelope felt somewhat strange--like reliving far forgotten memories, once part of every day yet faded and made all but obsolete against a whole other way of remembering.

How marvelous it was, though, to fall into the same old habit of driving the same old route to the same old post office and following the same old way home. 

Whether the story is accepted or not, I'm delightfully convinced that I ought to seek out opportunities for physical submissions more often, if only to keep the whole process new as ever.

The Last Light of August

The Last Light of August

 

From 

"Away With Words"

 by 

Jim Matheos 

Pioneering Twins

Thanks to the staff of the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center and also Fort Caspar Museum for helping our Student Docents make it a Summer of Pioneering Adventure!

https://nhtcf.org/

https://www.fortcasparwyoming.com/

Aestivation Arrives

 

 

 

Overcast in Casper all day, we never did see the Sun.

Nevertheless, it's still Summer!

 

 

 

Aestivation Awaits

 

 

 

When next we see the Sun it shall be Summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fifteen Years

 A Happy Crystal Anniversary to my wonderful Rainbow!

ANOTHER Few Snow Days

Sent home early from school yesterday, working through a virtual school day today, and already scheduled to be staying home again tomorrow, we here in Casper, Wyoming, are enduring yet another few snow days. This go 'round, the snow storm has broken a record that has stood since a wintry Christmas Eve over forty years ago. In fact, it sets the record, as kept since the 1930s.

I was going to post a couple of pictures, but the white space below gives a rather fair sense of what Wyoming looks like outside my window.

Cloudy Conjunction

We have been watching Venus and Jupiter approach one another night after night for weeks. 

Then, at last, the evening they meet, the skies are cloudy, alas!

 

Yet, it made for a ghostly glow around the pair, as if they were gazing through a spectral veil.

 

 

The high, frosty clouds also gave the Moon a really cool halo.

So, it proved to be a wondrous night of stargazing, nevertheless.

Another Couple of "Snow Days"

A blizzard rolled into Wyoming--as well as across half the country--with snow and ice and wind that wouldn't quit. A deep freeze of blinding white drifts...

...Giving us another couple of snow days. 

But only "half-way" snow days. 

Because, although we got to stay home, we still had to attend school using virtual learning tools. The storm was well forecast, and folks had ample chance to prepare. When the snow started blowing, we were ready.

It was still weird. Seeing pupils' faces arrayed across the computer screen, and it felt like we had slipped into a wormhole and got shot out three years ago--right into lockdown!

Nevertheless, teachers and students once again proved themselves adaptable to any situation, and we were able to make it a valuable pair of days worth of work and learning.

Does this then mean the end of the true "Snow Day"?

Another Snow Day

Second snow day of the year--announced just as I was tying my tie, just as my wife was going to warm up the car, and just as the Twins were gathering their Winter gear.

We all went back to bed--even if not back to sleep.

Always so wonderful to spend a cold Winter morning watching The Price Is Right.