Holidays RIP etc Update

Brrr. It's 16F outside and my little heaters are doing their best but it's pretty chilly in my shed, so I have a lap blanket and fingerless gloves on. We got about six inches of snow yesterday and it's all nicely frozen (went down to 6F last night).

So it's been a while since I blogged about anything, which means this post will be a hodgepodge.

My brother is safe so far and has moved from Fiji to New Zealand. Future plans are uncertain.

My holidays were nice and quiet. Amy and I joined Mary-Anne and family for Thanksgiving, so there were 12 of us around the table. Somehow, over the years, I've become the designated turkey-carver person. Not sure at all how that happened but I do my best. Xmas was very quiet as Amy was in Dallas for the week and Mateo visited his parents. Also, Tillman was in Florida.

Somewhere along the line, I bought a recliner, a big mother with a side lever, and the footrest is big enough that my heels don't hang off. This was important.

Not much else has happened around here. Last night, we were up till 2am playing Phase 10, and Tillman and Sam stayed over. I can now (11:30am) hear Tillman trying to get his truck out and make it work on the icy road, much cursing and shouting and spinning tires. He keeps trying to gun it. He'd do better to wait a couple of hours.

Well, let's do some RIPs.

Nat Hentoff: jazz writer and critic. When I was in college back in the 60s and had to write a paper on the history of jazz, Hentoff was the authority.

Ron Glass: actor, especially on "Barney Miller" but also as Shepherd Book on "Firefly." He had a fine sarcastic tone.

Richard Adams: writer, best-known for "Watership Down." His death on xmas eve was overshadowed by George Michael the next day and then Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and the year ended with William Christopher (Fr. Mulcahey of MASH) leaving us.

So far so good with all my friends amongst the living, hale and hearty. I am grateful for them. Considering the impending doom, I'm hoping we all can get through it all with our sanity intact. Best wishes.