I took a friend’s advice yesterday and avoided hard work. I went shopping instead. Actually, I went buying.

Kennels are down. Heat lamps are on. The cats are cuddled up. The cold is here, major league stuff. Low 20s.

I plumbed and carpentered yesterday.

Lots of things running around in my head these days, some pleasant, some not so. This one is pretty ordinary and might be considered a late in life thought.

It’s really hard to beat a day at the cotton gin. So, I didn’t even try yesterday.

My friend Rob has worked in a cotton gin. His dad owned cotton gins. He grandfather owned cotton gins. I’m not sure how the subject came up in our conversation, but it did.

Oh me, oh my again. Went to my friends’ house last night for dinner. Thought I’d solved my Nest connectivity issue. Discovered disappointment when I arrived home and tried the proposed solution.

Oh, me, oh my. I spent most of my Saturday troubleshooting smart thermostats. It was an unequal battle. They are smarter than I am.

It’s only two datapoints, but I feel as though 2022 may be the year my party animal alter ego breaks out.

The outside Christmas lights are down, boxed, and stored back in the attic. Score one for me.

The cold has come again. Hard freeze last night. Winter. It might last three, maybe four days. That’s enough for some. It’s enough for me.

Stood on a dock by a lake yesterday morning. Watched the sun of a new day in a new year light the sky, light the water, light the land. There was no breeze.

It’s me. Again. I’m back. I had a nice time off. Christmas went well. Spent a great day with the kids. Played music. Realized how lucky I was. Am. How lucky I am.

This is it for the year. The final essay. I’ve got to finish getting ready for Christmas, my sinuses suck, I have cataract surgery on the 28th, and I’m tired.

Woke in Houston yesterday ready to go home. A big storm, however, sat between here and there. So, I waited.

Got up this morning ready to drive home to a Christmas party house concert, only to discover the party was cancelled the day I left home..

Earlier this month, as I was starting my Christmas card push, I bought several sheets of specialty Christmas stamps. Time passed between the buying and the using. Guess what?

I have a nice pair of dress shoes. Bostonian by brand. I like wearing them. Unfortunately, the frequency of wear is a lot less than it used to be.

I had a good day yesterday. Addressed Christmas cards in the morning and went to listen to music in the afternoon. The day was cool, the music sweet, and the friends plentiful.

An odd thing happened early this year. Beginning around May, almost every time I saw myself in a picture, I saw an emaciated, dead-eyed, wasted, skeletal wreck of an old man…