Santy Claus is Comin'?

..... that's hard to believe.

Last Christmas, it snowed in South Carolina (see video), we went sledding and ate Jackie's potato soup (see recipe) and I thought that was unusual.  (it was)  This year, my windows are open and the attic fan is going full blast, it's 70 degrees out.  Now that is unusual!......
  I'm beginning to believe in Algore's Global Warming scenario and am about to give up all my aerosols as my attempt to prevent global warming.
I'm not, however, giving up my toilet (Ol Bessie) that flushes way, (tons!) more water than the newer toilets neutered by Algore's water-saving mandates.  I've seen how those new toilets flush, or more specifically, how they don't flush, and well -- I'm not switching until Ol Bessie falls apart.

We took Eva over to Doug's shop to see the new puppies and pet Belle, the rescued fawn.  She didn't wear that sweater very long. It's just difficult to have Christmas in hot weather.  We were in Florida a couple weeks ago and found a new hip shopping area called Cityplace in West Palm Beach.  It's like a fake city -- all cool, hip stores that are on a fake street and you walk around pretending you're in the perfect town, it's rather sickening actually.  But anyway, as we were on the upper level, strolling through cafes with people sitting "outside" (wink, wink) on the "patios" (wink, wink), Tom and I stopped to peer over the railing below.  Look what we found:

A fake ice skating rink!  In the middle of the fake town.  In the middle of one of the wealthiest towns in America.  Those kids were using real ice skates, but that wasn't real ice.  It was about 73 degrees at the time this picture was taken.

When I was a kid (you knew that was coming), I would bundle up in my snowmobile suit, loop my skates over my shoulder and go down to the frozen pond.  (upstate NY)  Tons of friends would be there, shoveling snow off the ice, skating, building a bonfire.  What fun!

Yes, once or twice a year, I miss living in the cold North.

Merry Christmas, Ya'll.

Wish I was there.