Now  the Christmas music has me remembering, dear friends I have lost touch with and really miss. the school I taught at held a Christmas concert for the student band.  Kids in 4th, through 8th grade. You could not believe how good they were. People would come as a favor to their friends and return year after year. The music teacher, Barry Weaver, was the band leader and he got those kids to play like pros. Really folks that had nothing to do with the school or parish would come to the Christmas and spring concerts for the sheer pleasure of the experience.  I miss Barry, I miss my friends, I miss the kids, and I miss the concerts.

Good clean violent fun. Cops and robbers with stuff that actually shot.  We played with each other every day, out doors. All sorts of games.  Our block was especially safe as the 20th precinct and 52 fire engine company were there. A block with both a police station and a fire house was safe as could be.

The point is we had friends that we saw all the time! No play dates, no calling to see if they could come over, just go outside and they would be there. Children today don’t have this kind of freedom. Everything has to be planned, organized, driven to, and scheduled. We played traditional games that went back to the turn of the century. Watch an Our Gang comedy and see the games we played. Not so elaborately but in essence.

Even when my boys were growing up they would see their friends on a daily basis. Bike a few blocks, join up with your pals and have fun. This  is missing in the suburban life my grand children know. It is beautiful  here, but they see their friends only in school in an organized sport carefully scheduled play dates. Free imaginative play is rare, I wish it wasn’t.

The trees may not be doing so well. The white pines are bent over but look fine. The oaks have not lost any branches and also look fine. The arbor vitae not so much. Looking out the window they I see that are bent double. Snow covers every branch and twig. Everything looks like the woods in Canada or Vermont. Also it’s bitterly cold so that it is dangerous to be outside for long.  Wonder how long the snow will stay around.

So that begs the question… aren’t they considered Christians? I mean if a Catholic   group went to, oh I don’t know,  an impovrished area of Scotland or Germany to “Bring the gospel” to  the people living there what would people say? I’m sure someone/newspapers would point out the stupidity of that action. But no, a Catholic country must be brought into the light of American style faith.

Another point. In all the press about the groups going to Haiti to help out only the CBS Morning Show interviewed the Catholic Relief workers who were in Haiti  before the quake and will be there helping the poor for years after the quake.  If you read the papers or watch the TV everyone including the Scientologists were there. Yet only one show had a 5 minute interview with the relief group that has been there the longest and DID NOT pull out its workers when the quake hit.

Gee, no there is no anti Catholic bias in the Media.

Here in the United States we hear the voices of those who would deny the basic protections of law to people who threaten us. The rule of law is one of the things that have made this country great. So it was with glee that I read that the Christmas bomber has started to cooperate with the Justice Department and has given  accurate and valuable information about Al Qaeda in Yemen. Hey folks this was done without “enhanced interrogation.” WOW!

I hope, but don’t expect, that this will silence the yapping of the far right talk shows on the subject of civilian criminal trials for those that they call enemy combatants.

Perfect snow –beauty and no shoveling.

HOWEVER… the Democrat Party is once again proving that it is the party of self interested amateurs! The health care debacle, the Massachusetts election, the horrid mess in Albany, and oh yes the total disregard for the people who are out of work. The tax code is a joke that is crippling the middle class and keeping the poor poor. Job creation is nonexistent and jobs keep going overseas.

Where is the revision of the tax code to make capital investment here in the USA attractive? If there are no production jobs there is little money to support the service economy. Occasionally you have to make and sell real goods.  People who make the goods earn money. This leads to spending and savings. The service economy grows on this not the other way around.After all the consumer has to have money to spend.

Blaming the consumer for bad sales is stupid. You need discretionary income to buy the new stuff. Bills and taxes come first. Then you can visit the mall.

Why are the Democrats waiting for the Republicans to win more governorships, congressional seats, and senatorial races?  Self interested amateurs who think pandering to the basest self interests will keep them in office, that’s what they are! Unfortunately we will be the ones on the short end of the stick.

The first snow was very deep and everyone was glad that it happened on the weekend. I mean two feet of snow on the rails and highways! The accidents just piled up and even the L.I.R.R. had stopped trains to deal with. The next was relatively light, two or three inches. This one looks as if the Lord sprinkled confectioners sugar over every thing. Once again the white pines at the back of the property have stolen the show.

How I love this house and yard.