Merry Christmas

Here is a glorious piece of music. Enjoy it, and Merry Christmas.
~Ray

The Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice.  What a wonderful thought; darkness is now fleeing.  Redemption is upon us.
So, look at the universe.
Best, Ray

Global Warming Is Real Despite...

The fact that we have 22”s of snow in front of our house.  It’s winter.  The skiing is great---according to son Anson and granddaughter Avery who are powder unicorns ( pigs to the rest of us).  Where do I fit into this wintry mix?
     Well ( a terrible way to start a sentence), I’ve skied since I was 3 on the hill behind our house.  I floor waxed my skis.  I climbed.  Well, many years later I still wax my own skis, but I’m afraid that I’m waiting for sunny, warmer days.   Do I feel guilty? Yes, I do. Should I?  Whatever, dude. Spring is on its way, believe me. I’m a FEBRUARY SKIER.
     In the trees in front of the windows facing the mountain ( floor to ceiling glass) , sit 9 wild turkeys waiting for me to spread corn and sunflower seeds for the little birds.  They then waddle in and gobble down.  I now put seed for the little birds on an outdoor summer table.  They are all happy.  When it snows I have to re-fill all the time. Last week a young moose came by.  What bio-diversity!
     Hey, how about the Bali conference!  Cut back.  Now!!  OR …  maybe we can coax a Wormhole to drift by and we can dump all the CO2 junk into the Wormhole. It will then emerge on the other side of the space/time continuum.  Serves them right over there.
     The Christmas spirit is growing. 
~Marcello (Ray)

Let's Hear it for Books!!!!

No.1 son Ramsey who lives in Saigon teaches English to little kids, teens, and adults.  He has been  there for more than three years and loves it.  The Vietnamese are studying English because that is the global business language and Vietnam, though Communist, has embraced the market system and capitalism, as has China.  That is not surprising, the market system does work, not entirely, it needs government involvement in a Keynesian way as long as it is not too heavy, and don’t overlook that the globalized economy works on market principles.
     Ramsey has an apartment, two cats, and a passel of Vietnamese friends as well as Australian, French, and German ex-pats.  It’s a vibrant world, filled with energy and hope.  It’s a great place to be despite its recent past. The wounds are real, but life does go on and the tone is positive.
     The other day he called and said that he would like to open a used bookstore in Saigon ( HCMC) serving ex-pats, tourists, back-packers, and Vietnamese.  “Dad, people love books!!!  They’ll never go out of style!”
     Then he spoke with Shannon enlarging on the plan.  “Shan, I could run a coffee/tea house on another floor and have book discussions and poetry readings.”
     Right on, Ramsey, right on! As we used to say.  He has his finger on the pulse of the  world from a rapidly emerging developing country to the ex-pats, to tourists.  He’s rights:  BOOKS ARE GREAT!!  YOU CAN HOLD THEM. FEEL THEM.  READ THEM AND RE-READ THEM.
     So, let’s hear it for books.
~Ray

Stormy Weather

Not the Cole Porter type.
What a gift it was.  Heavy snow throughout New England.  Winds gusting to 60 MPH.  Airline schedules jumbled like a junk drawer in the kitchen.  We cancelled going back to Vermont on Sunday afternoon.  Weather.com made us do it!  And the weather being no better on Monday, even worse, we stayed two extra days in Jamaica. 
Just like the books we write, we were confronted with the choice and made the decision to stay.  It wasn't hard.  Today one brave soul in our office reported a foot of snow had fallen by 11:30 and was continuing in earnest.  YUCK!  So home today.  Cats will be glad.  We'll be glad. 
And the snow will be beautiful...stormy weather.
~Ray