It’s New Year’s Eve and I am loaded for bear. It’s been a great organizing and cleaning day with Baker and Dog and an assist from Easy. The black-eyed peas and ham hocks are in the crock pot for good luck tomorrow. I’ll be making cast iron skillet cornbread and mustard greens. Tonight? It’s Movie Night! The main feature is the 1936 Showboat in B&W followed by the Blues Brothers. I may have to change hats for that portion of the program. Tonight there will be popcorn and chips and a faux log burning in the fireplace. Dessert will be available. Champagne is chilling and the flutes are in the freezer. There will be a bit of sparking up. Planning is everything. Luck is a combination of preparation and opportunity. I may frost the cake by calling out for pizza.

Funny story or not. In 1999 I completed a family video from old 8mm films my father took. He paid for the whole thing and it wasn’t cheap. They were transferred to VHS and the beta version sent to the living family members represented. They were encouraged to do a voice recording of their conversations on a cassette while they watched it the first time. The response was gratifying. I have these images and voices of those who have gone to the undiscovered country. The final edit then included their reactions to familiar scenes and was trimmed accordingly. Which brings me to the spark for this post. Of course it’s my voiceover. I needed music. Here’s where Piano Mindy becomes involved. At a recital she played piano and I sang old songs. I have a recording on reel to reel tape. Those recordings became the songs that are the score. They can’t take that away from me. Out together dancing cheek to cheek. Here’s the punch line. There’s a moment when Mindy’s Mind wanders away and the music stops. I keep moving on, she wakes up and the rest is candy. We share this trait. I can’t stop smiling.

I’m concerned about The Lads. For reasons already noted I chose to invite Able and Baker to bunk here instead of on the street. Their situation may not have been as dire as I first thought. I haven’t seen evidence of their involvement in job search. They haven’t been to the welfare office where they would qualify for $300+ in food assistance. I’ve been generous with them. The Christmas Day dinner of green chile bacon cheeseburgers, fries and slaw was all on me. However, when I look they have eaten my stuff, helped themselves. They drank my bottles of Mexican soda with real cane sugar. I need to have a tribal council with them.

Dear Kathryn, Your Christmas call was a delight, perfect in closing what was a wonderful day for me. I’d already received many net messages and cards, chocolates from a gal pal in Chicago, spices and a Santa apron from another gal pal in the Canary Islands, chocolate and bourbon butterscotch sauces from another in Saint Louis, a bouquet of day lilies from my first pianist in the 70s, multiple gifts from my caregiver David and his family and a treasure chest of tapes videos and books from a buddy who’s a high school pal, lived here as a roommate and is as crazy as a coot. The green chile bacon cheeseburgers were great. The homemade peppermint ice cream was crazy good and so easy to make. I’m pleased to hear that you had wonderful and relaxed Christmas with our tribe as well. I appreciate your concern about my health. I am doing fine. Though it was tough for a while when I had to retire after my hospital stay, adjusting to the new routine has been good when I take it easy and plan things in advance. I also sleep when I want. My cardiologist CardioFrankenstein was very encouraging again at the recent six month checkup. My caregiver David comes on Friday afternoons and does big stuff like laundering bedding, taking out trash, swabbing floors, cleaning toilets and more. He’s also fantastic at shopping errands and purchased all of my Christmas fixings. His parents and family have adopted me and I got to spend Thanksgiving with them. He reads my mind and attends to details I haven’t even asked for yet. I’ll speak about Pam for a minute. I love her deeply and truly and know she loved me in the same way. She is with me every day. Over so many years we had ups and downs. When we were young children she tortured me until I grew large enough to defend myself and then things evened out. She was known as Hammy Pammy until I became the musical comedy man of the family. I knew for some time what this course of events meant. It matches Mom’s health progression calendar. I can go into a genetic discussion another time yet the data reflects an x factor I rather expect that you carry as well. This is mentioned as a caution and not a warning. On a lighter note I’m pleased you’re considering a larger social media presence. Free platforms like FB and Twitter might bring you some business. They can also touch the larger world. I have contacts across the US and in the UK, New Zealand, Pakistan, Nigeria, Spain, Japan and the Canary Islands. I was just exchanging recipe notes with a friend in Uganda about my famous recipe for carne adovada. On FB I’m Mark Youtzy and on Twitter @markyoutzy. My blog is yourfaithfulservant.com on blogspot. Mail is 401 Bryn Mawr DR SE ALBUQUERQUE NM 87106. I’ve also had a great year using USPS. On going to your mailbox if in the bills and junk mail you find something personal from a friend it makes you smile immediately. I may have had it before and lost it so I’d like your mailing address please. I’ll make a little craft for you. I love you. Please give my best to our tribe. Bye for now.

CHRISTMAS DOES A FAVOR Christmas does a favor treading lightly on the snow as it visits great and lowly with its message born of giving bringing light to clouded eyes and leaping joy to all the living. To Bethlehem we go. Christmas does a favor singing songs of winters past. From the mantelpiece of memory come voices we remember and the icy pain of loss is warmed by love’s undying ember. The heart at peace at last. Christmas does a favor as we gather yet again giving meaning to the feasting and the sharing and the singing with word of God’s most precious gift, our soul’s salvation bringing. On earth good will to men. Christmas does a favor coming only once a year bringing quiet introspection with its noisy celebration spreading word to tell the weary of the jewel of God’s creation. A holy child is here.

Christmas time is here. The holidays are fraught. Mind you I’m an atheist which is an unusual thing for a Mason to say but we’ll get into that another time. With my sister’s death in September I am alone in a way I have not been before. It’s prep day. I’ve made a fresh pot of iced tea. A cherry pie is baking. In a bit I’ll be making the coleslaw with a chop of olives and artichoke heart. In recent years I’ve done more of the Norman Rockwell menu yet tomorrow’s menu is green chile bacon cheeseburgers (I have a Portobello mushroom in case my favorite vegetarian stops by), crispy fries with blue cheese dressing, slaw and cherry pie with toppings. There will be a frothy chocolate drink (with a bit of cognac) from a dear friend of fifty years and a fresh box of dark chocolates. Here’s the deal. Jesus is a mythical figure. Hundreds of religions have a savior born on 12/25 to a virgin under a blazing star. Three wise guys (Moe, Larry and Curly?) attend bearing gifts. We celebrate the passing of the longest night of the year and our renewed confidence that the sun is coming back to bring us life.

This drives me mad. The state of marketing and customer service is trying to bottom out and the race to get there is far from over. The house next to mine is newly on the market. There was an open house this afternoon. The flyer already had dumb stuff in it. “modem kitchen” Did you mean modern? It also said modem floors. I didn’t see a single modem anywhere. No Snacks! WTF is wrong with you? You couldn’t get a bag of Chex Mix? In the kitchen there was a jar of jelly on display to indicate that you could eat in here. No eating there either. In my dream there was shrimp cocktail. It’s pretty small and reminded me how nice it is to have the floor space I do. The detailing is nice, some good glass and ceramic tile work that link spaces and a shower with a glass door that would work like a charm in personal porno play. It’s big enough for two and a child (the house not the shower.) I’m hoping for LGBT pals. Then we can mambo.

I’ve done my etymological research and it’s safe for me to say I am agog. By way of chance and circumstance, my house is suddenly full of life. Able Baker Charlie Dog and Easy are on duty

The Lads. A Face Book friend of several years was about to become homeless. He had been robbed by one of his former pals of all assets and was losing his apartment. I go to the neighborhood Walgreens and see the homeless people before a manager comes out and shoos them away. If I saw Able and Baker (for the purposes of this story those are their names) I would feel deeply ashamed. On my offer of shelter for the night the lads finally arrived (with an assload of stuff) and are settling in. Baker is an organization freak which melds well with my OCD. While I was away for an appointment they cleaned and organized my dining room. I am so pleased. I’m about to see if they would like to share a pizza and movie night. Ah ha. The deed is done. Pizzas will be pepperoni mushroom green chile and black olive with a backup bacon and pineapple. The feature? Blade Runner

There’s a large amount of silliness going on here and it’s on both sides of the aisle. The idea that we can just bomb the fuck out of people we don’t agree with to get what we want is what some pro-lifers, gun nuts and other maxy craxy folks think will work. The Yellow Peril and the Nazis fell down that rat hole. Cassandra predicts it will not work. My evil twin is hoping The Don will be the R nominee for our next president. Old wisdom: be careful what you wish for. Under the early Articles of Confederation the two top vote getters were president and vp regardless of party. Hilly and Donald in 2016!

I have a niece (distant and by marriage) who is a talented musician, actor and educator. She is slated for a road company of #oncethemusical which will tour nationally. From here, that’s a benison and a bitch. She commented that dancing with a cello is actually kind of hard. I replied that if it was easy everyone would be doing it. In the day I twirled and danced and made merry fun about the stage playing several trombones while wearing a shiny outfit. I got paid for doing it. What’s not to like? Well, we were in the Twin Cities around my 21st birthday working a sports club called The Left Guard. We were fired after a few nights because our funk band Wind and Silver drew too many negroes into the club. We ended up marathon driving from there to the military base in Big Springs TX for a one nighter. It turned out there weren’t many negroes there either. A scene in Spinal Tap shows the band arriving at a military base to play a dance. They are greeted by Fred Willard. That doesn’t end well either.

greetings

I keep saying I'll return here so I'm giving it another shot