Happy Thanksgiving 2025

 

Yesterday I was feeling a lot better, so I worked on campus. Seabird was going home at noon, so she and I were going to walk on our morning break, but when we went to go outside, we could see the snow was blowing sideways, so we chickened out and went back upstairs to talk to another member of FART 5. Then this colleague and I went on a walk at lunch, talking about good hiking spots and snakes and other random outdoorsy stuff. I can't remember if I mentioned that we got a new fridge at work and that I suggested naming it Nat King Cool, which was the winning (and only) entry in the naming contest, so our chair asked me to print out a photo of Nat King Cole and stick it on the fridge.

As my readers may remember, we also got a new fridge at home (and I wrote a short article about it that got published in Guidepost magazine and got paid $50 for it), so Travalon named that one either Calvin Coolfridge or Rita Coolfridge, I'll have to let him clarify.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!

(I hope I don't get sued out of existence for using that image.) Travalon and I had a quiet morning at home, and I noticed something shocking: my dragon bunnies have 6 7 on their ears!

OK, technically they have 7 6, and if you don't work around kids, this may mean nothing to you anyway, but I've had these stuffies long before 6 7 was a thing. Teachers have to listen to kids say, "Six seven!" all day long, and this includes Travalon. We finally looked up the "song" this comes from a few weeks ago, and to say it's a rap song is unfair to rap, and especially to songs. As one person commented, "At least this monstrosity will never get stuck in my head!" I don't remember ever hearing the song on the radio - was it a huge hit? How do the kids all know it? Why do they like it? It is (and I say this in a world full of Kardashians) The Stupidest Thing Ever.

Then we watched the Packers beat the Lions in a very exciting game. Speaking of Nat King Cole, we wrote this song (you know the tune):

    L is for the way he launched that ball,

    O is how he threw it over them all,

    V is very, very extraordinary,

    E is even more points you know that he could score.

    Love is the greatest quarterback of all,

    Love has the launch codes for that ball.

    

That's about as far as we got, and I stole that line about Love having the launch codes from a tweet after one of his amazing touchdowns. We composed it while strolling around the neighborhood after the game and meeting a new neighbor who had moved from Travalon's hometown of Pewaukee.

As usual, we went to Rich's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We usually supply the turkey, but someone from Night Prayer got a free turkey at work and donated it, so I thought of making a pumpkin pie, but the guy who always brings four desserts was coming, so I was going to make cranberry sauce since Kathbert wasn't coming... and then someone else was bringing that. Travalon and I brought a bunch of leftover containers we had accumulated around the house, but wouldn't you know that someone brought a whole bunch of those professional-looking cardboard ones like you get at restaurants? So we were basically moochers. The turkey was delicious and juicy, and Cecil Markovitch brought a bean salad, the Dairyman's Daughter brought cheese curds and some cranberry sauce left over from her family dinner, Luxuli and Prairie Man made mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and brought rolls and asparagus that someone else prepared who couldn't come at the last minute, and the family with three boys brought chocolate truffles made by the middle son and cranberry sauce. Other people were there too, like Hockey Girl (I feel like she brought something but I can't remember what - oh yeah, eggnog, and so did the Dairyman's Daughter), and the retired astronomy professor, and a guy from the Night Prayer group. And, of course, the man who makes all the desserts and his son; today he made a cannoli cake, a cranberry no-bake cheesecake, a maple chess pie, and a pecan pie, with two flavors of whipped cream: coffee and maple. And lest you think we didn't have my very favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner - stuffing - Rich made that too. I tried tiny bites of everything, except Rich gave me a generous slice of turkey and a generous scoop of stuffing from inside the bird, and I couldn't hack any dessert so I took a piece of each in one of those fancy leftover containers. 

The boys were so entertaining. The youngest is six, and when we told a few child-friendly jokes, he decided to try his hand at writing jokes, so they were like this: "Knock knock! (Who's there?) Chicken pushing eggs off your head onto the ground!" and "How do cows drink? Moo moo suck through a straw!" He was also fascinated with a planetary handheld pinball game, my Mardi Gras beads, and the piano action I had built a quarter of a century ago when I was studying piano tuning. (I believe Rich called my action a "motion," but he also called the piano "the typewriter.") The oldest is a teenager, and he has actually learned about the concept of equal temperament, plus he got Rich's gyroscope to work. The middle one is a preteen who wore a jaunty cowboy hat, and when he asked my favorite cartoon character and I said, "Honestly, I love the Coyote and Roadrunner," he said, "Those are also my favorites!" Both the older boys are studying German with Hockey Girl, and they both played Rich's badly out of tune "typewriter." I'm afraid that I remember so little about piano tuning that if I tried to do it now, I'd just make it worse, and besides, I never learned how to do it in anything but the dreaded equal temperament. Also, Rich has three "typewriters" in his house; this one in the living room used to be a player piano, but the equipment inside has long since been lost, then there is a functional player piano in the dining room, and there is a third one from Kathbert's mom's house in the family room. Maybe those are in better tune, if anything in equal temperament can truly be called "better." Better than totally out of tune? That's fair.

Famous Hat

Thanksgiving 2024

 

Yesterday Travalon and I had a very relaxed morning, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Travalon's favorite balloon is the Sinclair Dinosaur one, so he collected all his dinosaurs to watch it with him as he wore his Sinclair gear.

We went to the Essen Haus (which currently has no closing date) for Thanksgiving "dinner" for lunch. It was very popular! They had a traditional dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, green beans, and cranberry sauce. For dessert they had pecan or pumpkin pie, or apple or cherry strudel; we chose strudel (apple for Travalon and cherry for me) because that seemed more fitting for the setting, and I had already had a slice of pumpkin pie that morning. 

It was bitterly cold outside, and the mall was closed, so we walked around the house, then we watched travel videos about Tahiti, and then we went looking at Christmas lights. A lot of them aren't up yet, but we did see a few. More photos soon; they are on Travalon's good camera. Here is a house not too far from us that does it up like this every year.

Then we watched the Packers play the Dolphins at Lambeau. Maybe the frigid weather threw the team from Miami for a loop, because the Packers handily beat them. They handily beat San Francisco last week too, but between Irish class and the Slow Irish Session, I missed the game and had to watch the highlights reel. Speaking of which, if you want your mind blown, watch the highlights reel of the Cowboys vs Commanders game from last week. It starts slowly (at halftime they were 3-3), but in the last three minutes they scored 31 points between them. It was CRAZY!!!

Today Travalon had the day off of work, so I used my last vacation day. We spent a lot of time in the garage, going through bags and boxes of stuff he had brought back from the storage shed, and I found a lot of stuff that I'd wondered about or just forgotten about. Still no sign of my poetry journal, but there were several bags of books that we just brought straight upstairs without going through them, so I still have hope. Then we ran errands, taking our change to the credit union to get cash for Small Business Saturday tomorrow and dropping off a bunch of stuff at Goodwill, where I bought a pair of bluejeans and a pair of black jeans. In the evening Travalon dropped me off at an early music concert while he went to the bookstore, then we both went to Leopold's for their pumpkin spice ice cream drink. It had a brown, star-shaped garnish that I thought was chocolate, but it had the consistency of wood and a strong flavor of anise, so that was a bit of a shock. After that we drove through the Fantasy of Lights. Every year they have some new ones, and here are a few we saw. Of course Blogspot loaded these in the wrong order, so my grand finale is first - the Christmas outhouse!

A polar bear family.

I've never seen this snowman before, although there are plenty of snowmen every year.

Who knew that deer played slots?

I like this biplane.

This looks like the Sinclair dinosaur with a baby.

This is new - an old-fashioned!

So here's my grand finale - a pink bunny and a major award! It's the leg lamp from A Christmas Story!

And my contact in Vilnius sent a photo of their Holiday Train.

Looks like a fun ride! If I'm ever in Vilnius around the holidays, I'll have to check it out.

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Thanksgiving 2023

 

This is going to be a very music-oriented week for me, because Tuesday we had an "emergency" band practice before our gig on Saturday, and Sunday is the Slow Irish Jam, and of course last night was the classic rock jam at the East Side Club. As usual, they made me get up there and play "Norwegian Wood" with way too many sharps, "Lucky Man" (a song I find incredibly boring), and "Maggie May," but if that's the price of getting to hear all these fabulous musicians for free, so be it. Travalon recorded my songs, so I can see that I am improving but am still not at the level of these other musicians. Guess I'm a lazy musician; I only know how to play in about four keys. Last night a bunch of guys got up, including a bass player who was dressed like a sexy woman, and they killed it with "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains. Later the man in the sexy black dress sat down at the keyboard, and he led the others (including a guy who'd been playing guitar earlier but then grabbed a trumpet) in "So What" by Miles Davis, "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs, and "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck. The guy who leads the jam, who usually plays guitar but can also play keyboard and drums, pulled out a flute for "So What." I am in awe of the talent! That's why I LOVE this jam - you never know what's going to happen! But it will usually be amazing! It was also Game Night, so there were a lot of people there, sometimes randomly shouting "Uno!" Because today is a holiday, instead of ending at ten, the jam went until after eleven, and late in the evening the guy who does Billy Joel songs showed up and did some, and also "Fantasy" by my favorite band of all time: Earth, Wind, and Fire. I had wanted to try to sing "Jolene," but I forgot my phone at home and so couldn't look up the words, so forget that. Maybe next week. They did a couple of Rush songs too, "Limelight" and "YYZ," and while I have never enjoyed listening to Rush, hearing the songs live made me realize how intricate they are, with lots of time changes and stuff. Is this the next step to my becoming a Rush fan??

Today we had a lot to be thankful for, like Jordan Love and Rashan Gary. They led the offense and the defense to an amazing victory over the 8-2 (now 8-3) Lions in Detroit. Such hot offense! Love was lobbing them in the air! Such vicious defense! Gary got three and a half sacks and two strips, and the whole defense put so much pressure on the Lions' quarterback, Goff, that he was off-balance for most of the game. Right at the end he looked like he might pull it off, but it was too little, too late. It was a relatively nice day out if you bundled up, and very sunny, so before the game I took a rosary walk, and afterwards we took a hike at Jackson's Landing.

As usual, we went to Rich's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and as usual we provided the turkey (but he cooked it). As usual, the dessert guy brought three desserts (key lime pie, butterscotch pie, and an apple pecan cake), and also a couple of sides, like a custard noodle dish. Cecil Markovitch brought his famous spinach salad, and Rich made peas and stuffing and rolls, but nobody thought to bring cranberries because Kathbert went somewhere else for dinner today. I totally could have made some cranberry sauce - I learned a couple of years ago how ridiculously easy it is to make. The family with the three boys brought pumpkin bread pudding and scalloped potatoes. The two older boys are memorizing famous speeches, and the four-year-old is learning just from watching them. He recited the Gettysburg Address for us! And then he laughed and grabbed something he wasn't supposed to, and later he threw up on his plate because he's four, and that's what they do. He was also obsessed with the pink hippo Jilly Moose once gave Rich for his birthday that raps about how she likes! big! hugs! on a takeoff of "Baby Got Back," so we heard that in the background for a lot of the dinner. El Vegetariano was there too, and he and Travalon could talk about nerdy stuff I don't know about, like comic books. Travalon also talked to Dessert Guy a lot, and I talked to his son. Their daughter and sister, who is about to give birth in a week, won a whole bunch on Jeopardy! She was amazing to watch! So I know someone who's almost kind of famous! If you google her name, it calls her "Fan Favorite Lady Harriet Whimsy" (not her real name, her blog name), so she may not have won the tournament, but she won the hearts of the viewers!

Here is a beautiful sunset I saw from work yesterday:

And here's what it looked like from my office window, which faces east:

Now that I have a master key to every office on our floor, I can go into offices facing west to see the winter sunsets. Last winter I could see how beautiful one must have looked from the reflections off the buildings I can see facing east, but I couldn't find the one master key we had at the time to get into an office facing west. So glad that problem is solved!

Famous Hat

Thanksgiving 2022

 

I had a very relaxing day today. I walked outside a lot, since the temperature was so mild, and I baked spaghetti squash and made cranberry sauce for the first time. It's not hard, and the recipe I found online suggested adding blueberries, so I threw a handful in. It seemed delicious to me, but I wasn't sure what everyone else at Rich's house would think.

Originally Rich had said he would have a small group for dinner this year, and someone gave him a twelve-pound turkey so I didn't provide the bird this year. Soon the number had ballooned to nearly twenty people, and I said the turkey wouldn't be large enough, did he want me to get a second one? but he said no, he had gotten a turkey breast to supplement it. There was a family with three boys, so that was a lot of fun. People brought all sorts of salads and vegetables, including the family, who brought sweet potatoes from their garden and butternut squash soup also made from produce from their garden. My spaghetti squash was from my former garden plot, so it wasn't just vegetables, it was locally grown vegetables. The mother of the family had also made her own kombucha, and it was delicious. The guy who always brings desserts brought three today, and the father of the family made a pumpkin pie from scratch, but I took a bite of it and didn't finish it. He asked about it and I said I was full (I had shared my other desserts with Travalon), so he took my leftovers, tried a bite, and said, "This isn't my best pie." Which was more why I hadn't eaten the rest than just being full, but I hadn't wanted to say so. I have made some doozies of desserts myself over the years, like the pumpkin tofu cheesecake that someone said would NEVER fly in Paris. That may be the funniest insult that has ever been lobbed at me, except for the time I asked if there were any loons on the lake where Anna Banana II's family has a cottage, and Tiffy said, "Besides you, Famous?" People did eat most of the spaghetti squash, but they really raved about my cranberry sauce. I should have made a double or even triple portion; I think we each got a small spoonful. But I'm gratified that everyone else thought it was as delicious as I did. 

I was telling El Vegetariano and a woman who often comes to brunch after Mass about how much Travalon and I enjoy watching The Office, and for some reason the woman thought that meant I would also love some action show she really enjoys. I don't know why loving a comedy show about the workaday world would imply any interest in an action show, but I said I would keep that in mind. This wasn't enough for the woman, who insisted I watch a clip of the show featuring a smokin' hot actor, which may be why she loves the show so much. Me, I love The Office precisely because the people on it are so real-looking - even the attractive people are like someone you might see walking down the street and think, "That person is cute," not someone who would make you stop in your tracks and go, "Whoa! Stop the presses!!! How can someone that good-looking even exist?!?!"

***Warning: Graphic description ahead***

Please skip this paragraph if you are at all squeamish. When I was a teenager, my friends and I were once biking through a nature preserve when we saw a crow carrying something furry in its beak. As we approached, it dropped the furry thing and flew off, and we looked down at it expecting to see a small rodent, but instead it was the head of a rabbit. The rumor was that some group called Rama Bahara held satanic rituals in the caves in this nature preserve, so I assumed they had beheaded the unfortunate lagomorph during one of these rituals. But then today as I was taking a rosary walk in the neighborhood, I came across a rabbit head. Since I'm fairly sure none of the neighbors are Satanists (although I guess you never know), I am assuming a coyote was responsible, and maybe that was also true for that long-ago beheaded rabbit in my hometown. So then I looked up "Rama Bahara" and could only find something about a cult headed by a guy named Rama Behera, but nothing about them beheading rabbits, and they were based in the northern part of my current state, not the one I grew up in. Anyway, I wouldn't say two beheaded rabbits thirty-five years apart in two different states indicates anything. If more rabbit heads start showing up around town, then I'll have to rethink this.

Famous Hat

Small Business Saturday 2021

 

Yesterday was Travalon's favorite day of the year: Small Business Saturday! We met Jilly Moose and OK Cap for coffee downtown, then the four of us went up and down State Street. I bought a poster and a tapestry that should glow under blacklight - photos soon! I was also looking for "sports" things for a Secret Santa activity I'm doing, but they had to be things small enough to fit into the smallest size of flat rate shipping box. Also, what does "sports" mean? Most people who are into sports like a particular team, so it would have been more helpful to say "Blackhawks" or "Seahawks" or whatever team they are into. Travalon and I went to the big antiques mall in town, but we didn't find anything there, so we checked the dollar store, but we didn't find anything there. We did find a funny LeBron James ornament and a random packet of NFL stuff at Walgreens, so that is what my person is getting. My one word was "blacklight," so I'm curious to see what my Secret Santa will send me... Oh yeah, we also stopped by Goodwill in case they had any random, very small sports stuff, which they did not, but I bought a hat that will glow under blacklight. I promise to post photos of all this very soon...

In the evening Travalon and I joined Kathbert at Rich's house for Thanksgiving leftovers, then I went to a Baroque music concert, and most of the pieces were in D Minor, so I liked that. I guess it was because that is considered the "requiem key," and this concert was dedicated to the victims of the Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy. After Travalon picked me up, we drove through the Christmas lights display at Olin-Turville Park. Some of the old favorites seem to be missing, like the little girl who goes down the stairs and wakes up Santa, and the carolers who come to the door, but on the other hand there seemed to be more light displays than ever. Maybe those older ones just wore out?

Today Travalon and I went for a hike on the Ice Age Trail at Lapham Peak. We were trying to get to the observation tower, but we hiked quite a ways up the hill and never got to the tower, so eventually we just turned around and went back. It would be beautiful in the summer or fall, but right now everything is dead, so there isn't much to see. There are some fun boardwalks. Then we went home and watched the Packers game. The Rams were worthy opponents, but Rasul Douglas kept hassling them on the defense, and he got a pick six and almost got another one. He ended up being the player of the game. As my regular readers may remember, the Packers picked him up because all their cornerbacks were injured, and he is making a case for himself to be in the starting lineup even when everyone is back. Anyway, it was a satisfying win because it was an exciting game, although the Packers were ahead the whole time. Still, at times it was so close that their victory was by no means assured. Too bad the Badgers weren't as successful - they lost the Paul Bunyan axe to the Golden Gophers yesterday.

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Hiking in Mazomanie

 

Yesterday was very cold and windy. Travalon and I went on a hike by the Yahara River, but the wind was so fierce that we could barely stand it. We went home to thaw and have some hot cocoa, and then we braved Jackson's Landing, which is more woodsy and sheltered so not nearly as bad. After that we went to Rich's house for the usual Thanksgiving crowd of about a dozen random people, and we had the turkey Travalon and I brought, lots of interesting sides, and several desserts from the person who always brings them... although no pumpkin pie. I had been thinking of making one, but I knew there would already be way too many desserts. There was a new guy there who was fascinating; he had studied years ago in the department where I now work, so we knew a number of people in common. We had a lot to talk about.

Today was cold, but not windy like yesterday. Travalon looked up places we could safely hike during deer hunting season (since the Ice Age Trail tends to go through land where hunting is allowed), and he found a county park in Mazomanie that sounded promising. When we first got to Mazomanie, we saw some bridges that looked interesting, so we found our way to the trailhead of the Wolf Run Trail. It went along Black Earth Creek. Travalon took some photos.

We could see another trail on the other side of the creek, so we found that trailhead and followed it to Lake Marion. There were intriguing rock formations along the trail.

We both thought Travalon had taken a photo of Lake Marion, which is a very small lake, or maybe a big pond, but if so, it didn't upload to my computer. We'll just have to go back.

Then we went to our original destination, a county park called Morton Forest after the family that donated the land. There were cool rock formations there as well, as we climbed a bluff.

At the top of the bluff, there were a couple of stunning overlooks.

The cloud on the lower right looks as if God is giving the view a thumb's up!

Here I am, with the sweeping vista behind me.

We drove along a road that gave us an incredible view of Blue Mound, so we drove to Blue Mound State Park on the top of the mound. The views were amazing, but we were so hiked out that we didn't bother getting out of the car to take a photo. Then we drove back to Madison to get coffee beans at EVP, since there was a branch of it right on our way. First we split a delicious margarita pizza at Luigi's, then we went to the Chocolate Shoppe for ice cream. We channeled our inner children and got the special cones with sprinkles on them! I had Snap-o-Lantern ice cream, which is pumpkin with ginger snaps in it, and Travalon had Malt Amore.

Then we went to EVP, and I was overjoyed because they had Brazilian beans. Those are the best! As longtime readers of this blog may remember, when I had a previous job right by a branch of EVP, I used to get Brazilian beans from them all the time. Sometimes they wouldn't have them, and I'd have to settle for Ethiopian or Nicaraguan or something else, but there's just something special about EVP Brazilian beans. It's still the best coffee I've ever had, except for the stuff from the Johnny Cash museum. I will never understand why that is the best coffee ever, but until I get back to Nashville, I'll settle for Brazilian beans from EVP.

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Thanksgiving 2020

 

This was an unusual Thanksgiving for all of us, I suppose. Richard Bonomo hunkered down with just his housemate to have dinner, so Travalon and I decided to go to the Concourse Hotel. Then Rich said another guy we know had wanted to come to his house for dinner but he had also turned him down, and Travalon loves talking about classic rock with this guy, so he called him and invited him to join us. I walked with my neighbor in the morning, then Travalon and I went for a two-mile walk at Jackson's Landing in the late morning because we had signed up to do the Virtual Turkey Trot (it raises money for the Boys and Girls Club), and then I walked with my neighbor again. I ended up walking seven and a quarter miles today, but that probably isn't enough to walk off the delicious Thanksgiving dinner we had at the Concourse Hotel. And our dinner companion is a wonderful conversationalist, so it was a delightful time. When we first got there, another table of people were just leaving, and they had a big soft white dog who wanted to say hello to everyone, so I got to pet her. I didn't expect a dog in a restaurant, but she was very well-behaved, even though I suspect she is a teenage dog and will get even larger. She seemed like a familiar breed, but I couldn't think what. Our dinner was pumpkin soup (or salad, but we all chose soup) to start, along with fresh bread with tangerine-honey-thyme butter. Then we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans almandine, and for dessert, pie. Travalon and I chose the classic pumpkin pie, while our dinner companion chose apple pie. We were talking so long that I started to feel really sorry for our waiter - maybe he had his own Thanksgiving dinner to go to, and we were holding him up! We did tip him generously for having to work on a holiday.

As we walked around downtown, a lot of the storefronts are boarded up in case of riots, and some of the artwork on the plywood rivals that in Black Cat Alley. It's done by local artists.

This was on a pasty shop - it's a talking pasty!

A timely message - and really, a timeless one:

This is the time of year on Famous Hat when there will be lots of pictures of Christmas lights. I'm not sure if the Overture Center is lit up for Christmas, but it sure is beautiful.

And I tried to take a picture of the lights on Monona State Bank, but it's not that great. I took a closer picture as we drove past, but that's really out of focus.

We drove around looking at some of the Christmas lights that are up, but I'm sure there will be more as we get into December. This is a little video of the wreathes on the fence at Whaler's Cove in our neighborhood.

Between all the walking and all the eating, I am feeling very sleepy now. Fortunately I have tomorrow off of work and can sleep in. Hopefully I don't have a dream as weird as the one I had this morning when I slept until 8:30, about these creatures that looked like foxes with human faces. I was the only one who saw them, and I didn't have a camera with me, but someone said, "Oh yeah, those are marmots," and then I was puzzling over whether he meant marmots or marmosets. He said, "They were considered sacred by the Native Americans." Oddly, the Dream Dictionary does have an entry for Marmots (apparently they symbolize deceit and falsehood, and I am being misled in some aspect of a relationship), but there is no entry for Marmosets. What do you know about that? Though I will note that there is an entry for Monkey (and marmosets are a type of monkey) that says seeing one symbolizes deceit. What's with all the deceit?? Who's deceiving me??

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Sparkly Christmas Photos

Here are some sparkly Christmas pictures and videos. This first one is not really, but Kathbert and I saw these things that looked like giant golf balls at a construction site on campus, and we could not figure out what they were.

This is also not sparkly or Christmas-related, but here is the chicken that ended the political commentary at Thanksgiving dinner:

Then something happened to my phone, and my photos are a little fuzzy. This is the hot cocoa "extra large, extra strong, maximum fat" that Rich got at brunch at Sofra on Sunday.

Here are some photos of Travalon's birthday dinner at Fitz's, so you can see how beautiful and sparkly it is for Christmas.

 Here are some of the cute little things I bought during Small Business Saturday: two cacti ornaments, an octopus, and a narwhal keychain. The anchor keychain was something Mr. Icon brought from Alaska and gave to me when I gave him a little toy.

Monday evening after work I actually cleaned in my house a little, and then I made it all sparkly for Christmas. I hung up this moon we got at Books a Million (BAM!).

This strand of Christmas lights is on the loft all the time, but I rarely plug them in. It was time.

And here is Travalon's little Christmas tree. It is a short movie so you can see all the colors it has.

Even the campus is sparkly for Christmas! Here my camera appears to be working properly again, maybe because I cleaned off the lens.

Down in Columbus we saw this house someone had decorated for Christmas.

And here is a movie of the house so you can see the lights dancing.

The reason we went to Columbus was to see the Holiday Train:

Isn't it beautiful? And it is slightly different than the one we saw two years ago, so now I wish I had made a video last year as well. This was the 20th Holiday Train, so next year it can drink. Or maybe it could drink two years ago, since it's Canadian.

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