New Year's Eve Eve

Thank Father Time It's Friday!

"I'll stay for the party tomorrow night, but then I'm out. I have HAD IT with you people!"

BACON!

The world's most perfect meal?

Today is National Bacon Day, which is an observance near and dear to my heart.

For many years I have enjoyed
the sublime Belgian Waffle Combo
at Village Inn, and I have likely consumed bacon as part of that meal more often than in any other restaurant context. On occasion
I even dream about this meal,
when it has been too long since
I last treated myself to it...

"Why can't you dream about sex like a normal person?"

You underestimate just how much I love a good Belgian Waffle Combo, sir...

Bowl Binge

Today will be a day for binge-watching college football, beginning at 11:00 AM CST with the Liberty Bowl from Memphis, followed by the Sun Bowl from El Paso, the Music City Bowl from Nashville,
the Arizona Bowl from Tucson, and the Orange Bowl from Miami.


Only four of the ten teams involved in these games are ranked, and only one of them
is in the Top 10. My main interest is the Arizona Bowl, where my 9-3 Air Force Falcons will be playing.

"Aim High...Fly-Fight-Win!"

Uno ab alto, baby!

"Fore!"

From the pen of Lisa Benson, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

For much of my life I vigorously resisted any music that was described as "mellow," "smooth," "easy listening," etc. I preferred raucous guitars, brassy big bands, and powerful vocalists. Thus, I was never really a good candidate for recordings on the Windham Hill label that operated for about 20 years or so beginning just as I was graduating from college. By the time the label disappeared in the mid-90s following
a series of corporate acquisitions and transfers, their style of music had come to be called New Age, and had developed quite a following. That following just never included me.

It turned out to be an album of Christmas music that turned me around on Windham Hill and its associated artists.

In 2002 I happened to spot a copy of A Windham Hill Christmas on sale at one of the local record stores in St. Joseph, and bought it because it had a version of "The First Noël" by one of my favorite artists, the amazing W.G. Snuffy Walden.

As it turned out, I enjoyed the entire album very much, and its collection of traditional hymns and carols is firmly ensconced in my Christmas playlists. Really great stuff, and it is a shame the collection is currently unavailable in digital form.


Today's send-off is the album's charming instrumental rendition of the popular traditional carol "In Dulci Jubilo," by multi-instrumentalist Barbara Higbie and guitarist Nina Gerber, from Barbara's YouTube channel. Enjoy...