Isn’t there an app that will generate
palindromic dates for the coming year?
This, more or less, was one response to the 123123 post. App or not, I don’t know, but the Farmers Almanac website gives palindromic dates in the MM/DD/YY format. Scroll down to find the dates for 2024: April will be the big month for Americans (the only folks who consistently use this format, as far as I know).
With the right light
and a phone
you can do anything.
I travel less with my big camera these days, and not only because it’s heavy to carry and awkward to pack. The software/filters in phone cameras get better with every new model. Some casual photos from Calgary illustrate the point.
I waited for the amaryllis bloom to be in full sunshine, and the only detail my phone missed was the crystalline structure of what I think is called the trifid stigma–that 3-part white bit. (Here’s someone who caught it nicely by working a lot harder than I did.)
And then there were the skies . . .
Having that photographic range in something I have to carry around anyway is truly a miracle.
My nose wrinkles. It isn’t that I don’t like floral scents, but in a garden one flower’s scent gracefully dissipates on the breeze before the next flower’s arrives. By contrast, in this tiny unventilated space, vapors leaking from a thousand perfume bottles assault my sinuses all at once. If scents could sing–or even hum–this resulting medley would be not a symphony but a cacophony. This is what heavy-metal rock would smell like: loud, brash, obnoxious.
You can download it as a meme or as a GIF. You can buy it on a baby’s onesie or on a t-shirt (front and/or back). You can have it on a mug, a tumbler, or a shot glass. I expect it will be all over Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
“It” is simply the text for “December 31st, 2023” but the format makes all the difference, showing yet again that presentation matters.
123123
May all your gifts–given and received–generate this reaction.
https://twitter.com/DanWuori/status/1733489276183019944
We were up and driving before sunrise, which looked more ambitious than we deserved: It was nigh-on to the winter equinox. As we hurtled across the New Mexico desert on a lightly travelled part of Interstate 40, the sun rose behind the hills behind us. The rear-mirror view isn’t always lovely, but sometimes the car reflection actually enhances what I would see if I turned around for the direct view.
Whether you’re looking back or looking ahead this Christmas, may you be happy with what you see.
Please listen carefully.
Our options may have changed.
I sigh. Even my regular interlocutors don’t make it easy: Changing their options means that I can’t use the number I learned last time to short-circuit this menu recitation.
It’s not like I’m calling for any information readily available online or via email for this or any other business:
No, when I pick up the phone it’s because I NEED TO TALK TO A PERSON for some reason:
But for what must be good reasons, “talk-to-a-person” is always the last option given in every voice-menu system.
“It is said that when St. Francis staged in his own simple fashion a Nativity Play of Bethlehem, with kings and angels in the stiff and gay medieval garments and the golden wigs that stood for haloes, a miracle was wrought full of the Franciscan glory. The Holy Child was a wooden doll or bambino, and it was said that he embraced it and that the image came to life in his arms.”
– G.K. Chesterton (“The Testament of St. Francis,” St. Francis of Assisi, 1924; quoted in daily Advent reflections from the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton)
In a world that can always use a miracle, here’s one for Christians and equally for others:
What we embrace
comes alive in our arms
and in the world.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. How do I know that? Well, there’s that old song. You know the one. No? OK, here’s the first verse:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
With kids jingle-belling
And everyone telling you, “Be of good cheer” . . .
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
I’m trying to think of the last time that I saw kids jingle-belling. Indeed, I’m trying to think if I’ve ever seen kids jingle-belling, even at a school Christmas concert. Come to think of it, I’m not sure anyone has ever told me to be of good cheer, either. But perhaps this is quibbling. (I mean, what are the odds?) Surely there are other examples in the song that would resonate for me? Well, let’s see.
Posted: 2025 may 03
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.
This space is available for other submissions.
