THE POLAR BEAR SPLASH

There is a strange phenomenon in this world which involves people taking part in abnormal activities.

In Prescott Valley, Arizona, where I live, as in many other places, this takes place in early January, at the local swimming pool.

I should note that the swimming pool is only open for this one event, having been closed for months because of the colder weather.

Yet for some odd reasons, such as manliness and general lunacy, a small group of men come to the pool to take a plunge.

There is also an Ice Princess contest, men only, in which the winner is determined by the amount of hair on his chest!

Each of the Plungers has to sign in, presumably on a waiver of responsibility for the medical problems that may ensue.

A couple of the loonies brave souls were checking out the water.

So why, you might ask, would any individual leave his warm home on a day when the temperature is hovering in the 40's to jump (however briefly) into an icy cold swimming pool?

Maybe it's the free pancake breakfast with which they are tempted.

And it's not only the youngest citizens of the community who join in.

This fellow claimed to be "only" 58!

He asked me if I was going to join him?

I swiftly declined, thinking to myself . . . "my mama didn't raise any idiot children!"

As a matter of fact, the air temperature was cold enough to send me scampering for home over an hour before the scheduled plunge.

You and I can only assume that they actually did it.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Yeah, yeah, I know.

I mean I appreciate Fridays too but I really get tired of this gal running up and down the street yelling with her Valley Girl accent.

But it's not a day to be grouchy so let's move right along to the humor.

Oops, sorry 'bout that.

Gentle Readers, wherever on the globe this finds you, I sincerely hope you have an outlandishly fabulous weekend.

And remember, always keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

Oh don't be frightened.  

It's just that gal running around welcoming "Fraiyday" again.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

This is a picture of me as a diligent student in my college days.

Clean-shaven, bespectacled, with a crew cut hairdo.

But why, Gentle Readers might ask, is he wearing that silly grin, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Because he is participating in a campus stunt of the late 1950's which involved stuffing as many people as possible into a space built for many fewer.

I think it began with phone booths.

Those of you too young to remember phone booths, this is what they looked like.

Generally they were a compartment with a folding door containing a pay telephone.

If you're a fan of the Doctor Who television series, you may recognize them as looking like this.

But, before the advent of cell phones, they were used to make telephone calls.

Or for rowdy students to cram into en masse.

But by the time of the picture of the student that began this post the telephone booth had been replaced as a space to be stuffed by another small object.

The Volkswagen Beetle!

The tiny German car was designed as a rear-engine economy car for four people.

(I might add four SMALL people.)

The front compartment was the trunk, here housing your scribe, among others.

On this particular night, I believe the seats had been removed from the car in order to accomodate more passengers.

The owner of the automobile, Lew White, is seated on the floor behind the steering wheel with his glasses pushed up onto his forehead.

21 Jamestown College students were crammed into the car. 

It was driven slowly and carefully, with much noise from the occupants shouting directions to the driver who couldn't see where he was going, over to the girl's dormitory.

Proof can be shown by the lighted headlight.

You may note a miniature cowbell in my hand, used to further announce our arrival.

Ah, college days, when so many hours were spent at desks "hitting the books".

And then there were nights like this.

(Before I hear from the fashion mavens out there, I will call attention to my stylish argyle socks.)

DAWN

Dawn over the savannah the other day.

Could this represent the light dawning in Washington yesterday.

I doubt it.

TUESDAY TRAVELS

When I was a "young man" I used to hitchhike back and forth from my boyhood home to my college.

It was about 225 miles and I usually had pretty good luck.

But I can remember a few scary times.

Once I was traveling with one of my college dorm mates and we were picked up by a young couple.

The guy driving kept looking back at us in the back seat and chattering away while steering the car with one hand as he drove at what were very high speeds for the time and the two-lane roads.

When he stopped for gas, we bailed out, thanked him for the ride and congratulated ourselves on still being alive.

Another time I was dropped off on a country road far off my normal route and everyone else's, judging by the lack of traffic.

Then it started to rain.

Then it started to pour.

I had no protection and was soon soaking wet.

Finally a car stopped and a kindly couple of older women told me to get in.

I protested (a little), telling them I was very wet but they told me to never mind that.

I think they were school teachers and they got me back to my normal route and drier weather.

Then there was the man who picked me up on another trip and chatted amiably.

I was feeling good about this ride until he said he was headed for Albuquerque and invited me to come along.

We were in North Dakota at the time so I got a creepy feeling and nervously declined the opportunity to visit the Southwest.

It was a few decades before the gay era, when homosexuality was still mostly in the closet but I knew enough to be glad the man was a gentleman who let me out of his car near my college.

Times have changed since those carefree days of the 50's.

FOG

The savannah looks more like a moor this morning.

A gentle fog has blanketed the lowlands and as I watch it moves higher into our neighborhood.

As I noted earlier, it follows a rainy, drizzly, wet weekend.

The other evening, SWMBO was experimenting with her new light-up drink coaster and placed her crystal ball on it.

No, she's not a gypsy fortune teller though she might be able to make a fair living at it with this and her vivid imagination.

The BRD said it best when I emailed her the photo above.

"A galaxy you could hold in your hands."

Speaking of which, we watched the movie "Miles Ahead" from Netflix last night.

It's the story of a period in the life of the trumpeter Miles Davis during which he was not performing.

The film is the product of the actor Don Cheadle, who wrote, directed, produced and starred as the troubled and drug addicted Davis.

Cheadle gives a sterling performance though the movie is not for the faint of heart who might be troubled by language, drug abuse and violence or badly affected by Davis' sometimes discordant music.

I enjoyed it, SWMBO not so much.

Aha!  The fog has lifted.

BEGINNING A NEW ERA

Another new year has begun.

I watched the magic moment occur in New York City at 10 o'clock my time last night.

Less than half an hour later I was in the Arms of Morpheus.

About four hours later I was awake again and the rest of the hours until shortly after 6 this morning were a scattershot of dozing and tossing and turning.

When I finally rose I discovered that I had forgotten to take my night pills last night, which includes a tablet to help me sleep.

Hence my wakefulness.

Old age and a bad memory.

At least I'll sleep well tonight.

Our New Year's Eve dinner was lobster tails and green pea risotto, along with about half a bottle of Prosecco.

A good feast and, no, I took no pictures.

I did take the new banner photo on this blog, though, yesterday afternoon, as I was taking a break from football on television.

Stepping outside on a rainy weekend, I noticed a patch of sunlight on the side of Mingus Mountain and grabbed the camera for a quick shot.

It's a little fuzzy as I realized later I had the camera in macro mode.

But I think that kind of adds to the mood of the picture.

I met my neighbor Rick, out walking Reggie.

He said he and Lori wouldn't be celebrating the big night as she has been not feeling well lately.

Apparently there is a nasty type of influenza going around.

Another neighbor had told me she had the "stuff" too and it had lasted about ten days.

No way to spend the holidays.

And so life goes on here in the Central Highlands of Arizona on this January 1st.

No snow on the ground but as I said it's been a rainy weekend and it's dark and dripping out there now.

Onward.