SWINGIN' ON A SATURDAY

I should be swingin' after my surprise commendation from the lovely and talented (and rich) Taylor Swift recently.

She was the surprise presenter of commendations at the annual Laughing Horse Blog Awards gathering on an island that shall not be named in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

And lo and behold, after the overall winner was named, Ms. Janice Cooke for her blog "Jabblog", there were four other commendations.

Ms. Swift swiftly announced MY name as one of the four bloggers present.

The official parchment reads:

FOR GOOD HUMOUR & BRIGHTNESS

Bruce Taylor for "Oddball Observations"

His "Friday Funnies" posts are now legendary - reminding

us all that it is good to chuckle and lighten up sometimes. He

also reveals his passion for baking and his wife Judy - sometimes

referred to as SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed).

Well, I must say I was stunned, not so much by the misspelling of "humor", as by receiving this recognition from the highly vaunted Laughing Horse Awards Committee.

In my acceptance speech I advised my fellow attendees to "keep laughing", then joined the conga line for a quick turn around the dance floor before a fruitless search for my exclusive helicopter flight off the island.

(Taylor, I mean Ms. Swift, dropped me off via her personal jet, laughing between gulps of champagne at the fact that we share a name.)

Here's today's photograph of the still somewhat stunned awardee, thinking back over the experience.

(You'll notice his trimmed beard and neat appearance for the Main Event.)

(Special thanks to Neil of Yorkshire Pudding for putting this all together.)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So finally the holidays are over.

I hope you all survived the gifting, the sweets, the overeating, possibly over-drinking, the late nights and later mornings and all the rest of it.

To those of you who still have hangovers, shame on you.

To those of you with Christmas decor still inhabiting every spare space in your homes, it is permissable to now pack it all away.

Of course there is Twelfth Night, which gives you a few more days.

Whatever your traditions I hope you had a good time with them.

Now you can resume your regular lives.

Or . . .

So we come to a close of the first Friday Funnies of the year.

Now I know it's been a difficult time, this holiday season, but toughen up and try to have a remarkable weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . . 

( . . . oh, yeah . . . )

THINKING BACK . . .

 

KITTY NEW YEAR

 

--- Cheerfully submitted by Comical Carol

HAPPY (?) NEW YEAR

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE EVE

 Yes, tomorrow night is the big event: New Year's Eve!

There will be parties and champagne and fireworks (bring your pets inside) and general hooting and cheering throughout the bounds of the earth.

But yet . . .

                yet . . .

                            yet.

Some of us will be missing the whole event.

Some of us have seen too many New Year's Eve celebrations and next-day hangovers and same-old-same-old to get excited about it anymore.

I suspect the couple in this house will have the lights out around 8 p.m.

So to the rest of you, celebrate to your heart's content and may we wish you a Happy New Year.

We have other plans.

CHRISTMAS IS OVER

Judy packed away all of our Christmas decorations yesterday, with my approval.

Normally she waits until New Year's Day but she put them out earlier than usual this year and the end of the year just seemed to call for a fresh start sooner.

I'm often reminded of Queen Elizabeth's remark in her speech to Parliament in 1992, referring to the year past as "an annus horribilis".

One of her children had divorced that year, two others had separated from their wives, and a fire gutted Windsor Castle.

A horrible year 2025 was too but I won't dwell on it.

So now we move on.

Fortunately, our largest tree is only about 18 inches tall so it fits neatly into our picnic basket.

Maybe 2026 will be the year that we once again have a picnic.