All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day
I’d be safe and warm if I was in LA
California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day
The Mamas and the Papas

Should a husband put his wife up upon a pedestal?  How about a pedestal on the lip of a caldera?   This photo of Anne looking all rugged and outdoorsy was taken last summer on our vacation to Yellowstone.  The picture was taken on our last day there.  Jay, Carl and Ashlan had joined us the day before and we all spent that last day hiking above Fort Yellowstone, which is pictured in the valley below.  This graphic digresses from the theme of this post in that, the picture was taken in Wyoming and the rest of this post is about California, but from a myopic mid-easterner’s point of view, it is all still, The West.  Anyway, I liked the picture and I love this woman, so please enjoy it too.

Dan and Annie are back in Saint Louis for the holidays.  They have each completed their first semester and one-quarter of their masters’ degrees.  Dan has already had his first Hollywood moment.  One of his classmates is the daughter of Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman.  He met the parents at a school function.  He and Annie will be in town for the holidays and are booked to return to LA in January.  Dan hopes to land a summer internship at an art camp in Maine.  This is an art camp for adults.  Rich adults, maybe?

I heard on NPR, about a flash mob event that occurred in Roseville, CA on Monday.  A flash mob event is created with a chain letter like series of text messages that culminate with people spontaneously appearing at a local and then performing some sort of song or act.  In Roseville the local was a mall and the act was the singing of Handel’s Messiah.  This event became way oversubscribed and 5,000+ people showed up.  Way more than could even fit in the mall.  People were packed cheek to jowl, which caused fear that the mall’s flooring was beginning to buckle and give way.  Fire and Rescue was called and everyone was saved.  Hallelujah!

Saint Louis might enjoy a white Christmas this year.  This year, there is a 22% chance of some snow on the ground for Christmas.  Currently, there is not really any to speak of.  Our Farmer’s Almanac odds of five-inches of white stuff or more are only one in thirty-three.  If a White Christmas does come to pass, it will occur on Christmas Eve.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,
just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten and children listen
to hear sleigh bells in the snow
Irving Berlin

Whatever Saint Louis’ chances are for a white Christmas, they have to be better than LA’s.  When I wrote this post, at first Dan and then both Dan and Annie engaged in the pre-Christmas party ritual of wrapping presents.  It was good to hear them both bantering together again and chattering about.  I slipped into California dreamin’ and was glad to have them both home, safe from LA.