Gigglemugging Lucy Park Pagoda Before Chasing Santa On A Motorcycle

It was back to Lucy Park today to do some fast Wednesday walking on the day after Winter began.

Today was a t-shirt and shorts warm outdoor day.

Currently Christmas Eve is scheduled to be heated into the 80s, with record breaking highs. Same prediction for Christmas.

Which makes it zero probability there will be a White Christmas at my location.

I think I have experienced more White Christmases in Texas than all my years in Washington.

I seem to have lost my ability to take a proper selfie photo, with the necessary sober serious look. Instead, being overcome with the holiday spirit has me uncontrollably gigglemugging.

Scraping the sky behind me is the Lucy Park Pagoda. I have yet to get an explanation for this Pagoda. Next time I attend a service at Bob's Buddhist Temple of the Golden Dome I will try and ask my fellow Buddhists if any know the answer to this serious question.

With the underbrush foliage mostly gone, til Spring, today I saw I could get off the Circle Trail and walk the bank of the Wichita River. When I saw this was doable I thought it might lead to being able to take a photo of the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge showing its entire span of the river.

The result did not turn out as I'd hoped.

So, I turned the phone around and took my favorite type of selfie photo. That line you see across the river is the shadow of the suspension bridge. If you look real close you can see the suspension bridge above its shadow.

After the walking was done for the day, as I fired up the engine of my motorized transport I saw something speed by I had never seen before.

Santa on a motorcycle.

I soon was in pursuit, eventually catching up to Santa at the exit from Lucy Park intersection with the Seymour Highway, where a red light had stopped the man in red, allowing me to catch up.

Above you are looking through my somewhat dirty windshield at the stopped Santa, waiting for the light to turn green. As cars passed they honked and Santa waved at them.

 And then the light turned green and Santa took off like a rocket. I followed Santa, turning right on Brook Avenue, then lost him when I got stopped by a red light.

Seeing Santa on a motorbike is the type thing that has me in a gigglemugging tidings of joy mood. It won't last. By the time the new year arrives I should be back my usual sour dour self...

Holiday Selfie Spirit Of Joyful Tidings With Geezer Cemetery Tour & McNutty Elephant Cleavage

This morning I once again drove a senior citizen geezer to get some prescriptions filled.

The geezer calls ahead to make sure the prescriptions are ready for pickup, so I drop him off at the pharmacy entry door and then go park to wait for the geezer to return.

Today's wait went on for a half hour or more. Apparently, there was some sort of confusion with the prescription order.

Whilst sitting and waiting and bored I checked Facebook on the phone, and then when that turned boring I aimed the phone's camera at me to take a selfie photo of my sour dour mood. 

But, I am just so caught up with the holiday spirit and tidings of joy I had trouble mustering my usual level of dour sour selfie.

Eventually the senior citizen geezer and his walking cane showed up. In his feeble weak voice he asked if we could go on a walk somewhere. Where? I asked. Could we go to the cemetery so I could have a short visit with some of my long gone friends? asked the geezer.

And so I drove to Riverside Cemetery, adjacent to Lucy Park, which is where I took the below tree photo yesterday.

What brand of tree is this? On the west coast, well, maybe only on the Pacific Northwest part of the west coast, there is a tree called a Madrona.

Madrona trees have a thin skin like red bark which peels off. I have seen several of the above type tree in Lucy Park. Is is an Albino Madrona?

There are so many varieties of trees in Lucy Park. I think I have mentioned previously that I think it would be a good idea to have labeling signs stuck in the ground identifying the trees.

On a totally different, totally weird change of subject about something which happened this morning. The entity known as McNutty sent my phone a photo of McNutty with an elephant trunk. The text with the photo explained nothing, it just asked a weird McNutty question, as in "Do you think I am showing too much cleavage?"

How does one answer a question like that? Here's the photo in question. Feel feel to opine about the cleavage level if you feel so inclined...

Moon Over Homesick Mountain With Many Real Islands

I saw these two homesick provoking photos on Facebook this morning on the You Know You're From Anacortes When page.

The one above is a bit of a hyper realistic view of the full moon rising over the Mount Baker volcano.

The one below is more accurately depicting what the view looks like when viewed only through ones eyes.

Anacortes is the second largest town, population wise, in Skagit County. Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island.

Fidalgo Island is a real island, not an imaginary island such as what some in the island-free town of Fort Worth, Texas think is an island. There are two bridges which connect Fidalgo Island to the mainland. These are real bridges over real water, one of which, the Rainbow Bridge, in La Conner, is an actual iconic signature bridge, not an imaginary iconic signature bridge of the Fort Worth type.

One can take a ferry from Anacortes and Fidalgo Island to the San Juan Islands. One would think the San Juan Islands would be in Island County. But, instead the San Juan Islands are in San Juan County. There are no bridges to any of the San Juan Islands.

A blurb courtesy of Wikipedia about San Juan County...

San Juan County is a county located in the Salish Sea in the far northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 15,769. The county seat and only incorporated city is Friday Harbor, located on San Juan Island.

Fidalgo Island connects to Whidbey Island via the Deception Pass bridge. Two ferry routes also connect Whidbey Island to the mainland.

A blurb courtesy of Wikipedia about Island County...

Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 78,506. Its county seat is Coupeville, while its largest city is Oak Harbor. The county's name reflects the fact that it is composed entirely of islands.

I do not know why Fidalgo Island is in Skagit County instead of in Island County. Or why the San Juan Islands are not in Island County.

It's very perplexing.

But not nearly as perplexing as that town in Texas which has built three little bridges over dry land, hoping one day to put a cement lined ditch under those bridges, and then divert Trinity River water into the ditch, creating an imaginary island, which is only going to further confuse the town's few tourists...

Chilly Sunny Sunday Sikes Lake Walk With McNutty Yoga

The outer world at my planet location was chilled to 8 degrees below freezing last night.

An hour before noon, on this third Sunday of the 2021 version of December, I covered myself in a few layers of outerwear and ventured out in the cold to Sikes Lake for a walk with the geese. And a few ducks.

And a flock of seagulls.

I took a picture of the seagulls, but it turned out blurry. There were several dozens of the white birds roosting on the cement berm which crosses Sikes Lake for no reason apparent.

I do not know why seagulls would be flocking so far from any sea. But, they are seen frequently at this non saltwater location.

The temperature was 41 when I began the walk around the lake. I quickly found out I was overly layered in outerwear. Zero wind helped keep the chill level down.

About a month ago the entity who goes by the name McNutty claimed she had begun an intense yoga program. Yesterday McNutty proudly boasted she was now able to get into the Lotus position. I then said I would need photo documentation of this feat before I could believe it to be true.

That Lotus position photo documentation arrived this morning.

I don't have fancy yoga wear like McNutty has, so I can't photo document myself in the Lotus position.

I am sitting in the Lotus position right now, in my computer chair. The Lotus position is extremely salubrious...

McNutty Photo Harassment Drives Me Back To Chilly Lucy Park

This morning the entity who goes by the name McNutty was working hard at trying to annoy me.

Why this McNutty person indulges in such behavior is perplexing.

This morning's harassment included multiple doctored photos where McNutty sloppily sticks my face on another body. Sometimes human, sometimes not. 

Most of the humans upon which McNutty sticks my face have a big swollen beer belly. For some reason McNutty thinks it is funny to make fun of my beer belly when I clearly have no beer belly.

I don't drink beer, so how could I have a beer belly?

By late morning McNutty had branched out from still photos to animations, including the one you see above. In this video McNutty has me singing Pharrell Williams Happy song. That is a screen cap of the video, clicking the arrow does nothing but open a bigger version of the screen cap.

McNutty has been on a long gaslighting campaign of trying to convince me I always look mad, never smile, and have the overall affect of a serial killer. I guess McNutty has known a lot of serial killers, which I guess makes sense, considering her line of work.

So, after way too much gaslighting and verbal abuse I needed to restore my balance with a salubrious communing with nature.

Even though the temperature was barely 40, with a wind blowing, I just had to get away from the computer and the McNutty harassment.

It was to Lucy Park I returned.

That is the Lucy Park suspension bridge you are looking at here, void of any surrounding green foliage. Lucy Park is on the other side of the bridge. I am standing in the RV Park side of the bridge.

That is the Circle Trail you see above, looking south, a short distance from the suspension bridge entry into the park.

A couple days ago I installed a new app on my phone called Google Fit. This app tracks how long you walk, how far you walk, how many calories you burn walking, how many steps you took, and other things. I have no idea how this works or how accurate it is. The only thing I can test for accuracy is how long Google Fit says I walked. So far, it has gotten the walking time correct.

If I take my phone on a bike ride is tracks that. I assume detecting no one runs are walks as fast as the speed is indicating, so it must be a bike.

Speaking of phone apps. Is there one that lets you mute the phone for a specific amount of time? As in hit mute and indicate when you want to the phone to no longer be mute. 

It seems to happen way too frequently that I mute the phone, and then forget to unmute it. Such happened this morning. Around 10 this morning I saw my phone light up, but make no noise. I could see it was Linda Lou calling. I turned the sound back on and answered. 

After talking to Linda Lou I looked at the call list and saw that prior to Linda calling this morning, nephew Jason had called, as had that aforementioned McNutty woman. 

Then I went to text messaging and saw multiple text messages I did not hear come in.

Maybe I should just not mute the phone anymore. But, it is nice not to have the thing make unwanted noise...

Merry Christmas With Perfect Penmanship From Ancient Auntie Arlene

In the mail today were a couple large packages and a couple Christmas cards, including the one above from my dear Aunt Arlene, who signs off her cards "With Love, Ancient Auntie Arlene."

I made the composite image of the Ancient Auntie Arlene Christmas card which you see above for illustrative purposes. The front part of the card is what you see on the left. On top of that is the inside of the card. And on top of that is an amusing postcard Aunt Arlene included showing "A Texan's Map of the United States."

Now the reason I felt compelled to photo document this Christmas card is the issue of cursive handwriting.

Auntie Arlene refers to herself as Ancient.

When she is only 92.

I am a few years younger than Auntie Arlene and I can not read my own handwriting. Even if I make an effort I still can not write in a reliably legible way.

Not only does Aunt Arlene write cursively with perfectly formed letters, the letters all form perfectly straight lines of words, with nary a word crossed out for correction purposes.

I know if I manage to reach the age of 92 I will not be able to write in the legible way my Aunt Arlene writes, because I am unable to do so now, years prior to reaching 92...

Happy Birthday To You Linda Lou

What you are looking at above is Linda Lou on the left. Me on the right. From our high school senior annual. Linda Lou is one of the few with whom I went through almost all my school years, grade school, high school, Sunday school and the first two years of college.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew to Arizona to spend a few days having fun in the Phoenix zone. 

What follows are a few photos from Linda Lou's 2018 visit to Arizona. I don't think Linda Lou has seen these before.

Oh. I forgot to mention. Today is Linda Lou's birthday.

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!

That would be Linda Lou looking at you, sitting at the dinner table in the house we had rented in Sun Lakes, that being the town my mom lived in at the time.

Whilst Linda Lou was in Arizona the most adventurous adventures we had were driving to the summit of South Mountain, and to Tortilla Flats. Both locations reached via treacherous twisting turning roads with steep drop offs, which Linda Lou found unsettling at times.

 Above Linda Lou is pointing the way up South Mountain. Or at a saguaro cactus. I can't be sure.

Walking away from the saguaro cactus to continue the ride to the top of South Mountain.

Now at the summit of South Mountain, Linda Lou made friends with a random dog who was also site seeing.

I talked to Linda Lou last night. Her happy birthday plans for today include going to a restaurant in La Conner which apparently makes excellent clam chowder, and fish and chips. 

I can not remember when last I had excellent clam chowder. Maybe when I am in Washington next August we can go to La Conner for some clam chowder...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!!!

On This December Day Remembering Cousin Scott & Aunt Alice

 FNJ, that being my Favorite Nephew Jason, emailed the two above photos this morning. On the left that is my Cousin Scott, from a few decades ago. On the right that is Cousin Scott sitting next to my Favorite Aunt Arlene.

Aunt Arlene is my dad's sister, currently, if I am remembering correctly, 92 years old. 

Cousin Scott was a reporter for the Seattle Times. Mostly reporting sports type news, I think. I don't actually recollect ever reading an article by Cousin Scott in the Seattle Times.

But this morning the aforementioned FNJ also emailed an article by Cousin Scott from the Seattle Times, published December 19, 2007. I'll copy that article below, but first Google's goofy look back at my memories from this day...

Usually I know what maybe half of these memories are. This time I may remember more than half, but I don't know why I'd find them especially memorable. In the upper left that is Aunt Alice with Santa Claus. I have no idea where the Christmas tree is from. Certainly not my above. The lower left is my bike's handlebars looking at the Polar Express trams which carry people to view the Fantasy of Light, launching from a MSU parking lot. And the lower right, well, that is Aunt Alice again, in her Naughty Nun costume.

And now that article by Cousin Scott. It is totally not sports related...

Seattle Times: December 19, 2007

The excesses of holiday giving

By Scott Barry

I almost scared the holiday spirit right out of my mom one year.

I did something, it became public and she was horrified. Ho ho ho. I was probably 6 or 7, walking the streets of downtown Lynden during the holidays, window-shopping. A reporter and photographer for the Lynden Tribune were asking kids like me what we wanted for Christmas.

“A train,” I told them as the photographer took my picture. Next thing I know, the paper comes out and there’s my picture and words telling the world that all I’ve ever really wanted, the one and only most special and to-be-treasured present of all time, would be … a train. Just a train, Santa. A little one that runs around in circles on its little track. Please?

I think Mom screamed when she saw that in the paper, because it was either too close to Christmas or too far from payday to get one for me.

Fast-forward to today and questions I have every year at this time related to what I and many other parents do for our kids at Christmas. Too much. We do too much.

Why? In my case, is it that vision of Christmas trains past that still haunts me? Is this my personal version of “A Christmas Carol?”

I know I do too much for my 13-year-old daughter. Gift cards, clothes, music, techie toys and more.

“Dad,” she’ll say, “I really need a new cellphone, fa la la la la.” Or, “Dad, the greatest gift you could give me,” she begins softly, sincerely, and I’m thinking, ‘Aw, she wants us to spend more time together digging for fossils or walking a beach looking for treasures,’ but then she continues, “would be to let me spend more time with my friends on weekends, or 5-10-20 gift cards.”

Oh.

Don’t get me wrong; she’s not about excess and me me me. She enjoys spending time over the holidays at senior centers and doing other things that involve only her time and presence and the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes as a result of giving of yourself with no expectation of anything in return.

She has a healthy view of giving vs. receiving. She knows she’ll never get more than a few things on her list. And I firmly believe she’ll turn out just fine regardless of what presents she might receive.

No, she’s not the problem. I am.

Is there a Giftoholics Anonymous? A 12-gift program? A support group for parents like me? And I’ll bet I’m not alone.

Help me, Santa; save me from myself.

And if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’m still waiting for that train.

These Shoes Are Made For Walking & Walking They Are Gonna Do While Mourning Cousin Scott

As you see via the above photo documentation the outer world today at my location is heated to a shorts wearing temperature. That would be the left side of the aforementioned shorts at the bottom of the photo documentation, with the shadow of the shorts filling up the middle of the scene.

My shoes were walking me in Lucy Park again. Arrived about a half hour before noon. 

As I was consuming lunch I got a sad text message telling me Cousin Scott had passed away. Scott had a stroke about a year ago and has been trying to recover ever since. A few months after Scott had a stroke his first grandchild, a boy, was born on Maui, with the mother being Olivia, Scott's only child.

Olivia recent brought the baby to the mainland to meet his grandpa.

It was via a rather poignant Facebook post by Olivia that it was learned Cousin Scott's long battle was over.

Olivia included several photos with her Facebook post. Below is a screen cap showing some of those photos of Scott and Olivia over the years...

Whole Lotta Lucy Park Walking With Bad Taco Bueno Memories

After a morning of dealing with the relative insanity, along with oodles of annoying Nutty whining, I found myself in Lucy Park about an hour before noon. The temperature at the Lucy Park time of the day was in the 60s, with no wind.

T-shirt temperature, so off came the sweatshirt.

Lucy Park has miles of trails, part of which is the Circle Trail which trails all around Wichita Falls. There are multiple other trails in Lucy Park, so one can take a variety of routes to get in a few miles of fast walking. 

Today I opted for what I call the Whole Lotta Loop. I call this loop thusly because way back during the lockdown period of the quarantine, when we were encouraged to help local restaurants stay afloat by buying takeout, I went through the Taco Bueno drive thru and got what they call a Whole Lotta Box. 

I then drove that Whole Lotta Box to Lucy Park to enjoy the worst Mexican food, ever, whilst sitting at the covered sheltered you see above, overlooking the Wichita River.

Someday I am hoping the painful memory of that Whole Lotta Box will fade and I can be at this location without thinking of stale tortilla chips, runny salsa, coagulated refried beans, blah burritos, and flavorless tacos...