It’s Monday. Here in Illinois winter usually arrives gradually—a little flurries here, a light dusting there. Temperatures dip down then dip back up. We’re used to the slow rollout. But this year? Nope. Mother Nature skipped the pleasantries and went with the dreaded rip-the-Band-Aid-off-in-one-violent-yank approach. It all started late Friday night with howling winds and heavy snow, and just kept going. All day Saturday and well into the night. I haven’t seen the official numbers yet, but eyeballing it, I’d say we got about 6–8 inches of the horrid white stuff.
It occurred to me that winter is basically Mother Nature putting the whole planet on airplane mode. Everything is slow, cold, and difficult. Cars won’t start. Fingers stop working. Your face hurts just for existing. Every dog suddenly forgets how to poop unless you stand outside with them while frostbite starts nipping at your extremities. If it were at all possible, I’d stay inside until June. Maybe July, just to be safe.
-keep

It’s Friday! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was very good. Had far too much turkey, ham, and pumpkin pie. There were a lot of leftovers, so I imagine there will be plenty of creative meals containing turkey and ham in my near future. And pie. I’m looking forward to more leftover pie.
New Cars
Anyway, it’s officially that time of year again: time to set up my Christmas Car Tree! Many years ago I started receiving Corvette ornaments from family and friends. At first I just hung them on our Christmas tree, but over the years a few ornaments became many, and it became obvious they needed a tree of their own. Also at some point along the way, my collection expanded beyond Corvettes, to include iconic cars from TV and film.
This year’s new recruits are pretty sweet: the 1976 “Bumblebee” Camaro from Transformers, the Ghostbusters’ ECTO-1, and a 1963 Z06 Corvette. You can check them out in the photo featured today. Once I get the whole thing assembled, I’ll post a photo of the fully decked-out tree—now 45 ornaments strong and still growing!
-keep