Gratuitous This n' That Posting

There's something of a bug working its way through the Family Robbo at the moment. My symptoms have been confined primarily to a kind of drowsy wooziness so far. Not actually incapacitating, but it makes it hard to think straight for any length of time to make the donuts.

Anyhoo, I don't have the energy to do any large posting at the moment, so I'm just going to throw down some random thoughts floating about in my braims at the moment:

***This year for the first time we decorated the wreaths on the front door of Orgle Manor with purple ribbon in honor of Advent. (We'll switch over to red come the 23rd.) I grow increasingly fond of Advent as I get older, probably because the sense of cleansing and preparation of the season is becoming more important to me. I should also mention that while the Missus has no interest in swimming the Tiber with me, the fact that I am has caused her to pay much more attention to her own faith (which to me is a very good thing). She, too, feels the - what? - Advental urge more now than previously.

Now if we could only figure out a way to stop the gels from fighting over who gets to blow out the candles on the dinner table wreath.......

*** My metro reading of late has been Anthony Powell's A Dance To The Music of Time. As I mention, I've been feeling woozy and one of the results is that for the past two days I have been dozing off in the middle of my book and daydreaming character, dialogue and plot details. This is causing me quite a bit of confusion. I fear that I'm going to have to go back and reread a tremendous amount in order to sort out what is real and what I've been imagining. (To give one example, I'm pretty sure that old Mr. Deacon does not have a pierced tongue in the original, nor does he swing from a rope like a circ d'soleil performer.)

***Speaking of reading, what is the deal with the red star glaring away in the southern sky that Frodo can see from his window in Rivendell? Did Tolkien shove that in just for a bit of imagery? Surely he wasn't thinking at that point that Sauron had any power over one or more stars? Oh, and another thing: as the Company is walking south through Hollin, Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn feel something fly high over them in the middle of the night. I always assumed this was a winged Nazgul on a stealth spy mission. Anybody got a better explanation?

***Recently saw Ocean's 13. I think the ref probably should have stopped the fight at 12. And Ellen Barkin is getting too old to be slinking around like that.

***Holiday Waypoint: Got a Starbuck's eggnog latte this morning and immediately remembered why I never get more than one per season. Yuck.

*** I haven't felt too inclined to post on politics lately, but I have to say that the fallout over the recent NIE "flip-flop" on Iranian nukes is scaring the bejaysus out of me. I was so caught up with Dan Henninger's article on it as I flew back to Dee Cee last Thursday evening that I forgot to be afraid of the actual flying.

***Finally, here's something that makes me smile: Go on over to Scribal Terror and check out the video Gail posted of the dancing dog. (I'd repost it here except I can't find the code and all the copies on YouTube are much poorer in quality.) I have rarely seen such a happy animal. And the conclusion is absolutely perfect.