thanks, but we’ll pass on the resolutions this year…
Posted in rantings and ravings on December 27th, 2011 by skeeterSome of the boys down here on the South End were deep into a night of nog over at the Tyee Store and Saloon when the subject of New Year’s Resolutions reared its ugly head. We’d pretty much solved most of the burning issues of the day that Congress can’t or won’t address, and with world peace close at hand and a solution for global economic recovery looming in our fevered LED’s, we naturally turned to self-improvement, the final obstacle to Nirvana.
Self-improvement, in case you’ve never met a dyed-in-the-alpaca-wool South Ender, isn’t high on his Honey-Do List. If it’s on the list at all….. I’m not saying we don’t think we could use some polishing, but all those so-called vices other folks resolve every January One to curb or cut back on or eradicate completely, are those very traits we hold in high esteem. We sure aren’t in any hurry to canonize ourselves. We aren’t aiming for perfection. Okay, maybe we could stand a bit of sprucing up, but we all know what a slippery slope that is. Mabana Mike quit the bottle for 13 weeks two New Years ago and by the 3rd week he was an insufferable convert not only to Sobriety but worse, Piety. Every day was like an AA meeting with Mike and he might as well have started his own church, passed out nicotine patches and offered up 3 more cups of decaf coffee to the gods of abstinence.
No, we decided long ago it’s better to accept our little blemishes and move on the best we can. You live in a Shangri-La-La like we do, you don’t want many more monks claiming blissful enlightenment. Next thing you know hordes of tourists seeking Truth, Wisdom and the South End Way will be clogging our backwash blacktop. Plus, Tyee Store isn’t legally zoned for monasteries or temples. We’ll probably just save everyone the grief and skip the resolutions again this New Year. Good luck, though, to the rest of you….
when the south end string band cd sales headed north
Posted in pictures worth maybe not a thousand words on December 23rd, 2011 by skeeter
christmas bail-out
Posted in pictures worth maybe not a thousand words on December 22nd, 2011 by skeeter
audio — remember the less fortunate
Posted in audio versions ---- the talkies on December 22nd, 2011 by skeeterpolice navidad
Posted in pictures worth maybe not a thousand words on December 21st, 2011 by skeeter
remember the less fortunate
Posted in rantings and ravings on December 21st, 2011 by skeeterChristmas was always a Big Deal in our family. Store bought tree. Tons of aluminum icicle stuff that we had to pick off bit by crinkly bit and put away for next year. A mile of colored lights. Thousands of ornaments. Plenty of presents. Enough for a whole village somewhere in a 3rd world country. Us kids wouldn’t sleep much the night before. And before dawn we’d be prowling the tree, shaking packages, going half crazy til the folks finally got up. Oh man, Christmas was Something. Like a birthday and Thanksgiving and 4th of July all thrown together in one granddaddy of a day.
We’d have a giant dinner later. A turkey the size of a pterodactyl. A table jammed with stuff. We could’ve fed all of Stanwood and still had leftovers. The old man always started it off with something HIS mother said every year. He’d look over an acre of food, rivers of gravy, mountains of dressing, pies in the distance, presents strewn from here to the back 40, and we’d all get quiet and then he’d say what we always knew was coming: he’d say: I wonder what the poor folks are doing today?
Sorta took the wind right out of our sails, that’s for sure. Gave us pause…. And then we’d hoist a shovel and commence to eating. So while we’re all celebrating, I think it’s important to think about the rest of the world who aren’t as blessed as us on the South End. You know, Smokey Point. Say a prayer for them too and wish for Peace on Earth. Happy New Year, Everybody!!
vintage christmas advertising
Posted in pictures worth maybe not a thousand words on December 20th, 2011 by skeeter
it’s a wonderful south end life
Posted in rantings and ravings on December 20th, 2011 by skeeterI know Xmas is a big deal in this country. Starts before Halloween and ends …. Well, if the retailers and the folks who never take down their twinkle lights are right, it never really ends. Fa La La La…. But I want to say a word for those folks Xmas leaves behind in the hustle and bustle of consumerism. The forgotten folks for who Xmas is out of reach. The unemployed, the infirm, the senile, the demented, all life’s reluctant losers. Yeah, I’m talking about the South End.
So as you enjoy the festive moments of the holiday, occasionally give pause to remember us huddled masses down below the Mountain View/Dixon Line, so far from CostCo and Wal Mart and the Camano Plaza Mega Mall. We’ll be celebrating in our own way. Probably no power if there’s a wind stronger than 15 mph. No TV specials cause we don’t get cable. No friends dropping by for an egg nog or six. Right …. Cause we don’t have friends.
But don’t pity us. We’ll be fine. We’ll be okay. Our shacks aren’t mortgaged to the rafters with subprime loan money. Our investments aren’t dropping with the price of oil going up and the Dow Jones on a roller coaster run by Mr. Grinch. Our cars aren’t being repossessed — hell, they don’t even run. Our health care insurance isn’t sky high — we don’t have any.
No, we’ll be all right. Pop a prozak and slam a celebratory beer. Maybe skip the 100th rerun of It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on Mountain View Road. Maybe just have some neighbors in, play Jingle Bells on the banjo, cook up a potluck, drink last year’s blackberry wine that wasn’t county roadsprayed, and like always, hope for a better year next one, no wars, peace on earth. Don’t you worry about us — one thing we know, it’s how to celebrate Xmas