Santa and the Elf at Roaring Run today.

Another Christmas Tradition Hike of Note

My friend Susan did our usual Christmas morning tour of breakfast and hike today with a special bonus for some of the people we ran into. 

Our tradition for the past few years has been the early hike, taking a Christmas gift for random people, who react with surprise and delight at this unexpected little shared joy. The gifts aren't pricy, but they are heartfelt and we get that back--in spaces. It is a truly Christmas spirit adventure outside in the pristine Western Virginia mountains.

Today we shared our enthusiasm with Hilton and Bea Bowe (that's "be-bo" for the uninitiated) a late 60s couple who decided to hop in the car near Charleston, WVa, this morning and go for a drive (5 hours' worth) instead of exchanging gifts. "We just don't have any place to put anything," says Bea, smiling, so we did this.

Earlier we had discovered Maureen (Love) and David Muse hiking back from the falls at Roaring Run and looking truly happy to be in each other's company. I suggested David was Maureen's muse and he said she was his, as well (not to mention his love). Nice people.

And a grand day for us, as well.

One of the views on the way up Roaring Run.

Susan takes a short break.

That's my football pose. Every guy knows it. 

This is our annual yoga pose at the sliding rock. 

I simply can't photograph this view enough. 

Susan on the boardwalk. 

David and Maureen Muse. 

Susan at the Falls.

Somebody is happy ... 

And somebody else is, too. 

Hilton and Bea Bowe with Susan. 

A Little Merry Christmas on City Market

The Princess and I visited Roanoke City Market this afternoon, following a rare visit to church (extremely rare for me, as it were). Afterwards, we found a delightful, if seriously reduced, time to be had on the Market. It is Dickens of a Christmas time and it was the dickens finding the Christmas tree displays at the Hotel Roanoke. 

The Hotel's tree displays are famous far and wide--much like the annual Christmas competitions at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, but, sadly, this year there were few trees. The ones on display were creative and fun, so we made do with what we had. There were other distractions and we indulged completely, as you can see in the following photos.

A visit to the Taubman Museum of Art gave Linda some great ideas for details in the new novel she's working on. That was unexpected. 

Perhaps the most surprising fun we had was posing with Doug and Brenda Saball in the lobby of the hotel, thinking they were the hired Santa and Mrs. Claus, then finding out they were just Roanokers enjoying the Christmas spirit. They make a great Christmas pair.

Here's what much of it looked like.

L.L. Bean, the shoemaker, had its Bootmobile on display.

The theme here is "Oz" and that's witch Linda on her bike racing the tornado.

The Princess on the Yellow Brick Road.

All kinds of balls, but no blue ones.

When I was a kid, this was the kind of Christmas tree lights we used. A little smaller, maybe.

Linda loved the elaborate swan decoration.

The Princess, Santa and me. Who has the best beard? (Hint: me.)

The Princes snugs up to Santa.

Doug and Linda, the real Claus couple. 

 The Game Is Over; Let's Call It a Day

Let's get this just as straight as we can, no bullshit: I'm tired of trying to outfox cable/internet companies.

It's been a silly game without a winner for too long already and I don't want to play anymore. This morning, after receiving an email from YouTube TV that it was eliminating a bunch of networks from its access (including all the ESPN networks), I simply logged on to YouTube TV, went to "cancel my subscription" and settled into something else.

It has been quite game of stud poker for a good while, so long that I don't recall its genesis. I do go easily back to two satellite disk companies, then to Cox, then to something else, then back to Cox, then to GloFibre (for three weeks), then to YouTube TV for 10 days, and now to Cox internet (but not TV, which is separate and too damn expensive).

All the while, I was negotiating when I got these rate increases. For a good bit of time, this was a fun challenge, seeing what I could get back from my leverage of going elsewhere. These companies spend a lot of money attracting customers. Losing them--which has been happening in flood-like circumstances the past couple of years--is a terrible business model. So, they'll capitulate if all it means is dropping the rate increase.

This all requires a change of mindset. We have to answer some basic questions, one of which is "How important is television to me?" and "How important are live sports events to me?" and "Can I get along without live cable news shows?" And that's the crux of it for me. I have basically lost interest in sports because I am almost never entertained by the games I have watched for so many years. I don't need cable news or TV news at all (including and maybe especially local news). I love to stream movies and TV series and I get to keep that with subscriptions to Amazon, Netflix, etc. There's plenty to see and a lot of those series are as good as a book.

So here I am, TV diminished and looking forward to finding out what I'd do without all that excess. 

Linda Kay and I appear on this Christmas decoration in downtown Bedford, if only for a moment.

Needing Needful Things in Bedford

The Princess and I drove over to Bedford this morning to see how the big town and former tiny city (the smallest in Virginia) was handling Christmas. Princess figured it right. Bedford knows Christmas.

We wound up in a friendly little antique mall called Needful Things and had lights in our eyes before leaving with a few Christmas gifts and goodies. This place, which has 30 or so vendors and their wares, is a treat for those of us who don't know what we want to buy for Christmas. There are lovely nooks every few feet on the three floors of what I guess to have been a department store at one time. 

The little city/town (it was a town, reverted to a city, then back to a town) is actually quite alive with Christmas feel and spirit. It was a good place to stop on our rounds. 

Princess at the Bedford Christmas tree downtown. 

This cookie jar, marked down from $299 to $199, looks like one my mother had.

Linda loved Needful Things, as did I.

 

The evening wound up with a group singing of Christmas carols.

Songwriters Gather and Make a Little Night Music

The Princess and I found our way to the top of Windy Gap Mountain last night for a meeting of the Southwest Virginia Songwriters Association, a group that writes and performs music, mostly as an avocation.

Retired lawyers Judy and Larry Helms were hosts and we all chipped in with food and most contributed music, some of it written especially for the occasion. These are some talented, bright, funny people and I was simply tickled to be part of the crowd (of about 30 people).

Here's a photographic look at what we found (and thoroughly enjoyed).

David Simpkins belts one out with the help of Celie Holmes and Greg Trafidlo. Intrepid photographer at work (right).

Princess and her buddy, Dick. 

Judith and Larry Helms, our lovely hosts.

Greg Trafidlo with SVSA President Mollye Otis. 

David with the Princess. They chatted long and hard.

The tables were full and stocked.

Greg makes a presentation.

Mike DeGiorgi and Celie Holmes team up on a song.