Saturday, November 20

Eating Breakfast With Santa

---
My Saturday morning ritual of reading the newspaper
at Denny's was punctuated with a visit from Santa.
He sat a few booths away. Unassuming, street clothes,
a really big guy. The give-away was the flowing white
beard. Our waitress, who had just complained about
Jingle Bell Rock playing in the background, perked up
and started the conversation.

Yeah, he was working one of the malls. A 'rookie.' His
Santa mentor had just died. He was probably nervous, but
I couldn't tell since his back was to me. Never saw his
face. The waitress carried on about her three kids. The
eight-year-old screamed and cried about having to sit on
Santa's lap last year, so would never do it again. The
almost four-year-old would be the most likely sitter this
year. Apparently there is an unpredictable willingness to
venture onto unfamiliar territory.

I still don't like this idea of lying to your kids. We
think it's harmless, but I disagree. In a world that is
full of advertised and unadvertised lies, kids need a
good dose of truth. Tell them Santa is a fake before he
comes down the chimney and they'll understand. They'll
still love you. Maybe more.

Tuesday, November 16

Modesto --- CA's New Mystery Spot



Who woulda thunk it? Modesto is the newest Mystery Spot
in California. Chandra Levi, Laci Peterson, and thousands
of Honda's, Camry's and Chevy pickups missing.
Ranked #1 in these United States for car thefts, little Modesto
had more than 6500 cars and trucks stolen last year.

The reason? There's more than one, but the top three are:

1. Joy riding or just needing transportation for the night.
2. A quick sell to support your drug habit. In case you
didn't know it, the Valley is the meth capital of the
world.
3. Your car is too easy to steal. Late 80's thru mid 90's
models are big steal deals.

Please note that the highest risk cities are mostly in
California (6 out of the top 10). And what does that mean?
It means that if you live in California, one of the safest
places to live is in San Luis Obispo County. But have you
priced homes there lately? You're better off letting your
vehicle get stolen once in awhile!

Both murdering and stealing are sins in God's eyes. Both
reflect the utter and total depravity of fallen humanity.
And both anger and wanting what belongs to others are the
taletale hints of what is in our hearts...murder and theft.

Saturday, November 13

Traces of Faces



Dave's latest craze is looking for faces where you might not see them
ordinarily. Something your kids would enjoy doing, not an old start like
me. Oh, well, humor me.

This rock is about 3" wide, found at the beach north of Cambria, CA last
Sunday. Looks more like a prehistoric bowling ball, but served the purpose.



Ginnie's backyard boards some mysterious creatures, including this strange
rendition of John Kerry saying "OOOHHHHH! Shucks!" The worse for wear, this
wizened, weathered wannabe weeps like a wapiti.



The prize and surprize of the beach front visit was this wonderful example
of evolutionary progress. After creating the eyes of this creature, the teeth
(by chance, mind you) washed ashore and found their way to form a
smile --- all by themselves. A brain should drift in shortly.

We had a wonderful, but short, vacation in the Paso/Atascadero area, where
I celebrated my birthday with Ginnie's carrotcake, attended the Paso Gathering,
visited with a former schoolmate, Mike Edwards, took pictures at the beach and
in Solvang, enjoyed family (thanks everyone), and ate too much.