THE HOLIDAYS SLIPPED BY WITH HARDLY A HO-HO-HO. There’s no chance of a winter wonderland in SoCal and we stayed away from the malls so the only St. Nick we saw was the skinny Salvation Army Santa outside of Walmart.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas??
No humbugs us, we watched It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Carol but still failed to capture the holiday magic. We took Connie’s old friend Ursula to the San Diego Botanic Gardens to see the holiday lights, but even mulled wine and a colorful lights can’t turn a palm into a Christmas tree.
Surfin' Santa?? Harbor seals instead of reindeer
We were in Yuma, AZ for the actual holidays, just in time to take part in the RV park’s Christmas dinner — turkey, ham and all the trimmings and we were among the youngest people there. It’s interesting to note that while Donnie is pushing hard for his wall on the Mexican border, most of the winter migrants to Arizona are from the north. We have neighbors from Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and even Manitoba.
Martha Stewart would be proud of us
Our needs are few and our resources are substantial, eliminating the need to buy presents for each other. Besides, we share the same bank accounts and credit cards. Instead we decided to upgrade our meager quarters with new bedding to go with the new mattress we bought last summer. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.
For the birds
For those of you who keep track of such things, here are the numbers for 2017. Connie's "Pretty Big Year" netted 1743 bird species bringing her total list to 4863, almost half of all the species in the world, and placing her #201 on the Surfbird list. She also claims 330 species in the Continental US for the year. Now it's time to start all over. 1, 2, 3...
