2020 Christmas: not a traditional one

Santa Jokes from Kendric Smith: How you can tell that Santa is real? You can always sense his presents. What nationality is Santa Claus? North Polish. What's Santa's favorite type of music? Wrap. Why is Santa so good at karate? He has a black belt. Why does Santa go through the chimney? Because it soots him. What do you call a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus. How does Santa take pictures? With his Pole-aroid camera. What kind of motorcycle does Santa ride? A "Holly" Davidson. How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house! Why was Santa's little helper so sad? He had low elf-esteem. Who is Santa's least favorite reindeer? Rude-olph. Why did Santa go to the liquor store? He was looking for holiday spirits. What do you call Santa's little helpers? Subordinate Clauses. I dropped a copy of "A Christmas Carol" on my foot. It hurts like the Dickens. We also enjoyed photo take-offs of Elf on a Shelf: goose on a moose, [Star Wars] trooper on a pooper, etc. One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was ready for his Christmas run, but there were problems. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her Mother was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed on his way to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas Santa. Isn't it just a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Isn't it just a lovely tree? Where would you like me to stick it?" Santa told her. Thus, began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree. My granddaughter, Aubrey (10), and I enjoyed the Santa jokes. She didn't get some, but more than I expected.  All our nearby relatives have tested negative recently, so we got together for Christmas Eve at Aya's house: Aya, Matt, Aubrey, Kaya, Alan, Alyssa Sontag. We had deep fried turkey, which was delicious, and lots of other things added to the oil: green tomatoes, garlic, dill pickles, onion rings, French fries, Brussel sprouts. All turned out quite delicious. We finally got to have a dinner without masks or social distance. Alyssa's parents stopped by, so we finally got to meet them. Hopefully, there was no COVID-19 virus around. Christmas Day we had dinner at 166 Crane: Schaub's Black Steak, mashed potatoes stuffed in orange peel, string beans, beets topped with cheese, snap peas; and for dessert, gluten-free apple pie, grasshopper pie, ice cream. It was a lot of work for Kiyomi, but she seems to enjoy it. Now we are looking forward to a traditional-food Japanese New Year. It's from Japan, specially frozen by a high-tech method.

geographical history - where I've lived and visited

I'm a Navy and Army brat, so lived all over the US: born Monterey, CA; Berkeley, CA; Honolulu, HI; San Diego, CA; Annapolis, MD; Norfolk, VA; Newport, RI; Key West, FL; Annandale, VA; Chicago, IL; San Bruno,VA. US Army tours in Ft. Lewis, WA; Ft. Gordon, GA; Ft.McClellan, AL; Ft.MacArthur, CA; US Army ASCOM Depot, Korea. Return to San Bruno, CA; Redwood City, CA; Palo Alto, CA; San Anselmo, CA.

I've been reading fantasy and science fiction 70+ years despite an education at the University of Chicago, IL and career in science, chemist at Corn Products, Argo, IL; United Airlines MOC, San Bruno, CA; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, CA.

I've traveled to Mexico, Japan (Tokyo, Kobe, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Miyajima, Taketomi, Karuizawa, Shirahama, Kumano Trail, Obuse, Towada Lake/Oirase River, Kanazawa, Noto Peninsula, Shikoku , Tsukumo Bay, Kaga City, Kobe, Kyoto, Arashiyama, Shima Kanko, Lake Ashinoko, Yabe Village, Yaino, Unzen, Kitago, Beppu); Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand (Bangkok, Penang, and east; Penang, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Bali, Australia, Brazil, England, Alaska, Greece, Turkey, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Tahiti Papeete, Huahine, Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Raiatea, Bora Bora, Moorea; Fiji; Monaco, Egypt , Jordan, Peru, Cambodia, New Zealand, China, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Panama Canal; George Town, Grand Cayman Island; Myanmar, India (Cochin, Magalore, Goa, Mumbai), Oman, Israel (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth), Crete; and many of the United States.

thoughts for 27 August 2020

Our granddaughters (1st and 3rd grade) are back "in" school - completely digital remote classes. My wife and I help out by taking them for a few hours per day several days a week and one sleepover. They each have their own HP Android computer and a nice study area. I supervise them occasionally, and I know what a job it is (I think of herding cats). Their dog is just past puppy stage, house-trained but chews everything. Now they are planning to raise chickens. 
We moved into our temporary house last year while our new one is being built and I still have numerous boxes to unpack (someday). But why bother if we're just going to move again in a year or two? 
We've spent most of the summer fighting nature, trying to raise vegetables. Deer, gophers, squirrels, mice, birds, heat waves, fire warnings - it's been a real challenge. Now we're finally enjoying tomatoes, chard, eggplant, cucumbers, basil, shiso, and okra. There are flowers too: cosmos, pansey, lavender, mint, daisy, osmanthus, lilies, poppies, and others. I'm not sure we're saving money, but the veggies sure taste better and the flowers are cheerful, plus the mental benefits of working outside (despite the obstacles and challenges) are worth it.
We are trying to get our photos organized in preparation for possible evacuation orders due to wildfire risk. It's a daunting task, more than 100 years of photos to scan, label and organize because of some of the albums we inherited dating back to the early 1900s. So that will keep us busy in the evenings for the foreseeable future. It is an enjoyable task, remembering days gone by and seeing our children and ancestors in their youth.

I have not been posting here recently. I've switched to Google Docs and Google Photos for most of my "blogs", such as they are. I found not many people who know me visit and read my blogs. So that explains the hiatus in posts. I keep this mainly as a kind of diary of my older travels. With all the disruption and turmoil, I'm reminded again of the blind monks and the elephant. We each have our own personal perspective that colors our interpretation of events. It's unavoidable; but we must respect that others have their own perspective that is different from ours, sometimes almost unbelieveably different. We wonder, "how can anyone have such an incredibly wrong/stupid/illogical/etc. idea. There are many physical examples you can see, most optical illusions are examples of different perspectives. check out some here: https://www.google.com/search?q=optical+illusions&oq=optical+i&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l7.9206j1j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Unfortunately, for some people, perception becomes reality that they are ready to debate, argue, fight or even kill about. see: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201908/perception-is-not-reality. In other words, reality doesn't care what you think and you cannot change it as much as you'd like to.

To the future, whatever it will be

...One of the problems of predicting the future is that, according to one quantum interpretation described by Max Tegmark (https://arxiv.org/pdf/0905.1283.pdf), anything that can happen (even at the quantum level), happens; and the universe then splits into one future where it happens, and one where it doesn't. Think Schrodinger's cat, alive in one future, dead in another (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat). Your existential future depends on which of those universes you are swept into. Supposedly there are an infinite number of "other" you, each in a different universe, with a different future (but the same past, up to the moment the univers splits). Or according to another interpretation, the Universe is a quantum probability wave that is collapsing into an actuality as we observe it. Billions of years so far, billions of years to go. And the future is still a probability, not a certainty...