Monday, February 22, 2016

It's George Washington's birthday. Time to take down the Nativity scene.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Christmas was over. New Year's Day came and went. Epiphany came and went. Ash Wednesday came and went, to say nothing of Mardi Gras. The Super Bowl came and went. The first two Sundays in Lent came and went. But in the fullness of time Washington's Birthday arrived, and today -- February 22nd, 2016 -- I finally took down our Nativity scene from the credenza in the entrance hall and packed it away in the garage for another year nine-and-a-half months.

Hello, my name is Bob and I am a procrastinator. I'm nearly 75 years old and it's time I admitted it.

Confession is good for the soul.

It could have been worse. One year it was mid-March and St. Patrick's Day was looming before I put the Nativity scene away.

In my defense (British, defence), I have had lots of other activities contending for my time, such as:

A. Watching my grandson play baseball. Here he is in the batter's box against Wabash College. [Editor's note. For readers who don't follow baseball, in this particular "at bat" (AB) the "bases were loaded" and my grandson "reached first base" when he was "walked" by the pitcher, and although he didn't get "a hit" (H), he was credited with "a run batted in" (RBI) because his "base on balls" (BB) caused the player on third base to "reach home" and be credited with "a run" (R). Statistics are everything in baseball. --RWP]:



B. Admiring Mrs. RWP's latest creations from her coloring (British, colouring) hobby. Here are four more:









C. Pondering life's really important questions, like "Where are the snows of yesteryear?":
















I knew you would understand.

Here's one last look at you know what:


8 comments:

  1. Procrastination is an art and you are a master of the art. Congratulations.

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  2. So your grandson is a leftie. Is that an advantage in baseball as it supposedly is in tennis and cricket?

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  3. Adrian, thank you! I think. Hmmm. I shall think more on the subject and get back to you later.

    Shooting Parrots, that is my understanding, yes. There are several articles online about lefthandedness in sports that make for some fascinating reading.

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  4. One Sunday in about 1975 I was walking through the accommodation zone of my campus university and from a window I heard a young woman yell out: "Procrastination is the spice of life!"/ That memory and those words have always stayed with me. I don't know why.

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  5. Yorkshire Pudding, I'm not sure, but I think an accommodation zone is what we would call a dormitory area. In my opinion, procrastination is not nearly as spicy as the fact that both of us know how to spell the word accommodation.

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  6. Hello Bob, greetings and good wishes.

    You are not the only procrastinator. I am also one. Earlier I used to put up the Nativity scene but packing them back in cartons is something I always postponed. When Christmas is approaching the enthusiasm to put up many decorative things is great but after Christmas is gone the enthusiasms is at a low ebb and therefore the house looks cluttered. I now stick to putting up Christmas stars, decorative lights and a small Christmas tree. Even then packing them up becomes quite a chore. When my children were small everything was easy because they were there to decorate and remove everything after Christmas.

    Your grandson is a great player. In India base ball is not popular and there fore your various terms sounded like Greek and Latin to me.

    Lovely coloring, very sober and cool on the eyes. The words in the coloring are very inspiring.

    Best wishes

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  7. Welcome, Joseph Pulikotil,, all the way from India! I quite agree with you about the enthusiasms being at a low ebb after Christmas is gone. Thank you for the kind words about my grandson's baseball playing and my wife's artistic endeavors.

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  8. "I'm nearly 75 years old and it's time I admitted it." Very good of you to quit lying about your age and 'fess up RWP. Hmm. I guess I'll admit that I waited quite awhile to take down the Christmas decor, too. Losing my sweet mother is the hardest thing I've ever done - the Christmas lights were cheering, so I left them for a long time. We still have lights down our long lane to the barn, but I leave them up so as not to stumble over a porcupine in the dark...Goodness knows, here in gloomy western Washington, we need all the light we can get!
    p.s. Be careful - your posts are almost as far apart as mine!

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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