Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for December 29, 2016

Almost had me crying, too. You could only manage ONE alliteration, Petey???

Just when he was getting on a roll.

That’s where our tree will wind up on Sunday afternoon. As much as I’ve enjoyed the blinking Christmas lights, it’s time for it to go.

So much for the concept of living trees, that you can plant outside when you are done, vs. discard like yesterday’s trash…

Save yourself this annual angst. Mark your calendar now for next May. Then go out and buy an evergreen seedling, plant it lovingly in your front yard, tend it gently during its first vulnerable months (but after that just let it go), and enjoy a living holiday tree for the next half century.

Last night I watched an old French short film which showed that dead Christmas trees go to Christmas tree heaven.

If you plant a fruit tree, it will repay you with pie, jelly, wine, etc.

The commentary is too scathing for poor Dill…

Ballad of the Ladies of Bygone Times

Tell me where, or in what landis Flora, the lovely Roman,or Archipiades, or Thaïs,who was her first cousin;or Echo, replying whenever calledacross river or pool,and whose beauty was more than human?But where are the snows of yesteryear?

Where is that brilliant lady Heloise,for whose sake Peter Abelard was castratedand became a monk at Saint-Denis?He suffered that misfortune because of his love for her.And where is that queen whoordered that Buridanbe thrown into the Seine in a sack?But where are the snows of yesteryear?

Queen Blanche, white as a lily,who sang with a siren’s voice;Big-footed Bertha, Beatrice, Alice,Arembourg who ruled over Maine;and Joan, the good maiden of Lorrainewho was burned by the English at Rouen —where are they, where, O sovereign Virgin?But where are the snows of yesteryear?

Prince, do not ask in a weekwhere they are, or in a year.The only answer you will get is this refrain:But where are the snows of yesteryear? —François Villon The above English version is from Bureau of Public Secrets, with excellent notes on the various proper names in the poem. It’s an unusual website with translations of “radical” works. http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2010/02/snows-of-yesteryear-by-francois-villon.html

A dead Christmas Tree looks bad:( What brings tears to my eyes is a dead BLACK CAT after Halloween:(