Christmas really comes early for some. Out for a walk today and I saw through the windows of four or five houses where you could see lit Christmas trees in their living rooms. That’s way to early for me but it still starts the holiday feelings. I’m less than two weeks away from some time off and about three weeks away from having parents in town yet again. Once they arrive, the Christmas shopping and movies and games will soon be in order. It has a chance to be one of our quietest Christmases. Perhaps just the three of us for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Having more family around would be nice but I’m also looking forward to a fairly quiet holiday season. To sitting around with movies and some Christmas goodies. Maybe with a trip to Upper Canada Village to see the lights. It feels like a pleasant time to come.
Speaking of movies, I recently signed on to Amazon Prime and have been taking advantage of the video aspect of that. Lots of solid TV series and lots of B grade movies. But I must say, the cheesy movies have been fun. It somehow reminds me of the days of going out to the video store to rent something for the weekend. Not knowing anything about half the movies on the shelves. Just making a selection based on the cover art/scene and the actors listed. Some good laughs and a nod to simpler times as I watched the likes of Deathstalker and Zombeavers.
I actually find that the world of Trump leaves me craving the simple pleasures. For instance. I still have an old style tube TV in my computer room. It was my main TV when living in St. John’s on Hayward Ave. I recently decided that I rarely watch this TV and therefore don’t really need the old PVR hooked up to it. But it would be fun to hook my Atari Flashback system to that TV rather than the big HD TV in the basement. So my computer room has become an Atari room. Playing the games on the old style TV makes it all the more enjoyable. A depressing news day is beaten back with a few rounds of Asteroids, Space Invaders, Centipede, Yars Revenge, Frogger, and… the best of the bunch… Jungle Hunt.
They Remain
I’ve wondered
With acres of wood
Chopped and minced
How many of the animals remain?
Winter’s carpet proclaims
Broadcasting tracks
Through remaining woods
Trails of mouse and shrew
Paths of rabbit and squirrel
But most interesting
The Lonely jaunts of the coyote.
I assumed housing work
Would drive him out
Force the coyote to run
As monsterous machines
Shredded his turf.
The tracks could be mistaken for dog.
A German Sheppard out for a walk
But no human prints accompany
And worn snow paths show the back and forth
Of the patrolling coyote.
The time he went unseen.
But I’ll spot him before long.
Me on a snowshoe trek
And he out for a supper hunt
I’ll stop my travels in a hello nod
And he’ll scamper through the brush
Off to wait out my intrusion
From the safety of saplings and high grass
I continue on pleased
Knowing the suburb building machines
Weren’t able to drive out
The lingering bits of wild.
