MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND TO EVERYONE A GOOD NIGHT:))

 LOOKING SOUTH ALONG THE EASTERN SHORE OF LAKE HURON

Double-checking the calendar several times to make sure I had the right day for my bank appointment earlier today, it was about mid-morning when I headed off to Goderich under cloudy skies.  With temps slightly above freezing the secondary roads were slushy.  My bank appointment was favorable but it did seem more complicated than the other bank I was at a few days ago.  But, I guess it will just take time for me to get into the swing of things trying to understand all this banking stuff.  From the bank, I slipped down around the  Goderich harbor looking for a few pics before heading home.

 THE BULK CARRIER SPRUCEGLEN WAS ANCHORED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF GODERICH'S HARBOR

 THAT IS QUITE A BULBOUS NOSE ON THE BOW OF THE SPRUCEGLEN

I checked the weather forecast at 7 this morning and was heartened to see that we at least were a couple degrees above freezing with temps up around 45F by the weekend.  Oh, and have you noticed the days getting longer yet??  Three days ago was the Winter Solstice and that means for the next six months each day will be a little longer than the day before.  Oh, woe is me when on June 21st they begin to get shorter again. 

 ALL'S I KNOW ABOUT THESE GUYS IS THAT THEY ARE DUCKS

Because of the postal strike here, mail has been backed up.  With the strikers back to work (maybe temporarily) our mailbox filled up fast.  Four of the envelopes contained ambulance bills from a month ago when Kelly was so sick.  Forty-five dollars a crack but I'm not complaining.  I think it's a great and essential service those people provide and I know it's not something I could have ever done. 

Well, here it is Christmas Eve.  In one way, shape, or form, I have spent 80 Christmas Eves on this Planet and it's not the first one I have spent by myself.  There have been a few others over the years.  The only thing that would have made this Christmas Eve better is if Kelly were still here in physical form.  However, she is here with Pheebs and I in Spirit and I am comforted by that.  So, Merry Christmas to everyone and to everyone a good night:))

 IT LOOKED LIKE A CANADA GOOSE CONVENTION GOING ON OVER NEAR THE GRAIN TERMINAL

Al's Music Box:)) Driving Home For Christmas is a Christmas song written and composed by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea. The first version was originally released as the B-side to his single "Hello Friend" in 1986. In October 1988, a re-recorded version served as one of two new songs on Rea's first compilation album New Light Through Old Windows. It was issued as the fourth single from the album in November 1988.  Despite its original modest chart placement, the song has made a reappearance on the UK Singles Chart every year since 2007 when it peaked at No. 33, and is featured among the Top 10 Christmas singles. It reached a new peak of number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 2021. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted twelfth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song.  In interviews for the BBC Radio 4 program Today in 2009, and The Guardian in 2016, Rea said he wrote "Driving Home for Christmas" many years before its first recording; this was in 1978 when Rea needed to get home to Middlesbrough from Abbey Road Studios in London. His wife had come down to drive him home in her Austin Mini to save money because it was cheaper to drive than travel by train. Rea was recently out of contract and the record company was unwilling to pay for the rail ticket. The inspiration for the song came as they were getting stuck in heavy traffic, while the snow was falling. He started looking at the other motorists, who "all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: "We're driving home for Christmas..." Then, whenever the streetlights shone inside the car, I started writing down lyrics". Rea said Driving Home for Christmas is a "car version of a carol", and that he wrote it for Van Morrison but did not manage to get it to him.  In the Guardian interview, Rea stated that he never played the song live until 2014 at Hammersmith Odeon; he recalls: "the gig was on 20 December, so the road crew kept badgering me to do it. I went, 'If I'm going to sing this friggin song, we're gonna do it properly.' So we hired 12 snow cannons. When we started the song, you couldn't hear it for the noise of the crowd, and we let go with the machines. We put three feet of artificial snow in the stalls. The venue charged me £12,000 to clean it up".  Rea never planned to write a Christmas song. It was several years later that while testing pianos with keyboard player Max Middleton he found a tune that fit the lyrics. Initially, it was released as a B-side (to the 1986 single "Hello Friend"), but afterwards was re-recorded with strings. Middleton played the distinctive jazzy intro, and together they produced a typical 1950s Christmas carol-type arrangement.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A farmer named Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside except for a pet dog he had for a long time.  The dog finally died and Muldoon went to the parish priest, saying "Father, the dog is dead. Could you possibly be saying a Mass for the poor creature?"  Father Patrick told the farmer "No, we can't have services for an animal in the church, but I'll tell you what, there's a new denomination down the road apiece, and no telling what they believe in, but maybe they'll do something for the animal."  Muldoon said "I'll go right now. By the way, do you think $50,000 is enough to donate for the service?"  Father Patrick replied "Why didn't you tell me the dog was Catholic."

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Q: Why did the little Moron quit his job as a restroom attendant?

A: He couldn't figure out how to refill the hand dryer!

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Dispatching her ten-year-old son to pick up a pizza, my sister handed him money and a two-dollar coupon.  Later he came home with the pizza and the coupon.  When asked to explain, he replied, "Mom, I had enough money. I didn't need the coupon."

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Three men die in a car accident on Christmas Eve. They all find themselves at the pearly gates waiting to enter Heaven. On entering they must present something related to or associated with Christmas.
The first man searches his pockets and finds mistletoe, so he is allowed in.  The second man presents a candy cane, so he is also allowed in.  The third man pulls out a pair of stockings.  Confused at this last gesture, St. Peter asks, "How do these represent Christmas?"  "They're Carol's."

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A film crew is on location in Kenya, when a tribal shaman approaches the director and says, "Tomorrow rain." The director pays no attention, but the following day it pours and shooting has to be delayed.  That night, the director sends his assistant to bring the shaman back. "What will be the weather tomorrow?" asks the director.  "Bigger rain tomorrow, much wind," and sure enough a terrible storm once again delays the filming.
But then the witch doctor disappears for a week and the director, now depending on him, sends his people out to find him and bring him back to camp.  Finally, he is located and brought to the director's tent. "What will be the weather tomorrow?" asks the director in desperation.  "No idea," says the shaman, "Radio batteries dead."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 THE DAY WE BOUGHT THE BIG E IN MAY OF 2014

 PICKING UP GOLD NUGGETS IN CALIFORNIA'S CARGO MUCHACHO MOUNTAINS WEST OF YUMA ARIZONA

 ON THE BANKS OF THE SWANEE RIVER IN FLORIDA

Al's Art Gallery