First Blog Christmas Song of the Season

Frank Kelly's "Christmas Countdown" (heard on the LiveIreland Celtic Christmas Radio )

Can't Let the Opportunity Pass By...

...to post something from The Bestest Movie EVAH^tm, aka 1776.



Happy Independence Day to all you subjects citizens!

And now we're off to the beach....

There Is No Pie in This Post, But If There Were It Would Be Green

Céad Míle Fáilte!*

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!**

Erin go Bragh!*

And other various Gaelic sayings apropos to the day!

Reel Around the Sun (the opening number from Riverdance)

Kiss Me I'm Irish, Gaelic Storm


Johnny Tarr, Gaelic Storm


Midnight Walker, Davey Spillane


Derry Air (aka Danny Boy), Davey Spillane and Sinead O'Connor



*a thousand welcomes
**the blessings of St. Patrick upon you
***Ireland forever

Happy Valentine's Day!

(h/t to Sherry)

Ummm...

I hope this comes out the way I want it to, because I´m coming to you from an internet cafe in San Rafael... and while the keyboard itself is English layout, the computer settings are Spanish, which means that keys such as ¨<¨ and ¨>¨ and ¨@¨ aren´t where they´re ´supposed´ to be.

Anyway, hope your new year got off to a bang -- ours did, as seemingly everyone else in Costa Rica had a trunkfull of fireworks that were about to pass their born-on date and therefore had to be ´sploded. The Bird was jumpy and Teh Kitteh was ´wev´ and the turtle had no comment.

And then at 3:30am, some really drunk dude ambled all over the cul-de-sac looking for ¨Señor!¨... over and over again.

In any case, it´s all good and we´re going to go get some ice cream when we leave here. As usual, it´s sunny and about 80º here.

See ya tomorrow!

The Penultimate Day

Of 2009, that is.

Heh. Penultimate. Reminds me of this:



Enjoy this randomly inserted random (not Tuesday or Thursday) Monty Python, and, if I don't get back afore midnight tomorrow....

Happy New Year!!!

A Tradition Continues

Merry Christmas [y'all] From the Family Costa Rica!! I hope you all got what you deserved wanted, and that you're surrounded by loved ones.

Christmas Eve in Costa Rica...

... and it's sunny and about 80 degrees. Just like every other day here.

Those of you with White Christmases enjoy the heck out of it, okay?

(this has been day five of no Internet. Seriously, Dr. Monkey, I have no connection ;) )

Wherein I Don't Have To Feel Bad About Not Making It To the Family Christmas Gathering Tomorrow

Because if this comes to pass:



...they won't be able to do any gathering. It's looking like they'll all be getting snow, even my siblings that live in the RDU area! So, Family, enjoy the snow and all that.

I'll be wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as usual. :)

(also, everyone knew I wasn't going to be there, so there really wasn't any feeling bad to begin with)

Updating to add:


[webcam shot in Burnsville, NC about 11:15am EST today]

and

[ditto in Spruce Pine]

(Burnsville is where I was born, and Spruce Pine is just a few miles to the east. The two towns lie about midway between Boone and Asheville, the two places where I spent the last couple decades)

For comparison, this is the current view out the kitchen window here in San Rafael de Heredia, Costa Rica:

Ding Dong

More Merry Muppet Madness:

Check That One On the List

Would you believe that Jen had not seen Miracle on 34th Street? Well, that cultural touchstone has now been ... touched, Fred Gailey proved once again that Kris is the one and only Santa, and li'l Susan got her dream house.

I think she liked it, and I know I did (having seen it many, many times).

Really, I'm Not That In To Holidays!

Just because I spent a lot of my sick time finding and downloading the four TV specials I listed in yesterday's post, and overnight last night downloaded the movie "White Christmas" to go with "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" which I already have on DVDs, doesn't mean I can't be a bit Bah Humbug.

Oh, that reminds me, I want to try and find the Patrick Stewart version of "A Christmas Carol" online somewhere.

"Christmas-time Is Here"

First things first, I'm feeling much better today. Still a bit stuffed up, but definitely "on the mend" as they say.

So, about this Christmas thing.... I've been looking here and there, and I've finally completed the Christmas Special Quartet. The four TV specials that always "made" Christmas when we were growing up. They are, of course:

• "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- this was always the number one must see of the year.
• "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" -- remember, Bumbles bounce!
• "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" -- the Boris Karloff-voiced cartoon, not that dumb movie.
• "Frosty the Snowman" -- this one is sort of border, cause the animation was, IMO, crappy.
  

I found and was able to download copies of all four of these, and they will soon be on a Christmas Special DVD. Since the girls have (mostly) been growing up here in Costa Rica, I don't know how familiar they are with them, but I'm sure we'll all have a good time watching them together.

Here's the opening of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for your viewing (and memory) pleasure:

Happy Native American Genocide Day

Here in Costa Rica, the day is a celebration of Native cultures -- well, that little remnant of them that survived the Big Lie of Innate European Superiority.

Today I honor the Cherokee and Blackfoot in my history.