Samain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Moon of the Winter Solstice<\/p>\n
Went out on an errand this afternoon as the sun began to set.\u00a0 At 4:00 pm.\u00a0 When I hit Round Lake, I saw a car in the rear view.\u00a0 It had something on top.\u00a0 A Christmas tree.\u00a0 We have one of the metro’s favorite cut your own tree places about 6 miles north of us.<\/p>\n
This triggered two memories.\u00a0 The first, which you’ve encountered if you’ve traveled in the tropics during Christmas, is the jarring sight of Christmas trees, wreaths and lights all atwinkle at 80+ degrees.\u00a0 In Rio they have applied to Guiness for certification of their floating Christmas tree in the big lake near the funicular for Corcovada (muy grande Jesus).\u00a0 It’s supposed to be the biggest.\u00a0 Among a crop of how many floating Christmas trees, I wonder?<\/p>\n
An oddity I realized in Rio was that most of these Christmas decorations have a fir or pine as their exemplars.\u00a0 That was the trigger with the Christmas tree on the car.\u00a0 When I took my trip to Southeast Asia seven years ago, I was in Singapore at this time.\u00a0 Same strange thing.\u00a0 Christmas trees, wreaths, Christmas tree decorations all sprouting from vertical shopping malls in the air conditioned nation.<\/p>\n
The second memory triggered by the car with the Christmas tree was the sight of golf carts all loaded up on flat bed trucks headed south for the winter season.\u00a0 Soon we’ll have the rickety trucks coming to town piled high with cut wood sold door to door for fire places.<\/p>\n
We do have a very distinct culture here and it’s visible to me right now, with South America so present to me.<\/p>\n
One guy on the cruise asked me about ice fishing.\u00a0 Seems the word of our palatial fish houses has spread to the larger world.<\/p>\n
Yeh, you betcha, we’re our own culture up here.\u00a0 For sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Moon of the Winter Solstice Went out on an errand this afternoon as the sun began to set.\u00a0 At 4:00 pm.\u00a0 When I hit Round Lake, I saw a car in the rear view.\u00a0 It had something on top.\u00a0 A Christmas tree.\u00a0 We have one of the metro’s favorite cut your own tree places … Continue reading Yeah, You Betcha<\/span>