So why is it...

First big snow of the Winter, 2012/2013

...the tarp that you so laboriously cover your boat with sits placidly, completely enveloping the vessel in its protective bounty until the weather turns to snow or rain, i.e. when you actually need the tarp to do something, and then it peels aside and invites all manner of precipitation aboard?

My wife points out that snow and rain storms are often accompanied by high winds that might tend to displace a tarp that was not as well lashed down as it might have been. I don't see the connection. She always takes the tarp's side.

Honestly, I don't know why Maine ever chose the Tattered Blue Tarp as the State flag.

This You Gotta See...

Okay, maybe not this... I am trying to get my books read by a better sort than those who might normally pick them up. At the St. Benedict Abbey in Massachusetts on retreat with my family. Had a wonderful time there. Here I'm giving a copy of Fire and Sword to Brother Joachim or, as the kids called him, BroJo. I am, as I mentioned before, working on a novel about Vikings and I often had an overwhelming urge to sack the place, but I resisted. I guess I'm looking a little Viking-like in this picture. And actually, I notice Brother Joachim is not looking entirely comfortable standing next to me...

Which makes a nice segue into what I really wanted to share, by far the funniest and most clever thing I have seen in a long time. How the Nativity come down today. This is very funny.

And a Merry Christmas, or whatever you may celebrate, to all!