Sunday, 19 November 2006:

Today the three men of the house - me, my brother-in-law Joe, and my nephew Joey - strung up Christmas lights. I was mildly offended since it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but I am a guest here so cheerfully pitched in by setting up a lounge chair, supervising, and taking pictures with my new digital camera. Here is what happened: First, we got out the box of lights and extension cords. We strung them out on the lawn and began testing the strings. Here is Joey doing the testing. At first, he was cupping his hands around the lights and putting each one up to his face to see if it was lit. Then he decided that all he had to do was feel each light - if it was warm, it was working. Very clever! The kid is only six years old, but very sharp. Problem is, the longer the lights are on, the hotter they get. Inevitably as he got to the end of the first string he burnt his hand a little. Joe was up on the ladder, getting the first string started, then working around the side of the house.

A little later I got my bike out - here it is as equipped - and I went to the Walmart to pick up some spare bulbs for the strings of lights. Down here you say, "spare bubs". I picked up quite a few things besides the bubs, but they all fit nicely into my bike's saddlebags.

After that we went out on the containment pond across the street from the house. The pond is surrounded on all sides by big oak trees festooned with Spanish moss (that's the beard-like substance hanging down in the upper left of the picture),and there are some pretty nice houses all around it. We got out the toy airplane I bought yesterday for Joey and attempted to fly it. I say attempted, because he preferred to keep the plane in his hand, flying it around manually and making all kinds of fighter plane noises, like "NYEEEEEEOW", and "ACKACKACKACKACKACKACK", and so on. Then he wanted to turn it into a boat by floating it in the culvert feeding the pond area. Eventually I asked him if I could play with it a little, and we got off a few test flights. After that he went back to "NYEEEEEEOW"ing and such. Oh well - whatever spins his prop...

This evening I managed to make my first meeting since I left Philly last Monday - yikes! Anyway it was a Big Book study in Plant City, about 25 minutes NNW of Valrico, where I am staying with my sister. I am always amazed at both the uniformity and the regional diversity of AA. We read the last portion of To Employers, and one of the founders of this group read a biography of Hank P., who wrote this chapter. Hank was Bill's business partner in the New York publishing company set up to print the Big Book. Hank eventually went out and died drinking. It turns out his was one of the first personal stories in the BB First Edition. That story was replaced in subsequent editions, but you can still find it in Experience, Strength, and Hope, the book that contains all the stories that were in the first 3 editions but do not appear in the Fourth Edition. Interesting stuff.

Nice day, beautiful weather about 70 and bright and sunny. Another day in paradise...

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