Snow tonight and some seriously well-below freezing temperatures for the next 2 days.

But we’ve got all our Christmas stuff up and lots of snuggly blankets on the couch so I’m guessing it’ll be great! (Plus, I have a 2025 Honda Civic Sport, which, you know, basically starts just by looking at it.)

We also have this — some of you may remember this from last winter. The milk house heater!!

This heater is so powerful. It not only keeps all my upstairs pipes from freezing out here in the Hinterlands, it heats the entire upstairs.

And most importantly these days — it turns itself off at the slightest bump. So no kittens will be toppling it over and setting my house on fire!! Yay!!

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Okay.

As promised!

James Tabor’s new course with Myth Vision, “Christianity Before Paul”, went on sale yesterday. The early bird special price is $49.95 (until New Year’s Eve).

Visit this link to read about the course and/or order it!

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Over at Metrograph, they have some seriously great International Arthouse films that you can watch at home this December! ($5 monthly subscription, but so worth it, in my opinion!!)

Independent films from Romania, Iran, Portugal, Jamaica, Brazil, and China. (These are generally vintage films, from 10-20 years ago. Some are even older. Great filmmaking from around the world.) (But this also means reading subtitles, just FYI. So if you tend to watch movies at home while totally stoned, or something along those lines, all that reading might seem like too much work. You decide!!)

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Also–

If you’re interested in natural health and healthy eating, as well as prayer and bible-based eating, check out Healthy in Heart!

Biblically Inspired Wellness for Body, Mind & Spirit

I just ordered their “The Daniel Fast 21-Day Meal Plan: Simple Plant-Based Nourishment for Mind, Body, & Spirit Eat Well. Pray Deep. Stand Strong”.

This is something Ross K. Nichols is doing (the Daniel Fast), beginning the first of the year, so I wanted to look into it. (I’m a member of his private Patreon group.) I thought the premise of the entire site was very interesting.

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Okay!!

We’re on a roll!

Nick Cave smoking!! (And toting a smoking gun!)

And here’s the song that goes with it! “We Came Along this Road”, by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, from their incredible 2001 album, No More Shall We Part. (I’m not 100% certain, but I believe this was his first album post-heroin addiction. It’s a great album. Such beautiful songwriting.)

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In fact, No More Shall We Part contains a few of my all-time favorite Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds songs, including this one: “Hallelujah”:

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Well, yesterday’s adventure with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, at the restaurant at the golf course with the splendid views, was a complete success.

Wow. Did he have a great time, gang. And not just because he got to have his ONE vodka martini.

The place is already beautiful — the architecture especially, but it was indeed all decorated for Christmas. And the restaurant has 2 fireplaces, which are always a great thing to decorate at Christmas!!

And the food there is casual, but really, really good. (Although he always takes 3 bites and then says, “I’m full”, and he takes the rest home.) But the food there is always just really good. I’m guessing it comes from local farms since it’s way out in the middle of nowhere.

For me, it was poignant for 2 reasons. I have been able to take him there 4 times this year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and now Winter. And the views are just so incredible, in any season. But I also know this will be my last time taking him there. (Oh, and a ladybug landed on the window right next to me (inside), and I took it as a sign that either my dad, his dad, or his late wife — or perhaps all 3 of them — were joining us there for a final time.)

My client not only loves the views from the restaurant, but the drive there and back (20 miles each way) is mostly on backroads, so he has just the best time looking at all that nature — the hills, the trees. They go on forever. Any season, this drive makes him so happy.

As always, for me, it made it a day of driving 100 miles total. But I don’t mind because he loves it so much.

And after lunch, we stopped again at the Nature Preserve by his house, and we sat in the car with the heat on, and just looked at all the nature for about 20 minutes. So it was a really great day.

And soon enough, I’m heading right back there, but we’re staying in today.

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Other than that, I guess I better scoot!

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

I’ve moved on to “A Very Special Christmas” — the first album, from 1987. Wasn’t that a great album, gang??

Here’s The Pretenders singing, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. Enjoy, gang.