Ding dong

Funny how an old memory recalled can open the floodgates of the mind.

As the holiday adverting began to ramp up the sound of chimes became unavoidable and I started flashing on the chimes heard in my childhood neighborhood.  Not far from the front porch, about 400 yards as the crow flies, stood the Deagan Building.  I didn't know it at the time but Deagan was a world-famous manufacturer of percussion musical instruments, particularly xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones, and chimes.  During the day, up to around 9pm, the Westminster Melody would play, followed by separate gongs indicating the hour of the day.  At the quarter-hour short sequences would play, differing on whether it was a quarter, half, or three-quarters past the hour.  The chimes gave the neighborhood a small town feeling, with the folks sitting on their porches and kids playing in the streets always knowing roughly what time it was.  Sometimes the chimes were annoying because everyone used to pause, stop what they were doing, and simply listen.  Deagan quit making chimes at that location long ago and I read that the sound we heard as children was a recording and not the real thing.  But now, when I hear chimes, I think of the Deagan Building; it's still there, now a place of historic significance.

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Another fine Christmas Eve dinner at my  sister's place with lasagna becoming somewhat of a tradition.  Her family has developed it's own holiday traditions, one of them being to see a movie on Christmas Day.  This goes back to when my brother-in-law was a cop and didn't get home from work until late in the afternoon and I guess getting out of the house and watching a movie is as good a way to celebrate the holiday as any.  I went with them once a few years ago and a lot of people had the same idea; the theater was packed but maybe it was only because it was the new Star Wars.  I'd rather stay home and eat leftovers and cookies.

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A quiet time in the White House for a change but I can't believe that Trump was on the phone with a seven year-old, hinting that there might not be a Santa Claus.  The guy's lack of social skills is  astounding and I hope that children growing up today don't get the idea that a president like Trump is a normal thing.

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Unless the Kurds can cut a deal with Syria they are doomed.  All I can think of is how well Turkey treated the Armenians.  It did not go well.