Today is Christmas Eve although, to us it is just another day. I gave up believing in Santa Clause years ago and anyway, I do not have a chimney for him to come down. Back in the day when I owned a house, he never came down it even though, I hung my stocking up and left him snacks and a drink and everything…I am not a religious person, and the spiritual side is lost on me. But each to their own as the saying goes. 

I bundled up and we went out walking and I had only taken a few steps before realizing that the jacket I had on was way to warm. We returned to Quatro, and I found a lighter jacket that was much better. We wandered around the park and the big old dog was outside of his RV. Taking a chance, we wandered over and as I expected, he was just a big old friendly, furry guy. Sandy and I made a fuss and even Mikey did not bark at him I guess, realizing that he was old, friendly and harmless and an old age pensioner in doggy years. 

We continued our walk just wandering around the park and out onto the outside road before returning for breakfast and coffee followed by my usual session of catching up with the rest of the world, which incidentally, is still a sorry place. From what I read, quite obviously a lot of people do not have the Christmas Spirit unless they can literally steal it from someone else. 

This got me thinking. Has the world always been like it is today and we just never got to hear about it because there were no cell phones, internet and computers and such. Or, has the world changed because of those aforementioned items and this is the way things are today? One thing is sure, it will never get any better as there is no way to wind back the clock. Even though I use the gadgets, I liked it best when the world was a much simpler place to live in. On the other hand, back then I was also much younger. My fondest memories are of wandering the woods and countryside when I was just a kid with my buddy. Leaving home in the morning and back in time for the evening meal. Those were the days even though there was a World War going on. 

Sandy was giving me “the look” so I harnessed them up and we went out walking. This time we walked the part of Henly Loop that leads from the park to Hwy 290 hoping to see some wildlife in the Preserve next door. We did see a herd of deer but the minute they saw us, they were gone. We wandered along and then went down the hill to check to see if the sliding gate to the Preserve was closed as it was wide open the last time we passed. It was closed and we did an about turn and walked back up the hill, into the park, and back to Quatro. Not that I can do much about the gate as it is on one of those keypad gadgets that requires inputting a code.  

Incidentally, “the look” can also be interpreted to mean that she has “Gotta go, Dad”. 

Back in the RV, I settled down with one of those tiny bottles of Pinot Grigio as a reward for our efforts so far and to get the blog up to date. This got me thinking that if I did not write this thing, what would I do with my time as I spend several hours a day working on it. Heaven forbids that I would resort to watching the TV during the day. That is reserved strictly for important soccer games only. I do spend some time listening to a good Audiobook but not every day so maybe I would just increase the listening time on those. After all, not much else to do…Walking, writing, evening TV and sleeping is the story of my life when we are not travelling or exploring a new campground. What a life. Notice that I did not include eating in that list as it is way far down on the pecking order of important things. Grow old, eat too much, get fat and die early. 

We went out for the final walk of the day and just wandered around the park. The temperature had dropped again and was below freezing. This is supposed to last one or two more days of overnight freezing temperatures and then it will clear up to our somewhat normal 40-50’s for this time of the year. 

Back in Quatro, the day ended in the usual way with food and more episodes of “Deliverance”, the current series I am watching. 

Written December 24, 2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com