• I’m sitting here sipping three fingers of wonderful single malt, thinking it must be 3:20 p .m. somewhere.
• Téa Obreht’s Inland reminds me of the prose style of Cormac McCarthy. She uses two overlapping timelines and that makes reading a challenge. As you read, you may well wonder how so many well-meaning people come to ruin.
• I may have to put some IOUs under the Christmas tree since several gifts I ordered for Lesa haven’t shown up even though I got at least four e-mails that said, “Your orders arrive today.” Nothing on the porch. Nothing in the mailbox. Nothing leaning against the garage door (it has happened). I finally sent a response back: “No they didn’t.” They said “OMG, we’ll get right on it.” I got to more “your order arrived today” e-mails today. If they don’t show up in today’s mail, I think it’s about time to say this store and those gifts are a lost cause.
• As look at today’s national weather stories about the possibility of a bomb cyclone, I’m really happy I no longer live on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. You’ll notice that the graphic shows a few flakes drifting across the state line into Georgia. We’re promised little to no accumulation.
• Our tree is up, but undecorated. No worries. There’s plenty of time. Last year, our tree stayed up until February. We have our own schedule here, having just mailed out the out-of-town gifts a few days ago. They’ll probably arrive late. People expect that of us. If they were to arrive on time, we’d get phone calls from folks saying, “Are you guys okay?”
• Our nearby horse/dog/cat rescue and retirement farm is fighting higher and higher prices this year from maintenance to bales of hay. If you’re looking for a great organization to support, directly or via Amazon’s smile program, please consider Sun Kissed Acres. From their home page: Hundreds of horses have come to the farm, most have endured unspeakable cruelty and neglect. They come to us unable to stand, unable to trust, and they are given careful attention and veterinary care, a soft place to land.

–Malcolm

If you shop for Christmas gifts as late as I do, you can find some great books in my publisher’s catalogue.