‘Grandma A spoke of Armageddon and the Last Days like she had seen them personally,’ Billy B said as he thought of today’s problems. ‘She told me that the blood would flow up to the horse’s bridle…and I had to look up bridle to know what she was speaking of,’ he continued.

‘Well…many of the old-time gospel folks took what the Bible said literally and transferred the scripture to current events, Chet mused. ‘When I was but a lad preachers told us that the End Times were upon us…and we were sore afraid,’ he added.

‘Rome was the most powerful nation of its time and yet it fell,’ Neva J said with some knowledge acquired of her voracious reading.’ ‘Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus wrote of calamity coming,’ she continued.

‘It has been postulated that if time travel is real we may indeed have visitors from the future and the past as well,’ Chet said. ‘Perhaps they are some of those people that you experience de ja vu when you see them…,’ he noted.

‘Could it be that the circular theory of time has some validity…that we are living a bit on a phonograph record and what we experience…has been experienced before,’ Jane asked? ‘Cults are bad but are there prophets in our midst that are not attempting to control people or fleece them of their finances,’ she added.

‘When I visited Oxford University I had a distinct feeling that I had been there before,’ Billy B said. ‘The building and grounds and even the Pubs were familiar to me…yet I had never been there…,’ he explained.

‘Perhaps the End Times are a bit longer than our measurement of time,’ Chet offered.

‘Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, and the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

‘Surely the Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert A shape with a lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, is moving its slow thighs, while all about it fell shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And the rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?…,’ said the woman washing dishes in the White House… W.B. Yeats

It is a holiday around the Brooks Ranch. Aaron’s Birthday! Forty-two years ago today I was a nervous nessy. About an hour ago and 42 years MJ and I welcomed Mr. Aaron into our lives…we have never been the same…in a good way! I was in the delivery room and the doctor told me, ‘Mr. Brooks if you want to see your son born you had better stand up. I did and was I ever elated! He cried in a lusty take charge manner. Soon I visited him in the nursery with his little blue navy cap on his head and the nurse overseeing the babies told me that he has a lot of character…

Aaron is a joy and a blessing to his mom and brother and me. He knows what he wants and he goes after it with gusto. Aaron is an artist and a photographer and a leader of men! He likes a scary movie and we recently watched The Enfield Poltergist and mused as to what is around us that we can not see with our eyes.

Aaron is a lover of all things Maine. We just finished our sixth visit to Maine and hope to go again next year. He was in his element on the sailing exursion that we enjoyed and struck up quite a conversation with our Captain to the extent that the Cap bought him a beer.

Aaron does the lion’s share of the driving in Maine…making my holiday that much more enjoyable. He brought us a dozen doughnuts over the weekend…and My-O-My were they delicious!

The nice lady who we purchased Aaron’s birthday cake from asked when she looked at the 4 and the 2 if it was 24 or 42…I started to tell her that I was 42 today. How the years fly by!

Aaron is the age that when I was 42 I thought how old that I had become…litte did I know…

As Josh Brolin’s character in No Country For Old Men told the lady by the pool at the hotel who had beer… when asked what he kept looking over his shoulder for, ‘I am looking for what is coming.’ You may recall that in the next scene, he is dead. It can be said that we are all looking for what is coming. In fact, we are looking back for what is coming. It has. been said that the past is a prologue.

A United States Senator invited a person testifying before a committee he was sitting on to a fistfight. A Presidential Candidate calls those who disagree with him ‘Vermin’ which is taken directly from the words of Adolf Hitler. Yes…we are all looking back to see what is coming…

I watch the little children helped by the Shriners Organization…their positive outlook on life and their radiant smiles cause me to look forward with hope. There are wonderful people in our world and many of them!

The natural beauty of our woods and wildlife is breathtaking. If you need rest…the woods is a good place to be. You may have sung the old spiritual Peace In The Valley. Indeed the woods provide in some measure the words of the song, ‘No sadness or suffering or crying do I see.’

Inner Peace provides outer peace. The more centered and balanced that you are in your heart and mind…the more peaceful your life will be. I have known people who will argue if the Sun rises each morning and sets each evening. If you say it is cold they will respond that it is not as cold as it was when they were a child. Of course, some of these folks hiked to school through three feet of snow and hiked back home through four feet…and both directions were uphill.

‘I simply can not and will not believe what the scientists are saying,’ Neva J said as she poured another glass of Merlot. ‘I have been hearing about the end of the world and the last days and the Battle of Armageddon since I was a little girl and it has not happened yet,’ she continued.

‘Do you recall Abigail when we were in the group that believed she had traveled back in time 40 years and had knowledge of medicines that we do not have as well as predictions about what was coming looking forward,’ Chet asked?

‘I remember that Abigail said that the end would come when the world was at its zenith of pleasure and it would happen so quickly most would never know what hit them,’ Billy B said with a look of fear in his eyes. ‘She went on to claim that she was the mother of the President but she was much younger than him,’ Jane mused.

‘Abigail told us to ask the President if remembers what she used to tell him each night when she tucked him into bed,’ Chet commented with his eyes shut.

‘Ring Around the Rosie…pockets full of posies…ashes…ashes…we all fall down,’ said the President as he entered his secure bunker…

‘A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger,’ the Bible tells us. This would be contrary to human nature and to our current political environment. The rhetoric of politicians seems to have no basement. Referring to each other and the other political party in the most demeaning of terms and words… is considered strong Christianity in some circles. It appears that we have divided ourselves into little encampments of folks who look like us and think like us and worship like us…and have decided to shun and punish those who are different than us.

Punishing seems to be the new normal. Let us get them before they get us. We are God’s elect and the rest are but chaff on the threshing floor that the wind blows away. That seems comforting to the narrow mind and closed heart until some of that Chaff reaches out a hand of assistance to us when our Tribe forgot us.

As we see others who are different than us…often we are looking at them from the wrong end of the binoculars. From our obstructed view we see those whom we do not know as very small and obscure. When we turn the binoculars around the family that we see is enhanced and large and the twinkle in their eyes and the smiles on their faces are in High definition.

Critical or Compassionate…that is the choice. Mean thoughts are easy to think…they often come naturally. Good thoughts and loving ideas are a daily practice of the heart…

‘I swear the Christmas lights and decorations in Eldorado are unparalleled,’ said Neva J! ‘I do not recall Chicago being any more festive than our little Southern Illinois town,’ she continued.

‘I think that I am receiving the miniature pool table from Western Auto this Christmas,’ Billy B said. ‘Neva J asked me where I was going to set it up and I replied in my bedroom of course. ‘Then she mused how they would get to the bathroom as they often cut through my two open door holes…that was without doors to facilitate a shortcut to the water closet,’ Billy B grinned.’ ‘I said that the extra steps would be good for her…which she frowned at,’ he concluded.

‘Well, with your little Black and White TV and a billiard table you will have your own apartment,’ Chet winked. ‘How about the Daniel Boone Action Figure…did you find one at the Ben Franklin Dime Store,’ Chet asked?

‘When we did not have the money for the Daniel Boone figure when he was there and now that Neva J has it in her Christmas Budget…he is gone,’ Billy B said with a frown. ‘Nevertheless, after I saw the movie The Hustler with Jackie Gleason playing the legendary pool shark Minnesota Fats…I have been hooked on shooting pool,’ he noted. ‘You recall when we were at the Eldorado Billards Hall that we thought that we saw Minnesota playing in the back of the Hall…it is my dream to play him on my new miniature pool table once I receive it for Christmas,’ Billy B exulted!

‘Minnesota Fats is big time…he was not at the Eldorado Pool Hall…that was Fleshy Frank who is our local Pool Hustler,’ Chet laughed. ‘I think that he lives in Hollywood or perhaps in New York City,’ Chet remarked.

‘He lives in Dowell, Illinois and it is about 50 miles from Eldorado and just outside DuQuoin, Billy B said. ‘He has two Cadillacs parked in his driveway,’ he continued.

‘You remind me of Paul Newman’s character in The Hustler…you are too good for old Fats…I am known as the best…but I can not master Mini-Pool,’ Fats said…

‘Will there be smoked ham this year at Grandma A’s,’ Billy B asked?

‘Not just smoked ham but turkey and oyster dressing and I am making my famous Roast Beast and Coffee Cake for the event,’ Neva J chuckled.

‘I hope Aunt Wanda brings her divinity…it is so light and creamy that it melts in your mouth and not in your hands…as M&M’s are fond of saying,’ Jane said with a lilt in her voice.

‘I personally am looking forward to the pecan pie…I love pecan pie,’ Chet said with a satisfied smile.

‘Cousin Gene will be there and he will be talking about his Monster Magazines and Universal Studios Monster Masks…I believe it is Halloween all year long for him, Daryl noted.

Upon arrival at Grandma A’s comfortable home with the pipe organ and the chickens in the backyard…there was a door erected in the front yard just before you climbed the steps to her high front porch. The door was festooned with cutouts of turkeys, pilgrims, and Indians and their sitting down to enjoy the first Thanksgiving dinner together. The Door was elaborately carved and appeared ancient.

‘It appears that we must walk through the open majestic door in the front yard to ascend the steps to Grandma A’s,’ Chet remarked. ‘I wonder who placed it here…it is a Door with a purpose,’ Chet continued.

‘The Door looks just like one that I saw at Plymouth when we went on holiday there this summer,’ Jane said with some wonder in her voice.

‘Greetings I am William Bradford…please allow me to introduce you to my friend Squanto.’ ‘Where is Massasoit he must meet you kind folk,’ William continued.

‘My goodness where am I, Jane said as she rubbed her eyes? ‘I was just speaking with Massasoit and Squanto and William Bradford… ninety Indians were sitting at a table with the pilgrims and enjoying a hearty Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma A’s!

Suddenly Squanto entered the classroom where Jane Chet Billy B and Daryl were and he said,’ Pass the turkey, please…and some more maze…

So I went to church today. I don’t write or speak of my faith as often as I did in the past. Although I’ve been believing in that ancient carpenter …

So I went to church today. I …

We had a delightful visit with our niece Paige last night in celebration of her birthday! It was a wonderful time because Paige is a delightful person. She brightens any room that she is in. When I see Paige I see her wonderful mother, Tara. She cares about others and can project that care simply through her lovely smile. Paige was with us in Maine in 2022 and her laugh and positive attitude made my trip! I remember her laughing at my telling of a great waiter at Taste Of Maine who often described the offerings at the restaurant with the expression of ‘Yum!’

Happiness is often found in the eyes of others who spend time with us listen to our stories and cares and never seem bored. Really our time is the only thing of substance that we can give. When we are alone at times we feel a bit lonely. When someone wants to know us and give of their most precious commodity…time…we are renewed and refreshed and rejuvenated.

I ponder the meaning of possessions. We work our entire life to acquire them only to say goodbye to them at our passing. I was watching a person on a detective show on Acorn TV the other night who commented to his colleague that when his father died he set about going through his possessions and found that most of what his Dad had…was junk. Now I am certain that his Dad’s possessions did not seem like junk to him…but his son had difficulty in discovering the meaning of a life of collection of significant things to the soul of his father. Indeed we see our world through our own kaleidoscope. Events that touch our hearts and stir our brains cause us to search for a physical manifestation of the spiritual event.

Recently we changed televisions and therefore TV stands. Housed in the old gargantuan Entertainment Center were years of collections of stuff that had significant emotional appeal to us at the time of their purchase. A very much pared-down amount of the precious stuff went to the new TV stand and the rest went to the utility room…probably for the boys to go through at our demise.

Thanksgiving is almost here. Today I was in my usual spot…the Woods when I noticed quite a bit of dung on the ground. Now I am not an expert but after some time exploring I can determine certain manure and this was horse. Not long after there came a line of horses with their riders attached. I moved off of the path and the procession stopped and stared at me for a moment…then proceeded. The lead person of the horse line asked that I speak to each one that went by for them to individually determine that I was a human. Thus I assumed that I was a Horse Whisperer. As I greeted each horse with a Hello…Hello…they nodded and the riders smiled or laughed a little. I told one of the proud animals that they need not worry as I was just an old man in the woods…whereby the horse stopped dead in his tracks released more manure and then proceeded.

Animals intrigue me. They have their own analytical systems culture and language. They are many steps ahead of us humans in a multitude of ways. We wonder what our mission in life is while the animal kingdom is settled on that question and happy with the answer. We hope for more gold for our watch fobs and diamonds for our fingers while the horses I saw this morning were happy for a Horse Hello and a moment to study the curious Old Man in the Woods.

Two weeks from now I will be seeking Santa Claus. Santa has continually been a presence in my life since he visited my home on West Street in Eldorado many years ago. There he was looking like a benevolent giant standing at my front door. Neva J greeted him as if he were an old friend. When he asked me what I wanted for Christmas I was speechless. I was akin to Ralphie in the Movie A Christmas Story when he finally got the opportunity to tell Santa all about it. At times it is a long journey from the words that are in our heart to our tongue.

Black Friday meant a trip to St. Louis to see the Christmas Bears at Famous Barr’s Signature Store. They were frolicking and building gingerbread houses. They were trimming the Christmas Tree and wrapping Christmas gifts. Joyous Noel was in the air. They were animatronic and they were wonderful!

MJ baby Aaron and I traveled to the DuQuoin Walmart to purchase Aaron’s first Christmas Tree. The holiday possibilities were endless. We bought a big one and it looked real and we put Victorian Ornaments on it…that were made out of pressboard and were magnificent. We saw handmade Nativity Scenes in the Mall and thus traveled to the kind lady’s home who made the wonderous creations and purchased one. It was $100 and worth every penny…we still have it.

St. Charles, Missouri this year for Black Friday. Tiny Tim Mr. Scrooge and Santas from all over the world and history will be present along with roasted chestnuts Christmas Carloers and even a marching band.