Twenty-second or perhaps

the thirty-second sound of the season...

and this round of applause for a just-missed
(based strictly on the view, Viewer Dear) sound of the season!

...........
Then there was this sound of the season, as well.  It was so brief, I failed to catch it. 

First Sounds

of the season!

Listener Dear, I took this video clip a week ago (three days past Thanksgiving Day), when dining out with friends. To our surprise, into the restaurant popped these singers from the local opera house.
They sang two carols, and left as suddenly as they'd arrived!


..................

Oh, my!

Dressed up in its finery, this Douglas fir feels very good about itself.

Ask me how I know.

Or, well, Viewer Dear, I'm just going to tell you.

Today we had a beautiful, late autumn afternoon. The Yard Man was once again trotting his horses to and fro at the tree farm.  But I was having a fine time stringing lights and hanging a whole assortment of historical, fancy do-dads upon that Douglas fir.

"I love this part of the process!" I told the tree.
"Some of these ornaments with which I'm gracing your boughs go all the way back to Creation!"*

Every time I opened another dusty box of decorative items, I would exclaim over them, letting the tree know how stunning it was going to look once I'd got them pinned on!

And, wouldn't you know, late afternoon, just about the time my exultations were beginning to be a bit strained, I finished dressing that tree and stepped back for a look.

Reader Dear, that tree was absolutely glowing!
..............................

*I had to confess that it was only back to the time when I was the Creator.  Those empty  English walnut shells, with a hand-fashioned wire hook, glued together and spray-painted silver  were painstakingly formed when I was a child.

It Was so Early in the Season

when The Yard Man hauled that Douglas Fir tree home and we sat it in a bucket of water on the porch.  It was already dying, you know, and I hoped that the outside cold air might extend its green life at least until the tree has served its life purpose.

There it sat for a week, until yesterday.  I mustered up my courage, did the annual trek to the attic to scrounge around for all the paraphernalia, and supervised the anchoring of the tree into the stand (Only Son happened to stop by, oh, so providentially.  He assisted with the top-level job of Vertical Verifiability [no easy chore, Reader Dear, when the trunk has got twists and turns of which the supervisor was previously unaware)] And, speaking of twists and turns,  the tree has been subjected to quite a few as I aim to put its best face forward [Its got more flaws than formerly found at the farm!])

So, now you see it, Viewer Dear,
The naked Douglas Fir, awaiting its destiny.
.........................................................

Christmas Wishing

at the local Costco:

....