We're thinking of moving to the Bronx because it might be where we can afford to live. We'd like to live in a house rather than a rental or a co-op. It feels ambitious, economically, but perhaps it is possible. Anyone have tales of life in the Bronx? Any unschoolers up there?

Meanwhile, the Christmas music surrounds us, as do the bright red and green lights, "decorations" the Beast shouts, but perhaps she knows not what they are for. Christmas and Solstice and Halloween seem to blur together for her, which is nice, in that the spooky pagan candle-burning feeling of Halloween and Solstice seem to out-shadow the weirdness of Jesus and Santa.

We're hoping to go up to the Old Manse for the solstice to get the wood burning stove up and running for the longest night of the year.

What we do have is a yule wreath that came from Brother Toby at the Starcross Community out in Annapolis, California. It's the third year now that we have a Starcross wreath, and it brings some cheer to the December darkness, though really, December doesn't seem so dark. There are sunny days and walks in the park, crisp and cold, but not so dark. Finally all of the leaves have fallen off Matilda the cherry tree at the top of 39th Place near Queens Boulevard where there's also another new 99 cent store as if the world needed more plastic.

We'll be going to London in January, and we're dreaming of Paris. Not on this trip, but soon, we'll get the Beast over there to have some real hot chocolate.

Meanwhile we were at the Museum of Natural History today where the dinosaurs are already like old friends. I paid particular attention to the duck billed dinosaur mummy today (a terrific sample of dinosaur skin), though we always make the rounds of the Beast's pals: t rex,  apatosaurus, allosaurus (chomping on apatosaurus's tail), triceratops, the ankylosaur family, and corithisaurus. We picked up a brachiosaurus in the gift shop, my new favorite toy.

There were thoughts of getting a solstice kitten for all of us, and especially for Bela who seems lonely these days, and then there was the thought that the Beast would terrorize a kitten. We've been using the line "the cats have to feel safe in their own home," but the Beast has Mars in Aries, and Venus in Aries, and no interest in cat-human love-ins. She gleefully screams "Baaaa!" at the cats and they scatter toward the closet. So, the kitten may have to wait. 

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria has an ongoing display of Muppet trinkets, including some original puppets of kermit and miss piggy and such. And they are showing films throughout the upcoming weekends, so we'll head over there on xmas eve to see some Muppety stuff.

And we'll be back next week with more news of this and that.  Until then, peace out peops.