130 am, time to go to bed, but i sit here, what's left of christmas lights casting a glow on me as i type. the picture below, six yokels on a couch, disappeared on me one day when i was down in my blog working on the template. another magically appeared in its place and sat there for about a week. tonight when i warned my son-in-law about it, poof! six-yokels-on-a-couch came back! from where, i have no idea. that couch picture had gone the way of dorothy's house, best i could figure. in the sixth dimension, where mismatched socks and cvs coupons go.

walked in to water over-parched plants. life is tough for them; i'm way out of the office. only the strongest survive. coming back, the sky opened out in stars; town is so empty, so few lights, so many stars. a clear, cold night, nothing unusual actually, orion rules, in this territory, he's all over that sky; he takes 'em all.

going to okawville in the morning; looking forward to it. there's an old mineral spa bath there. it's about an hour away, as far as we'll get this break.

so what about kwanzaa? here it is, fifth day almost, and i've but let out a single "habari gani," though i did hear it in a song; nor have i demanded the correct answer, which would be nia in the case of this day upcoming. purpose; creativity, self-determination, i'm all for those. i don't mind that it has a marxist sound to it, a pan-african marxism that ruined miriam makeba, separated her from her people. so christmas has a stench of commercialism to it too, (in fact in these days of global depression, american speculator-stock-derivative theives stole billions, maybe a little marxism would have made a difference)- and i still light the way. i think that's what's important. you have to take stock, once a year, ask yourself, what of the spirit of africa, or of anything, am i giving to the children. what am i actually doing. it's not because he's black, or because they're christian, or because they must be given proper values, all of which are important. it's because they're children, because they're looking to us. because they need a culture, and we have access to lots of those. we can choose which ones to pass along. and if we drop the ball, the movies will do it for us.

so i'm in. i'm 'a start with music, which i know, and geography, and maybe food, which is always good. i'm a let go of those candles for the moment, which are like hannukah, only different colors. but swahili is ok; african music, i already love. do what i can, see where it goes. one of these days, maybe i'll make it to africa, take whichever ones want to go, white or black, or other, and then, upon my return, i'll know what i'm talking about here. in the meantime, habari gani? (what's happening?) (repeat after me) nia...