Quiet Time

(I find it challenging to come up with blips when family members are visiting, as my focus is on time with them, being fully present, rather than "looking" for blips, hence my erratic entries at this time of year.)  

This morning M and I had a stroll on the Taylor Boardwalk in Fairhaven, and with the help of my favorite photographic enhancement, I managed to take a few photos that I thought were Blip possibilities, including this one. In the distance, you can see Lummi Island, as well as Fairhaven Shipyard to the right, and the MV Malaspina, one of the Alaska ferries, on the left. Phil and I toured the Malaspina on Dec. 5, as described in my blip on that day.

Yesterday evening M and I went downtown to the Pickford Film Center to see The Homesman, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank. It sounded quite interesting in the advance publicity, but turned out to be very disappointing, we both felt. What happened to continuity and consistency of story line in today's films?

I'm sure we'll have a much more positive reaction on Sunday afternoon to the last performance this season of "A Christmas Carol" at Seattle's ACT (A Contemporary Theatre). Charles Dickens' timeless novella is as meaningful today as it was when first published in 1843. M and her brother W saw it several times as children--a family tradition--and she and I are looking forward to renewing that tradition, as well as to the pleasure of each other's company in downtown Seattle all day. We'll have brunch at the Seattle Art Museum cafe, see the play, and do some focused shopping before I catch the Bolt Bus back home to Bellingham.
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From A Christmas Carol, spoken by the ghost of Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley, and as valid today as when they were written:
Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!