Steve Saylor’s Neighborhood

There are two kinds of people who will have read the above title. One kind of person now has a question mark floating over his/her head and is wondering what in the world I've been drinking. The other kind is laughing out loud, having recognized the line.

Long ago, there was a great comic strip calle "Pogo". Its characters were animals who lived in the Okeefenokee Swamp. It was one of the first strips to be directed more at adults than at children; sometimes it was outright political. Mostly, though, it was funny.

Being animals, and swamp dwellers at that, they could be forgiven if their spoken English was a little... different. It was one of the funniest parts of the strip. At Christmas they sang their own version of "Deck the Halls" which became the stuff of lore.

My family always sang the Pogo version of "Deck the Halls" at least once every year, and even now I can't help but hear it that way in my head. And so, I give you "Deck Us All". It is to be sung with great gusto -- being enthusiastic is more important than staying on key!

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla-walla, Wash, and Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezing on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower, alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel,
Lullaby lilla boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molley don't love Harold;
Boola booa, Pensacoola, alley-garoo!

There's more -- you can see the rest of the verses here. Leavn it, and then, the next time you hear "Deck the Halls" on the Muzak, break into song with this version and see who might join in. You might be surprised! Or you might just be embarrassed. What the hey, it's Christmas!

Watch this stunningly beautiful, breath-taking vision of Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica animated by Lena Gieseke.

I'm a trivia nut. Love it, all of it, but with a soft spot for pop culture trivia. No telling what wonderful things might fill my head if that space weren't already occupied by knowledge of things like how Winona Ryder was named for the town where she was born in Minnesota, or how the wedding of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore that was performed by Little Richard was actually the second ceremony, for family and friends, since their "official wedding" was a small one in Las Vegas.

I realized earlier this morning that I had not refreshed my 2009 Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture calendar since July (!!). In doing so, I found a few questions I thought I'd post here. The answers are right after the questions BUT they're in white so you'll have to highlight them to see them (for those who may want to ponder a given question before seeing the answer).

• What actor's many death scenes include ones in Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Shadow of the Vampire, and Spiderman? Willem Dafoe
• Who declined the lead in a John Hughes Brat Pack movie to play three scenes as a blind girl in Mask? Laura Dern
• What 14-year-old from Napanee, Ontario, got to belt out a duet withi Shania Twain after winning a radio contest? Avril Lavigne
• What NBC newswoman wrote of her battle with bipolar disorder in Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue? (Extra credit: What cartoonist is she married to?)  Jane Pauley (Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury)
• What was the very first letter Vanna White ever turned on a Wheel of Fortune puzzle? T
• Before he landed the role of Otter in Animal House, what cartoon character did Tim Matheson voice? Johnny Quest
• What appliance did the government of Kenya give each of its 2004 Olympic bronze medalists? A washing machine
• What Fortune 500 company was named for a Herman Melville character? (Extra credit: When that book was made into a movie, who played the antagonist?) Starbuck's  (Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab)
• What sport's groupies are known as "Buckle Bunnies"? Rodeo

There were, obviously, a lot more, but you're busy and so am I and this was just for fun. Maybe I'll do some more later.

Happy Wednesday to one and all!

Do you love the scent of a live Christmas tree but don't have the money/space/time/inclination to go the lot (woods), buy it (chop it down), shlep it home, put it up, decorate it, keep the dogs/cats/kids out of it, get up in the middle of the night to make sure it hasn't caught fire, admire it, enjoy one memory-making beautiful morning around it, and then have to dispose of it? I have the answer!

MMMMM...Mistletoe

Yankee Candle's "Mistletoe" scent. Oh my god, you guys, it smells soooo good. Don't pay any attention to the name -- it doesn't smell like mistletoe (does mistletoe even have a smell? if it does, it's not this), but maybe all the tree names were already taken when they hit on this scent which completely nails the smell of Christmas, to me anyway.

Yes, I'm the same person who posted a shrieking diatribe against Yankee Candle a couple of years ago, but that was because of their god-awful customer service and totally inept shipping on something that was only available online. This stuff, this Mistletoe scent, you can just about anywhere that sells Yankee Candle stuff. I got mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

I've used the Mistletoe wax "tarts" and they're sublime. Then I decided to try the plug-in diffuser and it's every bit as good.

If your Christmas memories include the smell of the tree, you really owe it to yourself to try this stuff. I have one plugged in in my office and all day long people have been wandering in with smiles on their faces and just breathing it in. "It smells so good in here!"

I will, however, warn you to avoid the Yankee Candle holiday scent called Siberian Winter or Siberian White -- Siberian Something. It smells like PineSol. Stick with the Mistletoe and you can't go wrong.

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Mere moments after initially posting this:  {{sigh...}} Well, that didn't last long. Someone just came into my office and immediately started coughing and complaining of the "perfume" smell in the room. It's weird because I used it last year and it didn't bother her but oh well. They're big on "no 'offensive' smells" around here and it only takes one person to decree something "offensive". So the nice smell is gone and my lower lip is out. (I'm so mature.)

Serves as my reminder to choose fear's opposite

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

“This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.”