Marty

So was this the big one? Ephemeral edible: gingerbread monolith appears on San Francisco hilltop, then collapses Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/26/gingerbread-monolith-san-francisco-hilltop-collapses Which makes me think of the lines: "Someone left the cake out in the rain" from the following:

Thanks, bro.

Before I head to bed, as I've just realised we're already on page 2001, and might have gone onto a new page before I get up in the morning, I thought I should drop this here now:

I know it's a complete waste of time but, as it's now coming up to 1:00am here, I'm going to head to bed and try to get some beauty sleep.

I'm think I might be about to choke on my popcorn....

But didn't we have several appear in the last month?

This is reply number 50,000 in this thread. [EDIT] Adding image

I'm keeping my fingers (and everything else) crossed that it all works out for you.

I feel your pain, bro. We've a storm passing over Ireland at the moment, not a serious one, but there's strong winds and been heavy rain for the past six hours or so. I walked into the hallway a while back and found that there is water dripping in above the front door again. Certainty not as bad as it was before the gutter was fixed about 6 or 7 months back, but still enough to at least make me thankful I haven't yet sanded the woodwork above and around the door and re-varnished it, or had the damaged plaster re-done. It was dark when I spotted it, so I'm not sure if it's the gutter again, or the pointing on the concrete plinth above the door that needs attending to. The fact that the drips are coming in on only one side of the door (and not the same side that the gutter had been fixed) make me feel slightly hopeful. I am definitely too old for that sort of work, so will have to ring the builder again on Monday.

Greetings, oh Artful one! Like you, I'm also hoping for a better year to come.

I did not impugn nor disparage your momma's tamales. I expect they'd be the best tamales I'd ever be blessed to eat. I impugned your ability to eat more of them ... slacker. Also, I think a lifetime ban on eating your mom's tamales a bit harsh. Afterall, you can't help it if you only have a itty bitty belly. If you search the internet you can probably find some miracle pill that will make it grow bigger. They have 'em for curin' all sorts of inadequacies. I'm sure you'd perform better next year if just given another chance. *Marty makes some popcorn and sits back to watch the fireworks*

Even heads

And now, we're finally on page..... And even the penguins are celebrating...

1999 was the year I finally found full time employment in Ireland. Employment that would last until I reached retirement age in 2013, and ensured that I would qualify for a full State Pension.

True. After all, we wouldn't want to see penguins falling out of the sky...

Hey, bro!

That's Harry, who (when I'm not just deliberately calling him by one of his brothers' names) I often jokingly misname as Gary, or Larry, or Barry. He finds it great fun, and sometimes reciprocates by calling me Uncle Fartin' (they all just know me as "Uncle Martin"). His dad just laughs when he hears him do that, while his mum tries her best to at least sound upset. They're actually a great bunch of kids, and it warms my heart whenever I see them. I keep telling their mum and dad that they should stop feeding them, as they're growing up far too quickly. * Marty now wanders off to Google what the word corker means in American slang...

Some sisters, ma fée espiègle... But not necessarily all sisters. There's always that one exception that proves the rule.

For @Drew Espinosa and his nine tamales: Original French version:

I'm now home, after a wonderful Christmas dinner with friends. Turkey, ham, and all the trimmings! (I don't think I'll need food for another 24 hours...). Before I left my friend's house my nephew initiated a video chat from his sister's house in England. That lasted around a hour, and it was great to at least chat and to see some of my extended family. My niece has four young children (the youngest members of my extended family), and I really enjoyed chatting to them, even though they were that hyper and noisy that at times I found it difficult to actually understand what they were saying! My sister, whose grandchildren they are, later sent me a photograph of the four of them (all wearing matching "Cosy Crew" tops) that she took after the video chat ended, where they almost look like normal human beings! There's a copy of it in spoiler tags below, but I would request that you delete it from any replies you may make to this post (I shall also be deleting it myself by the end of tomorrow). That video chat really made my Christmas day all that more special this year. It's now 11:00pm, so I'm going to make myself a mug of cocoa and settle down to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol before heading to bed (I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've never seen it before).

Pssst..... @clochette.... Gary doesn't mean you!

And here's my Christmas present to all of you: It's my week 39 offering in my challenge to take one monochrome image each week for 52 weeks, each one taken in either my garden or my house. This one is of some beetroot that I harvested just this morning.

Happy Christmas, all! Here's hoping that Santa brought you what you wanted. (And let's hope that he's not brought what a couple of us might actually deserve ) Enjoy the day, folks!

For the night that's in it... Happy Christmas, everybody!