holiday greetings – Science Fiction Worlds of Jeffrey A. Carver

7 Jan 2024

Happy New Year?

posted in: holiday greetings, home improvements, personal news | 4

Covid. That’s how we started 2024. Allysen has it; most of the family has it. Jayce and I are the only two left standing, still testing negative—and feeling okay, if you don’t count the queasies from overeating over the holidays. No one is enjoying their virus, but also no one got deathly ill, and all are getting better. Jayce and I are grateful for the updated vaccine that may have helped protect us. Allysen is really annoyed to have lost her status as never having gotten Covid.

That’s not the best intro to a new year, so let’s start over.

Happy Three Kings Day, everyone!

Also, work has begun on building the new porch.

24 Dec 2023

Merry Christmas 2023!

posted in: holiday greetings | 1

I’m sending Kevin a day into the future to deliver these greetings early.

Kevin/Santa and all of us at the Carver Star Rigger Ranch wish all of you the very best Christmas and greetings of the season. Blessings, everyone! Grab a mug and stay toasty by the fire.

9 Apr 2023

Happy Easter!

posted in: holiday greetings, personal news | 2

Happy Easter greetings to all of my friends and family! I hope you are gathered with people you love. And to my Jewish friends, belated wishes for a blessed Passover. And to those of you who are of neither persuasion, enjoy a gorgeous spring day! (Or autumn, depending on where on this big ball of wax you live.)

Allysen just set these roses out in our house.

25 Dec 2021

Merry Christmas, 2021!

posted in: animal friends, holiday greetings | 1

Wishing all of you the happiest of Christmases! It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? Time for some quiet contemplation and good cheer, whether you celebrate the birth of Jesus as we do, or simply a good time to gather with people you love. Wishing blessings on all of you! Here’s our simple hearth for this year. Make me feel warm just to sit in front of it.

By the way, thanks to all who have asked: Captain Jack is doing great, following the surgery on his jaw. He looks a little funny, but his energy and personality are back full strength!

5 Jul 2021

Happy Fourth of July!

posted in: birthdays, holiday greetings | 0

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July, which in the U.S. is the celebration of the birth of our nation! Let’s celebrate it by keeping our democracy alive and healthy! That’s what I want for America’s birthday! I want truth to prevail. I want all citizens to have an equal right to vote and to obtain justice. I want—well, so many things—but let’s go with this: I want us to work together to fix global climate change, and not keep watching heat waves and wild fires and hurricanes get worse, year after year. Man, if we could just do those things together, it would be a fantastic birthday for America!

Happy Birthday, nation I love!

(We celebrated from down south in Puerto Rico, courtesy of the internet, by watching the Boston Pops live at Tanglewood. Here’s Mavis Staples, photo by Christiana Botic for the Boston Globe.)

31 Dec 2020

2020 Screeches to a Close

posted in: holiday greetings, public affairs | 1

A year ago, I posted that I fervently hoped 2020 would be a better year than 2019, which had been personally difficult. That, um, didn’t happen. At least not to the world and the nation. I’m not going to make that mistake again. In fact, I’m not even going to reflect on the obvious about 2020, as we head out to wherever the future takes us. I think I’d rather close with dancing robots and Christmas tree-eating goats.

The latest video from Boston Dynamics. I leave it to the viewer to decide whether it’s enchanting or terrifying. I find it a little of both.

And here, from the Boston Globe, the latest in Christmas tree recycling…

BTW, I’m saving my real New Year celebration for January 20, when an actual president is sworn into the White House and a dangerous and incompetent fascist is shown the door, ending at least part of the nightmare. That’s when the new year starts for me.

25 Dec 2020

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

posted in: holiday greetings | 3

More cookies and eggnog, please sir…

17 Dec 2020

Real December Finally Here

posted in: holiday greetings, personal news, weather events | 5

We’re getting our first real snowstorm of the year, as I write this. We’re deep into the night right now, and it looks like maybe 4-6 inches have fallen so far. Maybe it’s time for this year’s pictures of our Christmas trees. Here’s the one in front of the house. You can’t really see it from this angle, but I cut off so many branches close to the house (squirrel on-ramps, they were) that from a profile it almost looks like a bas-relief of a pine tree. Still, it works!

That strange purple aura isn’t visible to the naked eye. At first I thought it was an artifact of my camera, but now I’m thinking—maybe, just maybe—it’s dark matter. Or maybe dark energy, hard to be sure.

And here’s our indoor tree, a little different this year. We didn’t go out and get a tree. Or rather, we did but we just went to the back yard and brought in a branch I’d pruned off the big oak tree. With fire in the, er, fireplace.

Happy ChristmaHanuKwanStice, everyone!

31 Oct 2020

Trick or Treat!

posted in: holiday greetings, weather events | 1

So this is how October chooses to leave us, eh? I was expecting a dusting of snow—not four inches! All these trees on the bike path still have most of their leaves, so they really sagged under the weight of the snow. I had to bend low to pass through the bower. (Captain Jack and McDuff didn’t.)

Happy Masked, Socially Distanced Halloween!

4 Jul 2020

Make America Smart Again!

posted in: holiday greetings, wishful dreams | 3

That’s my Independence Day wish for 2020. Let’s restore sanity and civility to our great but struggling nation. Let’s wear masks and beat the virus before it beats us. Let’s root out racism. Let’s treat our friends like friends, and the Earth like it’s our home. Let’s stop cozying up to dictators and destroying families at our borders. Let’s end the national nightmare and Stop Being Stupid.

I wish I could distribute a million hats emblazoned with “Make America Smart Again.” And on the back it would say, “Make America Compassionate Again.”

In no particular order, here are just a few smart, compassionate Americans I wish were still with us:

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