Mark’s Musings – December 21, 2016

Mark Fortune

The weather seems to be about as crazy as the never ending political drama. Funny, I thought the election was over and decided. Now we are hearing that the Russians may have been meddling in our election – which would be like trying to prevent the French from producing vodka. That didn’t work so well. And yes, that is the best analogy I can come up with. My brain is sluggish and foggy with Christmas cookie sugar and sprinkles. The Christmas tree is my favorite. There is just something about that green icing that makes me all tingly inside.

What happened to our five inches of snow? It went north, that’s what. Too bad it didn’t snow enough to cancel the Browns versus Bengals game. That would have been the merciful thing to do. Just so you don’t have to spend any of your precious time (especially during the holidays) looking this up – I will go ahead and tell you now – there have been four winless teams in the NFL since 1960 – starting with the 1960 Dallas Cowboys. Yes, the Cowboys. Next on the list are the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 1982 Baltimore Colts and the 2008 Detroit Lions. I had originally typed the Baltimore Ravens in place of the lions – wishful thinking I suppose.

The biggest surprise of the weekend had to be the Giants win over the Cowboys. The Romoless Cowboys have utilized former Ohio State Buckeye star Ezekiel Elliott to the utmost. Rookie of the year? Perhaps. MVP? Maybe. But there are some other players that are shining like a star on top of the Christmas tree this year – Tom Brady, Battista and a few others.

Are you ready for the holidays? Are you close? Doing some of your shopping locally? Whether you purchase a gift certificate from one of our many locally owned businesses, our fine restaurants, a winery or anything else, you are helping Coshocton County. A dollar spent locally is turned over many more times than a dollar spent online or out of the county. Sure, we’ve all heard the same story. “You just can’t buy that here. . . “

Have you tried? You may be – like watching the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy – pleasantly surprised.

I had to look that up just to satisfy my curiosity. The Sugar Plum Fairy is a character in The Nutcracker, which is a two act classical ballet. Of course, most people know that Tchaikovsky wrote the music but the performance did not really take off until Walt Disney used some of the music in his 1940 animated movie, “Fantasia”.  It is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann‘s 1816 fairy tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The Sugar Plum Fairy is only seen in the second act. And to more or less wrap this up like a neat and tidy Christmas package, yes, Tchaikovsky was Russian.

What I like the most about the whole thing is that The Sugar Plum Fairy rules magical Land of Sweets. It doesn’t get much better than that. Except, maybe, perhaps, eggnog!! That’s next week!

Rest in peace former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn. He was a true American hero and a great American patriot. His service to our nation and the world was one of sacrifice and selfless service.

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion