The Royce Files

Happy Christmas No pickles on this tree- at least I did not find any. But there were oranges- clementines to be exact. They were not on the tree buy beneath it. It is actual a tradition Grandma Marlys has kept up from her youth. It recalls the gift of an orange she would receive each Christmas. I think she would also get a tin cup.

A  Charlie Brown Christmas espouses that dilemma which many of us may find ourselves in at Christmas time. Exasperated by the holiday and the wacko views of it (ie. Run by a big eastern syndicate.) he blurts out: Isn't there anyone who understands what Christmas is all about? To which Linus recites the ancient narrative. And, yes that is what Christmas is all about. Everything else is just an extension. Although some extensions have traversed well off the main narrative. I have no clue where to place the Elf on a Shelf story that has become so popular. And the pickle Christmas ornament thing is a bit off the wall. Anyway, here is the narrative pieced together from the Bible.

Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving may have failed to plumb the depths of the Great Turkey mythos. Schultz opted to explore the possibilities of how a dog would go about hosting the feast. Popcorn, jelly beans, and toast make for a less than memorable meal. The special is mostly forgettable except for Snoopy's antics preparing for the dinner.

The great turkey trotter To explain Thanksgiving to someone alien to the American (and Canadian) custom can be a bit odd since the holiday is most noted by the food. "We go to relatives and eat turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, and cranberries." "Ah....why turkey? Would not prime rib be an ideal entree?" "Turkeys are American." "So are hot dogs." "We eat those on July 4th." Menu is not prescribed for the holiday and turkey just became the de facto menu item. Although some may contend that turkey was consumed at the 1st American Thanksgiving in 1621 and so why buck the trend. I heard they also served lobster and oysters in 1621- but nobody is probably serving that to the family this Thursday. And of course we do not race turkeys. With so many early Thanksgiving morning "turkey trot" races out there somebody must believe Americans race the birds they on Thanksgiving. But I sort of like the idea. It would be kinda like ...

It being Model Railroad Month , I should write about this interest of mine. It was only in the last two years that I have come to revisit this hobby from my past. As a child I got into model railroading with an HO train set I got for Christmas. It was a special Campbell's Soup edition set made by Life-Like. Eventually a train table was built, more track, switches, and a city load of buildings were acquired. I still own it, but it has not been run for years. It was sort of an incomplete set up. I was never any good at scenic. I just liked to run the trains. I digress. A few years ago I decided to revisit the model train hobby but this time in O scale. Which now brings us to this entry about the Granite City Train Show . Out in the Go there is very little to choose from for model railroading supplies. There is one shop that carries a bit of train stuff. There used to be another but it closed up about a decade ago. I actually attend church in one of the shop's previous loc...

A former room-mate of mine was from Proctor. He was a cross country ski champion. And there was another guy from Proctor, Garry Bjorklund , who was pretty good runner- he broke high school records and was named an All-American numerous times. He also competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal in the 10000 meters. In Proctor I found no monument to my room mate or Garry. Instead I found a giant of a monument at the top of the hill- a Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Yellowstone class locomotive .

The DMIR once served Duluth and the region Actually there are more than 2 railroads operating in Duluth and Superior. At one time there were 11. But that is entirely different topic. Just next to I 35 sits the Lake Superior Railroad Museum This post is going to focus on the 2 passenger railroads in Duluth. Yes, there are 2. Most know the North Shore Scenic Railroad that has its headquarters at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum .Their operation is top notch and features numerous excursions throughout the year. Last year I rode a Pizza Train. It was a very memorable excursion up the North Shore from Duluth to a little bit past the French River. It of course included pizza and an onboard music performance. We sat in an old Northern Pacific coach and then sat in a double decker Chicago Northwestern commuter car. GE 50T Industrial Switcher as seen from safari car Perhaps the lesser known of the passenger railroads is the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad but that is...