The h2g2 Post 09.12.24

Created 2 Weeks Ago | Updated 4 Days Ago

A crest bearing the legend The H2G2 Post

Posted: 9^th December 2024

This week's title is Seasons. Clockwise from upper left: An Austrian sunrise (orange), a black cat blocking the path in the snow to four ducks he's having an argument with (the ducks are arguing back), a tree with orange leaves blazing in the setting sun, as seen through a screened window, a line of ducks swimming in a lake, a double rainbow, an Austrian sunset (yellow), two comb graves in Tennessee (slabs placed to build a triangular roof over the grave), a partially melted snow sculpture of a person with clasped hands, and a blue pool of water at high tide in Tain, Scotland.

Only a few weeks ago, everybody in the northern hemisphere who wasn't complaining about hurricanes and flooding was remarking on the lingering warmth of the late autumn. You've seen the photos of unseasonably, but fashionably late blooms this year. Now winter has arrived with a crash. There is actual snow. There are attendant annoyances, like cold and the need to buy salt, and delights, like SashaQ's snowperson and the little kids your editor spied out the window, but did not photograph. They were hiding behind our back wall with snowballs in their mittened hands, giggling and waiting for a grownup friend to pass by. Snow is a mixed blessing.

It can also lead to fascinating dramas, as you will see from our first offering. It's a video from another year, starring Bruce Wayne the black cat in a feud with the Hoggett ducks. The snow was deep that year, which caused congestion on the paths the farmer folk cleared. Watch Bruce show the ducks just who has the right-of-way around here.

We have more of this Stuff. Views of fall and winter around the planet. Awe-inspiring and amusing by turns. Take it all in.

Come for the pics, stay for the literature. Bluebottle has not one, but two comics for you. You'll enjoy them. We also have a comic blast-from-the-past, courtesy of that genius who invented Popeye. EC Segar would definitely have been a Hitchhiker.

We have poetry, too. And prose fiction. FWR has a couple of spooky tales for you. I have one from the past, and it's based on a true story, and its paranormal in the matter-of-fact way of my ancestral mountains. Paulh shares some Christmas memories, and Caiman Raptor Elk shows you how to make a homemade holiday gift. In case the authors of those last two pieces are surprised: I rescued them from the cyberattack from a couple of years ago. Ransomware, my aunt Fanny.

The cinema column is scandalous this week. Unable to get out, Awix has been bingeing on those Christmas romance movies. He'll tell you more than you ever wanted to know about that anatomically correct snowman. Don't miss it.

Other features and gems can be found scattered here and there. Please peruse at your leisure. Leave comments. Share. And have a fine week. Remember to take breaks. Don't let the season become too frenetic: stop and enjoy the snow.

Dmitri Gheorgheni