At the Too Many Pillows Café...

... something, someone... is out of reach.

Fire dog lake.

Meade walks the dog to the end of Picnic Point, the Lake Mendota peninsula, where he builds a fire for the people who happen to choose this route for their Christmas day walk.

I was in Texas, with my sons and my ex-husband... and peacocks....



... and from 1200 miles away...



... feeling the warmth of my beautiful brown-eyed love...

me, this picture, yahoo mail, common core, facebook, my car, the saints, gluten, netflix, my dog.

10 efforts by Google to complete the search "What's wrong with...?"

"I’m sure there are hundreds (thousands?) of people right now trying to figure out if they can visit Cuba before the inevitable surge of change."

"Miss seeing the crumbling buildings? The fifties-era cars? The Castro government propaganda?"

I’ve never understood these sentiments. I find them to be so tone-deaf, like this place that has shaped my entire existence is just a type of disaster tourism, a fun stop on a political nostalgia to-do list. They’re sentiments that gloss over and negate all the suffering and loss that has shaped what Cuba is today.

"I've recently celebrated my 19th birthday and after a lot of thought, I've decided it's time to tell everyone."

"I used to hide it but after a lot of encouragement from my friends at university, I've gained the confidence to come out with it."

Christmas, alone and together.

Merry Christmas, everyone. It's pre-dawn here in Austin, Texas, and I'm in the hotel alone. Meade is back home in Madison, muddling through somehow. I'll be celebrating with my 2 sons (and their father) later in the morning, but for now, it's quiet time. Maybe it's quiet for you too, or maybe you're in some delightfully rambunctious stage of the day, with children clamoring for Christmas action.

"Caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly within."

The photograph is part of one of the many murals of Austin, Texas, where I'm hanging out with some dear family members on Christmas Eve. The post title is a line from an old Donovan song. The mural is right outside a café — one of the many cafés of Austin, Texas — and inside one of the topics of conversation was song lines that we like (and why do we like what we like when we like a song line?).

"First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is."

I put that on my list of song lines I like.

Love is the answer.

A mural in Austin.

(Talk about anything in the comments. This is a "café" post. And if you're shopping — not too late for gift cards! — please use The Althouse Amazon Portal.)

"The FDA must commit to building a bigger, safer blood supply through risk-based screening & have courage to set policies based on science."

Tweets Elizabeth Warren.

Race and the V-neck sweater.

I'm in Austin (Texas) shopping, and the young, white saleslady wants to help me. I'm looking for sweaters for 2 young men, men in their early 30s. I'm not seeing anything I like at all. Everything looks oversized and boxy. She pulls one out that she thinks might be suitable, but then says in a somewhat apologetic tone: "It has a V-neck."

ME: Is there something wrong with V-neck sweaters? People have some kind of problem with V-necks? What's that about?

SHE: Well, my husband doesn't like them. But he's black.

ME (resisting the urge to say "Black people don't like V-neck sweaters?"): V-neck sweaters... are... square?

"The video was taken from a distance but the episode did not appear to turn confrontational until one of the men turned away, reached down and then turned back to face the officer, appearing to point his arm straight out."

The police say there was a gun in that hand, aimed at the officer, who shot the man dead. That part is not in the video.

“The Berkeley police officer exited his vehicle and approached the subjects when one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer,” the county police department, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement. “Fearing for his life, the Berkeley officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him. The second subject fled the scene.”

This happened in a place called Berkeley, near Ferguson, Missouri.

Christmas agave.

Seen today, in Austin.

"The World Is Not Falling Apart."

"Never mind the headlines. We’ve never lived in such peaceful times."

At the Christmas shopping café...

... you can talk about whatever you want, but I've got a confession: I haven't done any of my shopping yet! If you need to shop on line, by the way, please use The Althouse Amazon Portal. I'm doing some in-the-flesh shopping myself, from my remote outpost in the south, where I've arrived at the end of a 2-day, 1200-mile drive. Did you notice? Meade is guarding the northern outpost.

"The Senate basically didn’t do squat for years.""

Says Mitch McConnell.

"It is a war on cops..."

Says Bernie Kerik.