December on the Bench

Here is a lost posting, I found in my files.  It was written on December 19th.

December on the Bench

The Pondit is alive!  It is almost noon on a sunny but brisk December afternoon.  The breeze is coming in from the west –- unfortunately that means it is blowing into my face – and the keyboard of my MacBook Pro is more than a tad chilly.  The sound of The Doors singing “LA Woma”n is the only thing besides my fleece jacket that is keeping me warm.  Tomorrow the Christmas tree is purchased, erected and decorated with the help of family and friends. Although it might appear that The Pondit is hunkering down for a frigid New York winter; that is far from his reality.  On January 9^th The Pondit and his beautiful bride board the AutoTrain outside of our nation’s capitol and head on down to warm and sunny Naples, Florida to spend four months on the Gulf of Mexico making sand castles instead of snowmen.  Although I am a firm believer in global warming and even the controversial and yet to be proven theory of evolution, waiting for tropical winters in Westchester New York is out of my frame of reference.  I will finish The Briefcase drinking rum and cokes and gazing northward toward Sanibel Island on our lanai in Naples.  How appropriate, The Doors have morphed into Sailing sung by my brother, Russell, on my iPhone.

I have to confess that I always thought escaping to Florida was for the weak of heart and that real New Yorkers enjoyed the challenges of winter weather.  Well I was living a delusion!  How did I equate ice fishing with surf casting, snowshoeing with winter golf, sidewalk dining with soup and hot chocolate aimed at warming my insides. Wearing silk underwear instead of Tommy Bahama shirts and flip flops?  What was I thinking!  I will attempt to maintain my dignity this winter.  I will avoid the temptation of the early bird special and refrain from joining a game of Florida “lob” tennis.  There will be no pink flamingos on the lanai.  I will drive at or over the speed limit and limit Kmart visits to no more than once a week.  I will not purchase and wear wrap around sun glasses and will continue doing the NYT daily crossword puzzle instead of the daily word search game in the local Naples paper. If available, I will support the Occupy Naples Movement when and if it ever comes to be.

It is too cold to write more.