Saturday, December 7, 2013

Unsuited for the job.





Eleven months old. The PON duo celebrate with half an hours freestyle digging. Of the forty new roses that went in two weeks ago thirty four survive. The others have been shredded. In the evening Bob eats Sophie's favourite soft toy. He deftly removes the stuffing and squeakers then swallows the rest. We are waiting anxiously for its reappearance. 

The mechanical Santa in the supermarket lobby has broken down. The tableau frozen at a point where a small bear is launching itself into the saintly figures beard.  Management, determined to maintain the festive spirit, have arranged for a real Santa to replace the mechanical one. The replacement,  a thin, morose man, sits quietly talking to himself. Mothers take one look at this alarming figure and hurry by.

There is a singer in this cheerful little video that reminds me of those beatific pictures of Jesus you used to find in children's Bibles fifty or so years ago. Is the city behind LA or Las Vegas ?




17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jesus with a grey beanie hat and an earring ? Must have been a very trendy branch of the Church of Scotland . Joy and Toby xxxxxx

Anonymous said...

49 seconds. I nearly choked on my cornflakes :) Jean.

VirginiaC said...

Thirty four out of forty isn't too bad....with this ratio I could calculate the probability of losing more rose bushes, but I won't bother....I'm hoping Bob and Sophie won't thrash any more bushes for your sake.
Loved the video...I always enjoy their music......had no idea they had a Christmas album out.
The "Jesus " looking singer in the gray beanie hat is cute.

Anonymous said...

I thought that was very nice. But the wry smile the young lady kept breaking into was....unsettling.
Have a lovely day.
x

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

Hello Angus! As you know, its not been the best of weeks for me, but catching up on your blog has provided a much needed lift--No question your posts have a much warmer feeling than the Chateau Gloom! There are so many things I'd love to say about what I missed this week, but will just say that I happened to see in the comments on the video that it's filmed in LA, near Will Rogers park.

And obviously the Santa didn't attend the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus school in Michigan or anywhere else, or if he did, maybe he dropped out! :-)

Angus said...

Must admit I thought her smile was rather charmingly wistful.

ScrapsofMe said...

Have you tried putting coffee grounds that have been mixed with bitter orange oil on top of the soil ? I would suggest a liberal coating of red pepper flakes, but the dynamic digging duo might think red pepper is just yummy seasoning.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Hmmm. He is quite thin, isn't he.
Sort of a Tim Burton quality to the entire display.
xo

Angus said...

Thanks. I'll try the coffee ground and bitter orange . The demon duo might find them tame after the excitement of thorny rose bushes !

Anonymous said...

That IS one sorry Santa. He would probably break if you tried to get the pups on his lap for a photo! It is hard to believe they are 11 months old, when Kelly misbehaved at that age I kept thinking she was going to "turn the corner" the next day and things would get calmer around our house!

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

That's not the old farmer playing Santa, is it??

XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

JacksDad said...

I'm pretty sure it's Los Angeles. That's where the director is based.

houndstooth said...

Pentatonix was on The Sing Off and they're really good! They are from Texas, so it could be there. I'm pretty sure it's not Las Vegas in the background, but it could be LA.

Louise said...

The Jesus singer does seem to gaze adoringly upwardan great deal!

When our daughter was fifteen I jokingly asked her if she wanteda photo taken on Santa's lap. I didn't expect her to say yes but I also didn't expect her to look horrified and express her concerns that all Santa's are perverts! I told her not to be silly and besides, I am sure they have to undergo background checks. She replied that background checks are onlygood at weedingout perverts who have been caught! Such cynicism!

rottrover said...

It's too green for Las Vegas. It could be LA but the skyline looks off.

Katherine said...

Vegas is flat, looks lije the hills of LA but as rottrover says the skyline doesn't seem right. I thought they were a lovely group...love a capella! Take 6 are a favorite.

Kari said...

Not Las Vegas, certainly and the skyline looks too "gappy" for LA. Could be Fort Worth.
The way the gent with the Jesus look
kept rolling his eyes skyward made
me think of this plastic pictures of the
deity they sell in Tijuana. The ones
where, depending how you look at
them, Jesus' eyes either look at you
or look toward heaven. Somewhat
disconcerting.