Decorating the Season

 

Christmas Flamingos
Tequesta, FL
December 12, 2025

Out on my bike, yesterday, I was impressed with the explosion of Christmas decorations since my last trip around the village before Thanksgiving. The day was cool, almost too cool, when I started out, but I soon warmed and began to enjoy the ride. I was happy that I did not feel the effects of two weeks of not riding. 

Repurposed Halloween Decoration
Tequesta, FL
December 12, 2025

Of course, one of my favorite yard decorations was of two flamingos with Santa hats. I have a fondness for flamingo yard decorations.

And then there is the repurposed Halloween decoration that was modified for Thanksgiving and now sports a Christmas decor. They definitely get their use out of it as it has been in the yard since September. 

I think I prefer the less is best policy for Christmas decorations. I don't like the yards where it appears that Christmas puked. There are too many decorations to enjoy and they are placed without a theme in mind. One other observation, I am seeing fewer inflatable decorations here in South Florida than I did in Maryland. I'm not sure why.

The march towards Christmas continues unabated. 12 Days until the Big Day!

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

All I want for Christmas . . .

Christmas Light Adorned Yacht
Tequesta, FL
December 10, 2025

 Christmas music is everywhere. Chris and I listened to a few hours of Christmas music during our drive south earlier this week. It provided something different than the usual assortment of songs and artists to whom we listen.

We tend to listen to two genres of Christmas music: Country and Christian. The pop Christmas songs and the updated renditions are not that interesting for us. 

My least favorite Christmas song continues to be "I'll be Home for Christmas," which elicits an almost immediate channel change. What a depressing song for such a joyous time of year. 

One song that I very much enjoy, because it is only two years old and not played constantly, is "All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan," by Kenny Chesney. I like the sentiment and it makes me smile. 

One verse expresses my white Christmas sentiment:

Well everybody's praying for a Christmas so white,

come to think about it, that'd be alright,

as long as it's sand and not snow on the ground,

and everyday our skin gets a little more brown,

We'll string some lights in a coconut tree,

I'll rub some oil on you, and you can rub some on me..

Pelican on the Piling
Tiki52, Tequesta, FL
December 10, 2025

While we were enjoying dinner at Tiki52 the other evening, I saw Christmas lights adorning a yacht. I had to think, that would be a great Christmas gift, a Christmas light adorned yacht! It was good to be dining outside in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. Back in the land of warm!

What I want for Christmas is one of the toughest questions I am forced to answer. Unlike a good politician, I cannot come up with a redirect or a long-winded way of saying nothing and making the questioner feel like they received a response with which they can work. I am happy and content with few needs or wants. 

I have, however, a very specific answer for the question this year, but I am not going to share it. Those who know me probably understand what that might be and it is not something that can be purchased, wrapped and delivered. But that, really, is my only want for Christmas 2025. 

“The Joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing each other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays.” –W. C. Jones

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Affordability is not a Hoax

Ribeye Steak @ Publix
Tequesta, FL
December 10, 2025

 Affordability is not a hoax! 

Those of us who actually got to stores or online to shop know that prices have climbed and continue climbing. 

I was shocked yesterday when I went to buy some beef at Publix. I was looking at a Ribeye steak. I remember getting those last year for about $8.99/pound. Not today, it was $38.99/pound. Ugh! Did I move to Japan? I hope the meat rots in the case.

And then there is coffee! I used to get a 3 lb can at Costco for $13.00. Last time I bought one there it was $21.00. 

Even wine is bloating in price. I used to buy a Lohr Cab Sav for $11.99/750 ml bottle. Now I am seeing it for $18.99. And Whispering Angel has soared from $18.99/750 ml bottle to over $25/btl the last time I was in the store. 

And that is just food. I'm reading about higher energy costs, except for gas which I got at $2.39/gallon on Monday morning in Brunswick, Georgia. On the health front, Medicare rates for next year will increase more than inflation. 

The problem affordability problem goes right back to energy costs and tariffs. That applies for products grown or made in the US as well as imports. Consider, very little is grown or made in the US without some foreign influence on the raw materials, the machinery, or the technology.

Wait, and then I read about a $12 bn bailout for the farmers. Then, there is talk about a $2,000 payout to consumers to offset the tariff pain. That is way more than the tariffs will collect. Who is doing the math in the White House? Just drop the tariffs and prices will go down, it is fairly simple solution, but apparently someone wants to add even more to the national debt which has already grown by more than $2 trillion since December last year. (Joint Economic Committee)

Forbes in an article titled 20 SIGNS THERE'S AN AFFORDABILITY CRISIS IN AMERICA, listed areas where affordability is indeed the problem. I highly recommend clicking the link and reading their analysis.

In addition to tariffs and energy, the affordability problem is exacerbated by the oligarchs who are out of touch with prices and haven't shopped for their necessities in decades. We have too many uber-rich people running the country and thinking things are great because the stock market is climbing.

And don't forget the President who has made billions since starting his second term. There used to be laws to prevent conflicts of interest. Of course he is a happy camper--he is sucking the U.S. dry and completely oblivious to how his policies are affecting the electorate.

Affordability is not a hoax, it is not fake-news, and it cannot be wished away. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Mercer Museum, pt 2

View of the Main Hall
Mercer Museum, Doylestown PA
December 4, 2025

 I wrote about the Doan Gang exhibit at the Mercer Museum which is located in Doylestown, PA, last week. However, focusing on only the Doan Gang exhibit does a disservice to the larger museum. 

Firetruck
Mercer Museum, Doylestown PA
December 4, 2025

The museum is located in a purpose built facility, called the castle, and houses perhaps the most unique collection of authentic, used, and unrestored items from American life in the pre-industrial age. The museum website characterizes it as follows:

The museum complex features local and national traveling exhibits, as well as a core museum collection of over 17,000 pre-Industrial tools. This permanent collection offers visitors a unique window into pre-Industrial America through sixty different crafts and trades, and is one of the world’s most comprehensive portraits of pre-Industrial American material culture. The museum also features a research library that is a center for local history related to Bucks County and the surrounding region, with its roots dating back to the founding of the Bucks County Historical Society in 1880. (Mercer Museum Website)

The museum (castle) is seven stories tall and chock full of more items that can be fully appreciated in a day. In addition to large vehicles, like a horse-drawn firetruck, and whaling boat, each level has rooms dedicated to one aspect of life. These include, for instance, coopering, shoemaking, pottery, fishing, and almost anything that can be imagined. Each of the rooms contains most all of the unique tools necessary to complete the craft. 

We were given a great tip about viewing the collections; start at the top and work down. That worked very well for us. 

Horse-Drawn Log Sled
Mercer Museum, Doylestown PA
December 4, 2025

Which items impressed me most? The Conestoga Wagon, firetruck, whaling boat, gallows, and the incredible diversity and completeness of the collections. Be aware, the displays are in their natural state and have not been restored, but are maintained in the original condition. I was able to actually see the wear on the Conestoga wagon. I did not know that whaling boats were so large, although in retrospect they would have to be given they were harvesting whales. 

This museum is definitely worth the effort to visit and, as I previously wrote, Chris and I are planning a return trip next year. 

Note: Dress for conditions. The exhibit floors are not climate controlled and were cold during our December visit. Individual accessible display rooms may be climate controlled.  

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Cutest Grandson in the World

Beck at Play
Glen Burnie, MD
December 7, 2025

 Chris and I are totally enamored with our youngest grandson, Beck. 

He is so cute and on this, our most recent, trip to Maryland we were blessed by spending a lot of time with Beck. 

Beck is both our 4th grandson and 4th grandchild. It seems we are destined to have only grandsons, but no worry, he is the cutest boy on two feet. Yes, he is standing and taking small steps. 

In short, he makes me smile. 

His parents are fantastic and are eagerly exposing him to new experiences daily. That written, his smile is infectious and his eyes are piercing. 

We could not get enough of him on our most recent trip north and we are looking forward to enjoying more time with him over Christmas. 

Simply stated, he is a force of nature!

I guess the 15 year gap between grandchildren is working in his favor. 

-- Bob Doan, Brunswick, GA

The Road Home

Go DAWGS!
Brunswick, GA
December 8, 2025

 Chris, Finn, and I rolled out of Odenton, MD, at about 4:30 AM this morning and we arrived in Brunswick, GA, about 2:40 PM. It was, all-in-all, a great day of driving. We were not burdened by any accidents or traffic tie-ups. Yay. 

We arrived at our hotel and even though check-in was not until 3 PM, they graciously had a room available for us! Which was good because I was dog tired! 

And, speaking of dogs, we were greeted in the lobby by the Georgia Bulldog! Go DAWGS! Although we are not in Athens, we are in Georgia! I had to smile, especially since the Ravens were baked into a pie by the Steelers yesterday.

The view out or hotel window hotel window is so poor that I decided not to take a picture of it. The view consists of the roof of the hotel complex. Yuck!

-- Bob Doan, Brunswick, GA 

Sunsets and History

 Pearl Harbor Day

Sunset Filling the Sky
Ellicott City, MD
December 6, 2025

As the light faded from the western sky last evening, I was provided a glimpse of beauty in the sunset. Sunsets are transitory, ephemeral. They change from moment to moment until they fade into darkness. But, for the time they are visible they can be spectacular.

Last evening's sunset was such a sunset. The low clouds reflected the red hues of sunset all across the sky. It was nearly a 360 degree sunset. What made this sunset special was the beams of light emanating from the now below the horizon sun. I don't see those often and against the naked winter trees, it was a stark, and at the same time, cold image. 

It is fitting that such sunset precedes a day when we remember the price of complacency. It could not possibly happen. Our fleet and military was safe at rest in Hawaii on that fateful Sunday morning when the realities of the world came for the United States with torpedos, guns, bullets, bombs, and tragically death. 

On the sunny Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Messman Doris Miller had served breakfast aboard the USS West Virginia, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was collecting laundry when the first of nine Japanese torpedoes hit the ship.

In the deadly confusion, Miller reported to an officer, who told him to help move the ship’s mortally wounded captain off the bridge. Unable to move him far, Miller pulled the captain to shelter. Then another officer ordered Miller to pass ammunition to him as he started up one of the two abandoned anti-aircraft guns in front of the conning tower.

Miller had not been trained to use the weapons because, as a Black man in the U.S. Navy, he was assigned to serve the white officers. But while the officer was distracted, Miller began to fire one of the guns. He fired it until he ran out of ammunition. Then he helped to move injured sailors to safety before he and the other survivors abandoned the West Virginia, which sank to the bottom of Pearl Harbor. (Letters from an American)

America fought World War II to defend democracy from fascism. And while fascism preserved hierarchies in society, democracy called on all men as equals. Of the more than 16 million Americans who served in the war, more than 1.2 million were Black American men and women, 500,000 were Latinos, and more than 550,000 Jews were part of the military. Among the many ethnic groups who fought, Indigenous Americans served at a higher percentage than any other ethnic group—more than a third of able-bodied Indigenous men between the ages of 18 and 50 joined the service—and among those 25,000 soldiers were the men who developed the famous “Code Talk,” based in tribal languages, that codebreakers never cracked.

The American president at the time, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hammered home that the war was about the survival of democracy. Fascists insisted that they were moving their country forward fast and efficiently—claiming the trains ran on time, for example, although in reality they didn’t—but FDR constantly noted that the people in Italy and Germany were begging for food and shelter from the soldiers of democratic countries.

Ultimately, the struggle between fascism and democracy was the question of equality. Were all men really created equal as the Declaration of Independence said, or were some born to lead the rest, whom they held subservient to their will? (Letters from an American)

When America came under attack before, people like Doris Miller refused to let that happen. For all that American democracy still discriminated against him, it gave him room to stand up for the concept of human equality—and he laid down his life for it. Promoted to cook after the Navy sent him on a publicity tour, Miller was assigned to a new ship, the USS Liscome Bay, which was struck by a Japanese torpedo on November 24, 1943. It sank within minutes, taking two thirds of the crew, including Miller, with it. (Letters from an American)

 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Programming Note: Monday Musings will not be published tomorrow as it is a travel day and Chris, Finn, and I are headed south, back to the warmth. 

Cold and Snow!

Scene off the Back Deck
Odenton, MD
December 5, 2025

Happy St Nicholas Day

 

It was reported yesterday that Maryland received snow during December for the first time in five years!

And it had to be when Chris and I were visiting. It is cold! The temperature has not been above freezing for almost 48 hours. Although, today is supposed to climb into the 40s. 

We were quite certain that snowy weather was on its way as we drove back from Doylestown, PA, on Thursday evening. The road crews were diligently working to prepare the roads for the anticipated slippery conditions. Initially, I had anticipated that the snow would be light and short-lived, but to my surprise, it persists even this morning.

We are currently planning our return journey to Florida for Monday. The weather forecast predicts cold temperatures, with a low of 28 degrees, but we should make it south before the next storm. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, with several more activities scheduled for today and tomorrow. However, I am eagerly looking forward to the warmth of South Florida once again! Although I grew up in Upstate New York, I believe I developed a fondness for the mild winter temperatures of South Florida during my time at the University of Miami.

There is a certain satisfaction in not being slapped with an icy breeze when stepping outside or freezing my hands while clearing the truck windows. Which begs the question, Where did I leave my lone remaining ice scraper? I couldn’t find it in the truck yesterday. 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

The Doan Gang

 

It is a thing, The Doan Gang. 

I have written about the Gang previously as I learned more about the outlaws that roamed Bucks County who were members of my extended family. Our genealogy goes back to a common ancestor who was second generation of Doans in America. 

But all of that is not so important, I guess. 

Chris and I made a trip to Doylestown, PA, yesterday, to visit the Mercer Museum and experience the exhibit dedicated to the outlaw portion of our family, The Doan Gang: Outlaws of the Revolution. The drive was three hours, each way, to Doylestown and I definitely underestimated the time I would spend in the museum, not only for the Doan Gang exhibit, but also roaming through the permanent collection, which is extensive. Chris and I would like to return, but it will have to be an overnight to more thoroughly explore the museum and visit other sites around Bucks County related to the Doans and the Revolution.

I was impressed with the balanced history of the Doan Gang exhibit. They were outlaws and committed some heinous crimes and so it is hard to elevate them to hero status, which the exhibit definitely did not do, but again they were also loyalists to the crown and the policies and laws of the developing nation were most definitely slanted against them. They were literally persecuted but the revolutionaries and lost their land and status. That does not excuse their actions, but as the foreword of the book published by the Mercer Museum explains:

The Doan Gang: Outlaws of the Revolution
Bucks County Historical Society, 2024

The foreword goes on to write: "Today many people lament that 'our country has never been so divided." This project challenges that notion by exploring the surprising tale of the Doan Gang, set against the backdrop of 1770s and 1780s America." 

Flintlock Musket (MM#19433)
used by members of the Doan Gang
Mercer Museum, Doylestown, PA
December 4, 2025

The exhibit is extensive; providing a detailed look into the Revolution as it unfolded in and around Bucks County, PA, during and shortly after the war. The Gang was not composed only of Doans, but a large number of others who remained loyal to the King. Members of the gang paid for their actions with their lives, John Tomlinson; Moses, Levy, and Abraham Doan. The latter two were cousins and were hanged during 1788.  They were the only two individuals ever executed for outlawry in the United States. 

As they were outlaws, there are very few items which can be confirmed as owned by the Doans, but the rifle is one such item. The rifle is presented behind a screen to reduce light exposure and getting a good image of it was difficult. Throughout the exhibit there are many period pieces in the collection with their ownership documented as it related to the Doan Gang. 

As our country approaches its 250th Anniversary, the value of this exhibit is magnified in that we are reminded of the difficult times from which our country was born and that not everyone embraced the Revolution. 

I heartily recommend this exhibit, not only because it documents one part of my heritage, but because it reminds me about the lives of real people and how they were affected by the societal upheaval that occurred during the Revolution. 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD

Trivia Night at Crooked Crab

The Team at Crooked Crab
Odenton, MD
December 3. 2025

 We participated in one of our favorite activities, Trivia Night at Crooked Crab. We do not go every Wednesday that we are in Maryland, but we enjoy visiting when it works into our schedule so that we can to enjoy the atmosphere.

Last evening, our team of 5 arrived, secured a nice table, and ordered some pizza and adult beverages, well no adult beverages for the "not quite 21" member of the team. Then we prepared to battle the 28 other teams that checked in for the trivia event.  

The number of teams was the largest that I can remember. We have been there with just 10 or 11 teams, but 29 total teams meant the noise level was high as well as the competition. Sometimes it can be hard to concentrate and think with so much activity happening around.

We did well, finishing 5th, but more importantly, we had fun! 

-- Bob Doan, Odenton, MD