Season's Greetings

When I was a kid growing up in England, we always seemed to have lots of UNICEF greeting cards around the house. Although they featured art work from all over the world, inside each card was the same simple message, "Season's Greetings", written in four languages. I used to wonder why none of them just said "Merry Christmas".
Of course, I now know that there are a number of religious festivals celebrated during this season, so here are my greetings to my friends of various religious persuasions.

• Today, Eid al-Adha greetings to my Muslim friends.
• On December 21, Happy Hannukah to my Jewish friends.
• On December 21, greetings to those observing Winter Solstice festivals in the Northern Hemisphere and Midsummer festivals in the Southern Hemisphere.
• On December 25, Merry Christmas to my Christian friends (you lucky people will get more than just this line).
• On December 26, Happy Kwanzaa to those who observe the festival celebrating African heritage.
• And on December 23, the big daddy of them all, a Happy Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us!

(I promised an increase in silliness.)

A different location this weekend

There may be no long-term change on the GPS for a while, but there will be a short-term one this weekend. Tonight, I'm off to the picturesque town of Ooty (actually it is Udhagamandalam, but the British couldn't make it past Ootacumund, and this in turn led to its common nickname Ooty).

I am meeting a friend at the bottom of the Nilgiri hills, and we are going to travel up in the scenic Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which was conferred the status of a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005. I haven't done this train journey since I was a kid, and my friend, being an American fairly new to these parts, has never done this trip, so we anticipate a fun time for all.

If the photos turn out well, I'll post them here next week.

I hope everyone else enjoys their own weekends.