Today is the Winter Solstice. It is an appropriate time for holiday wishes.

Recently an e-mail arrived from a wild-and-crazy brother-in-law with the salutation “Happy Saturnalia”. At about the same time another one came with a string: “Merry Christmas to those of you who observe that holiday! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Happy Chanukah for those of you who will be lighting your sixth candle this evening! Happy Kwanzaa coming up on the 26th! A sparkling winter solstice ! A festive "Festivus" for those Seinfeld fans out there!”

I enjoy all of those wishes and the warm and friendly sentiments behind them. Anyone who greets me with any of them is appreciated.

Why would anyone object?

One of my favorite sayings is “Things could be worse. You could be one of them.”

Salve Saturnalia ab omnia. (My last Latin class was LV years ago.)

I am afraid I have neglected blogging for too many weeks. A couple of reasonable reasons, however.

The first is visiting the kids at Thanksgiving and all of the festivities of the season. That is important and a good interference. It also interrupts the habits of blogging that were in the process of forming. Not an excuse but an extenuating circumstance.

Another thing that has come up is online tutoring. Should have started this before. It is enjoyable, rewarding, and you get paid for it. There are several sites that do online tutoring. I found Tutor.com and am very pleased with a well run company with admirable standards. As a teacher in a boarding school, there were students at my home for tutoring many times. I enjoyed the associations and helping kids who were concerned about their science education. Even though it is through a chat box and whiteboard instead of vis a vis, the students once again want to learn science and seem appreciative of the help, and they learn. The chemistry and physics did not drift away despite several years of retirement. Good stimulation for the brain and the soul. I would give it my recommendation to any educator with the time.