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So the other day when I mentioned ACE as going back to Texas in a few months? It was right when I wrote it. We got on Friday some startling news about that.
Seems he finished up the project which had him in Lansing for a couple years. Or at least it reached a point where the company wanted to reassign him, this time to a job in Kalamazoo, about an hour away, for the rest of his time in Michigan. But they weren't willing to pay him for the daily commute this would involve. And he wasn't willing to pack up everything and move to Kalamazoo for a couple months and then move back to Texas. So after a bunch of scrambling on their parts the company told him that he can just come back to the home office in Texas now, then. (They found someone else for the Kalamazoo job and sorry anyone thinking they might get to join the Battle Creek area through my tip.)
And in consequence what we figured was going to be an ordinary Monday turned out to be his farewell party at the local hipster bar. He's not even sticking around for one last league night --- this Tuesday night --- as he's got (reasonably) a clear vision of driving his truck back home and surprising his daughter, who he hasn't seen except on holidays in two years, with his new and lasting presence. Can't hardly fault him that.
It's a blow to lose the guy; he's been a lot of fun to know. He's talked already about coming back for a couple of the big pinball events in Michigan, and that would be great. Might even happen; a couple people who moved away come back for special events, most often tied to holidays or work things. (KEG, who'd moved out to Boston and then to Chicago, stopped in just last week), but that's still a friend effectively moved out of our lives. (Moved a lot out: not only am I not on Facebook but neither is ACE.) A pity, even when it's for happy reasons.
Well, back to Christmas week and our trip to Crossroads Village. They have millions of lights there and you're going to see each one!
Intersection with a wooden soldier whose arm points the way you're supposed to go if you're there one of the drive-through-only days. The melting and refreezing ice allows for some fantastic reflections on the ground.
The wreath, as usual, in front of the carousel building. Always a picture we enjoy taking.
And the reverse angle on this! They'd added a wonderful new ornament sphere that you could actually walk into and it adds this gorgeous attraction to people leaving the carousel.
And here's the carousel, running at its nice six rotations per minute.
My tracking shot worked! We catch this horse going into hyperspace.
And the carousel at rest here. I love the chariot's motif of the dragon intimidated by the tiny snake.
Trivia: An earthquake and storm destroyed much of the Italian city of Amalfi and its harbor the 24th of November, 1343. The harbor was never rebuilt. Source: The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention That Changed the World, Amir D Aczel.
Currently Reading: A History of The World's Airlines, R E G Davies.
