Santa in a shed.

Tonight, faced with a dearth of many things, I drove to Kroger to acquire a dinner. After a lunch of sushi at the athletic center (one of the peculiarities of this place), I must have been in a living-in-Rochester mood, because my dinner turned out to be much like what I subsisted on during that strange, liminal year.

In the Kroger parking lot was a small red shed, inside which a Santa Claus waited behind plexiglass to greet all comers. The scene's presence made me think of the places where I have visited Santas: in malls, certainly, but also in a train caboose. I was ashamed, at first, to think that it was silly to have a Santa in a shed at a grocery store. There is no mall near here. Of course it makes sense for there to be a Santa at the grocery.

Just before dinner, I prowled again, trying to get night shots. I came up with these lights for you. Things are only going to get more interesting from here. (I realize that I write some variation of that statement most nights; you may know as well as I do that it's partly a goad to myself to get through the rest of the semester.)