On The Fly

Podcast - Christmas Online . . . Time flies! We’re already into November, Thanksgiving just five days away! Black Friday - a thing of the past, at least this year with the COVID pandemic still a reality. Now it's ALL about Online shopping. Including cherished TV specials that have always aired free on broadcast television. For example, did you know that a Charlie Brown Christmas will only be available on Apple TV+ streaming service this year? In 2018 Apple purchased the rights to the Charles M. Schultz Peanuts specials. Update: 12/4/2020 - Watch it live on Sunday, December 13, at 7:30/6:30c on PBS and PBS KIDS. Still, “Christmas - is - just around the corner.” As a youngster - just around the corner - meant Main Street on the square; Marshall’s Hardware, climb the stairs to Santa Land. My brothers and I would take a walk to town to check out all the toys we wanted Santa to bring. Day-and-Palin’s had the only Christmas tree lot that I remember in our small town. Wai...

I remember it like it was yesterday . . . a biting cold snowy winters’ eve. The wind howled through the trees, a grey landscape blanketed with a new-fallen snow, reflecting the dim glow of streetlights. Like fluffy white sand the snow drifted across the streets and yards. Trudging through the snow that night burned this scene into my memory for one reason, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Delivering the Canton Daily Ledger in 1968, my first job. Bundled up, running from house-to-house, invited in to get warm, provided me glimpses of the television special destined to become a classic. That memory was triggered by a mid-summer visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, CA. A long way from blistering cold wind and deep snow drifts. However, as we strolled the galleries vivid impressions of how Peanuts shaped my life as a small boy flooded my thoughts. The Peanuts Cartoon Strip is the heart and soul of the collection. The Museum’s collection represe...