The Wanderer’s Compass— At the Principle Gallery
Well, you’re high on top of your mountain of woe
Gotta come on up to the house
Well, you know you should surrender, but you can’t let it go
You gotta come on up to the house, yeah
Gotta come on up to the house
Gotta come on up to the house
The world is not my home I’m just a-passing through
You gotta come on up to the house
— Tom Waits, Come On Up to the House (1999)
The last Sunday of 2025. Only a few more days and we can put this cursed year behind us.
I probably shouldn’t say that it is cursed or the profanity I opted not to use in its place. Maybe you don’t see this past year in the same way. I am sure there are some people out there who will remember 2025 as a banner year, filled with memorable moments and new highs. Maybe their best year ever.
Well, good for those folks because that hasn’t been the case for me this year.
This is not a complaint, mind you. I have no right to bitch and moan. We all have to take a beatdown now and then. Nobody is exempt.
It’s all part of life’s sometimes strange and inexplicable wheel of fortune. Sometimes the wheel stops and you’re a winner. Sometimes, it passes you by and you lose.
But you never know what the next spin might bring.
You got to stay in the game, graciously accept your losses, and humbly accept the rare wins that might come your way.
The wheel of fortune has passed over my number several times this past year.
But, hey, I am still in the game.
I am counting that as a win. Maybe that small win allows me to get out of this ugly year on a somewhat higher note. I will humbly accept that, knowing full well that it could have been much worse and I still have some chips to play.
What more could I ask?
Here is the last Sunday Morning Music selection for 2025. It is the Tom Waits song Come On Up to the House. I am sharing two covers of the song with two distinctly different interpretations. A great song (and art in general) has room in it for different interpretations. The first is from the clown with the golden baritone, Puddles Pity Party, with a rendition that is closer in tone to the Waits original. The second, for those of you with a fear of clowns, is a more upbeat version with a singalong element from Americana singer/songwriter Sarah Jarosz, from a 2010 performance on Austin City Limits.
I think both are winners. And a win is a win anytime.
Now get out of here and take that wretched year with you. It’s beginning to stink…
Redtree Times 
Gary, you bring up good points in your thoughts today. It’s actually something that’s been troubling me for a few weeks now. I keep wondering if the feelings of wrongness and despair that this year has caused me is the same feeling that the maga base has felt every time the country has progressed away from their familiar self-professed all white, “christian”, male centric, plutocratic world view. The fact that I can’t wrap my head around the selfishness inherent in that view doesn’t stop me from feeling their pain every time a more progressive mentality takes the reins.
I guess my empathy for their feelings only goes so far though. Because, at no point can I forgive or forget the pain and suffering their worldview continues to cause to the millions that are affected by their selfishness. So to quote your sentiment… “get out of here and take that wretched year with you. It’s beginning to stink…”
Gary, I fully understand everything you say here. When I woke up after the election was called in 2016, I was angry, miserable, and filled with a sense of hopelessness that led me to ask myself if this was how Trump’s supporters had felt during the Obama years. I could then begin to at least understand their feelings though not the reasons for them that they presented. Like you said, empathy (and tolerance) only goes so far especially when their so much worldview is based on intolerance, a sense of entitlement, and evading responsibility. Let’s hope for a much better and less pungent new year, Gary! All good things to you in 2026, my friend.
I totally agree. Hopefully, better times are ahead. We are still here and that is a good thing. Happy New Year!
That we are still here is the main thing, isn’t it? Here’s a wish for us all to have a Happy New Year, Lucy!