A rhyme can’t hurt anyone, hey! And it’s a reminder, especially for me, to hold our heads up and go into 2023 with high hopes, adventurous spirits, and joy.

And, am I one to talk? I ended 2022 posting so rarely that I got into a once-a-month habit of squeaking by. That will not cut it this year.

Ironically, with all this fun we’re going to have, I plan to get back in the swing of my weekly muses and take this writing thing a tad more seriously.

Of course, I have an internal dilemma about how to draw the line between being too serious and having so much fun I neglect my responsibilities. Next week you’ll learn all about it.

Meanwhile, getting back to having fun, I was going to post a video of me doing my funny Philly Mummer’s Day struts today.

If you’re familiar with the New Year’s Day parade tradition, you most likely didn’t know it hadn’t happened in the past years due to the pandemic.

And, for the rest of you who are unaware of this tradition, all you have to know is they have this thing called the mummer’s strut.

The feet move backward and forward; the strutter bows with the hands moving up and down into the air (sometimes while carrying an umbrella).

My idea was to update the mummer’s strut by doing more with the arm movements. Of course, it got me remembering the lawnmower dance, which got me thinking of other mummer strut moves:

All of these ideas require the traditional strut with the feet.

• Mummer Plumber: plunge an invisible toilet.
• Mummer Carpenter: hammer a pretend wall.
• Mummer Painter: paint, well, clearly.
• Mummer Electrocuter (Electrician doesn’t rhyme): screw a fake lightbulb into an artificial hanging socket.

Now that’s my idea of a good time. Only my well-laid intentions got me nowhere. And probably it’s a good thing this video only happened in my head.

No despair; I’ll be back next week. And until then, you can practice your mummer’s strut.

Next year, you’ll want to be in the parade and try out the new moves, or maybe not. Whatever the case may be, remember, we’ll strut through this fun thing together!