a cellphone shot from my hometown barbershop

You may want to clear any small kids from the room before reading on.

My hometown barber, Eddie, is one of the nicest guys you can imagine.

The shop has three chairs, but his father and older brother are gone now, so it’s not as busy as it was years ago.

The front window is filled with tomato plants, which continue to produce fruit all winter, somehow.  And there’s a lot of fishing and bowling trophies.

And it’s always neat as a pin, so when I received this shocking photo, or at least, a photo of a shock of hair on the floor, I was shocked.

I’d forgotten!  Every year, once the Xmas season is over, one of Eddie’s friends stops by, a semi-pro Santa Claus actor.

He got a flat-top and trim, but will then start growing out his beard and hair all over again, only 342 days to go folks.