On the Road Again

I am on the road. Many pictures and stories to follow.

Crazy Bird!

This sparrow was gallantly fighting off its reflection in the Lincoln parked outside our house. Look just in front of the tire.

Physical

Today I trimmed the hedges, played tennis, and went to the contra at Concord. Lots of physical activity.

The hedges had grown to take up quite a bit of the sidewalk. Last year, I did a big clearing of old, dead wood and a bit of a trimming back. Having looked up when to prune, I decided that it was too late in the season for a drastic cutting, but I did clear them from the sidewalk so our and other strollers can get through.

Dan came over (not me, obviously) and we headed to the tennis courts at the bottom of the street. After about 45 minutes of that, we were both happily warmed up, and it was time for Deana to head out. I went home, took care of Rose, and made a card for Reena. It is our anniversary.

In the evening, I went contra dancing. I have gone to the Concord Thursday night dance a number of times. It is held at the Scouthouse which is famous enough in contra to have a dance named after it. So far, the four or so times I have been, I have not been impressed with dance etiquette in Boston. People say they are sitting out and then are up in the line with someone else, and they book ahead. In other parts of the country, these behaviors are frowned upon, but I guess it is accepted enough here to make it ok. I still love to dance, and I do have a few good dances when I go to Concord, but I am repulsed by the negatives. I am so glad that I will be at Sugar Hill at the end of the year. Great dancing and great company to be had at my favorite dance weekend.

Busynot

This was one of those busynot days. It seemed very busy, but it really was not. Reena got up early to leave for her conference. I woke up, and waited for Rose to get up. She awoke late, around 9:00, and so I just was sitting spinning my wheels because she usually doesn't sleep past 8:00. Then the washing machine repairman came. He installed a new control board in the machine. I thought that maybe I could do this, and having seen it done, I certainly could have. I looked online before we called a repairman for the job. Various posts pointed to a shot control board. This part is listed at Repair Clinic at $145.80. The end cost of having a service call to do it was $280, so it doubled the expense. However, I hope it was done correctly which is more than I was sure I would do. Now, I know much more about washer architecture.

The cleaners came after that. Yay! The house is no longer swarming with dust animals (bunnies to T-rexes).

Then Diana came again to give me time to get work done. Rose slept through two of the three hours she was here. I worked on a database for recordkeeping next year, but I hit the same wall as always--designing forms and reports. I called Mike later in the evening, and he offered to help me. again, yay!

Reena and I went to Home Depot to order some kitchen cabinets to match the ones already in the kitchen. The style is discontinued in the store, but they still support it through special orders. We decided it was time to order what we wanted before they stop carrying this line altogether.

Reena dropped me at home, and I fed Rose and put her to bed.

busy day but not really.

Composter

Diana came over to watch Rose for part of the day as Reena is off at a conference all week during the day. I took that time to work on putting together the composter that has sat in the hallway in its battered package for months. Here is a photojournal of the process. This composter has two chambers which allows one to complete the composting cycle while the other is being filled. There was one screw missing, so I had to go to the hardware store to get a replacement.




Today, it rained. I sat on the back poarch during Rose's morning nap and read.

Big Boom

Reena had a gig at the Danvers Family Festival (originally scheduled for Friday, but due to rain held on Sunday the 5th). Her group was the last to perform before the fireworks, but there were 20 minutes of announcements and other local flavor before the lightshow began. While it was still light out, Noam held the bottle while Rose pounded milk. The Similar Jones friends and family section cheered loudly for them, but we had to sit far back because the volume at the stage was too much for Rose. She jumped into my arms when the band before Reena's got started.
Here, Rose is showing off her coordination--playing with beads around her neck while standing independently. The standing on her own is a new thing.



The fireworks were fun and amusing. The cd soundtrack started skipping, and had to be restarted a few times. There were odd pauses in the show, the explosions stopped, and people chuckled around us as everyone wondered if that was the end.

The traffic getting out was a bit crazy, but Rose zonked out. The jerk who cut the line was cancelled out by the very helpful local who gave us good directions to avoid the major traffic jam.

late night doodles

I finally installed a very unstable version of the program that Tim (mentioned before) uses to create some of his work. Mine, on Windows, crashes when I try to save the image. I can copy and paste into Photoshop, so I keep the work that I do. Took a while to figure that out.

I love the patterns that the block wave filter in Showphoto creates and have enjoyed Tim's work for a while now. Now I get to play with this tool. I think I'll download the mac version which should be much more stable.

Sun, ball, friends, eats

Independence Day, as all holidays, has lost its meaning. Currently, it is at best an excuse to watch fireworks, cook food, and share time with friends and family. At worst it is another excuse for nationalistic flag waving and mouth-foaming jingoism. I don't think either of these are what the many colonists envisioned when at last the war was over, but the former probably comes closer to the hopes of those many people who took a risk to overthrow their current government for whichever reasons made sense to them.

History books have handed down a neatly packaged mythology of Founding Fathers, Revolutionaries, and historic horse rides. While all of that has a place, the reality of epic change rests on the shoulders of the many rather than the few, for the many have to decide that the great risk is worth it. There will always be rhetoric, leaders, and visions, but the times and the people must move behind them for change to happen.

Right now, we have leaders, rhetoric, and vision in abundance. What we don't have is a motivated populace to make change. People, even in this recession, are still mostly complacent. When public demonstration or action is attempted, it has been corralled in approved zones and hushed up by the media. What will it take before Americans decide it is time for a change?

Until then, we are stuck with the frat boys next door having obnoxiously loud parties in the middle of a quiet, kid-filled residential neighborhood. Independence day is just another excuse to set up drinking games, pee on the fence, and yell from garage roof to patio incoherently.

This is the tail end of a drunken musical interlude from the drunken shouting.


Reena and I went to Alicia and Leslie's annual kickball and cookout. It is about friends, fun, and food, and it doesn't irritate the neighbors. Rose got to hang out with Zach(sp?) who is very close in age to her, and I enjoyed running around kicking and catching the ball. I don't get to play active games all that much, so I love the opportunity to stretch the legs and have some fun.Rose's attention is captured but soon returns to Lesley. Zach looks on. There were a range of young children as well as expectant moms. Very young family friendly event.Alicia chats and comforts her beer during a break in the action.