Moving to the Music

Today Rose was a bit cranky. To distract her, after putting on the proffered hat, I let the music roll. She particularly liked dancing to Creedance Clearwater Revival.

Hull of a good time

Today, my writing group met in Hull, a beachfront community south of Boston. One of the members has a house there, and we spent the day writing, sharing writing, eating, and strolling around. It was amazingly nourishing for my soul.

Yesterday I took pictures of Rose playing with the toy that Tory the amazing librarian at my school gave to us at the end of the school year.

Pictures, both moving and still, of road trip

I haven't taken a road trip for some time, so it was wonderful to hop in the car and head out. I enjoy solitude, scenery, and the cumulative experience of a trip.

I awoke early on my day of departure in order to get to Chicago in one day. The moon shone through the open window in my shower as the birds swung into full dawn chorus. The sky slowly illuminated the world, and the beginnings of pink fuzz peaked from the buds on the mimosa tree in our back yard.

After a hasty breakfast, I packed my last gear in the car and plugged in the iPod. "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff greeted me, and I took that as a sign of good things to come.

The rolling hills/mountains of Western Massachusetts are covered by woods, and the mist rising from the valleys created a very beautiful send-off from the East Coast. As I came down from the mountains and onto the plains of New York, I noticed that drivers suddenly understood the rules and customs of the road much better. The right lane was used for driving and the left for passing. Amazingly, with only two lanes, the same volume of traffic that had been snarled with three lanes in Mass was moving smoothly in New York. This trend continued throughout my trip except for in Chicago where people drive like maniacs. Friends who only know East Coast driving wonder why I like to drive for 17 hours in a day, but in the Midwest, it is a peaceful endeavor.

I arrived in Chicago late, dealt with the crazy traffic there, and ended up at Sarah's house. This is soon to not be her house anymore as she is moving to Philly where I will be able to visit her and her family much more often. We chatted about childhood memories til late, and in the morning, I headed to Wrigley Field for the first ballgame of the trip.

I did something I rarely do--I left the game early. The Cards were on their way to a poorly played loss, and I had hours of driving to get me to St. Louis. As the sun set, the farmland in Illinois was lit up and contrasted by the cloudy sky. I whizzed past silos and farm houses that each could be a postcard of the Heartland. I had forgotten how much sky there is out on the Plains.



I arrived in St. Louis and made my way, like the swallows of San Juan Capistrano, to the place of my childhood. The old street signs, lit from within, glowed their welcome as I turned onto my home street.

In the following days, I enjoyed the activities surrounding the All Star Game. This game was the impetus to schedule the trip home at this time. I left Boston without a ticket, but wanted to be around as the city filled with fans and possibly get a ticket for the main event as well.

The highly promoted Fan Fest was somewhat disappointing. I think if I was a kid and had one of the armbands that let one cut to the front of the line, it would have been marvelous. As a single adults, there were hour long lines for the few batting and pitching activities, a few exhibits from the Hall of Fame and the Negro Leagues, and lots of things to buy. I bought a pin. Hmm.

The thing that made my day worth it was meeting Jackie Robinson's daughter who was giving away free, advanced copies of her new book about her father's courage both as a baseball player integrating the majors and as a parent who overcame his fear of water to test a frozen pond for his childrens' safety. Really nice book, and she was gracious and friendly. Rose has another book waiting for her when she is a bit older.
On my way to the Metro Station, I passed many lions decorated in the manner of the Cow Project (which Seattle did in pigs). University City is decorated with lions, so this was a natural choice. This one, located in front of the library in which I spent much of my youth, is titled "Reading Between the Lions" and is covered with pages from books.
Many of the older building is St. Louis are decorated either with paingings that look like architecture or with ornate terra cotta tiles. I enjoyed walking around down town looking at buildings on the day of the game while I waited for the ticket prices to drop and for the parade to start.
I also discovered the new sculpture garden in the middle of the city. It is a neat space. The limestone wall represents the river bluffs on the Illinois side of the Mississippi which is represented by quite a few water features. Kids were running around in an area in which jets of water spurted from the ground at random and timed intervals.
My walk down town inevitably took me by the arch. Unique is an overused word, but is applies to this structure. There are several needle-like buildings, many tall buildings, but there are no other grand, man-made arches like this one. Pictures don't do it justice.
As I wandered downtown and back in the U. City Loop, I saw the many things that were familiar, but St. Louis is surging and much is being remade or newly made. I came across this statue of Lewis and Clark amongst the granite cobblestones at the foot of the Eads Bridge. The statue must get covered each time the water rises.
This is a view of the arch through one of the stone arches of Eads Bridge.
This arch celebrates the World Championships of the Cardinals through their history.The parade finally happened. This car carried Albert Pujols who is a fan favorite in St. Louis.
These fine folks at Stub Hub helped me secure a ticket within my budget at the last moment. I rushed over to the stadium and got in to see the whole event. I am really grateful to them for their patience while I waited for a few hours and their quick work at the end. They really made the afternoon pleasant.
I was thrilled to see the President and the televized message from the living presidents about service to our country. Obama's first pitch looked good, and the game was a good one. However, the experience went way beyond being a baseball game.


My crazily expensive meal.
This is a bottle I used to play with as a child. Reena and Rose flew in the day after the All Star Game, and then it was about Rose and my parents spending time together. Mom pulled out many old toys, and Rose had a blast. She learned to put a cylindrical piece in a toy mailbox and sampled many new foods. Much joy was had by all.

I also was fortunate to hang out with many friends and even to go contra dancing. For some reason, I was not into taking pictures during the baby and friends times. Reena has some photos that she may put on her blog. Suffice to say, it was wonderful to catch up with friends and spend time in a community that is warm and welcoming.

Back and taking it in stride

Well, Rose is taking it in stride. She did some real walking this evening. First she took a few hesitant steps while holding her sippy cup. Then Reena came in and she walked between the two of us a few times. It was really unaided walking!

I, on the other hand, feel like I need aid walking or anything else. Just put Rose to bed, and I was going to download pictures and video from the trip. Not going to happen tonight. After two days of driving, I'm taking it easy tonight and will do it hopefully tomorrow.

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.

Suny Days

Summer is possibly here, now. With months of cool, wet weather, the flowers have been gorgeous, but it has only added to my inability to get yardwork done. The main reason was a very intense end of year. I finally got to hacking up some of the major vegetation that has sprouted up (small trees, etc). I did clear out the rose bushes along the drive and they are happier for it.
All I did for the back yard was whack a path along the walk and trim the anemic rose bush back away from the walk. The yard is a jungle, and I am not ready to wade in and do battle with the creatures within.

In Sync

I finally synced my phone and got a few pictures and videos off of it that I had meant to share a while ago. During the spring, lots of pollen was floating about. Some ended up in this puddle in the street making wonderful patterns.
I encountered this fabulous moth on the fence of our neighbors' house. It looked like a leaf until I got close, and then its beauty really stood out. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me; the camera in the phone just doesn't do it justice.
This was the first time I took Rose out to the park to use the walking truck there. She loved it and later went twice around the park with this toy. There are an assortment of toys at the park, and they are in various states of disrepair. The park is great, however, and has the usual swings, slides, etc. It also has a water feature that many local parks now include. Ours has three metal clouds that mist water when a button is pushed.

Hat Day

Rose has taken to bringing articles of clothing to me that she wants me to put on her. Yesterday it was socks. Today it was hats. She went around with the watermelon one, the green one from Charlene, and both blue knit caps at various times.


Another thing we are very happy about is that Rose is holding her own bottle. Probably because we just held if for her, she didn't learn how to before this, but now we just plunk it down in front of her and she has to do the work.

In honor of Tim

Tim has one of the nicest blogs of digital art and writing. Art from Pushing Buttons and Turning Dials is an exploration into the minimalist approach to digital art. I tend to make the overly slick fractals he rails against, but I was playing with a new plugin for Photoshop (Harry's Filters) and found this reminded me of some of Tim's work.
Further fun with filters.
And a last one. All of these from the picture of the corn flower.