Our mini-vacation, which ended Sunday night, was four days long. But when you remember that two of them were largely spent driving from here to there and back again, that leaves just two days of actual vacation.
How were those two days? They could have been better, but they could easily have been far worse. I'm satisfied.
We left Thursday morning and arrived at my son's place at about 8:30 p.m. (We won't get into the time changes--even though Detroit is in Eastern Time, I'm using Central Time throughout. If I try switching Central to Eastern and vice versa, I'll only get myself bollixed up. In not too many more weeks, of course, I'll be driving from Central to Eastern fairly regularly, as football season gets going--only Michigan's four counties that border Wisconsin are on Central Time, and mine is one of them.)
Essentially, we dropped my younger son off at my older son's place. He enjoys visiting his big brother, and big brother, I think, enjoys showing off all his stuff to a properly appreciative audience. Here, they are playing his new Wii ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Gamers-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
And what cutting-edge game were they playing?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Mario-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
We also watched the "Family Guy" version of Star Wars before heading off to our motel.
We found a fairly nice motel, especially for the price. Let's just say that three nights at $45 sure is a lot easier on my wallet than three nights at $90 or so. Two double beds, a refrigerator in the room, (fairly) high speed internet, close to the exit door. I pay all the bills for this trip, so ...
My wife had dozed off at my son's apartment, but she was wide awake at the motel, reading a book she had gotten. As for me, my lower back was aching, as it usually does after a long drive. It took her until midnight to settle down and get to sleep. I checked some websites before shutting down for the night.
In the days leading up to our trip, my wife had studied some museums and other sights we could visit in the Detroit area. We both like to check out museums, and we found some good ones. A historical museum. A city museum. And the Detroit Institute of Art. All of them are downtown, within walking distance of each other. I especially wanted to visit the Art Institute. I very rarely get a chance to see an art museum, and I badly wanted to take advantage of this chance to see one. I think my wife wanted to see it, too.
The trouble is, the younger generation simply has other priorities. If I may grossly generalize, they think of classic artwork as "old paintings" that may hold their attention briefly, but not much longer. Bottom line: They showed little interest in going to downtown Detroit to see the museums.
On the other hand, another museum my wife found drew their rapt attention. It is called Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, and it features mechanical devices and coin-operated things from over a century. It's located in Farmington Hills, in the northwest part of the Detroit metro area. Find out more about it at [URL="http://www.marvin3m.com"]their website[/URL].
I have to admit it--it really was quite a fun place to visit (and my son said that in his roughly 10 years of living in the Detroit area, he had never been there before!). It didn't have a lot of old pinball machines but other kinds of coin-operated devices. Fortune-telling machines. Mechanical bands. Vintage stuff, which always interests me. Here are some photos ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Wideview-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Marvins-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
They had all kinds of stuff everywhere, including old-time wall posters ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Posters-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and clocks honoring various pop culture figures from the past. Lots of stuff wherever you looked ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Lookup-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
They had mechanized and computerized music machines (next to a vintage player piano) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Autoband-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and a pint-sized carousel ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Carousel-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and funhouse mirrors ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Mirror-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and a scene of some lucky guy getting a nice backrub ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Backrub-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
Here is something from over a century ago. This is my wife trying out a Mutoscope--it showed short flip-card "movies." You put in a dime (the current price) and start cranking the handle. You see a short comedy story--in this case, a man who had a woman as his "typewriter"; his wife comes in, objects, and soon a male takes over as the "typewriter." This is what they watched for kicks in the 1900s ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Mutoscope-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
No, I did not take on Kill-R-Watt. If you see those two metal posts in the front, you will get a pretty good idea of how it works ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-KillRWatt-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
That took up a lot of Friday afternoon. We had supper at a Red Robin restaurant and then wound up back at the apartment. Part of my master plan was to go to the Detroit Tigers' game against the White Sox downtown on Friday night. But we couldn't get comps, and maybe that's just as well. The game went long, the Tigers led until the 9th inning when their closer gave up a two-run home run with two out--one out away from the win. Grrrr.
Also, if we had gone to the game and stayed there until the bitter end, we wouldn't have gotten back to the motel until close to midnight. Instead, we watched the game for a while in the apartment, watched a DVD or two and made plans for Saturday. That's my son's big day--the day of the show.
If I didn't explain that before, he is into improvisational comedy and has been taking classes at a Detroit area Second City group for the last few years. There's a lot of preparation that goes into being spontaneously funny. The way he explained it to me later is that you have to take on a different persona and act the way that person would react to different situations that arise. They had to be on their toes, too, because often they are reacting to situations and locations suggested by the audience ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Det08-Stage-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
I got a few (still) pictures of different classes on stage, but I didn't get any of my son: He had borrowed a video camera and wanted me to record their show. It was the first time I had ever operated a video camera; I think I did fairly well, considering I didn't know about the show in advance and had no way to prepare. Bottom line: The cameraman was doing an improv, too.
My wife found a video mode on her little camera, and she got a movie. Maybe we can transfer it to my laptop and show it to my mom. If I can figure out a way to do that.
The show went on for most of the afternoon. Afterwards, we went to a pizza restaurant for a victory party and then back to the apartment. I think we also visited a Best Buy, though I didn't get anything. We also visited several big bookstores, Borders and Barnes & Noble. I was looking for a new book, "Opening Up," about open relationships, but none of the three huge bookstores I visited had it. I settled for "The Complete Persepolis," the comic book memoir of a woman who grew up in revolutionary Iran. I later saw that the story is now out in a DVD. Well, I'll read the book first.
Of course we wound up back at the apartment, watched a little of the Tigers-White Sox game, but my wife and I were both getting tired, and we wanted to get an early start for the trip home the next morning. So, back to the motel and early to bed. Before 10, believe it or not. Of course, we didn't go immediately to bed. We had spent several hours together in the back seat of his Prius that afternoon, enough time to goof around with each other when nobody was looking. So we were looking forward to getting to bed.
We were both ready to go Sunday morning. We picked up David and left for home at about 9:30--and got home about 11 hours later. That is one bloody long drive! But the kitties were happy to see us. They both had food and water when we got back home. (The woman I asked to feed them had been around.) Still, we have been petting and loving up the kitties on and off ever since.
****
Monday, it was back to work. I wrote most of this up Monday night, but Charlie's feline Jedi mind tricks prevented me from working up the pictures until now.
I also wrote S on Tuesday. There's a chance I can visit S and her husband during his vacation next week. Meanwhile, my son wants me to take him to the Wisconsin Valley Fair this weekend near Wausau. That's about 120 miles away.
My wife may be quite interested in that. The grandstand show on Saturday night features Herman's Hermits, including Peter Noone as the lead singer. Way back when, when she was in high school, Herman's Hermits was/were her favorite band. A few years after we got married and were living in Milwaukee during the '70s, I took her to see the Hermits (without Noone) at a local club.
Now, 30 years later, the current-day Hermits, including Noone, will be performing before the Wisconsin Valley Fair crowd.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Kittycat mind control
'm back from my trip, and I thought I would be able to write something up and get some pictures ready last night.
I did pretty good, too. The text part of the entry is mostly all done--I wrote that last night---and I was about to start working on the photos when Charlie changed things.
For each of the last two nights since we returned, Charlie has come around while I worked at the computer after my wife went to bed. Meow? Meow? Then she purrs and rubs against my legs, and pretty soon I'm reaching down and picking her up. Then she sits in my lap and purrs, and I'm stroking her and she's kneading my arms with her front paws. Nice kitty!
Then, as I try to continue what I was going to do, Charlie starts with her telepathic mind control.
"You don't want to look at all those photos and edit them. That's not what you want to do this late. You just want to pet me and get sleepy."
Yes, I am getting tired, Charlie, and I do enjoy petting you. But I wanted to get this done before bed. Just a few more minutes.
"Well, you can work on the photos in the morning, can't you?"
Yes, but mornings are a little too rushed for photo work.
"Not if you can focus your mind as I can. You can do it if you try. Right now, it's late, and you're getting sleepy. You are getting very sleepy. It's been a long day."
I'm getting sleepy. I'm getting very sleepy. It's been a long day.
"You really want to put me down on the chair, go off to take your bedtime pills, then come back here. I'll be waiting, and you can carry me off to the bed."
Tell you what, Charlie: How about it if I put you down on the chair while I take my bedtime pills. Then I'll come back here, pick you up and carry you off to bed. How does that sound?
"Purrrrr. I like that. That works for me. Just turn off the computer, right now."
OK, Charlie, let me shut down the computer first, and then I'll take my pills. Are you going to wait on the chair for me?
"I'll be right here."
I did pretty good, too. The text part of the entry is mostly all done--I wrote that last night---and I was about to start working on the photos when Charlie changed things.
For each of the last two nights since we returned, Charlie has come around while I worked at the computer after my wife went to bed. Meow? Meow? Then she purrs and rubs against my legs, and pretty soon I'm reaching down and picking her up. Then she sits in my lap and purrs, and I'm stroking her and she's kneading my arms with her front paws. Nice kitty!
Then, as I try to continue what I was going to do, Charlie starts with her telepathic mind control.
"You don't want to look at all those photos and edit them. That's not what you want to do this late. You just want to pet me and get sleepy."
Yes, I am getting tired, Charlie, and I do enjoy petting you. But I wanted to get this done before bed. Just a few more minutes.
"Well, you can work on the photos in the morning, can't you?"
Yes, but mornings are a little too rushed for photo work.
"Not if you can focus your mind as I can. You can do it if you try. Right now, it's late, and you're getting sleepy. You are getting very sleepy. It's been a long day."
I'm getting sleepy. I'm getting very sleepy. It's been a long day.
"You really want to put me down on the chair, go off to take your bedtime pills, then come back here. I'll be waiting, and you can carry me off to the bed."
Tell you what, Charlie: How about it if I put you down on the chair while I take my bedtime pills. Then I'll come back here, pick you up and carry you off to bed. How does that sound?
"Purrrrr. I like that. That works for me. Just turn off the computer, right now."
OK, Charlie, let me shut down the computer first, and then I'll take my pills. Are you going to wait on the chair for me?
"I'll be right here."
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Here, there or wherever
It's the usual last-night-before-the-big-trip follies. I had a mental list of things I wanted to do today and tonight before we hit the road tomorrow morning. Among them: catch up on blog alerts. That one ain't gonna happen.
I did (A) pay the water bill, (B) renew my prescriptions, (C) mow the lawn, (D) arrange for someone to come in and feed the kitties, (E) finish my main stories this afternoon. What's next on the list? F is a shower. G is getting a good night's sleep. Or trying to. I've also got to pack. That would be a good idea.
The blog stuff is going to have to wait. This time, though, the laptop comes along, so maybe I can start getting caught up in the motel room. Maybe.
We leave for Detroit tomorrow at about 9 a.m. (10 hours from now) and it's 10 or 11 hours of driving after that. A long day no matter how you slice it. So I'd better stop typing, get into the shower and then hit the mattress. I'll see all of you later, here, there or wherever.
I did (A) pay the water bill, (B) renew my prescriptions, (C) mow the lawn, (D) arrange for someone to come in and feed the kitties, (E) finish my main stories this afternoon. What's next on the list? F is a shower. G is getting a good night's sleep. Or trying to. I've also got to pack. That would be a good idea.
The blog stuff is going to have to wait. This time, though, the laptop comes along, so maybe I can start getting caught up in the motel room. Maybe.
We leave for Detroit tomorrow at about 9 a.m. (10 hours from now) and it's 10 or 11 hours of driving after that. A long day no matter how you slice it. So I'd better stop typing, get into the shower and then hit the mattress. I'll see all of you later, here, there or wherever.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A very good day
I can't think of consecutive days being more different than my Sunday and Monday were.
On Monday, we were short-handed at the paper, plus we had a 22-page paper to put together (swollen by election ads). So it was very labor-intensive for the two of us here. We got it done, but it was really stressful and took a lot longer than normal.
Once I got home, my wife and I immediately got in our car to visit my mom. We hadn't seen her in over a week, and it will be at least a week until we get our next chance, due to this week's trip to the Detroit area. That starts on Thursday. We leave that morning and return on Sunday. Each leg is about 520 miles.
One thing I know, however. Unlike most of my recent trips below the bridge (in the Lower Peninsula), I won't have to worry about snow.
But if Monday was very tense and demanding, Sunday was just the opposite. I had talked to S and her husband on Saturday night, and they told me that despite the unpromising forecast, the weather wasn't going to be as bad as the forecast said. They said they really wanted to make the trip--especially for her husband's sake, since he had really been working extra hard (extra hours) over the last week and needed a complete break.
We agreed to meet at a Subway restaurant at about 11:30 a.m. I left home at about 8:30 (after making a fast run to the store for some milk--we ran out the night before, and I was thinking I could just pick some up Sunday since I probably wasn't going anywhere). I got there about 15 minutes late, but nobody was in a hurry. I got my sub, ate half of it and then we all left for the clothing-optional place, which was about half an hour away.
It's actually just a farm, one of many in that area. We parked at the end of the driveway, about 100 yards off the road, unloaded their trunk (They planned to stay overnight.) and started setting up their tent. They gave me a very brief tour.
The place is smaller than I had expected. Old farm buildings on two sides. A picnic table with a big umbrella. Inside a shed were some inflatable rafts. But it had everything I saw on the website--a flush toilet outside, a shower heated by solar power, a sink and another outlet for water. Several cleared areas for people to camp. Plenty of space to park. By now, a few mosquitoes had noticed my arrival (I had evidence of that), so I found the bug spray.
The sun was mostly out by now, it was warm (about 80) all of us were a little hot and sweaty from putting up the tent and moving things around. So, without further ado, we all undressed outside, put our stuff inside the tent and walked to the pond, a distance of maybe 50 yards. We had taken a couple of the rafts--S and her husband got the first shot at them, while I simply waded out. We were the only ones there at the time.
The pond was smaller than expected--the beach was about 50 feet across, and the pond extended out about 100-120 feet. It gradually got deeper--max depth is about 10 feet. Along the other three sides, it was all reeds and cattails, with blackbirds singing and dragonflies flitting about, frogs and toads singing. Really nice and relaxing. I later got a chance at one of the rafts and had to remember how to navigate one of those things while keeping my center of gravity in place.
S had been saying earlier that she wasn't as well centered (healthwise) as she wanted to be. So when she got on the raft, I held it in place. Her legs slipped back towards me, off the raft and into the shallow water. I thought that was a good time to remind her of her remark about not being well centered. She laughed.
We were there about 45 minutes, then returned to the barns/tent area, where we ate some chips and drank some drinks--sodas and beers and talked. And that's how we spent the next few hours. S warned me that my lower legs were looking a little pink, so I seated myself with the legs in the shade--at least until the sun moved around, looking for me. I had put some sunscreen on my arms, legs, chest and neck, and S took care of my shoulders and back.
It was nice. Warm but not humid. Mostly sunny. Sitting around nude outside seemed to make perfect sense. I know this is something most of you haven't done, and some of you think that it must be very sexy. In fact, it's the opposite--the normal (swimsuit) beaches are much sexier than a nude beach, with young people wearing skimpy, sexy suits. That's cool. You don't find too many younger people at a nude beach. Like at the pagan camp, they were in their 40s and 50s. S and her husband are in their early 50s, and I'm in my late 50s. We're all a little overweight and lumpy in places. But we accept ourselves the way we are, and we know that our true beauty is inside. The kind that lasts. The kind that matters. It's not sexy. It's just natural and pure and wonderfully comfortable. Ever sit around on a sunny day in a wet swimsuit?
One other woman used the beach after we left, and she stopped back by us later. She seemed to be in her 60s, deeply tanned. A little overweight, but so what? She had a tattoo above one of her breasts--and on the right side of her back was large tattoo with unicorns, fairies and nymphs. She said she plans to have the other half done this November while her husband is away, hunting deer. I should have taken a picture, but the camera bag was back on the beach. (For what it's worth, the only photos I took there were attempts at dragonflies (failure) and tadpoles in the pond.)
The guy who owns the place came around and showed us the back, where a friend is keeping two pigs. Small pigs. He tried calling the pigs out, but they stayed in the bushes. Later, when the friend arrived, he called, and the pigs came right out--seems he works at a restaurant in Green Bay, and he brings them goodies. And if you want to know what's in store for the pigs, consider their names: Ham and Bacon.
They had a dog there named Lady--a nice gentle dog--and an old, old beagle named Bashful. Bashful makes the craziest bass noises. Sort of like growling, really low. S told me the first time they stayed there, they heard this low growl outside in the middle of the night, and she thought there was a bear outside.
So Lady enjoyed the sun, and Bashful mostly stayed under the table. S went to the tent and brought out her guitar and sang a few songs, including "One Tin Soldier"--don't remember hearing her sing before. Wish I had taken that picture, too.
The sun was getting lower. I dug out the other half of my sub from the cooler, ate that, then went to the tent for my clothes and shoes and got dressed. It was time to go. Hugs all around, and then I was on my way.
I ran into a brief line of storms on the way back home; aside from that, the trip was uneventful, and I got home about 10:20 p.m. It was a very good day.
Her husband is taking some vacation time in early August, and if I can, they'd like me to come down again. Maybe this time I could stay overnight. It's something I'm thinking about.
But summer is running down. We've got the trip this week. A week later, my son wants to go to the Central Wisconsin Fair near Wausau--about 2 1/2 hours away. That's about when they have their vacation, but I may be able to get off in the middle of the week. One week later, football practice starts, and summer will be essentially over for me.
I know that the clock is ticking down. So I've got to make the most of the time that remains. Hopefully, there will be another one like Sunday.
On Monday, we were short-handed at the paper, plus we had a 22-page paper to put together (swollen by election ads). So it was very labor-intensive for the two of us here. We got it done, but it was really stressful and took a lot longer than normal.
Once I got home, my wife and I immediately got in our car to visit my mom. We hadn't seen her in over a week, and it will be at least a week until we get our next chance, due to this week's trip to the Detroit area. That starts on Thursday. We leave that morning and return on Sunday. Each leg is about 520 miles.
One thing I know, however. Unlike most of my recent trips below the bridge (in the Lower Peninsula), I won't have to worry about snow.
But if Monday was very tense and demanding, Sunday was just the opposite. I had talked to S and her husband on Saturday night, and they told me that despite the unpromising forecast, the weather wasn't going to be as bad as the forecast said. They said they really wanted to make the trip--especially for her husband's sake, since he had really been working extra hard (extra hours) over the last week and needed a complete break.
We agreed to meet at a Subway restaurant at about 11:30 a.m. I left home at about 8:30 (after making a fast run to the store for some milk--we ran out the night before, and I was thinking I could just pick some up Sunday since I probably wasn't going anywhere). I got there about 15 minutes late, but nobody was in a hurry. I got my sub, ate half of it and then we all left for the clothing-optional place, which was about half an hour away.
It's actually just a farm, one of many in that area. We parked at the end of the driveway, about 100 yards off the road, unloaded their trunk (They planned to stay overnight.) and started setting up their tent. They gave me a very brief tour.
The place is smaller than I had expected. Old farm buildings on two sides. A picnic table with a big umbrella. Inside a shed were some inflatable rafts. But it had everything I saw on the website--a flush toilet outside, a shower heated by solar power, a sink and another outlet for water. Several cleared areas for people to camp. Plenty of space to park. By now, a few mosquitoes had noticed my arrival (I had evidence of that), so I found the bug spray.
The sun was mostly out by now, it was warm (about 80) all of us were a little hot and sweaty from putting up the tent and moving things around. So, without further ado, we all undressed outside, put our stuff inside the tent and walked to the pond, a distance of maybe 50 yards. We had taken a couple of the rafts--S and her husband got the first shot at them, while I simply waded out. We were the only ones there at the time.
The pond was smaller than expected--the beach was about 50 feet across, and the pond extended out about 100-120 feet. It gradually got deeper--max depth is about 10 feet. Along the other three sides, it was all reeds and cattails, with blackbirds singing and dragonflies flitting about, frogs and toads singing. Really nice and relaxing. I later got a chance at one of the rafts and had to remember how to navigate one of those things while keeping my center of gravity in place.
S had been saying earlier that she wasn't as well centered (healthwise) as she wanted to be. So when she got on the raft, I held it in place. Her legs slipped back towards me, off the raft and into the shallow water. I thought that was a good time to remind her of her remark about not being well centered. She laughed.
We were there about 45 minutes, then returned to the barns/tent area, where we ate some chips and drank some drinks--sodas and beers and talked. And that's how we spent the next few hours. S warned me that my lower legs were looking a little pink, so I seated myself with the legs in the shade--at least until the sun moved around, looking for me. I had put some sunscreen on my arms, legs, chest and neck, and S took care of my shoulders and back.
It was nice. Warm but not humid. Mostly sunny. Sitting around nude outside seemed to make perfect sense. I know this is something most of you haven't done, and some of you think that it must be very sexy. In fact, it's the opposite--the normal (swimsuit) beaches are much sexier than a nude beach, with young people wearing skimpy, sexy suits. That's cool. You don't find too many younger people at a nude beach. Like at the pagan camp, they were in their 40s and 50s. S and her husband are in their early 50s, and I'm in my late 50s. We're all a little overweight and lumpy in places. But we accept ourselves the way we are, and we know that our true beauty is inside. The kind that lasts. The kind that matters. It's not sexy. It's just natural and pure and wonderfully comfortable. Ever sit around on a sunny day in a wet swimsuit?
One other woman used the beach after we left, and she stopped back by us later. She seemed to be in her 60s, deeply tanned. A little overweight, but so what? She had a tattoo above one of her breasts--and on the right side of her back was large tattoo with unicorns, fairies and nymphs. She said she plans to have the other half done this November while her husband is away, hunting deer. I should have taken a picture, but the camera bag was back on the beach. (For what it's worth, the only photos I took there were attempts at dragonflies (failure) and tadpoles in the pond.)
The guy who owns the place came around and showed us the back, where a friend is keeping two pigs. Small pigs. He tried calling the pigs out, but they stayed in the bushes. Later, when the friend arrived, he called, and the pigs came right out--seems he works at a restaurant in Green Bay, and he brings them goodies. And if you want to know what's in store for the pigs, consider their names: Ham and Bacon.
They had a dog there named Lady--a nice gentle dog--and an old, old beagle named Bashful. Bashful makes the craziest bass noises. Sort of like growling, really low. S told me the first time they stayed there, they heard this low growl outside in the middle of the night, and she thought there was a bear outside.
So Lady enjoyed the sun, and Bashful mostly stayed under the table. S went to the tent and brought out her guitar and sang a few songs, including "One Tin Soldier"--don't remember hearing her sing before. Wish I had taken that picture, too.
The sun was getting lower. I dug out the other half of my sub from the cooler, ate that, then went to the tent for my clothes and shoes and got dressed. It was time to go. Hugs all around, and then I was on my way.
I ran into a brief line of storms on the way back home; aside from that, the trip was uneventful, and I got home about 10:20 p.m. It was a very good day.
Her husband is taking some vacation time in early August, and if I can, they'd like me to come down again. Maybe this time I could stay overnight. It's something I'm thinking about.
But summer is running down. We've got the trip this week. A week later, my son wants to go to the Central Wisconsin Fair near Wausau--about 2 1/2 hours away. That's about when they have their vacation, but I may be able to get off in the middle of the week. One week later, football practice starts, and summer will be essentially over for me.
I know that the clock is ticking down. So I've got to make the most of the time that remains. Hopefully, there will be another one like Sunday.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The words just came out
Last weekend, as we were driving back from a parade, my wife saw this sign in front of a closed real estate office nearby ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Blogsale-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
"That's an idea!" she said. "Maybe you can sell that blog that's not working any more!"
But in defiance of all predictions I have made, Efx2 has come back to life after two weeks in a coma. I found it out this morning. I have been checking regularly on its health or lack thereof. Surprised? I should say so!
It's not that the people who started and run the place have resolved the place's problems. It's because some community leaders have been working furiously to try to unsnarl Efx2's problems, and one of them, Chica, came up with a solution to get the server working again.
So today, nearly two weeks after discovering it had crashed again, I was finally able to read the comments made about my last Efx2 post (about the trip to Milwaukee). Never thought I'd live to see the day.
The aftermath of Efx2's coma, of course, is that people split off in two main directions, Vox and Blogger. Many of them are now saying this is it--they may double-post at Efx2 again, but they regard their new homes as their main ones.
I am one among them. I'm not a big fan of undependable cars, people or blogs. Vox will be my main home. I will copy the posts at Efx2 when I can (and when it lets me). Blogger ... I'm still not sure about. I know it's steady, but ... we really haven't developed a closeness yet. Maybe in time.
Last night, before Efx2's resurrection, a good friend of mine was writing on her blog about the entire situation and why people blog. Why this personal journal--and the friends we make doing this--means so much to us. I wrote this comment:
[QUOTE]
For all its imperfections, this is a place to meet and exchange thoughts, experiences and emotions. For those of us who are quiet and don't open up readily to people in real life, it's an outlet, a pressure release valve. For those of us who are sensitive, we usually find people who aren't overly judgmental. For those of us who don't have someone for an intellectual conversation, it's an hangout for smart peoples. And for those of us who don't have many close friends, it's a source for finding friends. Even if you can't lift a glass with them or hug them.
I gets my love however and wherever I can.[/QUOTE]
And that's it, I guess. The words just came out. That's the way things are.
Let's face it, I don't have a lot of friends whom I feel safe opening up to. Very, very few. I definitely know what loneliness is about. And when others express their loneliness in some way, I usually pick up on it. I can relate with that. I wish I was more outgoing, but I'm not. I am what I am, and I have to accept myself the way I am, faults and all. And there are many faults I have to accept. But I have blog buddies, and they are very real, three-dimensional people to me--even if I can't lift a glass with them or hug them. I gets my love however and wherever I can.
So I go on. And I guess Efx2 goes on, too. Well, good luck to it. Good luck to everyone keeping their main journal over there. I hope it stays up this time. I hope none of you gets hurt again.
****
The trip to visit S, her husband and that clothing optional mini-lake is up in the air. It's planned for tomorrow, but more rain is moving trough the Midwest, and we're being realistic. They were planning to camp at the site, but "Spending the night in a tent with two wet dogs did not sound like much fun."
I'll call them later tonight, and we'll make a decision. If this doesn't work out, I still have a chance in early August before fall sports get going.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Blogsale-7-08.jpg[/IMG]
"That's an idea!" she said. "Maybe you can sell that blog that's not working any more!"
But in defiance of all predictions I have made, Efx2 has come back to life after two weeks in a coma. I found it out this morning. I have been checking regularly on its health or lack thereof. Surprised? I should say so!
It's not that the people who started and run the place have resolved the place's problems. It's because some community leaders have been working furiously to try to unsnarl Efx2's problems, and one of them, Chica, came up with a solution to get the server working again.
So today, nearly two weeks after discovering it had crashed again, I was finally able to read the comments made about my last Efx2 post (about the trip to Milwaukee). Never thought I'd live to see the day.
The aftermath of Efx2's coma, of course, is that people split off in two main directions, Vox and Blogger. Many of them are now saying this is it--they may double-post at Efx2 again, but they regard their new homes as their main ones.
I am one among them. I'm not a big fan of undependable cars, people or blogs. Vox will be my main home. I will copy the posts at Efx2 when I can (and when it lets me). Blogger ... I'm still not sure about. I know it's steady, but ... we really haven't developed a closeness yet. Maybe in time.
Last night, before Efx2's resurrection, a good friend of mine was writing on her blog about the entire situation and why people blog. Why this personal journal--and the friends we make doing this--means so much to us. I wrote this comment:
[QUOTE]
For all its imperfections, this is a place to meet and exchange thoughts, experiences and emotions. For those of us who are quiet and don't open up readily to people in real life, it's an outlet, a pressure release valve. For those of us who are sensitive, we usually find people who aren't overly judgmental. For those of us who don't have someone for an intellectual conversation, it's an hangout for smart peoples. And for those of us who don't have many close friends, it's a source for finding friends. Even if you can't lift a glass with them or hug them.
I gets my love however and wherever I can.[/QUOTE]
And that's it, I guess. The words just came out. That's the way things are.
Let's face it, I don't have a lot of friends whom I feel safe opening up to. Very, very few. I definitely know what loneliness is about. And when others express their loneliness in some way, I usually pick up on it. I can relate with that. I wish I was more outgoing, but I'm not. I am what I am, and I have to accept myself the way I am, faults and all. And there are many faults I have to accept. But I have blog buddies, and they are very real, three-dimensional people to me--even if I can't lift a glass with them or hug them. I gets my love however and wherever I can.
So I go on. And I guess Efx2 goes on, too. Well, good luck to it. Good luck to everyone keeping their main journal over there. I hope it stays up this time. I hope none of you gets hurt again.
****
The trip to visit S, her husband and that clothing optional mini-lake is up in the air. It's planned for tomorrow, but more rain is moving trough the Midwest, and we're being realistic. They were planning to camp at the site, but "Spending the night in a tent with two wet dogs did not sound like much fun."
I'll call them later tonight, and we'll make a decision. If this doesn't work out, I still have a chance in early August before fall sports get going.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Shorts and sweets
My digs at Vox have undergone a metamorphosis. Yesterday I found some templates that include the much-desired Georgia font, so I have made a switch. I wish Vox would allow you to customize their templates, but that doesn't appear to be possible. So the one I found will do. I liked the nature artwork I used to have, but on the whole the new one will do fine.
****
I talked to my older son last night, the one we are planning to visit next week during our major trip of the year. He said yes, it's OK if his younger brother sleeps on his couch during our visit (we'd stay in a nearby motel) and yes, he'd be quite interested in seeing a Detroit Tigers' game at Comerica Park during our visit. The Motor City Kitties are hosting the first place Chicago White Sox on both Friday and Saturday night. Don't know yet which one we will go for.
I have had several offers of tickets to Tigers games (or other Detroit sports events) when I can visit the Motor City; both from a friend who lives down there (he's from here and is a long-time member of my fantasy baseball league) and from a company that does business with the cable TV co-op of which I am board president. I have never taken advantage of these connections before. After all, I live 525 miles away from Detroit. That's a long trip just to see a ballgame.
My wife said she will be going on the internet today to see what other things in the Detroit area we might be interested in. (Let me rephrase that: That she thinks we might be interested in; or that she is intersted in.) We will be there all day on Friday and Saturday. Thursday and Sunday are driving days--the driver has about 11 hours behind the wheel both days.
****
Since Efx2 expired during my visit to the pagan camp, the refugees seem to be streaming off in two different directions: to Vox and to Blogger. I had accounts on both, so it doesn't matter to me. But some of my main bloggy friends have taken divergent paths.
For the time being, I am double-posting. So, for what it's worth, I did an experiment. Remember the recent post with the photos about Charlie and her improvised cat toys? I posted it at both places, just minutes apart.
That was two days ago. So far, I have eight comments on the Vox site and one comment on the Blogger site. Are you surprised?
Remember, this is just an experiment. Your results may vary.
****
I got an idea last night. It may have come in the middle of the night. That always can be dangerous.
The idea is: creating an alter ego of myself for this blog. I can have this highly fictional person do things that I don't do (or don't want you to know that I do; after all, I am cautious that way). In other words, some creative writing that doesn't necessarily conform with reality.
I even came up with a working name for this alter ego: Kent Clark, mild-mannered reporter for a small weekly newspaper. No superpowers. No super strength or flying around in space, that is. He has certain skills, though.
Don't know whether I will go ahead with this. But if I do, you'll read all about it here.
****
Big storms continue to rumble through the Midwest, especially Wisconsin. All of them have been going south of us. We may have gotten a little rain overnight, but it wasn't much. Storms keep forming in the Dakotas or Minnesota and inevitably home in on central and southern Wisconsin. It's cloudy outside but dry.
Of course, I may be responsible. When the weather forecast assures us that a downpour is all but certain overnight, I close the car windows. Surest way I know to keep it from raining.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Charlie's toy box
While looking over all those blog entries I copied from Efx2 (all 294 of them), I noticed a few things. When I wrote shorter entries, I wrote more often. When I made fewer photos, I included photos more often. Interesting trends.
So I'm thinking maybe I should go back to the more frequent though shorter entries. You know that some of my posts get kind of long, since I have a lot of things to share with you. So maybe if I go for shorter entries ... I'll have to think about it.
****
One thing I don't like about Vox is that I can't get the font I like (Georgia) for my entries. I have tried to change them bodily here, but they seem to want to switch back to the default for the particular design I am using. (Sigh) Blogger, by the way, doesn't do that. Hmmm.
I know some of the Vox designs use Georgia, but when I tried to find some of them last night, I didn't have much luck. How to burn an hour or two.
****
One thing I didn't mention before is that we are going to take a little vacation next week. A short jaunt down to visit my son, who lives about 525 miles away, in the northern Detroit suburbs. It amounts to four days and three nights on the road. Better get that iPod all charged up.
David is coming along, and we're going to see if it's possible for him to stay with his older brother. My wife and I will stay at a motel.
Apart from his daytime job (at a bank corporation), my older son is into improv comedy, and he has been learning about it. He has been part of improv shows before, and he recently told us that another one will take place on the last Saturday of July. So my wife and I started talking later and agreed this might deserve a trip from the parental units.
After all, we haven't visited him during summer for years. Our only visits have been around Thanksgiving, since the trips were paid for by the paper--I was going down there to cover our football team playing in the state finals in Detroit.
We'll pay for this one ourselves, even with gas hitting $4.29/gallon up here. It will cost some money, but seeing your son do his improv thing: priceless.
****
OK, now it's time to show what Charlie has been doing. An explanation first.
I had a pair of athletic shoes I used for many years. Finally the laces wore through the eyelets, and I decided to get a new pair. The laces I had on the old shoes were virtually new, so I took them off the shoes, which I forgot to throw out.
Enter Charlie. Lately, she has been playing with marbles in the living room, batting them around from one paw to another as she runs across the floor. On this night, the marble managed to get inside my shoe, and she wanted to get it out ...
She was pawing around inside the shoe for a while, rocking it. Because she heard the marble inside, down by the toe. But there it stayed--until she got the bright idea to tip the shoe up ...
Sure enough, the marble was freed from its prison. Charlie played for it a while ...
Charlie picked up the marble in her mouth, walked back to the shoe ... and dropped it back in there, so she could play with it again. In and out ...
A week or so ago, we had Charlie's exotic cat toys spread out on the floor of the living room ...
They consist of both of the shoelaces from the old shoes (tied together), the plastic ring from a jug of milk, a larger plastic ring from a jar of applesauce, the inverted top of a stack of DVDs (with two marbles inside) and a plastic bag.
Charlie knows enough about physics to understand how to get the marbles out: Simply tip the plastic DVD top on its side, and there you are ...
Well, if you look closely in the next photo, there's a half roll of candy inside--Smarties, I think--and Charlie is wrestling with the bag to get it out ...
Then Charlie and I decided to go fishing. My "line" was the tied-together shoelaces. I would throw it out, Charlie would catch an end and start wrestling with it as I slowly tried to pull it back. At one point, she wore both shoelaces on her back atop my mom's old old sewing chest--much to the puzzlement of Maggie, watching in back ...
Maggie, who is nearing her 16th year, is getting thinner all the time. Unfortunately, she still won't get along with Charlie. So, some time after our trip to Detroit, we will visit the animal shelter to see if we can find a playmate for a kitty who would dearly like someone to play with.
Trip report, part 2
This was already posted at Vox, a few days back. So don't go looking for anything new here. But I promised to post part 2 of the visit to the neopagan camp in southern Wisconsin, so ...
Earlier, I wrote about the first day and a half there. Before I start the report on my last full day, I want to write about the people I met there.
The people: Without exception, the people there are some of the kindest and friendliest you would ever want to know. Most of them are in their 40s and 50s, are very intelligent and think for themselves. When they feel society's rules are wrong, they have no problem ignoring them. (Before you ask, illegal drugs are strictly prohibited, and I have never seen as much as a joint there.) There are some people who are recovering, but they seem to have their lives under control (as much as anyone can say they are in control in these times).
Roughly 30 to 35 people attended this year, a little bit down from previous events--these people are not immune from financial problems and pay the same for gas as you and I do. Some are more outgoing, some are more quiet. But they seem to have a good grip on what is happening in their lives. You rarely hear about "dysfunctional" families here. Everyone takes their personal relationships and extended families very seriously.
Earlier, I mentioned the attitude towards nudity: It simply is not a big deal among people who are at peace with themselves and their bodies. More than one person said things that match how I feel: that we are all beautiful, whatever our bodies look like--young or old, fat or thin--and only by loving yourself the way you are (forgiving yourself your "faults") can you ever love others unconditionally, the way they are. Your true beauty is what's inside your heart; whether you have a loving, caring, giving heart.
In general, people wore as many clothes as they wanted to wear. Except while I got my henna tattoo, I always wore a T-shirt, shorts and sandals/shoes. Saw no evidence that any underwear was packed along. Saw no evidence that any of the women worry about wrinkles or graying hair. Saw no evidence that any of the women shave their nether parts--and many leave their armpits alone, too. These people are not slaves to fashion or fads. As I said, they like themselves the way they are.
Polyamory: I'm not sure if it's unanimous, but I'm sure the vast majority there believe and practice polyamory. Do you know what that means?
The popular definition is "responsible non-monogamy." There was a discussion of polyamory ("poly," for short) on the third day of the event, and it drew the biggest crowd of any of the talks; the most interest. I recorded that discussion (which went about 1 1/2 hours) and listened to part of it later, and what comes through loud and clear is how passionately they feel about poly; the deep commitment they feel towards all their partners; and their determination to make their relationships work.
To summarize their feeling about monogamy, it is this: Monogamy works for many people, and more power to them. But as for me, the idea of lifelong monogamy to one person just isn't realistic because one person can not meet all of another person's needs. Face it: We are all different. We are not clones. Does monogamy work? "Till death do us part"? Look at the divorce rate.
Poly can come in many forms--it's often one couple, where each partner has additional lovers they spend time with on occasion. Don't think it's easy to do, because it isn't. It takes time and patience. It takes commitment. It takes love. It takes maturity. These people have seen life, and they feel this way of living makes the most sense to them.
Saturday: The final full day of the event started quietly. My main activity during the morning was (are you ready for this?) weeding. I was part of a team that had planted trees and bushes there about two years ago, and a small group (three) of us went out to cut/remove the weeds around them. There were a lot of trees and bushes, and we only made a start at the work. With more people, of course ...
The weather was sunny and warm; the cool from the night before was only a memory.
Around mid-day, we had a discussion about the future of the campsite, which is located atop a hill in a rural area, with fields and a wooded area; the tents were set up in the woods near the field, and the circle is down a slope further in the woods. The picnic shelter is in the field, near the tents, and that's where this discussion/lunch took place. The main plans involve putting in a well so a shower building can be built someday. We have to haul in our own water for drinking, and the only shower available is a sun shower--an area is set aside for that. Everyone is looking forward to a shower facility, believe me. It will have men's, women's and mixed shower areas.
After that was the polyamory discussion, described above. Then there was a rehearsal for the main ritual, taking place that night. I took part; I spoke for our descendents.
The main ritual took place at about 7:30, and things went well--I figured out something to say. Then, the fire was built up, and some drummers got to work.
A quiet woman had arrived during my second day there. On Saturday, we got to talking for a while. After the ritual, as the drumming and dancing started, we were seated next to each other and talked some more about our lives. She mentioned how good it felt when someone rubbed her back a little while earlier, so I asked her to turn her back to me.
I started rubbing her back. Mainly the upper back and shoulders. Very softly, soft pressure from my fingers. And she was purring. Later, she turned around, and I reached inside the sleeves of her sweatshirt and started softly stroking her forearms. More purring. Once I ran the edges of my thumbnails along the inside of the forearms. She liked that too.
She had told me earlier that she did not want to have sex with anyone. That was fine. We were still getting close and having skin-on-skin contact in the far reaches of the fire's light.
After a while I looked up and saw that the last traces of daylight were gone, and the stars were out. How bright they were! I pointed that out and suggested we go out into the field, away from the fire's light, to enjoy them better. She agreed. She got a rug from her tent as we walked past. Brief bathroom break, and then we were walking up the entry road to a grassy area along the road--the same place where I tried to get the star picture the night before.
It was just as spectacular a night--sky black as ink, stars gleaming brightly. The Big Dipper to the north. Cassiopeia in the northeast. And stretching over the sky, from one horizon to the other, the Milky Way, easily visible. Along the periphery of the woods, fireflies were dancing and lighting up the night. Many fireflies. They have lots of fireflies there. Up north, they are hard to find.
We also saw a few thin streaks of light from meteors--and then, to the south, a big, bright shooting star. "Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!" she said. "That's the brightest I've ever seen!" Same for me.
But it was another cool night--I had a light sweater with me, too, and eventually resumed the back rub, And we talked about other things. She travels a lot, and she's into S&M. I've never experienced that (along with many other things) but know a little about it, such as the "safety" words that will stop a scenario. We talked about that for a while. She travels to L.A. several times a year for S&M clubs, and she has boyfriends here and there. She is a busy person. In her real life, she is employed in the health field.
We lay side-by-side for a while, with her head on my chest. But a breeze built up, and we both were getting a little chilled. Time to leave the stars and fireflies and shooting stars behind us--it was 1 a.m. already, and it sounded as if everyone else had gone to bed. I walked her back to her tent, we had a long, warm hug, I gave her a little kiss--she did not want a big one. After waiting for her to find her own flashlight, I went off to my tent, got inside, took my pills, lay down and was asleep within 10 minutes.
All we did was cuddle and talk (I did all the caressing, alas; she was quite content to absorb the love and affection, not giving much back). I had hopes, of course, but in the end I never stepped into anyone else's tent, and nobody stepped into mine. I was mainly focused on renewing acquaintances with the people there; the last time I had been there for any time was in 2005.
Sunday: The final day was short. I woke up early to start packing all my gear away. Too much stuff never got used, I decided. The tent came down fairly easily, and I was surprised when I was able to get it back in its zippered bag (after some squishing to force out trapped air--this time I remembered to keep the zippers slightly open to let air escape.)
A silent auction was held, to raise money for the group, and after some bidding, I won a set of reprints of the "fairy books" compiled by Andrew Lang about a century ago--as old as the 1890s. There are about 12 fairy books, and I got all nine books available. The stories are taken from various traditions; from the most familiar authors (Grimm, Andersen) to stories from many nationalities around the world. I considered it a nice find.
There was one final, brief ritual to end the event, and then it was hugs and kisses as the group broke up to head for home. I talked briefly with the woman from Saturday night's stargazing, but we did not exchange phone numbers or e-mail addresses. Maybe I will see her again next year. Time will tell.
Then, the long (six-hour) back home. I needed to take a pair of breaks for catnaps along the way, but I still got back home before 6 p.m.
It's nice to be back home ... but at the same time I'm very glad I went, and I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone again. Just 51 weeks from now.
Copy, paste, copy, paste
This was posted on Vox a day or two ago, but still ... looks like I'm double-posting.
Hi, everyone. The apparent death (though the coroner hasn't visited yet) of Efx2 has kept me hopping over this past week. Once again, Vox and Blogspot are the places to post, and I am trying to learn the features of each in my spare time ... which has been in short supply.
Project No. 1 this week has been backing up my Efx2 posts. I usually do that in the office, but I logged out of there last time, so I can't log back on now. But I am still logged in here at home, so it's been a fun time of copying posts and pasting them into a diary program I have. I am back to June 2006 now, so I only have about six months to go.
I also wanted to write about my experiences at the neopagan festival in Wisconsin, and that took some time, too.
This weekend, we had one of the major summer local events here, so I was busy covering that. I was at a youth boxing show on Friday night, an ethnic softball game Saturday night and a 10K run Sunday morning. I enjoyed the boxing the most. They have had that going on for the last three years, but this was the first time I managed to see it, and it was a blast.
This time, another summer event, this time in my town. It's the local Prohibition-themed event that started last year, and I will be getting pictures of a stage show (local talent) and the inevitable parade. It should be fun. I wrote something about it last year--maybe I'll repeat some of it here, now that the Efx2 ship has foundered and sank with all hands aboard.
Then, on Sunday, something brand new for me. I am going down to visit S and her husband ... and the three of us are going to a clothes-optional beach (really, a former farm with a nice pond on it). I contacted the guy last year, he wrote back last month (problems with the people in charge, he explained, but it's OK now). S and her husband, who already go there, are eager to go there with me. Sounds good to me. I'm just going down there for the day, driving back in the evening.
My wife hasn't made an official decision, but she will probably stay home. Doesn't matter that "clothes-optional" means you can stay dressed if you want--nobody's forcing you. I asked her about it, and she couldn't give me an answer. I had to suggest "Are you uncomfortable about it?" and she said yes. I asked her why she feels that way, and she couldn't verbalize a reason. This is not at all unusual. Sometimes, she can be very frustrating.
I have some new photos of Charlie to post, too. Charlie has playing a lot in the living room, and I want to show you some of her "exotic" kitty playthings. Give me a couple days.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Trip Report, Part 1
(I promised a report on my trip to the neopagan camp last week. With the switchover to two new blogging sites + a busy week + time to write, the report (from Vox) never got done. But it's getting done now. Part 2 will appear in a day or so ...)
Wednesday: I left home at about 8:30 a.m. (after the usual breakfast with my wife) and started driving south, going slightly out of my way to visit S. I planned to arrive late in the morning, have lunch with her and talk until about 2 p.m. Then it's time to hit the road.
S was baby-sitting a seven-week-old baby that day. The baby cooperated by sleeping for most of the time. We sat around the kitchen table, talking about this and that. Her daughter arrived, and we talked some more. Then she left. Along the way, we had a friendly hug or two or three. It was nice to be with each other again.
Time passed. By now it was well past 2, and S suggested that I stay at their house for the night. When her husband got home from work, he agreed that would be a good thing.
It had been stormy in southwestern Wisconsin that day--I had been checking the radar map on the Weather Channel. In case it was raining near my destination, I planned to take a motel room for the night and finish the drive the next morning. Staying with them would cost me time ... but save me money. Not a hard decision. Their teenage son had just moved out, and they said I could use his room upstairs. It was a bit of a wreck--he and his friends used it as their hangout--but the bed was firm.
In exchange for saving me motel costs, I took S and her husband out for supper. After that, we went to a park in town, where Pioneer Days (I think that was the name) was just setting up. We walked around there for a while, and I got a few pictures. Then we went north of town to a little place on the shore of Lake Winnebago, an area where he had been raised. There was a park there, and a little lighthouse. We walked around as the sun set.
We went back to their place, and I can't remember what we did between then and bedtime. But we all were getting tired, and before long I was upstairs.
Thursday: The next morning, S wasn't feeling so good. She has been battling pain off and on since her fall off a porch last fall (pulled off the porch by her dogs). All that walking around the night before had aggravated a sciatic condition in her left leg. She also has an undiagnosed pain in the lower abdomen that so far has not been identified--all tests so far have been negative. She got word about her cervical exam while I talked with her the day before--nothing wrong there, thank goodness.
But she clearly was walking with pain the next morning, and when I hugged her good-bye, I was real careful, as I told her to "Get better." I drove away, feeling sad.
It took three hours or so to the gathering. I had to make a few stops along the way, getting some goodies, some "natural" snack foods to pass around, lunch (at Subway) and a tarp. I arrived, registered, set up the tent (with some help--it's not a one-man operation) and moved my stuff in. It seemed like a lot of stuff. Then I started meeting people and renewing acquaintances.
A wide-ranging discussion on "The Future of Religion" took place in the afternoon, and a New Moon ritual followed in the evening at the main circle. A fire was started, but it was cool, and people soon started drifting away. As did I. I was tired and went to bed fairly early, about 11:30 p.m.
Friday: On the second morning (the Fourth of July) nothing much happened. I got to meet more of the people there. There was a presentation on "Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damned Lies, and Public Relations" at around noon.
In the afternoon, I got my tattoo. The occasion was a henna workshop, conducted by one of the women. Flashback: When my wife and I arrived there in 2006, we arrived right at this time, with people giving each other henna tattoos. And since it was nice and warm in the shelter, many of the people were nude, either semi or fully. It wasn't quite as warm this time, but it was warm enough for many people to dress down for the occasion. Arms, chests, shoulders, backs, tummies--all were bared and getting decorated with henna.
First of all, I had to show off my artistic skills (ahem!) because a woman I had been talking to earlier asked me to put a star on her belly--like the Sneetches in the Dr. Seuss story. Several factors made it a challenging task: (A) my artistic struggles; (B) the little bottle of henna ink had to be squeezed as you drew, and the flow wasn't consistent--hesitancy plus irregular flow made for a line that sort of came and went; (C) my canvas was completely naked, aside from her glasses and sandals, and lying on her back.
A little distracting. But look: I've been around naked people before, and it really is no big deal. The human body, created by the same Creator that created everything else in the universe, is beautiful. So, sitting at her side, I reached over her hips with my left hand to brace myself while drawing with my right hand. Once the henna was applied, she had to lie there for about 15 minutes for it to dry.
And then--fair is fair, after all--it was my turn. In 2005, I had opted for a tattoo on my ankle--a branch with leaves on it. This time, I chose something different: a yin-yang symbol, on my hip. That meant, of course, I had to take off my clothes. But, again, I don't have a problem with being seen naked. "If you can do it," I told her with a shrug, "I can do it." She laughed.
For a while, she reported, the tattoo was looking like the Safeway logo, but it came out pretty good. I had to lie about 15 minutes while it dried, and by then it was about time for "A Neo-Pagan Discussion of the Golden Rule, or Why I Am Not a Christian." That went nearly two hours--a wide-ranging, rambling discussion.
That was followed by a feast and "symposium" at the circle, with food and drink. Several kinds of wine and mead were passed around, along with some snacks. The annual reading of "The Sneetches" took place, and I was one of the readers. And then, after it got dark, we went back uphill to the picnic shelter to watch the 15-year-old son of one of the couples hold a fireworks show. We all cheered each rocket and display, and a number of people donated funds so we can have a bigger show next year.
Then many of us went back to the circle, with a fire going and some discussions. But now that it was dark, temperatures were dropping quickly. Everybody was dressed now. I went for a light sweatshirt over my T-shirt, blue jeans instead of shorts and athletic shoes instead of sandals.
I wanted to have a good time that night. I really did. But as I watched the flames, I remembered back to S and the pain she was feeling when I left her, and I started feeling bad. There was no drumming, nobody was dancing, and I opted to try another project. I had brought my tripod along, because I wanted to take pictures of the night sky, in a place with almost no atmospheric light pollution--the field where we entered the gathering. The stars were big and bright overhead, and I set up the tripod and aimed at the Big Dipper.
But it didn't go very well. While I got some great star pictures last February (during the lunar eclipse, when it was -10F outside), I couldn't get anything this time. I thought I was doing things right, but no results. I took two pictures, then gave up, took everything apart, put the tripod back in the car's trunk and took the camera bag back to the tent, feeling very frustrated. My night was over.
****
So is this entry. It's getting late, and I'm tired. One more full day to report on, and I'll do that next time--in a day or so.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
An even newer doghouse
So here we are again. The Efx2 ship has either sunk or is stuck on the rocks of neglect. In any case, I climbed in the lifeboat and will not be coming back.
I plan to double-post over here and at Vox (http://drdog.vox.com) for now. One thing you may want to note is that here at Blogger I am "dr_dog" and not "drdog," as I prefer it. The reason being that someone claimed the "drdog" name in 2002, made one short post (all in capital letters!!!) and never came back. And that is a reason why I never really warmed up to Blogger.
But it's sure stable, so I'm starting over here again. I don't like the underline, but oh well.
Reposted from Vox on July 6:
Once I got home from my mini-vacation Sunday evening, I was all eager to (A) kiss my wife, (B) take a shower and (C) catch up on the posts/comments at Efx2.
But Efx2 has also gone on vacation, and only time will tell if this is its long-anticipated permanent vacation. Is Efx2 heading for the last roundup? Is it a ghost ship, sailing the seas of the internet without a captain ... and now, without a crew, either?
I feel bad, because a lot of people put mucho work and love into it. More so than the captain, who apparently has walked away. The signs of what was to come were obvious. I read a post (over here) from Libertine that notes (and I quote), "Really, one knows a blog hosting site is in trouble when you visit the blog administrator's site and the last post made more than a half a year ago is filled with spam comments." Amen.
In that case, you have to abandon ship, and I'm getting into the lifeboat, too. This is quite enough. If--and it seems a big if now--Efx2 gets its act together, I'll come back and read people's blogs. But I'm not going to post there any more--unless it's a teaser for a post I make here.
It's tough to cut ties ... but sometimes you have to reluctantly move on. I started this blog over here during a previous Efx2 outage and have posted the occasional piece over here. Now it's time to make this the primary blog.
Anyway ...
Reporting on my half week at the neopagan camp isn't going to be short, and I'm tired. Maybe, with a night's sleep, I can give it a good go tomorrow. I wrote S a long letter about it earlier tonight. So maybe I'll wind up copying long passages from that. It wouldn't be the first time I've done that.
Oh, hello, Charlie. My kitty came to visit. It's getting late, and she stopped by before going to bed. So I picked her up for a while and petted her and rubbed her head the way she likes. Now she's gone--probably towards the bedroom.
Yes, I think I'll cut this one short, but I'll be back tomorrow with my amazing adventures at the gathering, which is not your ordinary camp. Among the highlights ...
- Spending the night at S's house. (Yes, it's true.)
- Getting a tattoo.
- Wrestling with tents.
- Amazing people and observations on the fashion sense among this group.
- Going to look at the stars with a woman late at night. A wondrous night.
- Other amusing anecdotes.
By the way, you will not see a single picture in that post. I didn't take pictures there. Except for two. And that's a story, too.
I know it sounds like a storytelling mess that I'll never get straightened out. (Like Modblog ... er, Efx2.) But in the end, I'll explain everything with amazing clarity and wit.
I hope.In fact, I wrote the first part of it last night, and posted it at Vox. I'll cross-post that here later today.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Meet me over at Vox
I'm back from my mini vacation, to the pagan festival. Evidently, efx2 has decided to go on vacation, too.
So I will post an update over at [URL="http://drdog.vox.com"]my other blog over at Vox[/URL] later tonight. So meet me over there.
If you can read this.
Hello, hello? (tap, tap, tap) Is this thing on?
So I will post an update over at [URL="http://drdog.vox.com"]my other blog over at Vox[/URL] later tonight. So meet me over there.
If you can read this.
Hello, hello? (tap, tap, tap) Is this thing on?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Come along to Milwaukee
t's been hectic. I was very busy yesterday, packing things up for my trip, which means finding things and putting them in boxes, and then let's not forget the checklist. I don't do this often, and I don't want to leave behind anything I'd really need. So I plan and make lists, take too long on things probably and then fall behind on everything else I had to do.
Last night for example. I wanted to write a post (mostly photos) about highlights from the Milwaukee trip in mid June, but it was on the list between playing with my wife (done) and mowing the lawn (not done). And now it's Wednesday morning, and I'm planning to leave in about an hour and a half.
Bottom line is this going to be really short and terse. Yes, me writing something terse! Who would have thought? So, without further ado, photos from our trip to Milwaukee.
THE DOMES
The first main stop was the Mitchell Park Domes. We had lived there for a few years without ever visiting the city's big horticultural center--the domes were built in the 1950s, I think. Here's what they look like ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Domes-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
There are three domes. One of them has changing exhibits. This one shows an Appalachian Spring ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-AppySpr-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
The other two domes have permanent exhibits. This one shows plants from arid areas ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-DomesArid-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and the third dome shows plants from tropical areas ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-DomesTrop-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
We spent a lot of time there, strolling all the different plants, trees, cacti and so forth. The domes are climate-controlled, so the arid dome had low humidity, and the tropical dome was just the opposite.
One more thing to show from the Domes: The beautifully carvings on the entry doors to each dome. This photo shows them best ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Domedoors-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
THE MUSEUM
We hadn't been to the Milwaukee Public Museum for years (of course, we have lived in the U.P. for the last 30 years or so, and trips back south have been few and far between). But despite some changes (an Imax theater/planetarium), some parts of the museum just don't change. Three examples. First, the diorama of Plains Indians hunting buffalo ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusBuffhunt-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Then, a diorama showing the Navy ship landing at the future site of Milwaukee, talking to some of the current residents ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-1stvisit-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
And finally, a fun one: some bears raiding a honey tree, getting some sweet treats despite the angry bees' counterattack ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Musbeartree-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
The museum has also added a butterfly room. Here are some butterflies getting some sweetness ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusButterfly-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and a little girl who had a butterfly land on her hand ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusGirlBfly-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
She's dressed for the occasion, don't you think?
And it was here that we got one final look at Samson, the gorilla who lived at the Milwaukee Zoo for many years. Make no mistake about it: Samson was the star of the show at the zoo. He had personality, a certain aloofness and dignity as he dealt with all the people peering at him from the other side of the glass. Samson reigned in Milwaukee for many years.
But he finally died, and this is poor Samson today: stuffed and on display and having to suffer the indignity of someone grinning and looking at his butt. Samson deserved a lot better than this ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusSamson-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Another museum feature we liked was intact: the "Streets of Old Milwaukee," where you can walk down an old-time street and look in the windows of shops and businesses. How about dropping by the general store first?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMStore-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Next stop is the local druggist. Anybody need any leeches while we're here?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMDrug-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Or how about some patent medicine?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-PatMeds-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
OK, I know you're thirsty from walking around with us all day. So let's stop at the local tavern for some brew ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMTavern-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
AN OLD BRIDGE AND A GOOFY TREE
The next day, we visited Cedarburg, which is where my wife was raised. We stopped by her old house (unoccupied today, alas) and visited downtown. I had one special stop in mind. North of town. Somewhere we often went when we were going out ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeA-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
It's the only covered bridge remaining in Wisconsin, and it's just north of Cedarburg. As you see, the road bypasses the bridge now (it was "retired" in 1962), but the bridge still stands. So we walked through it again, as we did many times in the past ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeB-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and as many couples have over the last 132 years, since it was built in 1876.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeC-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
We also visited a small quilt museum just out of town. I've shown you a lot of quilts over the years, so I'll pass on the quilts themselves for the time being. I found something a lot more interesting in back. It's a tree that is growing on its side ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Oddtree-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
For some reason, the trunk of the tree is parallel to the ground. It splits after about six feet, and only then do you see the branches and leaves. I don't know what kind of tree it is, and I certainly don't know how or why it grew this way. But ... here it is. Stranger than fiction.
We made one other stop: a museum in Cedarburg that looks like an old store--say from the 1930s and 1940s. Old packaging, old items. For those of you who are about my age, it will stir up the memories. I'll write something about it (with pictures, or course), but that will happen another day.
For now it's time to pack the final items and then hit the road. See you all in a few days.
Last night for example. I wanted to write a post (mostly photos) about highlights from the Milwaukee trip in mid June, but it was on the list between playing with my wife (done) and mowing the lawn (not done). And now it's Wednesday morning, and I'm planning to leave in about an hour and a half.
Bottom line is this going to be really short and terse. Yes, me writing something terse! Who would have thought? So, without further ado, photos from our trip to Milwaukee.
THE DOMES
The first main stop was the Mitchell Park Domes. We had lived there for a few years without ever visiting the city's big horticultural center--the domes were built in the 1950s, I think. Here's what they look like ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Domes-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
There are three domes. One of them has changing exhibits. This one shows an Appalachian Spring ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-AppySpr-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
The other two domes have permanent exhibits. This one shows plants from arid areas ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-DomesArid-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and the third dome shows plants from tropical areas ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-DomesTrop-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
We spent a lot of time there, strolling all the different plants, trees, cacti and so forth. The domes are climate-controlled, so the arid dome had low humidity, and the tropical dome was just the opposite.
One more thing to show from the Domes: The beautifully carvings on the entry doors to each dome. This photo shows them best ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Domedoors-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
THE MUSEUM
We hadn't been to the Milwaukee Public Museum for years (of course, we have lived in the U.P. for the last 30 years or so, and trips back south have been few and far between). But despite some changes (an Imax theater/planetarium), some parts of the museum just don't change. Three examples. First, the diorama of Plains Indians hunting buffalo ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusBuffhunt-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Then, a diorama showing the Navy ship landing at the future site of Milwaukee, talking to some of the current residents ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-1stvisit-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
And finally, a fun one: some bears raiding a honey tree, getting some sweet treats despite the angry bees' counterattack ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Musbeartree-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
The museum has also added a butterfly room. Here are some butterflies getting some sweetness ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusButterfly-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and a little girl who had a butterfly land on her hand ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusGirlBfly-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
She's dressed for the occasion, don't you think?
And it was here that we got one final look at Samson, the gorilla who lived at the Milwaukee Zoo for many years. Make no mistake about it: Samson was the star of the show at the zoo. He had personality, a certain aloofness and dignity as he dealt with all the people peering at him from the other side of the glass. Samson reigned in Milwaukee for many years.
But he finally died, and this is poor Samson today: stuffed and on display and having to suffer the indignity of someone grinning and looking at his butt. Samson deserved a lot better than this ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-MusSamson-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Another museum feature we liked was intact: the "Streets of Old Milwaukee," where you can walk down an old-time street and look in the windows of shops and businesses. How about dropping by the general store first?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMStore-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Next stop is the local druggist. Anybody need any leeches while we're here?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMDrug-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
Or how about some patent medicine?
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-PatMeds-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
OK, I know you're thirsty from walking around with us all day. So let's stop at the local tavern for some brew ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-OMTavern-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
AN OLD BRIDGE AND A GOOFY TREE
The next day, we visited Cedarburg, which is where my wife was raised. We stopped by her old house (unoccupied today, alas) and visited downtown. I had one special stop in mind. North of town. Somewhere we often went when we were going out ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeA-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
It's the only covered bridge remaining in Wisconsin, and it's just north of Cedarburg. As you see, the road bypasses the bridge now (it was "retired" in 1962), but the bridge still stands. So we walked through it again, as we did many times in the past ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeB-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
... and as many couples have over the last 132 years, since it was built in 1876.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-CovbridgeC-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
We also visited a small quilt museum just out of town. I've shown you a lot of quilts over the years, so I'll pass on the quilts themselves for the time being. I found something a lot more interesting in back. It's a tree that is growing on its side ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mil08B-Oddtree-6-08.jpg[/IMG]
For some reason, the trunk of the tree is parallel to the ground. It splits after about six feet, and only then do you see the branches and leaves. I don't know what kind of tree it is, and I certainly don't know how or why it grew this way. But ... here it is. Stranger than fiction.
We made one other stop: a museum in Cedarburg that looks like an old store--say from the 1930s and 1940s. Old packaging, old items. For those of you who are about my age, it will stir up the memories. I'll write something about it (with pictures, or course), but that will happen another day.
For now it's time to pack the final items and then hit the road. See you all in a few days.
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