The Trip Begins

    

My brain was a squirrel cage last night as I tried to settle down to sleep. My thoughts ricocheted from left to right. That's what happens when one waits for a muse to show up! There wasn't much to write about yesterday.  It rained, off and on, all day.  And what can you say about the rain?  It poured. It came down in sheets.  It came down in buckets.  It drizzled.  It rained cats and dogs .... Ok you can say a lot about rain! But do I need to write a book?
     The only other story that I had was about the two guys working in the wood shop next to my studio. I could hear the saws buzzing away, when suddenly, they turned on some heavy, rock and roll music. It was blasting from the room! The recorded singer had a strong, steady voice. Then one of the guys, I'll call him Rick, who also plays in a band, started singing along with the recorded voice. I stopped dead in my tracks! Rick could not carry a tune in a zip lock bag! He screeched and see sawed on that song, giving it a jagged edge treatment but not in a good, groovy way. Luckily, when I came into my studio and the door snapped shut, I could no longer hear him.
     After work, I drove Philip over to Frye Electronics to get his truck. He had a back up camera installed in the dashboard. Now, he can throw the truck in reverse, check the back up monitor and gun it!  It's a luxury that comes with age.
     We stopped for dinner at a restaurant then headed home in the pouring rain. By now it was dark and my eyeballs squinted and pained to see the road. "You just had to stop for dinner!" they seemed to say. "You know how we feel about night driving and now look at this mess! We can't even tell the side walk from the street in this shiny, black darkness." They would have closed in exasperation but why should we all suffer?
   Did I tell you that Philip and I went to Canada in September? Luckily for us, our daughter's house is on the way and she invited us to come for the Black Swam Festival in Bowling Green, Ohio.
     Before I begin, I never actually saw a black swamp while in Bowling Green but since they have this festival every year, it must be there.

  On one of the days in Bowling Green, my daughter took us 

on this lovely garden tour at Simpson Garden Park.

 

We walked along stunning trails, viewing beauty all around us.

 

 

 

 

They had an especially wonderful children's garden.

 

 

 

This is my grand daughter. I'll call her .... T Bone .... she was especially

 excited to discover a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar in the garden.

Her second grade class was in the middle of studying Monarch Butterflies.

 

Then we became a little uneasy as we spotted gobs of vultures circling overhead.

There must have been two dozen or more of these creepy, cool birds looking for a BIG feast.

 

 

Stay tuned for more - next time.

Oh, Baby, Baby.

    Last night, around 11:30 PM, I sat in my living room and waited for my writing muse to show up. I waited about 30 minutes then decided she wasn't coming, so I went to bed.
     My husband had already gone to bed but was leaning against the backboard, reading a book. Right now he is reading "How Not To Be Wrong," - (such a promising title). The book is by Jordan Ellenbery and it's about the power of mathematical thinking.
     So as I am getting ready for bed, Philip says "I love this book!" Mind you, he never even looked up from it's pages.
     "Why?" I asked.
     "It explains mathematical theories in an easy to understand way," he said.
     As I climbed under the covers, he went on to tell me how this teenage girl went to a Target in Minnesota and bought unscented lotion, cotton balls and mineral supplements. Using this information, the folks at Target and their associates at Guest Marketing Analytics started sending the girl coupons for baby gear.
    I'm laying there listening to him go on about how they got it so wrong with their super powered algorithms! And how all of this had caused a real problem.
   When he stopped talking for a minute I said "Well? What? Was she pregnant?"
And he said "YES! She was pregnant! And it caused a lot of problems because her father saw those coupons coming to her in the mail. He was furious that Target knew about her pregnancy before him!"
     I was totally amazed that the geniuses at Target had nailed that one so totally. Then Phil added that the algorithms make mistakes, a lot of mistakes!
    I was lying there totally stunned and amazed with Target and floated off to dreamland.


* Tomorrow, I hope to start a series of stories on my travels with my husband this past summer.
    

Monday, Monday

     I am sitting in my living room. Waiting. It's 11:10 PM. Any minute now, a great inspiration will hit me. While I wait, I'll tell you a little about my day.
     This morning at 8 AM, I arrived in Pendleton, Indiana for a dental appointment. It was a simple cleaning but I dreaded it anyway.
     Kim, the hygienist was dressed in blue gray scrubs - metallic. As she put on her miner's head lamp to go exploring in the deep cave of my mouth, she handed me a pair of dark glasses. "You might want to put these on to protect your eyes from my light," she said. At first I put the dark glasses over my regular eye glasses, just being a goof! Then I got serious and took my eyeglasses off and put on the cool shades.
     Without my glasses, things up close look blurry. I lay in the chair, Kim the hygienist took out her digging tool and began prowling through my teeth. My mind wondered, pondering the day ahead, the beautiful fall morning, what I might have for breakfast after my dental appointment, and then I looked up at blurry Kim, dressed in metal and her Cyclops light and I began to imagine that I was way in the future and a robot, all metal and lights, was cleaning my teeth. It felt scary and funny, all at the same time. My mind messes with me like that sometimes.  Then I got a cramp in my foot.  My body fights back.

A Quick Note While I Stand On Your Toe.

 

 

     The other night around 11PM, I suddenly got the urge to write. I took a piece of advice from one of my Pinterest boards and bar the door, I was out there for a short flight - basically two paragraphs of a few choice words, then a landing. 

     Later, as I got ready for bed, I thought to myself, "What shall I write about now?" I could feel the tumblers rolling around in my brain and then the light went on at "guns."  Yikes, scary subject.

     I was lying in bed, my brain buzzing and I began to think about what I would do if a thief broke in and stole my television. Of course, a person doesn't really know what they would actually do in a real situation but I pray that I would not shoot anyone over a television.  I would of course consider shooting the television if I got the chance! It would thrill my heart to be able to destroy that set - right in their arms. Of course this spurred an idea for an app that could enact a doomsday machine inside your missing piece of stolen technology. With certain codes and buttons, a stolen machine could be rendered trash in minutes flat.  America, you can have that one! OK, go!

      I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. My Dad and as far as I know, all my uncles had guns - mostly rifles and shotguns.  I cannot tell you what kind or how many guns my Dad owned. He did not talk about them and we rarely ever saw them.  Dad and my uncles owned these simple guns to help their families. They hunted on occasion, and what they shot - we ate - mostly. They also used their guns to defend their gardens from the varmints that would eat the food our families depended on.

     In those days, folks didn't yammer on about their guns. There wasn't a race to see who could have the biggest, most powerful weapon. It wouldn't have made sense to shoot a rabbit in the cabbage patch with a gun that made a dead rabbit inedible.

     Also, most young men, growing up in the country, took a class in school on gun safety. I don't know if this was through the FFA or high school shop class. Being safe with a gun was important. Nobody screamed government interference in their freedom.

    Move into our present time and it seems like a gun free for all. It's the wild west all over again! This is one thing that I do not understand. A machine gun, which fires 500 to 800 rounds per minute, is illegal to personally own (as far as I can gather.) Yet, an AR-15 (assault rifle) fires as fast as you can pull the trigger with an average of 800 rounds per minute. Why isn't this gun and ones like it, illegal? Why would anyone outside the military need to own a gun like this? So for those of you who are throwing the Second Amendment in my face - don't. You can use this time to weigh out the words "Well 'regulated' " against "shall not be infringed" - and that's a dog chasing it's tail.

     We need a license to drive a car - and that usually means studying a driving manual, then taking a written and driving test ( with a renewal every four years). It's to make sure a person knows what they're doing with a vehicle which can easily become a deadly weapon. We don't shake in our boots because someone has asked us to show that we are responsible - with a car.  The rationale that expects us to be mentally fit to drive a car, should also apply to guns. A gun is a serious piece of equipment.

    I don't want to ban guns, I might need one myself someday.  I would like to see some common sense show up to figure out the modern day gun scene! And don't bother with "We have to be ready to overthrow the government." Are you kidding me? It's like someone recently pointed out "You're taking a gun to a clone fight." Here's a clue, the government has the BIG guns.  We'd be better off studying civil disobedience and getting good at that if we really need to change our government. (Hmm, maybe that's what it's going to take to make changes in the existing assault rifle laws.)

 

 

     The dead coyote at the top of the page was hit by a car

at the corner of 950N and 125W in Fortville, Indiana.

The dead coyote at the bottom of the page

was hit by a car on HWY 221 between Woodlawn and North Cove, N.C.

That concludes my collection of dead coyote pictures.

  Cars are dangerous!

       

    

 

 

 

Writing and then some.

     I think about writing - a lot. In my mind, whose doors and windows are surely eeking closed as the days pass - I am living a large writer's life! On my mind mantel you will see a Pulitzer / make that two Pulitzer Prizes for writing. There's a Nobel Prize in Literature and a dusty Oscar for that Hollywood musical I worked on. My brain dusts these awards on a daily basis.

     The truth betrays these lies. Nothing has been written in quite a while. And as I write this post, much of what I will tell you will sound like excuses... not enough time, no inspiration from my muse, distractions, tired, etc (whatever 'etc'  might mean). The truth is I've not been writing - at all!

     This past week I came across a Pinterest site that called to me. "How to Get Back Into Writing After a Long Break, at MandyWallace.com. It's a simple article that's inspired this post. She suggested a journal entry to loosen things up. The other option was to write the same thing over and over like: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy- into infinity. And isn't that a 'Shining' moment?  Hang on, that might be coming.

     I am writng these words. Nothing here for the Pulitzer committee to look over.  Just some written words to get my gears loosened up for the writing that I would like to be doing.

What We Did During Spring Break 1990

 

These pictures represent a spring break trip that our family took around 1990. Most folks plan a trip to warm places like Florida, Myrtle Beach or even Jamaica for spring break - a little get away from the winter forces. And this was the argument we all presented to Philip (my husband) when he got the big idea for us to go north - yes, north, to Holland, Michigan for our spring break.

 

 

Philip told us that Holland, Michigan holds a huge Tulip Festival every spring.  He told us this in mid March, not knowing that the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan takes place in mid May. So we set out for the Dunes (which Philip loves) and the tulips of Holland, Michigan.

 

 

We arrived in the afternoon to beautiful, sun filled streets but no people anywhere in sight. Once we got out of our car, we knew why the streets were deserted. And knew instantly where the people were - inside! The lake effect winds (and Holland, Michigan sets right on the lake - on the front lines of lake effect anything) hit us like stinging bees! It was cold! I don't think the temperature got above 20 degrees for the entire time we were there.

 

 

Did I tell you that there was not a living tulip in sight? Just lots of posters about the coming Tulip Festival, many weeks away. So we made the most of it and drove around town to see the sights. One of the coolest attractions in Holland, Michigan is the Big Red Lighthouse.

 

 

Yet the main memory that sticks with me about that trip was the bitter cold. Wet, piercing cold. And then that fog that set in at night. It was like a scene from The Shining. The scene where Jack Nicholson's crazy character (wielding an ax) is chasing that young child through the streets. We'd decided to walk from our motel to a restaurant which was about 100 yards away. The parking lot was empty. The thick, soupy fog blurred the light from the street lights and the wind came at us like razors. When you're wearing gloves and keep thinking that you need to put on gloves (over your existing gloves), it's cold! It would have been a perfect time to pierce our noses. Ah, good times.

 

This particular spring break trip was also one of the last, if not the very last trip that our daughter, Kora, took with us as a complete family unit.

 

And I write about it now in honor of her upcoming 40th birthday. Let's all get together one of these years and go to the actual, Holland Michigan Tulip Festival. Like your Dad told us then "It'll be fun."

 

Father Washington

 

 

 

   It's a beautiful room, full of sun and lovely furniture. A picture of peace. It's the room where President George Washington left this world. It's Washington's bedroom at Mt. Vernon. I post this here like a roadside, memorial cross. My little, online shrine.

   I drive about 35 miles round trip, four days a week, to my job in Anderson, Indiana. One day I decided to go by the local library and get some audio books to listen to on my travels.

   I chose Ron Chernow's book, Washington: A Life. It was read by Scott Brick.

   I put the first disc, of the 12 disc book, into my car disc player and the world of motoring, sound technology, history and story telling came together in a lovely way for my daily journey. And it's amazing how much the reader can affect the experience of an audio book. For instance, I recently checked out a book by Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without A Country. The reader seemed to be trying to sound like Kurt Vonnegut. It was so irritating that I couldn't make it through the three disc set. Scott Brick was flawless in his reading of Washington: A Life.

   I didn't know that much about George Washington, other than what we all learn in elementary school. I knew he was the first president, born February 22, 1732, the cherry tree and the truth teller, slave holder, military man and the false teeth. Yet, this book helped put the human side to the father of our country.

   Here's a few Washington factoids:

* Washington never had wooden teeth.

*By age 30, Washington had survived smallpox, malaria, dysentery, and other diseases. He had a strong, physical constitution.

*Washington never fathered any children of his own.

*Washington lost more battles than he won but still ranks as a great general.

*Land rich but cash poor, Washington had to borrow money to attend his inauguration in New York city in 1789.

*His public life took a huge toil on his finances.

*Washington nearly died twice during his first term as president. First from a tumor on his thigh and then from pneumonia.

*Washington is the only president to ever lead an army in battle - the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.

*Neither George nor Martha Washington liked Thomas Jefferson, even though Jefferson served as Washington's Secretary of State.
 

   They say that hindsight is 20/20. And it's easy for us to sit here in the present and pass judgment on those who have come before us. Slavery was and is wrong. Many of our forefathers wrestled with the whole slavery issue. They weren't ignorant to the morality of it. This includes George Washington. He was a politician, so his views shifted depending on who he was with. He had to re-assure the southern plantation owners who definitely wanted their slaves excluded from liberty. Yet, there were the northern abolitionist who sought liberty for all.

    At the end of George Washington's life, he wrote a will that freed all of his slaves (when his wife, Martha, passed away). Martha did not wait for long before she freed his slaves early. She was worried that George's slaves might be tempted to shorten her life.

   An item in his will that few people are aware of is that he instructed that all his young slaves should be taught to read and write, as well as be taught a trade before they were freed. He also left instructions for the care of his elderly (freed) slaves. He set aside a life time pension for his personal slave - William Lee.

    George Washington sacrificed a great deal for America. His actions before and during his presidency preserved the nation and set a high bar for all future presidents.

     There's an excellent site for Washington's home at Mt Vernon - (mountvernon.org). This site offers an online tour of Mt. Vernon and the surrounding gardens.
    I post this entry today, February 22, 2014 in honor of President George Washington - the Father Of Our Country.