I was digging myself into a large hole. Where was that downspout? Click on photo for larger image. Imagine living through the DC blizzard of "aught ten" (I know that's not grammatically correct but it sounds good). Then imagine your arthritic back survived the post-storm shoveling of your paths, your driveway, and your car. And you managed not to fall and break your hip as melted snow refroze every night. All the while, you enjoyed watching the longest stalactites ever form off your roof as the temperature rose and slowly, but surely the heavy snow receded. Wouldn't you want to help...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 21.12.2009
The Entrance to our Narnia
The beginning of an 18 inch snowfall. Click image for larger view. I live in the burbs of DC but on Saturday, like Lucy Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia I opened my closet door, I mean my front door to see this scene as the beginnings of what was to become an 18 inch snowfall unfolded before me. You might remember I took a similar photograph when I woke up to dense fog on Thanksgiving morning. I love the snow (as long as I'm sitting by a roaring fire in a Swiss chalet). What I don't like is shoveling our...
Barely Socially Acceptable, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 12.12.2009
Flattery Will Get You
Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
For the last year I've been getting email newsletters from the dealership where I bought my car. Although my Volkswagen is over nine years old the dealer wants to keep in touch with me. Naturally, they want to keep me loyal to their service department and, when it's time, entice me to buy a new car. I understand and appreciate this as part of good customer service. I like hearing about the new VWs and car safety. But the newsletter also clearly includes fluff pieces about new recipes, pushing one to try new experiences like skydiving and trapeze school,...
The view from our house. Click on image to enlarge. Woke up this Thanksgiving to dense fog. After a little breakfast in the peace and quiet of the early morning I put my coat on over my PJs and walked a few feet out our front door to take this photograph. The last of the colorful autumn leaves was a great counterpoint to the atmospheric mist just above the forest path. To my Southern California friends who are expecting an 80°F holiday, eat your hearts out. This is what Thanksgiving is supposed to look like! Now that everyone is up, Susie and...
I went to Santa Fe and all I got was this wonderful portrait of my daughters. Click image for larger view. It's the week after Labor Day. The girls are back in school and I've got deadlines at work. It's been rainy and cool and I'm starting to see just a hint of fall colors on the trees above my head. Way too early, I think. Summer, my favorite season, has instantaneously migrated to fall, my least favorite. I know what's coming (PDF). Our family vacation to Santa Fe just two weeks ago is starting to seem like a very distant...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 19.08.2009
The Pickle in Me
I woke up with it and by mid afternoon I had a full-blown craving for a nice crisp dill pickle. I wasn't prepared for this kind of focus. Thinking it merely a strange, but temporary condition I carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. But it didn't go away. It was only on the first day my two week vacation that buying the perfect pickle had risen to the top of my to-do list. Half Sours on the right and the more pickled Dills on the left. The choice was mine. I surveyed the choices in the refrigerated...
As I enter geezerhood my only consolation is that someday I'll look back and say "Ah to be 60 again!" To those of you who might discount those of the older persuasion remember the words of John Bradford: "There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford." There but for the grace of God go I. Some day you too will ask yourself "How did this happen?" It seems to happen with quiet determination. So when do I get my senior discount? No, better yet, when do I get my own Wikipedia page? ...
I missed Father's Day. Again. Like last year, I booked a trip to LA only to discover it coincided with the day my family was supposed to honor my fatherhood. And just like last year everyone was happy to celebrate my family contributions this weekend instead. These yearly sojourns to Southern California are meant to keep connected to family and friends. Our mundane moments are communicated pretty well through email and periodic phone calls. These trips reveal more subtle changes: walking with a walker after a Thailand accident, no longer dying her hair, the desperate need for a dentist, and the...
The Happy Couple on Our Wedding Day Sixteen years. After sixteen years of marriage certain things fit perfectly. Two artists, we started with an artists' wedding and each year we're reminded of this beginning. It's a day to remember our coupling but also who each of us is. We both want to get back to making art. We've been going to the same restaurant for the past seven years to celebrate. Because of the restaurant's database, they always remember which anniversary we're celebrating and our menus are printed with a celebratory "Happy [Fill in the year] Anniversary." They always take us to...
Caffeine, you were my friend. I started my day with you and recently began seeing you on an ongoing basis in the late afternoon. When I realized you had no effect on my regular bedtime I relied on you to give me that extra push from my day job to my evening job as a dad and husband. Suddenly I had energy to do the dishes without being asked and to cheerfully help my girls with their homework. But no more. From now on I will do my evening work without your help. I've learned my lesson. Last Wednesday, as...