THINKING OF OTHERS TODAY

This has nothing to do with anything.
I thought it was cute.

Here's the deal. For some reason while I am having a nice lovely time, those that I care about are NOT.


Larry had an accident and hurt his back. Yikes. He's in pain.
He goes to see the doc tomorrow. Your back, like your feet can make your life a misery when they hurt. I'm no help at all there... all I can do is pester him on the phone at this point or on the computer. Waiting for the weekend to be helpful. Crap. The distance makes it difficult. My car is not well. Double crap. Otherwise I'd be there spoiling him and getting up ultra early to make the drive to my town to work. Poor guy.


I am concerned too for crazy4coens. Her computer is on the fritz and she cannot post or do much response. She has other things going on in her life right now that are unhappy. She is missing the support and fellowship with her blogger buddies. She asked me to make sure that you know that she is not absent, only unable to communicate at the moment. She is still following your blogs. She will return when she can. Until then, generally speaking, prayers or good positive thoughts would be a big help. She is such a wonderful person and a great huge part of my life... my safety net and sanity, my protector. Everyone should have the gift of such a friend. I know that I am blessed to have her.


On the work front... today was the first day of actual school at my school. It was oddly quiet and lonely for me without the high school kids. Of course, my own high school kid... my senior made enough noise to fill the gap. He had to register up river today. I had to find a way to get him there, registered and back without screwing myself up at work.
Contrary to what my family has always thought, they do expect me to show up and work for the pay they give me.


Deals were made. I now owe my Thursday afternoon to the secretary after my usual hours end. A time exchange of sorts. She is great about stuff like that. So in the space of two hours, I made two trips up river and back to drive Squeaky and another student. He got all the classes he wanted and could not have a better senior year load. He even has off campus time that he can spend at Bear's house.


Speaking of Bear... her birthday is on the 12th. We were supposed to celebrate it with a BBQ tonight. Nope. Family stuff came up on his side. Bear will be 26 I think. (I was there, you'd think I could recall.) Yep... did the math. That is about the age where birthdays and holidays stop being as big a deal as they used to be. Your needs give way to the needs of those you love. Sorry Bear. We will celebrate soon. I will make it happen one way or another. All the way to the moon and back, baby!


Well, that's all for today folks. Sort of a rambling post of my concerns. I'm fine personally. Happy even, except that it is hard to be too glad when those I care about are not happy. I hope happiness finds you today in some small way that gives you a smile. Meanwhile I'll do what I can to bring one to those mentioned above. Grins!

WONDERFUL LONG WEEKEND

Say hello to my new pal, "Buddy". He's a real cute guy. He likes to walk as much as I do. The four of us walked everyday here...









The area where Mr. O... now to be known as Larry... lives... is full of Christmas tree farms. Isn't that a hoot? I like to see the way they are so out of character next to the real woods.






This was really cool... it's a nice sized lake behind Larry's property. We brought the dogs here everyday to walk around it in a loop back home.






It has salamanders, snakes, turtles, dragonflies, trout, and all sorts of critters.
Dry this time of year... good thing we don't smoke.












It has a big deck. You can swim here if you have permission.










Buddy and Barney on the deck. Barney eats stuff he shouldn't so you have to be careful with him.












Larry's house is surrounded by trees for the most part. Firs and some Blue Spruce... I love these.
At night we sat outside and watched videos by the fire pit.







My weekend was fun. I met two of his daughters and three of his grandsons. Everyone was very nice, very welcoming and friendly. I lost my nervous feeling almost right away.



By the end of the first evening... I'd been well teased and turned my deepest shade of red several times. By the second day I was able to tease some back. I have to say that I was treated very well, spoiled rotten and waited on hand and foot. You know you're having fun when the time is gone before you know it and you groan at the thought of going home.


Now I can look forward to next time. Big grins for everyone.

WAVE / SATURDAY SCAVENGER HUNT

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Our word this week is "WAVE" brought to us by the always interesting dmarks at Throwawayblog .


The traditional type of wave... the kind surfers chase as well as toddlers and labs. I actually took that photo!


Or this kind.




I have always been fascinated by the ability of artists to create waves... that must be really hard to make them look right. This painting is on the outside wall of a museum in Newport.

This is a binary wave. Cool beans.And this person's wave is something else!


Happy hunting you all!
This is my last post until Monday.
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
Miss Bliss is.
Oh cool beans!

BACK TO THE GRIND

A story in as few words as possible.

Brain storming.

Someone went through my storage stuff this summer.

My chairs were scattered helter-skelter.

My single tables were pushed into the form of a big conference table and thoughtfully returned to their proper positions... Oh wait... no they weren't!

Heavy sigh.
Every summer things magically show up that do not have a home. The big black thing is a lap top safe, which is my newest responsibility surprise.
That pile on the counter... my mail.

It is very interesting how all my things left the counter to sit at a lab computer desk.

It was a day of moving things back into place.
Dusting. Filing. Creating a quick bulletin board.
Getting kid ready.

My foot doc told me that my stool that I sit on at work was part of my troubles... the rung my feet perch on at my counter. The lovely gentlemen at the top and that marvelous secretary got together and came up with a perfect solution in a matter of minutes.



They found a large carpeted platform, a nice comfy office chair with a real back! And Shown, (Yes it is spelled correctly!) will make me a sliding keyboard shelf so that I sit high enough to use the counter and type in comfort. What heroes!


Miss Bliss has escaped the past and gone
on a long weekend romp!

You'll have to catch her next week.

Big friggin grins.

I have a student who took these two shots... these are from her show.



They look much better in person. I don't do them justice.






I wish that you could see them... she has such a wonderful eye and point of view.


She is only 15 years old. Amazing young woman.








This is the view I had from the room where my oldest was born. What a nice place to enter the world.

It reminds me of Riverworld by the late Phillip Jose Farmer.



It is about a world created with the purpose of testing the morals of human society. It is populated with historical figures, including Alice... of Alice in Wonderland. (Yes there was a real Alice who was tutored by Lewis Carroll. The Alice stories concocted for her amusement.) Sir Richard Burton, Alice Hargreaves, Samuel Clemens, King John of England, Tom Mix, Mozart, Jack London, Lothar von Richthofen and Hermann Göring and others.



These people awake, naked, hairless with a tube tied to one wrist containing what they need for immediate survival in a strange new world that seems to be only the banks of a long, long river. You can die in Riverworld, but will be resurrected in your original awakening point to begin anew. People meet, bonds are formed, groups gather. Some quest for the why. Others for explanation... ie; religion. Naturally wars begin... people are after all, only people.



Do they pass the moral test? How do they change and what lessons are learned? Interesting stuffs. Some of the books are better than others. What I enjoyed most about them is the history and insights to possible personailities of historical beings otherwise unknown to me.

Riverworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lovely sunset.









Two identical hot rods seen at the Shell station, side by side.






Mickey Mouse on a motorcycle...
I had to photograph him sitting there straddling that headlight. If you enlarge it... you will see a pony tail hanging from that right handlebar... the driver's right, not yours. That's the hair that used to be on this fellow below.


We had a very long conversation in this parking lot. His hair? Cut off so that he could qualify for his job as a carney at the fair across the river. Now I ask you... since when do carneys have a dress code?
Lovely man. Recently surprised by divorce... the money he spent on his bike was all he left marriage with... and soon after put a huge dent into the tank with his head... leaving him in a brain trauma sitation. Four years later he is still trying to piece together what caused his crash. Yet his damaged head can recall all sorts of Disney memorabilia. The brain is strange creature.



Sman again... my fish-man hero.
Here because my freezer died. Heck, my whole refridgerator bit the big one! My fish supply with it... (large sobbing sound here).

Sman to the rescue... with more steelhead fillets. I am smiling once more. Fat and happy full of fish.

So back to school in the morning. I bought stuff for my lunch. Often the PTO comes in to feed us our first of the year meal. But I hate to count on that and be hungry... then end up settling for food that isn't good for me because it is available. The fridge there works.
It will be safe if the PTO comes through again.


Time for bed. I can't belive that this day is here yet. Trying to wrap my head around it with little affect. I wonder if I will be able to sleep?


Had a meeting with StbX to hammer out final issues so that I can get the damn papers filed before my time on them runs out and I lose my hundreds... divorce is expensive. It's my "treat". I do that tomorrow too... because I am not giving up any of my weekend for anything.


Cross your fingers for me and wish me luck. Here we go....

Supertramp

Supertramp performing 'School' live

THE LAST DAY OF MY SUMMER VACATION

HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE LAST DAY OF MY SUMMER VACATION IS HERE.

I like this bass pond photo. I like all of them, but this one has a fun little sparkle of color in the top of the trees there. See it? Must be some optical illusion made through the magic of digital photography.

Not the best part to fish. But you can see frogs here and tadpoles. I like that. You can't tell now but there are water irises here in yellow and bright brilliant purple that makes your eyes hurt to look on them. I like that too.









You can fish here okay... right off the shore. I was able to have a little picnic here on the shore. It's quiet and peaceful. Well ...until some idiot comes along with their bass turned way up and vibrates you out of the area.







I love the reflection in this one. Look at the way the water changes color there by the tree line in the reflection. Cool.











Things seem to be doing well for me. I am happy to report. I think I will poke my head in and see if there is work news to consider before my return tomorrow.






Hard to believe that another summer is over. But that is the way that it goes. I have a whole summer off... I have no right at all to complain!



I have been blessed... and good things have happened as well as some less good. The wheel is turning the way it always does. As Stephen King says... There will be water if Ka wills it.



Right now it looks like there is plenty of water. Things with Mr. Overnight are really great. I've got stuff coming up to look forward to ... Flogging Molly, The Pogues, a new school year full of happy faces, a visit from a friend, and this long weekend with Mr. Overnight is just a day away. Very cool beans! So much to be thankful for... and so I am. I wish no less for the rest of you.



Okay... I am happy as a clam. I feel like laughing and sharing that feeling with everyone else... so for other Dane Cook fans, like Michael (and myself) and the rest of you... I hope or to those who have never heard a Dane Cook comic rant... get ready to laugh. He is a seriously demented man. You gotta love him.

Dane Cook Vicious Circle: "Breaking & Entering"

Please start your day with a laugh and a smile. Life is full of nut cases like this man. Embrace them. Enjoy them. Be glad you did. Laughing is so sweet.


Hey those of you who have had to work non-stop all summer while those of us lazed off... we are back. Summer has come to an end.



Next year, baby. Until then... I'm looking forward to this long weekend... Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring break with that trip to Germany to visit Big John... and next year's summer. It comes around fast.


I can't help but wonder where I will be then? Mr. Overnight has his place up for sale... there will be relocation closer to me. How cool is that? Maybe I'll be here in this pit of a park, maybe not. What is meant to be will be. What isn't is not worth worrying about.



Whatever, it is promising to be an interesting year. Some unknowns are fun. It all depends on how you look at it. Nice to look forward for a change.


How is your year looking to you? Where do you want to go this year? For that matter... when does your year begin and end? Mine has this school connection that defines it. But yours may not. Please... tell us things!
Anything you wish... the forum is yours.

'
What about a song that may disturb you depending on your taste. Not everyone likes Journey. I do like this one. Go figure. "Wheel in the sky keeps on turning... I don't know where I'll be tomorrow..."





"Ooh I don't know where I'll be tomorrow..."

Journey - Wheel In The Sky

Journey - Wheel In The Sky - A fantastic rock song by Journey

I do not own any of this soundtrack. This is copyright to Journey.

TUESDAY SUNFLOWERS AND CHIT CHAT

I just love this shot. There is something about the top of the sunflower head that is interesting. This thing is HUGE. It is at least 18 inches across.

Here I am shooting up into the sun... so not the best shot. But you can see how many sunflower seeds can be harvested out of this baby.








My town is full of sunflowers. So that's our theme today... sunflowers and chit chat.









They remind me of Jack and the Beanstalk. This picket fence is chest high on me. (I am short.)


Yesterday was a wonderful day.
Max turned 22 officially. I ended my day at "beer church" as a friend calls it... buying him a pounder.








The place was hopping with people I know. Fun stuffs. I got hugs from people I had not seen in ages. Mostly minions, but some old friends as well. (Minions if you do not know are what StbX calls my ex-students.)






It was a sublime slice of small town life. Max did not need a dime. We in Dumb Potters Hell buy the birthday guy a glass... I was glad when Blue told me that she would take care of Max after I left. I knew he would have a safe bed a short walk away. I have a two beer limit myself.




The day was mellow and quiet. I spent it with Mr. Overnight. That was sweet.

My dad is home from the hospital. I did not kill his old dog... a major victory for me.




All is well on the family front. Phew!






The forest fire up here is under control. YAY! Our air again smells fresh. But we have had some spectacular sunsets from the smoke in the air.


Hats off to the guys and gals who make that happen
with their hard, dangerous work! Yay for firefighters!


As you can see... everything here is blue skies, sunflowers, hugs and smiles. No complaints from Anandagirl today.


Looking forward... I should be back to my normal blogging self now that things have calmed back down.


I work my first official day on Thursday. Hummmm...


Then I have a long weekend... which I am spending with Mr. Overnight. (Big grins there.) And... I'm posting ahead, so there shold be things to read here. Cool beans. I need to get into that practice for my school year.


What does the future hold? I don't know. Today I am content and that is a great gift. I am thankful. I hope that you are too... whatever you are doing.