Life of Wry

Apparently we do.

Probably not earning any parenting awards for this one…   we gave the okay to Peter to buy this thing, it arrived yesterday and was launched as fast as a 13-year old could tear into a package, insert six batteries and push a button (instructions, what instructions?).

Here you can get a better look at its double rotors:

If you think it holds still for even a micro-second, you’re wrong, it’s quite weaselly. It’s very difficult to get a picture of the Amazing Flying F&*%k … here’s Jay trying:

Curse you Thinkgeek.com  for all your cool tasteless techie toys and gadgets, shame on you for introducing my sweet, innocent kid to a world of hilarious useless, cheap, made-in-China time-wasting gizmos.  Gizmos with bad words on them, especially.

Early in the mornin’

See the little pufferbellies

All in a row.

 

Really early.  Like 2:30am early.  (Ever pick up someone at the train station in the wee hours wearing your pajamas?)

Picked up this guy (who appears to have curly hair all over his head, but really he’s sporting a late Frank Sinatra kinda cut):

Here he is (meet Jay) later in the morning (the daylight part of the morning), sippin’ coffee at my favorite coffee joint.

Awesome.

… very pretty.

My favorite part of our front yard.

We have an issue with our Meyer lemon tree, however…it appeals to a particular woman, an elderly woman, who frequents the Senior Center, apparently on a regular basis.  In years past, she’s come to our door to inquire about picking our lemons, very polite, and we’ve always said okay.  She can’t have them all, but she can have some. We’re willing to share a few. But last year and this, she’s shown up and just taken lemons.  Lots of them.  Like dozens.

Jim came home a couple weeks ago and found her helping herself to armloads and asked her to stop… she could have what she’d just picked, but please leave the rest.  He asked her if she’d asked me, and she said yes (she hadn’t).

So, that’s where we are.  The tree’s easily accessible from the sidewalk so I suppose we’re vulnerable to moochers.  But hey, I like Meyer lemons and the tree’s on our property and the least you can do is ask.  I’m sure I’d say okay, take a handful.  But not armloads.  And certainly not without asking.

That’s just impolite.

Which, reminds me, Jim, if you’re reading this, let’s go harvest the rest of them.. ‘k?

De-Christmasified in stages this year.  A week ago, I returned most everything to its appropriate box, but I agreed to leave the tree up through the vacation and, in fact, that was nice.  What’s not to love about a tree in one’s living room?  Without all the other Christmas bric-a-brac, the tree was just a tree in the living room.. it had ornaments but otherwise things looked back to normal.

But yesterday, I got to finish it off.  Ornament and tree removal.

Easy, quick, uneventful until right at the end..

Wondering whoever thought glass ornaments were a good idea.  Sure they were invented long before carpet came along.. what were they thinking?

One casualty, but an unfortunate one, with shattered glass scattered far and wide.  First expletives of the year issued.

Whatever.  Cleaned it up.  Jim took the tree out.

Packed up the last of the boxes, of which there are now seven, and re-located them on the mostly hidden ledge in the bedroom. Buh bye boxes.

Buh bye Christmas.

I’m a little too happy with this phase of the holiday, which suggests something probably not too good, but I’m not going to worry about it.  The holidays had their share of high points, and that’s good enough.  Will try and focus on that and quietly endure all the rest.

Besides, there is plenty to appreciate and reflect upon in the transition from one year to the next, and the solstice is planetarily, seasonally, symbolically cool and meaningful, so, see?, lots to dig.

What I’m really looking forward to now is a good inclement winter.  I have lots of reading and writing to do.

… and out with the old.

Yeah.

Happy New Year!

Went in search of paper towels this morning, and ended up emptying two over-filled, treasure-rich kitchen cabinets.  Among other things, found this mug from about six years ago.  Definitely one of the benefits of a spontaneous, unplanned cabinet purging and reorganization project!

Treasures abound, you just have to find them.. right?

And what better way to close out the year?

Well, okay, there are many wonderful (and better) ways to close out the year, but bear with me, I’m trying to find a good wrap-up here.  Wrapping up not only the year, but the photo-a-day writing project.

But you know what? I don’t really have a tidy and clever way to close this thing out, either of them, so I’ll just say so long to a fun project and a good year–they’re all good, right?–and cheers to 2012.

I’ll be back in some form or another.

…. for Auld Lang Syne.

Returning home from the movies.  Shooting the roof line before walking through the front door.

What is this?, you might wonder.  Well, it’s five baseball players grunting and heaving their way through sideways planks–part of a conditioning workout in the off season. They’re in a cavernous (and cold) warehouse on the outskirts of Woodland, fifteen miles north of Davis, which is deserted tonight, but for these guys. The workout tonight was peer-lead.

I find the whole thing pretty endearing.

I’m such a regular here.  It’s so pavlovian..the mere photo makes me want a poppyseed muffin.

This is exactly what I’m looking at as I type this.  I’ve logged many hours today in this chair.  I think I’m proud of that.. though my butt’s sore. Besides eating too much, I’ve done some writing, some reading, part of a crossword puzzle, some dozing, and a little thinking.

December 27 is a good day for thinking.

I’m one of those people who loves the end of the year and the promise of a new year.  I’m tidy that way,  love organizing myself in neat chunks of time.  I’m quite the resolution maker. But I’m also a lot wiser than I used to be, so my resolutions are not too bad… really… informed by all kinds of good thinkers. A few very good plans for myself this year.  (Hope you’re smiling, and not rolling your eyes.) We can all benefit from reflection and efforts to walk this planet in top form, ya?

So.. doing that.  Thinking about the year ahead and priorities.

One thing I’ve not quite worked out is what to do with this blog. I’m not going to continue the photo-a-day writing prompt, but that’s not to say I’m not going to write.  Or take pictures.  I’ve loved both. The photo-a-day served a purpose, but writing turned out not to be one of them, even though that had been the intention.  I very much enjoyed the picture part, and while I didn’t set out to create a documentation of the year, per se, that’s pretty much what it became. A lot more journal and a lot less exploration of writing.

But the discipline of a daily writing practice was there (though the writing was anything but challenging). I made time for it and it happened.  I did not miss a single day (except when I was in Nepal and I was unable to access my computer.. but I’m backfilling those with a detailed travel log.. which I will finish soon).  I’m pleased with that.

The other thing I loved about the photo-a-day prompt was the record of the year I ended up with.  Nice.  (for me.)  The pictures tell a fairly complete story and the commentary–sometimes only captions–embellished that story.  The year 2011 is well documented!  As our family historian, self-appointed, that is a nice bonus.  So I think I’d like to continue that, but not in a wholly public way. Since it’s a blog, however, it’ll be out there, but I won’t cite it, promote it or whatever people do to blogs to get them read. I’ll enjoy doing it and having it, Peter’s family may also enjoy it one day, but that’s about it. And I’ll likely do it here at Life of Wry, and invite current subscribers to unsubscribe, lest they be barraged with mundane family stories and my own personal wanderings. I won’t kick you out…but won’t feel bad at all if you choose to slip out the back. I’ll be freer to just blog about family life, without the pretense of writing.. as all year long I’ve felt totally self-conscious about using this as a place for journaling family life.

Then, likely, I’ll set up a new blog for writing writing. Which I probably won’t cite or promote either, because then I’ll feel less likely to really reach.  On the other hand, that’s dumb.  Writing needs an audience, we need to write as though people are reading, otherwise what’s the point, right?

This is the part I need to figure out.  I also haven’t figured out what I’ll write… stories, poems, character studies, stream of conscious?  Formal, informal?  Just not sure.  But I want to take writing to some next level, whatever that might be.  Totally for the fun of it.  Stay tuned.

Need more chair by the fire time for that one.