Hear Goes Nothing

Max is ready for hunting season.

Had Vince and I been accepted to the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam I would have had some exciting news but we didn't so I don't.  We knew we were under-qualified the whole time (three weeks) we were filling out the application but thought maybe we'd fulfill some obscure admissions requirement quota for them.  Guess not.  It would have been fun to spend 4 months in Amsterdam rubbing elbows with Spike Lee but what about Max?  We figured he wouldn't have liked flying so we'd have had to take a boat.  And then once in Amsterdam, while he may have enjoyed all the smells, but he wouldn't have enjoyed sitting in an apartment all day just waiting for us to come home.  I want to cry just thinking about it.

Our Christmas cactus has one blossom this year which is one more than it had last year.

Our default location is Vermont (we go north for the winter) where we are attempting to feel productive by doing at least one thing on the house everyday.  Vin's week long cinematography workshop at 'Maine Media'  didn't help our timetable any but whatever.*    We are about 2 task-weeks behind but stay closer to our schedule better than my online Spanish 'A Word A Day' people.  Yesterday's word was zanahoria which means carrot and when they used it in a sentence I'm pretty sure they used it incorrectly...like I would know.

Kitchen lights from Etsy.

Last week Vince installed the lights above the counter which should count for at least a week of projects but I'd never tell him that.  Me? I order things and then figure out where in the neighborhood UPS has dropped them off.   We're going to finish the fireplace as soon as the beam we picked out for the mantle is dry.  The guy at the mill left a message saying it's at 25 and he wants it to be at 10 which doesn't really tell us much since we don't know when it was at any other numbers.


Riding and Dogs:
1.  If I'm really quiet I can get past the two nasty dogs on Center Road without them chasing me.  They've never bitten me or hit my front wheel which surprises me every time.   Today my plan was to try holding my breath until I got even with the 'Save the Lowell Range' sign on their lawn and then sprint.  They'd never know.  Sprawled on the sidewalk with their backs toward me, I sneaked by.  My timing was perfect.  And then I sneezed.

2.  There was no way to tell from the map how many unleashed dogs would be on the new loop I was riding that day.  Near the end of the ride, having outrun a dozen poised and ready-to-pounce mutts, I started to let down my guard.  As I approached the last dirt road crossing, out of the corner of my eye I saw the biggest dog of the day coming up full speed on my left.  He cut right in front of me, just missing my front wheel, and that's when I noticed I'd been chased by a goat.  Swear to God.


Other News.

Aunt Marlene (holding prints from her film camera), Vince, and Uncle Roy at Good Life last Christmas day.

•Dad is already down at 'Good Life' the age qualified/55+ (Vince and I are 55) 'resort community' in Mesa Arizona for the winter.  He told me he got an ipad that's "really more than an ipad" because when the guy in the store talked to it, "it could write what he said in any language".  Sold.

•I'd always wanted to be able to whistle but never could.  A few weeks ago my jaw shifted a bit and now I whistle a little when I talk so be careful for what you wish.

•I don't know what made me think of this but the day we left Metaline Falls I was outside swallowing the last of my tea and with it the grasshopper that had sneaked into my mug...so when I say there are no bugs here, it's not entirely true.

Enough of trying to make 'nothing' interesting.


* I meant to grab my credit card from the wallet (we share one wallet) before he left but didn't so my week was spent seeing how long I could go in the Vermont countryside with no car and no money.

Let There Be Light and Recycling

Finishing Vermont.

Just when I was sure I'd looked at every pendant light ever made, I involuntarily clicked on a link that brought me to another 1436 of them.   It didn't help that I wasn't really sure for what I was looking but thinking that I'd know it when I saw it made me look at every one.  Filled with hope, while wondering why 'view all' isn't always an option, I trudged through 24 items per page sixty times.    An hour later I decided that the pendant light I was looking for must not exist and went to the dump.

Finally.  I decided to go with the one millionth pendant I looked at.

I guess it's called  transfer station.  Whatever it's called, the one in Washington is like a carnival compared to the one in Vermont because of the glass pile.  True.  In VT you can recycle everything in one bag which is it's own reward but nothing like being encouraged to shatter a month's worth of wine and beer bottles without having to sweep them up.  But, if you want to recycle your number 5's (like yogurt containers) you have to mail them somewhere and I'm not sure where that effort ends up in the good-for-the-earth recycling pay back stream.  

The Metaline Falls bottle throw

One Saturday on the way to the post office with a box of empty yogurt containers we got to talking about what would happen if we drove our plastic up to Nelson, British Columbia for recycling and decided to head north to find out.  Sitting at the border crossing feeling guilty for no reason like usual we told the agent that 'recycling' was the reason for our trip ( now, I would've thought that sounded fishy ) and they waved us through.   The transfer station in Nelson was closed when we got there but it looked like it wold be pretty easy to climb over the gate past the signs that said we were being watched and would be prosecuted if we dumped anything when the gate was closed. Idle threats?  It was a chance we were willing to take.  Now, after a couple months of looking over my shoulder I'm letting myself assume we won't be spending Christmas in a Canadian jail cell.

Our sixth road trip across the country in two and a half years started with a 'hi-bye' stop at my cousin Linda's in Spokane to make excuses for not visiting while we were out west and to move a heavy hutch from smack-dab in the middle of her living room to it's real home in her dining room.  Two days later, in Tyler, we were at Uncle Roy's making excuses for missing his 80th birthday party at the Legion and moving a china cabinet from his garage to a flatbed.  After that, caught up on the excuses, I played gopher while Vin fixed a couple tornado-torn roofs on my brother Dale's farm.

When we're in Tyler we stay at my Dad's.  We called him from the road to say we were on our way but it was Thursday and he had to get to Men's Night at the golf course so he couldn't really talk. 

Growing up, 'for cryin' out loud' was the only swear word Dad ever used.   I don't know what happened but this trip it seemed like every other word was 'fricken'.  Where did he even learn/hear it?  Vin says he probably learned it from his girlfriend (80).  I think it might have been Men's Night.

I think I promised to post a few pictures from our Greece trip.

 

They told us they never crumble feta in a Greek salad...and they would know.

Linda and I were born the same day in the same 12 bed hospital.

We never ate inside.  Not once.

The chef.  We drank wine he made and ate potatoes he grew.

It really looks like that. (Island: Naxos)

View from out balcony (island: Santorini).  Scary.

Another view from our balcony (island:Santorini) Everything is very old.  The mountain goes straight up and the houses are built into the rock.

Everything is connected with stairs.  Steep stairs. (island: Santorini)

If you don't want to walk the steep stairs you can ride up on a mule.  (island:Santorini)

A little harbor town below the Santorini buildings above.

In hind sight maybe the Greece trip wasn't so bad.