This Just About Sums It Up

A Climbers View While Ascending a 1768' Guided Tower

I always thought it would be wicked cool to climb one of these towers...until I watched this video. I was good until he reached the top of the tower and had to go outside. After that it didn't look like fun anymore. And when he gets to the antenna base, well that is just crazy. I hope these guys get paid good money because that job is insane.

Railroad Tracks and The Man

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.

Sent to me via email, origin unknown, seems about right.

Quote from 1919

"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is apt to spread discontent among those who are."

Ian Anderson (and friends) at the Calvin Theater

I scored sweet seats (Row D) many months ago to see Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA. I have seen him in different incarnations over the years but I have to say that this concert was one of the best. Ian was of course fantastic as was the young German guitarist, Florian Opahle. An amazing, astounding, phenomenal guitarist would be a better description. See for yourself in the video below of a song he wrote called Flamenco.

Of course, I am a HUGE Ian Anderson fan and Florian has a long way to go before he puts together the body of work that Ian has. I leave you with one of my favorite Jethro Tull songs (although really most of them are my favorite), Broadsword. And make sure you watch the very end for the audience shot!

And Heavy Horses too!



And Minstrel in the Gallery!



I could go on and on with one great song after another but I will stop now.

Wait, one more, My God.



What's your favorite Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson song?

A Rubaduc Holiday

A week or so ago, Rubaduc and I made plans for her and Giz to visit us in our “winter home” in New York. At the time the weather forecast was sunny and warm. Well warm for the season, in the lower 50’s. Perfect letterboxing weather!

In their letterboxing enthusiasm they decided to extend their little vacation an extra day by spending the night before our rendezvous in the resort village of Pittsfield. I will let the Duc tell you her harrowing tale of her night in Pittsfield but lets just say I didn’t have much to live up too.

They arrived Tuesday morning, right on time, which is technically late for the Duc and Giz, during a snow/sleet/hail/ice storm with 60 mph wind gusts. I did try to warn them of the change of weather but they were sequestered in their charming hotel and without internet access. It seems they never received my multiple emails about the foul weather.

As it turns out the day wasn’t a total loss as the Duc got some cool postcards, a few new stamps to plant from her carving minions, and a decent meal from The Towne Tavern in Averill Park, NY. Check out this menu item…

The Clydesdale – A full pound of fresh ground beef topped with 8 slices of hickory smoked bacon, 3 slices each of cheddar and American cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato and Mayo $13.95

Yes, one of our group ordered this and no, they did not finish it!

Wednesday morning arrives and I am the first one up. Has the world been sucked through a black hole into an alter universe while we slept? No, I just couldn’t figure out how to close the upstairs bathroom door in the dark so I had to find my way to the downstairs bathroom which woke me up enough that I couldn't fall back to sleep. Brutal, I know.

The three of us headed off to do some letterboxing. First stop was the Barberville Falls Nature Preserve. Owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, it is not a big area but it is nice. The rocks around the falls were extremely slippery, covered in wet snow and all. We did not go all the way down to the base of the falls, as that would have been a wet slippery slide to the bottom, but we did manage to accomplish our goal.

We skipped the second destination when we discovered there were over 30 letterboxes there and headed to the Grafton Peace Pagoda. I love this place and was excited to find that it is not far from the house I am staying in. My first visit to the Pagoda was with Penrapture who actually did some volunteer work there during its construction.

Last time we were greeted by a handsome hungry orange cat who followed us back to the car for some leftover sandwich meat. This time we were greeted with what we thought were bear tracks but probably were a damn big dog. The size threw us off but they were not bear. He was home sleeping.

The Peace Pagoda is awe inspiring, even in the dim overcast morning light. Unfortunately we did not find what we came for but it didn’t matter. I am looking forward to going back there again and again over the next few months. This is a must see for those traveling through the area.

As none of us were prepared for winter conditions we decided to skip the rest of the letterboxes and get back to the wood stove. I think this day is in the running for the shortest Rubaduc Letterboxing Day EVER, but we did end up with four boxes and that is better than many other days have been.

Blue Water Bridge Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

On yet another road trip I found myself in Canada today. I drove on I-90 west for 8 boring hours until I got to Buffalo and crossed over into Canada on the Peace Bridge. Things didn’t get much better there. Buffalo isn't the prettiest city around and that part of Canada pretty much looked like the United States. Same strip malls with the same stores no doubt selling the same stuff, although I think the signage was even bigger than we have in the US.

The border crossing dude took his job very seriously, which was kinda amusing. He asked me tough questions, like "What state are you from?"...(HUH, don't you see my license plate and have my drivers license and passport in your hands?...Oh yea, that’s right, they don't all match...ooopsie) and "What's under the tarp?". That one had him on the edge for a few seconds but he ultimately let me go.

I later found out as I was listening to the news on Canadian radio, that the 36th annual G-8 Summit is being held this weekend in Canada, 473 km away from my destination, however far that is. It might be time to learn this metric stuff. In addition to the G-8 Summit, there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake in the area which was apparently felt in the US. No injuries and very little property damage, so pretty cool. I didn't feel it though. Maybe border crossing man was having a bad day.

After arriving at my destination and spending a little time unwinding from the road, we headed out for a quick tour of the area. The sun had just set and the sky still had a beautiful pink light in it. I didn't stop for pictures as I wanted to see the bridge before it got to dark. We arrived as the last of the light was fading in the sky and I have to say that sometimes life is good.

The Blue Water Bridge spans the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario, Canada and Port Huron, Michigan, USA. It was opened in 1938 with two lanes and a sidewalk which was later removed to add a third lane. By 1992 the traffic volume was exceeding the bridge’s capacity so 5 years later a second span was opened. Notice anything unusual about the bridge? I sat and looked at that bridge for a good 15 minutes and didn't notice, until I researched the bridge online, that the two spans are not identical.

It seems that the cantilever truss style of the original bridge was not chosen for the second bridge because they didn’t want to create a “false sense of history”. A continuous-tied arch design was selected because it would blend in with the original bridge and it would have lower maintenance cost. The original bridge is the one in the foreground of the picture.

HOME - a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

The GoodPlanet Foundation was created in 2005 to raise awareness and offer solutions to Earth's ecological crisis. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, who is the chairman of the foundation, has flown over 100 countries taking aerial views of this planet. These have been put together in the film HOME which is free for all to view. It is an amazing, breathtaking and disturbing look at the planet we call home.

Watch HOME on You Tube

Following are some figures from their website, http://www.home-2009.com/ about our planet.

• 20% of the world's population consumes 80% of the planet's resources
• The world spends twelve times more on weapons than on aid to developing countries
• 5,000 people die every day because of polluted drinking water
• 1 billion humans have no access to safe drinking water
• 1 billion people are going hungry
• Over 50% of the grain traded around the world is used for animal feed or biofuels
• 40% of arable land is degraded
• Every year, 13 million hectares of forest disappear
• 75% of fisheries products are exhausted, depleted or in danger of being so
• The average temperature of the last 15 years has been the highest since records began
• The ice cap has lost 40% of it thickness in 40 years
• There could be 200 million climate refugees by 2050

Use Cash Movement

A peoples' movement toward banking & monetary reform

Did you know that the banking industry makes BILLIONS of dollars a year from consumers like us using credit and debit cards?

Deprive the banking industry of some of this money...

Maybe its time that we do something that actually has the potential to make a difference. Deprive the banking industry of some of the billions of dollars they receive just because it is easier for us to pull out the plastic than to plan ahead and have a little cash on hand.

Yes, you can write a letter to your congressman and hold a sign on the village green but what does that really accomplish. The politicians don’t listen. They know that Republicans are still going to vote Republican and Democrats are still going to vote Democrat – even when their respective candidate stinks and they have to hold their nose while doing it. After all, it is us against them, regardless of what team you are on.

And the banking industry knows that we are going to keep using those plastic cards and living beyond our means. It is what they have programmed us to do and we, being the good little sheep that we are, do what we are told.

There is an excellent documentary, The Century Of The Self, that starts in the 20's and 30' with how Freuds nephew Edward Bernays showed "American corporations how to make people want things they didn't need". It was the beginning of the "all-consuming self". The documentary continues on to show how that has evolved into dominating our culture today. It is a four hour four-part BBC series and well worth watching.

Individual change is never easy. We all have to sacrifice a little if we truly want to make things better. Some of us will make that sacrifice and we will feel better about ourselves when we do. It may be a small cut but at least we are doing something that actually can make a difference. The rest of us will bitch and moan, point fingers, blame the other side and continue doing those things that make it so damn easy for the big guy to get exactly what they want.

While I have realized for a long time that using those credit and debit cards really only benefits the banks it wasn’t until I was introduced to the Use Cash Movement website that it really hit home. It is not an organization and there are no memberships or dues. It is a peoples’ movement and that is truly the only way anything is going to change for the individuals betterment.

Following are some quotes from the Use Cash Movement website.

Merchants pay fees that average about $3.50 on every hundred dollars, plus the cost of those days they wait to be reimbursed by the banks. They pass these fees on to their customers in the form of higher prices. The purchaser pays the fee, whether they know it or not. So, every plastic payment is like getting money from an ATM that charges you 3.5%.

Credit card use, rewards or no rewards, costs an average American family, paying with credit cards or not, between $427 to $600 per year. At $500 a year that's $59 billion dollars in revenues to Big Banking.

Yes, to do this we must suffer some small inconveniences. If we’re not willing to be inconvenienced, we do not deserve meaningful change.

Chains retailers and restaurants love credit cards. They have their own. They prevent theft. They're easier to handle than lots of cash.

Small businesses, independent businesses, mom and pop businesses, hate credit cards. Plastic payment use costs these businesses thousands of dollars a year. Their merchant fees tend to be higher than the big boys, forcing them pass along even more banking fees in the form of higher prices.

Anyone can do it. You don't have to pay-off credit card balances first. We all make purchases, do as many as you possibly can with cash.

If we are not capable of this, we do not deserve change. If we can not take direct actions like Use Cash, what will we tell our children? That we did a lot of bitching and moaning online and it didn’t work?

Be informed and spread the word!

Bo Bice at the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, CT

My day started by waking up with a head cold. I briefly considered canceling my plans but decided that I should just suck it up and carry on. That was my first mistake.

I left my house late and didn’t even realize it. I was scheduled to meet one of my AT Monitors in West Cornwall, CT at noon. Now I know where West Cornwall is, (it is famous for its covered bridge) and I know it takes me two hours to get there. But for some reason I forgot that and only gave myself an hour and a half. Then to make matters worse I took the route I usually take for the northern part of the AT instead of the southern part which added another 6 miles and a much slower speed to my already late road trip. Luckily, the fellow I was meeting was very nice about me arriving an hour late.

We met at his place to review the maps of the missing monuments. He has a beautiful house on the side of the mountain overlooking the Housatonic River with a backdrop of the rolling mountains of Northwest CT. You could hear the water of the river as it was rushing by. It is a wonderful soothing sound. I miss living in a house with water nearby.

Our mission was to find three missing monuments around Breadloaf Mountain. Luckily they were all rather close to the road because I was still beat from my 5-mile ice hike the day before with Giz and Rubaduc. We did manage to find the witness trees for all three monuments but none of the monuments. The first one was likely washed away. The second had some very large rocks covering it. The third may be found in the spring. The winter scenery was fantastic but of course I forgot that I had a camera with me.

On the way back we went to feed his wife’s horse some carrots. The horse seemed to enjoy the carrots while the other horses were looking on, in envy no doubt. I finally remembered that I had my small camera on me and managed to get this picture. We stopped at Baird's General Store next where I learned that the owners name is KC and that they have the best hamburg you can get.

Anyway, from this adventure I headed off to Winsted to have supper with my son. We went to Sophias, a place that used to be one of my favorite places to eat. I don’t know if we just hit a bad night but it didn’t seem as good as usual. Although the cheesecake was still as awesome as I remember,

I had some time to kill so I hung at my son’s house watching Repo! The Genetic Opera. While this film is not for everyone I enjoyed it. I didn’t get to see the end so I will have to finish it next time.

My next adventure was off to see Bo Bice at the Infinity Music Hall & Bistro in Norfolk, CT. I found a spot along the road and poorly parallel parked my sons car. Funny, I can back my Jeep Cherokee into just about any place I need to but I can’t parallel park my sons little Toyota car. With the keys in my hand I locked the door. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except as I looked down I realized that I had the wrong ring of keys in my hand. There is only one door key and it was not one of the keys in my hand. Great!

I didn’t want to miss the show so I went inside and asked for a payphone. The young men at the counter gave me a quizzical look and said that they had heard of such a device before but they didn’t have one. Now Norfolk, CT is something like a village in size. Quaint, charming and dead after dark. Thankfully, the staff at the Infinity Music Hall were extremely helpful. They were willing to do whatever it took to get my car unlocked. As it turned out it I ended up logging into Facebook (I don’t know my sons phone number as it has always been programmed into my phone which was locked in the car) to get a hold of my son who of course gave me a hard time. He did come out and wait for the AAA guy to come pop the lock on the door and I thank him for that.



Bo Bice was AWESOME! I love his voice and his southern rock style. And seeing as I only bought a single ticket (no one else here knew who Bo Bice was) I was in the third row. Very nice. He had another fellow with him who was wicked good on the acoustic guitar. Bo Bice was engaging and funny and sounded amazing. He played a lot of new material which was great and I am looking forward to his next album.



After the show he was signing autographs downstairs and I think 200 of the 270 people there, were waiting to meet him. It took forever to get out the front doors as there was a major traffic jam at the signing table. As much as I would have liked an autograph I just couldn’t hang out with that many people to wait.

It was a long day and I still had an hour and a half drive home. Hopefully Bo will grace the Infinity again in the future. If he does, I will be there!

Stink. Stank. Stunk.

It just doesn't seem like the Christmas season without a little bit of the Grinch.

Happy Holidays!

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.

I wouldn't touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.

Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crockodile.

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.

The three words that best describe you,
are as follows, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.

Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a three decker saurkraut and toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce.

Copyright © 1957, Dr. Seuss.

Geminids Meteor Shower

I spent the evening driving all over the Pioneer Valley looking for a good place to watch the Geminds meteor shower and all I got was this lousy photo.

Woman's Spirituality - The Warrior

Who is the Warrior?

The Warrior is powerful, independent, self-reliant and successful --because she has to be. Yet, she resents all of the responsibility and obligation that goes with her role. She's the only one around who can get things done, and get things done fast enough and perfectly enough.

She is bitter (at least inwardly) toward men, who she believes get all the breaks, but do little of the real work. She sees men as the weaker sex, responding emotionally and acting illogically - when they act at all. She believes herself to be surrounded by wimps that she couldn't trust to punch their way out of a paper bag. She says that men are only good for one thing - moving furniture. Well, two things -- maybe.

She has long since let go of the fantasy of a knight in shining armor or Prince Charming. She is bitter, angry and cutting in her dealings with these inferior male beings. She consciously or unconsciously seeks revenge against the male transgressors in this patriarchal society.

She respects other Warriors, yet has no tolerance for 'weaker' females who don't carry the Warrior's sword. She may be a good wife and a mother, protecting and providing for her family. Yet she expresses even these roles through the stance of a warrior.

She has grown tired of fighting. She has battle wounds that she has displayed proudly in the past. But has made as many conquests as she cares to. Her armor has grown heavy and she longs to remove it for good. She longs for the Goddess within, yet believes she couldn't survive without her Warrior's sword. Little does she know the power of the Goddess.


Read more of this article on feminine spirituality by By Suzanna Kennedy at RealityCrafting.com

See more of John Wigley's amazing art at DeviantArt.com

THE SWORD IS GETTING HEAVY

Grafton Peace Pagoda

Jun Yasuda, a Japanese Buddhist Nun from the Nipponzan Myohoji order, has been a long time activist for Native Americans. She has walked across the country five times and spent days fasting on the steps of the New York State Capitol in support of Native Americans rights. During one of these fasts she was approached by Hank Hazelton. He offered her a parcel of land in Grafton, New York to build a “Monument of Peace”.

Work began on the Grafton Peace Pagoda in October 1985 and was completed in the fall of 1993. The pagoda was built with donated funds, material and volunteers who contributed tens of thousands of hours.

A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa, which literally means “heap”. Originally a stupa was only a pile of rocks and mud to cover relics of Buddha. As they evolved they grew in size but the interior has always remained either solid or purposely not used. All activity takes place outside of the Peace Pagoda or in the temple that they are often near.

The first Peace Pagoda was built in 1947 in Hanaokayama, Japan as a symbol of peace. Since then over 80 more Peace Pagoda’s have been built worldwide with two of the stupa style in the United States and a third one under construction in the Smoky Mountains.

PEACE PAGODA EVENTS:
The Flower Festival (in honor of Buddha’s birthday) – end of May/early June
Hiroshima Day (August 6th) – held during the week, usually on Friday
Peace Pagoda’s Anniversary – celebrated near Gandhi’s birthday (October 2nd)

PEACE PAGODA HOURS:
Open every day from sunrise to sunset.
Daily Prayer services twice a day, sunrise and sunset.
Everyone is welcome.

Twas the Night before Halloween...

When all through Posi, fun and exciting things were about to happen.

I started off the day by putting the finishing touches on a Halloween costume for a little girl named Haley. She is the daughter of one of the interns at Positronic Design. My biggest concern was whether or not it would fit her as I was working with just a few measurements that her mom provided. As it turns out the costume fit just fine and the little girl was very happy with it. My good deed for the year is done!!!

Next up was a photo shoot of some artwork by Diane Adzema. She is a New York City artist who stopped by to pick up her art which has been gracing our walls since the annual Spring Party. The two pieces below are from her "Twisted Fate" collection. It is a series of sixteen 8" x 8" mixed media paintings with cut paper, bones and feathers and using oil, wax and glazes on the canvas. In case you are wondering all of the bones and feathers are natural artifacts found on the beaches and in forests.

Penrapture stopped by to party but we talked her into going to see Tony Vacca at the Northampton Center for the Arts. Tony played at the Spring Party '08 here at Positronic Design. I didn’t get to see much of the show that time so I was happy to go listen to him again.

We scooted out before the show ended as all of us were hungry. It was a beautiful night, 55 degrees, a few days away from a full moon with costumed party goers walking the streets of Northampton. We headed to Fitzwillys on foot, which I thought was quite pleasant. Sometimes in life it is easier to accept and enjoy the spontaneity of life instead of railing against everything that doesn’t go exactly your way.

After our late night snack we headed back to Posi where some of the younger Posi crew were ready and raring to go Thai's house party. After some refreshments we all headed over to his house to be greeted by Silent Bob.

The first thing I asked for was the bottle of Jack Daniels. Thai actually had one stashed in the back of the fridge in a brown paper bag. After a messy round of shots we roamed around checking out the party. There was beer pong, a poker game, and a whole lot of people in the living room we could barely see through the cloud of smoke from the smoke machine. Even though it was a lively event we didn’t stay long, partly because everyone there was half our age and partly because it was already 2 am.

The younger Posi crew came stumbling back in shortly after we arrived at home. Apparently someone (no names mentioned to protect the embarrassed) broke the toilet at Thai's house. Not the toilet seat, the actual toilet tank. By the looks of it I guess we are lucky that is all that was broken.

Autumn in the Hidden Hills of Western Mass

So after a long night of working on an Autumn Fairy Halloween costume and watching half of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy I decided to get up early and head out to the Hidden Hills for some autumn foliage sight seeing. Not a bad plan except for the getting up early part.

This is a picture of some of the pieces of the costume laid out as they will be sewn together. It is going to be adorable when finished. I hope the little girl getting it likes it and I hope she is a nice little girl too! I have never met her. If I post a blog about the dress in the future I will tell the story of how I ended up with this little project.

Originally I had intended to go with Penrapture on my autumn sight seeing trip but ever since she got a cell phone I can’t get a hold of her. Maybe she is missing the point of cell phones - too be connected 24/7. In the bathroom, in the grocery store, in the car, at work, while you are sleeping, everywhere, anytime, 24 hour access. Plug me in!

Anyway, I dragged my son out of bed for a drive through the Hidden Hills. He’s a good kid, despite himself.

We stopped at Outlook Farm to deliver some Hidden Hills maps. As good timing would have it, these beautiful horses were coming down the street just as we pulled in. I managed to dig the camera out and get a few pictures as they passed by.

There were tables full of pumpkins, gourds, winter squash and apples. I love autumn. There was a mixed grill BBQ with meat from the butcher shop and someone playing guitar. We didn’t stick around for the festivities as we had more stops to make.

Except for a few trees here and there most of the foliage has passed in the area we went through. It was still a nice drive and it was nice to get of the house.

Now it is time to get back to finishing up the Halloween costume and the rest of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Angel of Grief

THIS MONUMENT
THE LAST WORK OF W W STORY
EXECUTED IN MEMORY OF HIS BELOVED WIFE
William Wetmore Story

Hello by Evanescence

Holyoke Block Party

Penrapture, who is on the prowl for single men venues, dragged me out of the house this afternoon to go to the Holyoke Block party sponsored by the Holyoke CRUSH (Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke). There were quite a few of these t-shirts floating around on various humans. I wonder where I can get one?

There was a long line up of entertainment for the day. We missed the earlier bands but we had a chance to experience Paper City's Finest, a rap/R&B/Reggaeton group from Holyoke. They sounded pretty good, better than the window rattling stuff we get to hear every day when the locals drive by the house with stereo systems more expensive than the cars they are driving. But I digress...

Next up was the Artistic Dance Conservatory. I don't know much about dance but they looked liked they were having fun.

After the dancers finished their routine they got the crowd involved in some line dancing followed by a conga line. Now everyone looked like they were having fun.

This building was home to the Holyoke Catholic High School from 1963 until 2002 when it was deemed "unsafe". The school was relocated to Granby until a permanent home was secured in Chicopee in 2008. It was rumored that the old school was going to be converted to condos but that never came to pass. Hopefully someone will do something with this beautiful building before it deteriorates past the point of no return.

The Paradox Apparel vendor caught my eye with its unique t-shirts. I like to collect unusual t-shirts so of course I had to check these guys out.

Lou's Upcycle booth caught my eye with all the bright colors. This is a interesting idea, using plastic food bags that would normally be thrown away and making something useful out of them. I don't know if I would want to snuggle under a blanket of potato chip bags but making a grocery bag out of used food bags is a great idea.

Now I have never seen an ice cream VAN before but that didn't stop us from getting some.

Of course a block party wouldn't be much of a party if you didn't appreciate the characters that are there. These two guys were striking a pose for the camera. They may look like regular guys but trust me, they are characters! They also happen to be part of Positronic Design's web development team.

Here is a picture of a couple more characters. One of them is a fellow blogger, Rambling Van Dog. I will let you figure out which one he is.

I didn't chat with this colorful character but I did appreciate his clothing choices. Notice the Obama t-shirt and the Dark Side of the Moon pants. Add the crazy cool hat and you know that this guy is a character.

As we were leaving I took this shot of the Holyoke Post Office.

On our way home we noticed this sign in a boarded up store front. I wonder if the sign actually prevents intruders or is it incentive for those who feel the need to prove something?

Overall it was a good event. From what I understand it started out as a smaller BBQ type party and quickly grew into a mini-festival of sorts. I look forward to attending more of them.

Subversive Stitchers

Lately, I have been reading this blog, Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. I love the concept and possibilities of subversive stitching but so far I haven’t found many posts in this blog that are actually about the subject. What I have found is a lot of beautiful and inspirational quilts made by some fabulous artists and I was itching to work on some sewing project myself.

One of the posts was about giving back, “Tis the season for sharing”. I am all about volunteerism, everyone should do it, even if it is just a little bit. Anyway, I found a perfect little project to do, security blankets for shelter animals, known as the Snuggles Project. I immediately knew what I was going to do with that box of leftover yarn that I have been storing for years. A nice simple uncomplicated project that can be done in an evening or two AND make some homeless cat or dog comfy. Perfect.

I headed up to the attic to dig out my box of yarn and watch UFC with my son. I suppose that may seem a bit odd, mom watching two guys beat the crap out of each other while crocheting a kitty blanket. Perhaps not something their marketing campaign would latch on to…or maybe it is. hmmm

When I finished, I brought my little masterpiece downstairs to photograph when the Princess Twilight decided that the comfy little blanket was just purrfect.

Sometime later our sweet angel Taz kitty decided to try the blanket out.

She only looks evil because she is awake. When she is sleeping she is the sweetest looking angel you ever saw. Just don’t pet her a second longer than she wants or touch her belly, even if she is showing belly, and you will come away unscathed.

I guess I have to make one for her now too! The homeless kitties in the shelter may have to wait a bit longer for their security blankets.

RayK at Amethyst Brook

Have you ever noticed that some of your best thinking is done in the shower? My theory is that it is one of the few times in the day when you are truly alone, with no distractions. No tv, computer, phone, children, dog, cat, bird, fish…

So I was in the shower after my letterboxing excursion with Penrapture and RayK today, wondering what I was going to write about the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area again. It’s not that the woods and trees and water aren’t inspiring to me but today it just seemed like the same old story.

But then I remembered that the fun part of our adventure was talking to RayK about…anything and nothing. RayK is going into the fifth grade this year. I don’t know how old that makes her, but she is not yet old enough that she thinks she knows EVERYTHING. So I was babbling about this and that, bears and bridges and how to sneak up on birds. She seemed reasonably entertained.

So what does this have to do with thinking in the shower? Well, it occurred to me that I should sign up for the Big Sister program. I had considered it before but the thought of getting stuck with a girlie girl scares the hell out of me. I’m sure they make an effort to match you up with someone compatible, but still…what if?

As far as volunteering goes, the chance to make another persons life better has to be on the top of the list. It’s wonderful to maintain boundaries and sew blankets for shelter animals but in the grand scheme of life, helping someone to become a better person will serve us all in the future. Just imagine what the world would be like if we all took just a few hours a week to help someone. Perhaps it is easier to imagine how much better your town would be if everyone in it spent just a little bit of time doing something for someone else.

Anyway, following is my adventure with RayK and Penrapture.

We went to Amethyst Brook Conservation Area to get some letterboxes. When you first walk in from the parking area there is a community garden. When I was here in May they were still working the soil and planting the plants. As you can see things have grown considerably since then.

We found the first letterbox fairly easy but there were things like dirt and the possibility of spiders on it so I had to dig it out for RayK. Yes, she is a bit of a girlie girl.

I wandered off to take pictures of rocks in the brook while they proceeded to stamp in.

We found the Labyrinth next. Penrapture and RayK walked the spiral on the way in but Penrapture cheated on the way out. I don’t think she knew that a tree angel was watching over the Labyrinth and taking notes.

On our way out RayK noticed some rustling going on in the sunflowers. We stopped to look and discovered a couple of American Goldfinches enjoying the sunflower seeds. They are in the picture below (click on the picture to enlarge) but hard to spot amongst the yellow (hint) of the sunflowers.

If you can't find them in the above photo here is a closer shot of them.

It was a nice afternoon stroll with RayK and Penrapture. For a girlie girl she’s not really so scary.