Rapid response

When the roads in the city centre are choked with Festival and Fringe traffic, and some streets closed to cars completely, the ambulance service still needs to get through. Obviously there's no hospital transport provided by this part of it.
Having seem some of the acrobatic, contortionist, flame-throwing and just downright enthusiastic Fringe street acts, I wonder how much of the business was dealing with injured performers.

I hope to resume normal blogging service soon. So many things have combined to create that TBTB (Too Busy To Blog) syndrome.

We're Here!

This manor house is at Powhatan Plantation resort in Williamsburg, Virginia.  This is the third time we've stayed here.  Once when the children were young, once last year, and now this year.  It's a great place.  It has this authentic house build in 1734 with gardens to meander in.  There's also several pools and plenty of places to walk.  
Inside the house is a harpsichord that I've played on every time we've been here.  All the children did too.  They also got a lecture on how a harpsichord works and how it's different from a piano.  The learning never stops; even on vacation! 
This morning we took a tour of the gardens.  It was really cold.  The two older children went with me.  We learned about the history of the plantation and the gardens.  The two most interesting things was the cannonball stuck in the side of the chimney from a Yankee cannonball and the signatures etched into the brick facade of the house.   The guide said that various owners and visitors would sign the house; it was the colonial form of a guestbook. 
More to come as it happens.  Tomorrow we head to Tennessee.  Ciao!  Or I guess I should say "Fare Thee well".

Las Trampas Fern

Las Trampas Fern, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

A backlit fern in the hills of Las Trampas Regional Park. The sun was just setting through the California bay trees and it was illuminating this fern.
Anyone gone hiking lately?

USCG Cutter "Alder"

On my way home today I glanced out over the lake and saw a boat coming through the Susie Islands.... I pulled over and grabbed my camera and attached the telephoto lens. When I looked through the camera and zoomed in on the boat, I could see that it was the United States Coast Guard cutter "Alder", coming from the direction of Thunder Bay. I snapped a few images then went home. Upon some quick research on the internet, I learned that the Alder had gone up to Thunder Bay to break ice for some ships that were still active up there. The Samuel Risley, a Canadian ice breaker that normally handles ice duty in the Thunder Bay harbor, was already busy in Sault St. Marie. How nice of the Alder crew to head up from Duluth and help out in Thunder Bay! When I saw the boat passing through the Susie Islands it was on its way back to Duluth to break ice for the last couple of ships of the season.

Annie Dillard

Excuse the crazy placement of this photo on the page.  The only thing I could manage to do was rotate it so you wouldn't have to stand on your head to see it!  I'm a slow learner.
Anyway, my bookgroup is reading The Maytrees by Annie Dillard for October.  I've tried three different times to begin this book.  I'll get a few pages into it, get mad, and throw it down.  "This book is stupid!" I said, the last time I tried reading it. 
I know there are lots of Dillard fans out there.  I've tried to be one too.  I read about half of Pilgrim's Creek and started An American Childhood.  But I admit defeat.  She's not for me.  
For one thing, her non-fiction is excruciatingly detailed; too much information about things I don't consider very important.  And her fiction!   She breaks all the rules of writing.   Not that I'm adverse to rule breaking; I'm a rebel myself in that way.  But I want spoken words to have quotation marks around the actual phrases.  I want a book to flow smoothly along and not jar me sideways every other sentence.  I don't want to have to keep re-reading a sentence until it makes sense. Sometimes it does; often it doesn't.  I get mad when I can't follow the story for having to re-read so much.
So there.  I'm not going to read Annie Dillard, and I'm not ashamed to say so.

How good is Yangshuo?

Back to the known...

I know computers about as well as Russian Braille. Bike issues on the other left hand...





When cartridge bearings get nice and gritty (as they all do with use in the dirt). Just like ball and cup style, you can prolong their life with a bit of cleaning and fresh grease.

I don't carry a bottom bracket tool and after searching a few shops with no luck... I went rogue. Street side. You can leave the cups in the frame and tap out the cartridge carefully from the inside.

Pick the seals off both sides and behold the nasty traffic yer bearings have been commuting in.

Scrub 'em out with gasoline in an old ford hub cap with yer favorite toothbrush

Mash in some fresh grease and replace the driving blinders

The important part- yes, as always, it involves a hammer. I found this ancient crown race that is the exact outer diameter of the cartridge. Its best to reseat the press-fit pushing on the outer race of the bearing. Tap that whirly duder back in...

and go have a coffee!

Thoughts on Creativity

Beginning in January, I started the Creative Every Day Challenge.  Since then, I've been creative about six out of seven days; except for this week.
Why is this week different?  Because I've been helping out lots more with the three grandchildren.  I have a few thoughts that might help some of you younger mothers to get a long term perspective on mothering and childrearing.
Sometimes doesn't it feel like your children are sucking the life out of you?  Crudely put but true.  They take all you have to give and then need and want more.  They are our greatest creative projects.  Let me say that again...our children are the greatest and best creations we'll ever make.  
Not that we are totally responsible for their outcome.  God, environment, siblings, relatives, strangers, etc. all come together to make our children what they are.  But the mother, by far, has the biggest influence on her children.  In my case, it was especially true because I had them with me all the time by homeschooling, and their father was traveling a lot with his job. 
The thing I like about making something like a dress, pillow, framed photograph, knitted hat, etc. is that after it's made I can look at it for a long time.  The clothes I made for my children are now being worn by my grandchildren.  I get a good feeling every time I see them.
With children, you sometimes don't see the fruits of your labor for twenty or more years; sometimes never.  That's so discouraging to me, and that's why rearing children is an act of faith.  Faith that God will take your feeble efforts and make out of that child a better person than you are. Faith that God is making them into the person He wants them to be.
Parenting isn't about instant gratification.  There are times though, by the grace of God, that you get glimmerings of the person you're helping them to become.  Your heart fills with hope and love and you have an 'ah ha!' moment.  Everything looks rosier, and then they scream at their brother, push them down...you fill in the blank, and your hopes are dashed. 
Mothers should spend a great portion of their time in prayer.  I believe that if I had prayed more when mine were small, I would have had more self-control and less anger.
You also have to become somewhat emotionally detached--in a good way.  I remember being surprised and shocked when my children did something wrong.  Was I expecting them to be perfect or something?  I must have.  It was a personal affront to me.  I knew they were sinners, but I didn't act like it, or I wouldn't have been so surprised.  
So I had to emotionally back away from them and myself and try and view them like any other children and then rationally deal with the situation.  I'm still having to do that with my adult children when they don't do what I think they should.  I turn them over to God and pray that He'll enlighten them and help them see things as they really are.
My main point, which I haven't even gotten to yet, is that when you're busy helping to create a new person, you don't have enough time or energy to do much else.  And that's as it should be.  This is your season for that.  They'll be plenty of time to be creative in other ways later.  And if you find time to do both, then praise God for his blessings!  But don't neglect your little ones to pursue your own selfish pleasures.  Your time with them is short compared to the time you'll have without them.

THERE'S A WALLABY BOUNCING ROUND THE GRAVEYARD...

The wallaby is bouncing around in the graveyard, opposite the pub! Dawn (landlady of the Railway Tavern) has just rung me for the phone number of the watermill. It is blowing a gale here, the rain has started and it is pitch black out there. Silly boy should have picked his time a bit better than that.





Today was special asI managed to get my wellies on for the first time in two and a half weeks. Very fortunate really because the weather forecast is pretty wet and horrible for the next few days.





I walked Toby and the cats round the wood - Pip refused to come out as she had already been round with George. It is looking beautiful at the moment - especially when I compare it to how dreadful it was when we first took it over. All that hard work is really paying off.





The cats loved it, they were especially playful and crazy because the wind was blowing hard, the leaves make a crisp, crunchy sound which they seem to like -and they are young and energetic cats anyway.

They ran up trees, down trees, chased Toby, chased one another, stalked the hens, and had a great time. It was a tonic to watch them.

the owl box doesn't seem to have any residents of any kind that I can spot.

Perhaps we will have more luck next year.

I took a quick tour of the garden





There are still some lovely flowers to be found.





Tomorrow we have to take the Aged Aunt to Grimsby to do a few things, then we'll take her for a bite to eat before taking her home - this means that I may not get time to do a post Jonny -, but if I do have the time (and more importantly, the energy) then I am hoping to do it about the truly exciting subject of the drainage system.





I know, I can hardly wait! Just joking. Your Pa wants me to show you the work he has been doing and he has taken photos as he has gone along so that you will know what is what and where it is located.





Lots of love,





Mum

xxx

Thank You Addie, Lucie and Hailey!

Let's hear it for Tiny Twinkie Dog! GABE was an extraordinary project that grew and grew, helping make friendships between doggehs and kittehs and all things furry and feathered! I was furry lucky to be one of those who won Addie, Lucie and Hailey's GABE contest! And I just received the most coolest thing in the mail! Check it out!
Here I am sniffing out the scents of Addie, Lucie and Hailey. Wonder what's in here?
Tastes good...
Mmmmnnnn... smells really yummalicious!
I'm really trying to figgur out what this cool thing is!!!
WOW! Munga Stache fetch toy! Cowabunga!
Look at this pawsome toy/stache!!!! How cool is this????
And here's a piece of paper! Wonder what it says! I see pawprints!
Look! It's Addie, Lucie and Hailey and their pawtographs! Thank you a gazillion times for this pawsome pressie - I just love it, and am trying to figgur out how to wear it now!
Whooops!
This is bettah! What do you think of me as "Stache Sammie?" Thank you so much for my wonderful and incredibly generous, creative pressie!

All things Rainier...

More information about the climbing routes and access to them is starting to pour in from our vast network of contributors (you could be one too)... And from the latest reports, getting up and down the Glacier Basin trail won't be so easy this year. Today, the NPS trail-crew leader said, "My initial impressions, given the several feet of snow, is that the route will be impassable to most people and will likely require the full replacement of about one mile of trail." There's more on the Glacier Basin trail in the Updated Route Conditions.
The Seattle PI (in the Getaway Section) did a nice feature on spring access to Mt Rainier. The story covers what's happening, safety, and what visitors may expect once the park reopens. But the best part of the story is that they managed to tag this blog as "all things Rainier." Nice!
Last week, I revisited Camp Muir for the first time in three months. Things there seemed as normal as ever when it comes to spring access... However, things will be different this summer with the new guide services on the mountain. The most notable change will be that the NPS ranger station is moving to the Cook Shack (which is much more centrally located in camp). Also worth noting are the changes to what guide service will be operating out of what facility... AND that there will be a few new weatherports at Camp Muir... When the dust settles on the plan, I'll post more information. In the meantime, the reservation office has been quite busy churning out permits. If you've submitted a climbing reservation, there is a good chance that your confirmation is already in the mail. Pictured right is Seattle Times photogragher Erika Shultz, image by Mike Gauthier.
In other mountaineering news, Phil Ershler (longtime guide for International Mountain Guides) and his wife Susan recently released a book about their quest for the seven summits. In 2002, they became the first known couple to complete the circuit. The Seattle PI did a really nice piece about them, and some of the trials and tribulations, that went on behind the scenes.

Counting Books

I had a fun two days this week rearranging ALL our books, culling out some, and counting them.
I didn't intend to do this. I had walked to the big bookcase in the library looking for a particular book and noticed that the shelves were looking messy and that a lot of books weren't in their proper categories making finding them difficult.
When you have as many books as we have, you have to categorize them or you'll never find anything! I arranged them by the Dewey Decimal System several years ago.
"And how many books do you have?" you might ask. I'll tell you; 2,506! I figured that if I read one a week, in 48 years I'll have read them all. I'll be 104 by then. Fortunately, lots of them are children's books and ones I've already read. Whew! I'll only be 98 by the time I finish the rest.

Maiden Voyage: Last Day on the Road

Tuesday, July 6

Greetings from Maryland, the one but last state of the trip. (West Virginia doesn’t count since we went in and out of the state earlier this morning; no double counting.)

70-79-68-81-66 — you might think these are the winning numbers for the lotto, but they’re not. Rather, they are all the interstates we’re traveling today on our multi-state drive home. We’re on I-68E at the moment, so two down and two more to go.

It’s hot as blazes today. We’ve drafted the fans mounted on the windshield to help circulate the air coming out of the A/C. At least we’re no longer driving into the sun as we were for most of the morning.

After a quiet evening and a restful night’s sleep, we headed off on our last day on the road at 7:30a. With no time zone change ahead of us, the early departure should put us at the storage facility in Virginia around 2:00p.

Our route from Ohio to Virginia takes us on five interstates and one US route.

It was a very humid 77F [25C] when we left the campground. The morning fog was thick, with the sun trying to burn its way through. Because the fog bank was relatively high off the ground, visibility on the road was not impaired as we joined the fast moving traffic towards West Virginia.

Driving into a fog bank as we leave the campground.

An hour later, conditions are only slightly improved.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge crosses the Ohio River at the
Ohio and West Virginia state line.

We’ll be in and out of West Virginia twice today.

Two signs for the price of one.

Making just a few brief stops along the way to stretch our legs, we arrived at Sideling Hill, a rest area in Maryland, right around noon. It was well into the mid 90F [35C] range; the high humidex made it seem even hotter. We found a patch of shade and parked the Phaeton.

Mui stayed in the coach (smart guy) to prepare lunch; I went sightseeing. Trekking up a .2-mile paved path. I crossed over the highway to check out the interpretive displays that tell the geologic story of a 350-million year old syncline that was exposed when the I-68 cut was made through the mountain. It turns out that the visitor center was closed in August , so I did not get to see the exhibits that explain how “a formidable obstacle to travel since the earliest days when settlers were moving west” was overcome with the construction of the interstate.

It was too darn hot to climb the stairs behind the visitor center to the overlook where binoculars would have given me a closer look at the two aquifers that were intercepted during the excavation. Instead, I made do with a view of the cut from the bridge crossing over the interstate.

When the constant flow from the water-bearing strata evaporates, it leaves behind
a residue of iron oxide. Hence the reddish orange tint on the walls of the cut.

We’re entering heavier traffic areas, so it’s time to stow the laptop and put my navigator’s hat on. More later …

Later … at home

It’s 5:00p. The Phaeton has been put to bed at the storage facility and we’re home, a successful maiden voyage under our belt.

The last stretch of our drive was uneventful. With 115 miles [184 km] remaining to our destination, we took our time over our sandwich and salad lunch, leaving the rest area around 1:00p. Thankfully, we had the generator to run the A/C or we wouldn’t have been able to dally as long as we did. It was hot, hot, hot!

We’d expected that our GPS (we’re using the Garmin nüvi® 465T; designed for truckers) would likely keep us on I-68 until we reached the I-81 interchange. But no; it put us on US Route 522, a scenic shortcut to I-81. And so it was that we arrived at the storage lot shortly before 3:00p.

Don’t you just love that instead of a car, this GPS unit shows a truck on the magenta path!

It was 108F [42C] when we arrived at the storage facility; much too hot to dally outside. Shelving our plans to hose down the exterior of the Phaeton, we quickly went through the post-trip checklist, emptied the fridge, and threw ourselves into the air conditioned comfort of the car we’d left at the lot so that we’d have transportation home. We’ll go back in a few days when the temps are a bit more reasonable to at least clean the windshield and the bug spatter on the front of the coach. In the meantime, we wouldn’t mind getting a few strong showers to wash off some of the mess.

The coach and the toad-to-be — a matching pair at the storage lot.

We’d like to take the coach out this weekend, but the forecast is calling for thunderstorms. We do have plenty of chores to do around our “house without wheels,” so I think we’ll give the Phaeton a well-earned rest and see what we can line up for a bit later in the month.

Start Odometer	End Odometer	Day’s Mileage
11148	11490	342 [547 km]

Statistics for Today

Until our next adventure … thanks for tagging along.

Next Up … Maiden Voyage: Summary