Goodbye to May

It's time to watch the end of another month of 2009 as it passes through that doorway to history. May has brought tumultuous times with my mother, exasperating times at work with new platform computers thrust upon us with no introduction or training, and the typical unsettled weather ranging from "should we build a fire in the wood stove?" to "is it time to put the a/c unit in the bedroom window?" We've enjoyed track and field, a smallish bounty from the asparagus beds, and the prodigious blooms of our lilac bushes. I spent time choosing, editing, and publishing pictures from my trip to France and the celebration of my sister in law's birthday with a limo ride for 9 of us and luncheon at a great restaurant named for a Robert Frost poem, "Fire and Ice." Black flies came in droves and left after a well-timed frost. Mosquitoes were nipped by the frost, too, so they're just making their comeback now. This seems to be the year for spiders. Somehow one whose body is the size of a quarter has found his way into the downstairs bathroom, so I'm careful to shake out towels when I'm in there.

Tomorrow begins the last mad rush toward graduation and the end of the school year. I'm hoping for a modicum of sanity on the journey.

Gotta love Facebook! A friend and former colleague found this item on the web. For a great chuckle visit: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=30351

Sun day

It's Monday, our early celebration of Memorial Day which falls on a weekend day. For the convenience of those who think the day off is more significant than the recognition of the reason for the holiday occurring on its originally designated day, here we are paying attention to the weather, special sales in stores, yard sales galore, and the frenzy of planting at least some of the garden ... oh, and by the way, flying the American flag and taking a moment or two to recognize the men and women who have selflessly endangered their lives to keep us able to indulge in these pastimes without fear or threat. Our local parade is small, almost overwhelmed by the traffic of summer folks arriving to open their cottages and condos for the season. The winner of the local Voice of Democracy Speech competition usually reads the winning speech, the local members of the VFW assemble by the war memorial cannon in the center of town (meaning the town east of where I sit; I dont think my tiny town has its own war memorial for soldiers), cemetery graves are decorated with small American flags, and there's a 21 gun salute, all parts of the day that I remember from my childhood in Massachusetts but done on a smaller scale here and now. The prickly feel of hostilities in parts of Asia and Africa, and the call for more American troops to show the saber rattlers that, as one insurance agency ad on television tout, "We... MEAN.... BUSINESS!" For me, the recognition that firefighters, police officers, and soldiers of all kinds step into the line of fire quite regularly occurs several times a week, as I read the newspapers and hear the stories told by the students whose dads, moms, siblings, and other loved ones are still okay, sustained wounds but only minor ones, or they'll be coming home soon, if they can stay safe long enough to do that. I read it in Facebook where a former student, who had a short-lived career as a flooring installer (he's the one who laid our kitchen floor a few years back) and then went into the Marines, posts often about the food, the morale, and a certain friend of his who lost his life when an IED demolished the vehicle in which he was traveling, so the war feels closer because we can put a name and a face with it. Facebook also brings out messages from others who demand an immediate end to war, and peace, pure and simple. At what cost, I ask myself. What am I willing to give up in order to have peace right now? Am I ready to live in a 1984-style world, an Anthem-style world, a Fahrenheit 451-style world in which personal, individual freedom and control over one's own life is the sacrifice for something resembling peace? I can't answer "yes" to those questions. Until there's some magical worldwide consensus about personal freedoms and controls, and a better handle on how groups and societies function best without trampling the rights of the individual (all individuals, not just some), we'll continue to struggle, and some of those struggles will involve tactics and weapons that wipe out portions of populations. It would be wonderful if people could agree, but I'm not optimistic about it happening in my lifetime.

So yes, Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy the sun and the day away from the office desk or factory line or checkout register, but also enjoy for a few focused moments the freedoms we so often take for granted and thank as many of the people who have helped protect them as you can muster. That'll be a good Memorial Day.

Deep thought

I wonder if I'll ever figure out why I'm here.

Serenity now?

This silence from a certain town to the east is eerie....welcome, but eerie. Still, I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest.

tidbits

It stinks when you don't want to answer the phone in case it's "you know who."

Half a day of sunshine and nice breezes and I feel refreshed. Must be the vitamin D or something.

Lindt Orange Intense is scrumptious stuff!

When pole vaulters vault well and with good form, it's one of the most graceful events in all of track and field. One of our vaulters achieved that today, and there's hope for it happening more often.

Being disoriented and a bit confused is very uncomfortable. The best antidote for it is discovering that it's Saturday and not Sunday.

France Photos

http://homepage.mac.com/camry2/France-2009/PhotoAlbum16.html

Be sure to click on the various Days listed at the top to see each day's collection of shots.
Some should be cropped or rotated, some are out of order, and some may be mislabled, but enjoy what you see. :)

Welcome to May

quick update:

The trip to France - April 17 - April 26 - was wonderful. No problems with luggage, good flights except for one rough landing back in Boston, I love AirFrance, we did more in 8 days than I can write about here (from Cannes and Nice, to Monaco, and on to Ventimilia in Italy, and back in one day, for example), and I took over 1700 pictures. We had great accommodations, good food and mild weather, only one day with some drizzle, so we were lucky. So far I've picked through about 1/3 of the photos, and I'll start uploading a day at a time in the near future. I've become the scarf queen, and I have a new appreciation for good, fashionable, comfortable shoes (it took a week for my poor swollen, blistered feet to recover!). The perfumes and perfumed soaps I purchased make good aromatherapy, and the Florian candies that I kept (some of both soaps and foodstuffs were souvenirs) are sweet reminders of the factory we visited just outside Nice. I have no photos from the top of the Eiffel Tower because I didn't go up there, but I did see it from the ground and many of the other notable sights in Paris. Leaving France, customs took from me a set of three flower-flavored jams that supposedly were packed for travel, so I've learned to pack such things differently for next time. I brought back coins for souvenirs for students, and many took them. As I sort through my photos, I'm reminded of the many good experiences I had, and I'm glad I took the trip.

In the second batch of email that came in almost as soon as I arrived home and logged in, I found news that my mother is losing her grip on reality. Sis2 thought it was due to the blood pressure meds that list hallucinations as a side effect, so I took Mom to her PCP on Wednesday, requesting a change in medication for that reason. She'll be taking something else starting next week, but she has to wean off the current one for 7 days; however, I'm not sure the situation will wait that long. She's begun failing rapidly, believing that there are things happening around her that just aren't happening. Sis2 and our brother are in contact to try to manage the situation, but as the one living closest to Mom, I'll likely need to be the one to respond to and address her problems immediately as they happen until we can get this sorted out....if we can with any success.

With the good comes the bad. There is balance in life.