life in the old lane

Just a nice lazy Sunday. I felt a little guilty about not spending a lot of time outside enjoying the niceness. Now, if I had my balcony – I wouldn’t have this guilt because I could have lounged around outside.

Sunday is my laundry day. Always has been – see no reason to change. One of the old guys on the floor also does laundry on Sunday morning. His wife taught him well, he separates his lights and darks, uses bleach and fabric softener, and takes up both of the washing machines. Then the takes up both of the dryers – one low and one on high.

I just dump everything in together and hope for the best. I did try to figure out how I was supposed to wash a dress. Haven’t a clue what all those directions mean. Maybe I should have asked my neighbor! I just dumped it in with everything else. 

I was happy to find a couple of nice fat bees visiting the Rosemary in my garden box this morning. 

I want everyone to know that I really do go to work at the crack of dawn!

Sort of a leisure day today. Wrapped up the Asylum Talent Show project – and moved all the images off my computer and deleted them from my catalogue. I most likely could have deleted them completely. But, I am a digital hoarder. Do you know that I have over 10 years of GMAILs? And it’s not like any of them are great romantic notes from Carlton. Because, I was the one who did his emails! Even to his old girl friends.

Took no picture of people today. Only bugs and flowers. Neither of which complain about the results.

Not a great photo. But, it is the first one that I was able to capture this spring.

 

Tossed a little slideshow together from my 900 images. Music Playing in the Band – The Dead. Length 2 minutes.

Aside: I too have tried to catch a few zzz’s in our auditorium. But the seats are too uncomfortable and I usually wake up when my neck snaps. 

I suited up, geared up and showed up for another exciting 2 hours.

It was wet today. I got to work fine. And I got to within 2 blocks of the Asylum when the floodgates of hell broke. It went from sunny to deluge in less time than it took to deploy my umbrella. Fortunately I had my big industrial strength umbrella. Oh, did I mention the wind. With one block to go, the rain became horizontal. I watched an awning blow off of a building. But I got home fine, with nothing worse than wet pant legs.  

So, tomorrow after work – I have 450 or so more photos to go through. But, you have seen the best one. And, I am not going to give it to my “client”. 

Think I pretty much nailed to photo shoot today. Someone asked “can you print them”. Hell no, I shot at ISO kajillion and chopped the crap out of the images. No way they are going to print. Least not and still have my name on them. 

I did sneak in a tiny bit of “me” time. Time for a flower picture…

And, I finished up post processing in time to dart down to the dining room for bread pudding this evening. 

Walk. Shuttle bus. Work. Yoga. Walk. Wait.

Bus. Little walk. Lunch. 

Take some test shots at the dress rehearsal for the “talent” show. I told someone “sure, I’ll take pictures”.  I am pretty sure that this is not the sort of picture that “they” want – but it is what I like. 

Then off to listen to wait our CEO has to say about the health and well being of the Asylum. And beer with a friend. And dinner. And then look at the 240 test images. I liked one.

Elect clowns – Expect a circus.

Thanks to Billy for collecting the shell from the bottom of the ocean, and for telling me to put an LED bulb in it. Thanks to the lauhala hat that Sam Ah Hoy made for me for getting it safely back to the Old Bat Cave. 

After work (and nappy time) I worked on the 2016 photographs. 

Note to self #1: Shamu the phone wins the train photo contest hands down. It’s GPS always has at least an idea where the train was when the picture was taken. 

Note to self #2: Change the fricking time on the “real” camera. Not only does it not know where it is. It hasn’t a clue that the time zone changed. Fortunately, Lightroom has a “Timezone Shift” function. But, still… How hard is it to change the hour on the camera. Not hard at all. 

This fine sign was in Portland. March 2, 2016

Having a little rest this afternoon – this guy lands on my tiny window ledge and raises holy hell…

So far so good today. I have been sort of in denial about living in an old folks asylum. I stayed in my room or went down the stairs directly outdoors. Where there were birds and flowers to amuse me.

Early morning I walked to the Columbia Pike Farmers Market. At this time of year, it is more like the Bakers and Apple Orchard Market. I got a big fat scone and a plump brioche roll. So, I felt like I had to walk back home too. No bus for me. That got my 5 miles in for the day. 

AND – and this is a biggie – I TURNED ON THE STOVE. I cooked lunch. 

I saw an elderly man at the grocery. He wanted to know where to find maraschino cherries. In 1953, I think. I don’t even know if maraschino cherries are still sold in grocery stores. What exactly is a maraschino cherry, I wondered. Well, Since 1940, “maraschino cherries” have been defined as “cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar, and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.” But, in early days – they were apparently preserved in a wicked strong liquor. That would be before Prohibition. 

Well, it is 6PM, maybe I can finish off February 2016’s image processing. I plan on nuking something for dinner up here in the Old Bat Cave. Continuing denial for the rest of the day.

It is pretty hard to get into the spirit of April Fools when we have the Fool in Chief with his fat little fingers on the nuclear go boom button.

And I didn’t make much progress culling and doing the “final” organization to 2016 photos. I am just up to Feb 21. For some reason I thought that in 3 days I could surely do 12 months. It doesn’t look like it. On the other hand, I got my 5 miles in and I had a nice nap. And I thought about circumnavigation. East to West? West to East? North to South? South to North? Air or Water. Land? We have more options than Phileas Fogg. 

Tomorrow promises to be a nice day. Maybe I’ll go take some MORE pictures! 

 

It was chilly and rainy all day long. So, I stayed all cosy in the Old Bat Cave and ever so slowly plowed through the 2016 photos. Very slowly. I made it to Feb 3. 

I don’t think I have posted these before. 

There was supposed to be a speaker here this afternoon talking about “memory issues” apparently the auditorium was filled to capacity. The speaker got stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it. A couple of weeks ago, the Asylum nutritionist spoke. Less than 20 people were in attendance. I am not sure what this means. But, it think there is a lesson. At least for young people making career choices. We old farts are more concerned about losing our memory than losing our waistlines. 

And, I was supposed to go to a concert for a good cause this evening. It was cancelled due to a power failure at the venue. 

All in all, a chilly, damp, but pleasant day.

I did a search of my Evernote stuff – I love Evernote – I was a beta user way 10 years+ ago. Back on pointe. I searched my Evernote to find out how to change the time on a way too fancy Timex watch. Found the instructions. But, the second thing Evernote found was this article that had saved back in 2013 about packing for an around the world trip. A Timex watch was on the list – hence the hit. And, I have a waterproof Timex. One item ticked off and ready to pack!

I am taking this as a hint to get on with my bucket list “circumnavigate the globe” entry.

Going to a “do good” concert tomorrow night and will most likely take tomorrow off work because of the weather. A rain day.  

Tomorrow’s plan – assuming rain is to work on getting the 7,800+ photos from 2016 off the computer and the 2016 photobook started. There should be some time to look into circumnavigation. 

It must be spring. I carried my sweater home.