life in the old lane

I made my annual pilgrimage to Jackson St this afternoon.  This is one of the old owner houses that has been decorated for years. 

This is one of the new owner houses and they are starting out simply but they definitely got the “Decorate for Halloween” memo when they moved in. 

I really need to start getting ready to go to Hawai’i. Having done this for 30 years makes me a little complacent. At the very least I should email the landlord and be sure the apartment will be ready. And stocked with coffee. 

Mentally much better today. I kept myself between the navigational beacons. No easy task.

Today wasn’t a day that was oozing with tranquility, peace, light, and gratitude. It was a morning of wondering “What are they thinking” at work. And an afternoon of wondering “What are they thinking” at The Building? It ended with me firing off a poorly crafted WTF email to Building management. 

Fortunately,  a birthday celebration replete with wine and chocolate cake will begin soon. 

Gratitude

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Grateful for every birthday my accidental family celebrates together. Every birthday is a treasure.

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More old images from film-time. 

Thanks, Carlton. 

Done.

Absolutely nothing is happening here of interest. Which is actually a good thing. So dig out some old film-time photos. 

Why, on this lovely fall Sunday afternoon, do I feel like the world is devolving into chaos? Will there be nuclear war before the end of the year? Or will we, once again, step away from the brink?  

For no apparent reason, I pulled Robert Service off the bookshelf yesterday.  Now that interest rates on CDs are up to 5%,  it’s a good time to recall Carlton’s favorite poem.

The Five-Per-Cent – Robert Service,

Because I have ten thousand pounds I sit upon my stern,
And leave my living tranquilly for other folks to earn.
For in some procreative way that isn’t very clear,
Ten thousand pounds will breed, they say, five hundred every year.
So as I have a healthy hate of economic strife,
I mean to stand aloof from it the balance of my life.
And yet with sympathy I see the grimy son of toil,
And heartly congratulate the tiller of the soil.
I like the miner in the mine, the sailor on the sea,
Because up to five hundred pounds they sail and mine for me.
For me their toil is taxed unto that annual extent,
According to the holy shibboleth of Five-per-Cent.

So get ten thousand pounds, my friend, in any way you can.
And leave your future welfare to the noble Working Man.
He’ll buy you suits of Harris tweed, an Airedale and a car;
Your golf clubs and your morning Times, your whisky and cigar.
He’ll cosily install you in a cottage by a stream,
With every modern comfort, and a garden that’s a dream>
Or if your tastes be urban, he’ll provide you with a flat,
Secluded from the clamour of the proletariat.
With pictures, music, easy chairs, a table of good cheer,
A chap can manage nicely on five hundred pounds a year.
And though around you painful signs of industry you view,
Why should you work when you can make your money work for you?

So I’ll get down upon my knees and bless the Working Man,
Who offers me a life of ease through all my mortal span;
Whose loins are lean to make me fat, who slaves to keep me free,
Who dies before his prime to let me round the century;
Whose wife and children toil in urn until their strength is spent,
That I may live in idleness upon my five-per-cent.
And if at times they curse me, why should I feel any blame?
For in my place I know that they would do the very same.
Aye, though they hoist a flag that’s red on Sunday afternoon,
Just offer them ten thousand pounds and see them change their tune.
So I’ll enjoy my dividends and live my life with zest,
And bless the mighty men who first – invented Interest.

Gratitude

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Full disclosure: Extremely grateful to be living the good life on the 5%.

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If anyone knows Robert Service (1874-1958) they think of him as The Poet of the Yukon. But, actually, he spent many more years in Paris and on the Rivera than he ever spent in The Yukon Territories. Also, he is remembered as a socialist, but The Five-Per-Cent is about as capitalist as you can get. 

PS – Guessing at when this was written the 10,000 pounds would be about one million dollars in 2023.

After last week’s flurry of activity, I treated myself to a very nice leisurely day. 

It was too windy to take pictures, but I didn’t let that stop me. 

There are 4 elevators that come to my floor in The Building. And 2 of them are out of service. It’s not pretty. I can and regularly do walk down 11 floors. But I can only make it up a couple of times a day. Major elevator outages are regular events and are always blamed on Otis and/or The County. 

Last time we had an elevator crisis, some residents were waiting for an elevator. As happens with distressing regularity, the Fire Department Ambulance crew came with a gurney to transport a resident to hospital. Well, the residents waiting for the elevator wouldn’t let the EMTs and the gurney on the elevator when it finally arrived. Because “We were here first”.  

Another resident story. A resident decided to cut down a tree and push it onto the neighboring lot.  All things considered, I like trees more than many of the residents. How can you stop someone from cutting trees down? Short of locking them up.

If I really miss the gear, and I seriously doubt that I will, I can always buy new gear. Or used gear and get exactly the same stuff back again. Maybe even my exact same stuff.  I got about 10 cents on the dollar. But, it’s not what you put into the gear; it’s the pleasure you get out of the gear that matters. 

With your phone. That’s how. 

First things first. Got my camera gear all packed up and ready to go. Somewhere? I don’t want to think how much money I have spent over the years on camera gear. Nor can I put a value on the pleasures I have gotten from all that gear.

Chores done, time to get outside.  To Four-Mile Run.

I rather like lens flare. So, I consider it a feature. Not a problem.

Gratitude

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Really grateful for Electricity and all the good people who keep it coming.

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Finish up the little walk on a bench. Watching a squirrel watching me.

Organizing and packing my camera gear for sale and/or donation. I just packed up the oldest one. A strange old 4/3s Panasonic. The DMC-L1K. I checked the memory card that was in it. Downloaded the photos. What did I find but Carlton playing tennis on “his” courts. With his friend and tennis opponent Bob. Of course, Carlton is long dead and Bob now has ALS. And the fine old camera has been ignored since July 1, 2014. It’s just sad. But. It is.

Last night, just after updating the blog, just before heading to dinner, I get this text. 

Now why on earth would I text back “sure”? I am not the smartest bear in the woods. 

Good things happen too. I got a ride from the airport in Kona to my lodgings. And an invite to a Halloween Party that night. I might not be up for a party after flying all day. But, it’s nice to be remembered. 

The plan for the day was to leave before noon and not return until the “armed intruder drill” was over.

Before abandoning The Building, there was time to begin digging out all the camera gear. Hope to get it wrapped up tomorrow. Because it is kinda all over my room. 

Went to yoga in person. Sad to find out that one of our long-time classmates had died suddenly of cancer.  Dying suddenly isn’t the worst thing, but it is still very hard on his husband, who is also a classmate. 

Sudden cancer deaths seem to be stalking my friends this year. This makes number 3. 

After yoga, it was time to do a few errands and then lounge around on benches. Arlington is well-equipped with benches. 

Stopped by the bocce ball courts. No players. But another great sky. And by then I received an “all clear” message from a friend so, it was time to hop on a bus home. 

Woke up this morning, and discovered that my brain was working. Took advantage of that and tweaked some financial things. Then decided that I needed some outdoor time.

On my way to a nearby park, the bus to the old neighborhood came along. I got on the bus. Change of plans. I went to find out about disposing of all of my “real” camera gear.  The goal is to get this done before the end of the month. I think it’s doable. 

This orchid had a little accident last winter and its bloom stalk got snapped off. It seems to be a little ahead of schedule this winter. But mainly I was trying to see how hard my phone camera had to hunt to get what I wanted in focus in focus. 

Tomorrow The Building will be having a noisy and disruptive “armed intruder” drill sometime between 1 and 5.  I plan to be “out”.  Until after 5PM or when I get an all-clear text.  My way to avoid being annoyed by stuff is to avoid stuff that annoys me. 

Most of my remaining brain cells were functioning in an orderly manner this morning, so I cleaned up some work.  Took a little walk. Had a little rest. Pretty darn easy day. 

Kinda on the glide path to Kona.  Nothing too serious on the calendar between now and Halloween. Just hope to dodge Covid and other disasters between now and then. 

Now that is not too shabby for the new “camera” that also makes phone calls.  Yes, it would be better with my real camera and my macro lens. But, it’s more than adequate. 

I continued being a little un-perky today. So, I took the day off. Off from what you might ask. Well, I only have 1,960 steps today. And those steps came from going to and from the laundry room.

The Twilight Zone

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On Thursday morning I was waiting to see the pharmacist to get my Covid shot. There was a young woman ahead of me. I heard her say that she was born in 1994. I think: WOW. That’s young. When her transaction was completed she started frantically looking in her purse for something. Her phone. So she can pay. Soon enough, she finds her phone. Not in her purse. Not in any of her pockets. In her plastic grocery bag. I told her she had no idea how happy it made me to see a young person “lose” a phone like that. I thanked her for absolutely making my day. Maybe even my week. 

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Here in DC area we were only supposed to get 20% of the eclipse. So, no one was seriously bummed out by the washout.

Now. Next step. Get rid of all the camera gear. Except the GoPro.