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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Saturday, June 26, 2004 Vacation countdown! I've had three "vacations" in the last twenty years. One of those was spent helping Kate move into her new apartment, one of them was used to fly my mother's new computer to her in Florida and set it up for her, and the third was a family reunion that, while enjoyable, could hardly have been called restful. So I was really looking forward to the first week in July, when Kate and I were to visit friends in Massachusetts for a week of doing absolutely nothing.My plane tickets had long since been purchased, my prime contractor had been notified that I wouldn't be available that week, people had been lined up to care for Nick and Clarence in my absence . . . and then the whole thing began to unravel. The relative with whom Nick was to stay found that she would have to be moving that week. The people downstairs in Shelley's apartment building who had agreed to check on Clarence every day suddenly weren't sure whether they might be having company, and thought they'd better not commit to anything. As a result, I haven't been fit to live with for weeks. Every attempt I made to find appropriate caregivers was either unsuccessful to begin with, or fell through after some period of time. I was ready to tell Kate that I wouldn't be able to go after all, alternating between tears and rage.But things have worked out, finally, and next Friday evening, I'll drive down to Raleigh and stay at one of the airport hotels overnight. Raleigh is not the airport I would have chosen, but the relative with whom Nick was going to stay lives nearby and had offered to drive me to the airport if I flew from there, so I wouldn't have to pay for parking for the car. So I bought a ticket from Raleigh instead of far-closer Greensboro, and will now have a four hour drive at beginning and end of the trip. Then the airline called and moved my flight almost an hour earlier than its original time. To get myself to the airport on time would require leaving here at midnight and trusting the Jeep to get me there on time without any problems, something I don't ever assume will happen. So I'll go down early, stay overnight and let the hotel wake me up at 4:00 am.My friends have a computer, so I won't be incommunicado the whole week, but blogging will definitely take second place to lying on their porch listening to the surf.And then I'll come home and move the household back to Stuart—our move-out date here is just a week after my return. This coming week must be devoted to finishing up the last of my inspections, getting the new carpet put down in the trailer, the rotting porch railing replaced, the leaky shower fixed, and grass seed put down on the sea of mud resulting from the driveway renovation. I'm going to need this vacation, and I'll probably feel as though I'm due another one after the move.But at least we'll be out of here, where Shelley's car has been vandalized multiple times, one set of downstairs neighbors is again engaged in screeching at each other, a woman in one of the other buildings was stabbed earlier this month, and another neighbor, who does shift work and gets home about 2:30am, manages to wake me up every single night without fail, slamming her door, thudding up and down her living room directly over my head, turning her tv on full blast. And this is a "nice" apartment complex, not a dump. The trailer may not be paradise but it's dark at night, and the loudest sound is that of tree frogs and crickets.Nick and I attached some diagonal-slat trellis to the back porch today and planted a row of fat brown Kentucky Wonder seeds at its base. Kentucky Wonder, one of the grand old heritage runner beans, matures in about 70 days, so we'll have fresh from the back porch string beans before the first frost. The roses we planted in March are blooming, the hostas have burst out with enormous lavendar buds, promising the best flowers I've ever seen from them, and the blackberries are ripening. I feel as though I've been out of kilter for a year, and am just now seeing the world slip back into its rightful place.I haven't forgotten what's going on in the rest of the nation and world, but I have decided to set it aside for the next couple of weeks and concentrate on just living. posted by Liz @ 8:26 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I've had three "vacations" in the last twenty years. One of those was spent helping Kate move into her new apartment, one of them was used to fly my mother's new computer to her in Florida and set it up for her, and the third was a family reunion that, while enjoyable, could hardly have been called restful. So I was really looking forward to the first week in July, when Kate and I were to visit friends in Massachusetts for a week of doing absolutely nothing.My plane tickets had long since been purchased, my prime contractor had been notified that I wouldn't be available that week, people had been lined up to care for Nick and Clarence in my absence . . . and then the whole thing began to unravel. The relative with whom Nick was to stay found that she would have to be moving that week. The people downstairs in Shelley's apartment building who had agreed to check on Clarence every day suddenly weren't sure whether they might be having company, and thought they'd better not commit to anything. As a result, I haven't been fit to live with for weeks. Every attempt I made to find appropriate caregivers was either unsuccessful to begin with, or fell through after some period of time. I was ready to tell Kate that I wouldn't be able to go after all, alternating between tears and rage.But things have worked out, finally, and next Friday evening, I'll drive down to Raleigh and stay at one of the airport hotels overnight. Raleigh is not the airport I would have chosen, but the relative with whom Nick was going to stay lives nearby and had offered to drive me to the airport if I flew from there, so I wouldn't have to pay for parking for the car. So I bought a ticket from Raleigh instead of far-closer Greensboro, and will now have a four hour drive at beginning and end of the trip. Then the airline called and moved my flight almost an hour earlier than its original time. To get myself to the airport on time would require leaving here at midnight and trusting the Jeep to get me there on time without any problems, something I don't ever assume will happen. So I'll go down early, stay overnight and let the hotel wake me up at 4:00 am.My friends have a computer, so I won't be incommunicado the whole week, but blogging will definitely take second place to lying on their porch listening to the surf.And then I'll come home and move the household back to Stuart—our move-out date here is just a week after my return. This coming week must be devoted to finishing up the last of my inspections, getting the new carpet put down in the trailer, the rotting porch railing replaced, the leaky shower fixed, and grass seed put down on the sea of mud resulting from the driveway renovation. I'm going to need this vacation, and I'll probably feel as though I'm due another one after the move.But at least we'll be out of here, where Shelley's car has been vandalized multiple times, one set of downstairs neighbors is again engaged in screeching at each other, a woman in one of the other buildings was stabbed earlier this month, and another neighbor, who does shift work and gets home about 2:30am, manages to wake me up every single night without fail, slamming her door, thudding up and down her living room directly over my head, turning her tv on full blast. And this is a "nice" apartment complex, not a dump. The trailer may not be paradise but it's dark at night, and the loudest sound is that of tree frogs and crickets.Nick and I attached some diagonal-slat trellis to the back porch today and planted a row of fat brown Kentucky Wonder seeds at its base. Kentucky Wonder, one of the grand old heritage runner beans, matures in about 70 days, so we'll have fresh from the back porch string beans before the first frost. The roses we planted in March are blooming, the hostas have burst out with enormous lavendar buds, promising the best flowers I've ever seen from them, and the blackberries are ripening. I feel as though I've been out of kilter for a year, and am just now seeing the world slip back into its rightful place.I haven't forgotten what's going on in the rest of the nation and world, but I have decided to set it aside for the next couple of weeks and concentrate on just living.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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