Futility Now » The World

Hodge Podge

jmags — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:43:02 +0000

Here are some pictures from the inner Southeast taken last Sunday.

Here are some pictures I took while doing Temboo work under a tree in the yard.

I was out for a brisk constitutional on Friday when I saw these guys lounging in the sun. I liked how they were sort of pretending to not know each other.

For some reason Yoshi decided to lurk behind my monitor and look incredibly serious.

Here is Yoshi giving me advice on who I should select as kitty commissioner.

Important!

jmags — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:52:49 +0000

Here are some pictures of the sky looking ominous.

Here is a truck with one of everything on it.

Here are some excellent chicken and waffles from Mack and Dub’s Excellent Chicken and Waffles.

Here is some sweet, sweet New Aesthetic action for you.

Birthday

jmags — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:33:27 +0000

As noted in the immediately preceding post, Hazel turned 34 on Friday. To celebrate, we went to The Farm, and then to some bars and then to someone’s back yard which involved a fire pit and champagne. It was pretty great.

Last night we went to The Kennedy School. We met a bunch of people in one of the bars, and stayed the night in a room there (which allowed us to avail ourselves of a salt-water bathing pool!) Staying there was really nice. In addition to the aforementioned pool, the room was really nice, and it was fun to have it as a bivouac. Here is an extremely pretentious picture of Hazel taken therein.

Here is a picture of us this morning, right before we checked out.

The Ugly Side of Spring

hazel — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:49:42 +0000

Last weekend was beautiful, and that meant we really needed to kill some stuff. It was tricky with me still on crutches, but we managed. Our yard has been threatening to eat up our house, so we finally spent some time dividing things up into zones (that word is so terribly authoritative, don’t you think?) and proceeded to tackle things accordingly. The most satisfying part was putting down some bark chips (actually nuggets, but I truly hate that word), which will hopefully keep some of what we killed and tore out from coming back.

So far in my gardening experience, there’s been a lot more killing than trying to get things to grow.

The second photo is the shared reverie experienced by Yoshi and me at receiving a truly wonderful gift — the other Telly Savalas record! My collection is now complete. Thank you, Eva and Christian!

Third photo: some watchers for my little followers, aka sculptures in progress. I’ll have work in Ceramics Showcase again, at the beginning of May. Busy fingers making up for gimpy ankle.

The last photo is in the center of the front yard, where we dug out a moat for more bark to go around a few cutie plants.

On Friday I turn 34. I’m not that worked up about my age, but I really liked 33, I especially like double numbers.

The Hazards of Vacation

hazel — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:41:43 +0000

As Joaquin mentioned, I fell and did an number on my ankle. During the rest of our vacation, I was spoiled with good company and attention and carried around, and there was a truly incredible view from our windows. Despite this, my ankle refused to chin up, and just became bluer and bluer. Literally.

So, while it wasn’t on our itinerary, we made a stop at the Mad River Hospital (what a name!) to make sure I hadn’t broken anything. Nope, not broken, but the ligaments are damaged, so it’s going to be a long time before I get back to my ballet classes.

I went back to work yesterday, and my students were wonderful, but it definitely wrecked me. Crutching around is work. I got all sweaty and I am just not a sweaty person.

So I stayed home again today, and did a lot of sleeping. You know I’m not myself when you see me photographed in a hoodie. I have never even owned a hoodie in my life. This is one of Sylvia’s abandoned ones that has sharpie marker stains all over the sleeves. But its shlubbiness is telling. Seriously, I watched The Cutting Edge on Netflix and ate a Kit Kat today. I guess my ligaments aren’t the only worrisome thing…

Trini Bad

jmags — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:35:47 +0000

So we just got home from Trinidad. In Trinidad we drank fine wines, at delicious food and lounged around in a hot tub. On the downside, Hazel really did a number on her ankle because she was looking at the spectacular view instead of the porch in front of her. Now she’s on crutches. At any rate, here are a bunch of pictures.

There was also a lot of rain, but it was nice to just watch it through the windows. The drive home was also pretty soggy, and we stopped on the other side of Rice Hill, which is always fun.

En Route: Another Dream Fulfilled

hazel — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:24:21 +0000

We love the Rice Hill I-5 exit. It’s between Curtin and Drain, if that tells you anything. We pass by anytime we travel down to California or Southern Oregon. There is an amazing old school drive-in/up/thru place with burgers, fries, and shakes to die for. Across the freeway, same exit, there is this chalet-style motel called the Ranch Motel — a string of tiny A-frame cabins with a bigger central establishment. It probably comes as no surprise that I am extremely fond of A-frames. I have been wanting to check it out for years now (funny how the older you get, the more accurate that statement becomes).

It was not a disappointment! We were all in pretty desperate straits, me enough so that I ordered a Monte Cristo, which came with a pineapple ring on top. Awesome! Why don’t more entrees come this way?

In our great wisdom, we also ordered two slices of cream pie to go — a very promising beginning to our Spring Break.

Thaw

jmags — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:19:51 +0000

I’ve been sick for over a week. Hazel has been sick for almost as long. Last weekend I was barely functional, and I continue to be really exhausted. My lungs are full of gunk and I’m essentially not getting enough oxygen to think straight. An almost surreal state of affairs.

But things are improving. Today we went to the Leach Botanical Gardens, which Hazel thought to recall as we were engaged with being impressed by how nice it was out. Hopefully we’ll have a run of that sort of thing. I could really use it.

Crossing the River

jmags — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:46:52 +0000