The Time Sink

There's a little story behind today's "Monday's rose..." over on the blog. I'm getting to be pretty well known in the neighborhoods around our place, both as the crazy guy who rollerblades and as the guy who takes pictures. ...and the blading is often the precursor to the photos since I'll shift my routes around a little to see if there are any interesting plants in bloom or any interesting tidbits to photograph once I get back from my workout.

...and after blading Friday morning, I was just wandering around one area to see about one particular orange bloom that seemed to be catching the light 'just right' when a homeowner shouted at me to come check out his roses. Yeah, someone I hadn't met, but someone who had seen me around and wanted to show off this absolutely huge bloom on the bush near his entryway. ...and sure enough, that was one huge flower; that particular bloom is nearly six inches in diameter. Yeah...

...and we shared tales of how the roses have been doing this Spring; it's been quite a year with all the rain and variable temperatures. Some of the plants have been doing really well (like his and the lavender bush from last week) and producing beautiful blooms. ...but others have taken on too much bloom growth for the amount of growth the stalks have managed and are drooped over and just waiting to be cut back to try again.

...and I'm real glad this gentleman called me over: I normally don't check out entryways or move off the sidewalks unless I meet the homeowners and get permission to take shots in their driveways or such; I'd have missed this shot completely and I think it turned out okay...

I'm not planning on turning this into 'story week', but hey, people seem interested in the backgrounds to some of the happenings on the blog and over in Views...

The little triad titled "Freeform" had it's start in a curio shop in Cambria, one of the little towns along the Central California coast: as we wandered through a curio shop there I noticed a series of glass angels imprisoned in glass cases in the middle of the store. I managed to capture one without too much glare or reflection and thought that maybe I'd pair it up with another...

...but later that same day, I talked Shelley into walking through one of the cemeteries up a hill in the same town; and while she was wondering about the 'unknown child' marker, I ran across the moss and lichen covered lady and decided she might make a nice contrast to the shiny glass angel. ...and that would have been that, except a few days later we were on our way back from Morro Bay near sundown and I decided to drop by the Cayucos cemetery for a shot or two. ...and that's when I stumbled across the obelisk.

Actually, I didn't think I had much at the time, just an old, weathered marker; but that was because I'd approached it from the south and just saw the weathered face. ...and as I walked around the marble I saw the lichen growing in the carvings on the north side and knew I had the third part of a free form poem.

...and that is the story of "Freeform". Oh, and if you followed that link to Shelley's "Unknown Child", the answers are here...

It's been a busy week so far at the TimeSink Home Health Care Facility. Daniel came down with a stomach thing around 0100 Monday, and that's kept him out of school the last two days. ...and Tuesday morning, Shelley wasn't feeling so good and ended up back in bed for the day (and had Daniel taking care of her since he was on the mend). That leaves Brad and me dodging the bullets so far...

Daniel's better; Shelley was but maybe pushed herself too much yesterday and maybe isnt; Brad is still bouncing off the walls; and I still need sleep. ...other than that? Well, it's just been a bit too busy to think much.

TGIF!!! Oh, yeah! Let's hear it for the weekend. Yeah, yeah, I know; there are still hours and hours to go; but darn it, I'm done with some parts of this week <g>...

So, basketball tonight and this weekend unless Brad succumbs to one of the bugs going around the house. ...and if he does, then we're all sleeping in. ..like maybe straight through until Sunday? ...and then maybe tackling a work list or two. ...but right now we're ready for a little down time.

Well, they lost last night, but it wasn't by much and they were coming back hard the longer the game went on. ...and it was only after the game we found out our fifth graders had been playing a team of sixth and seventh graders! Yeah, not bad...

...only today they start off against a 'travel team'; that's a team that practices together year-round. ...and oh, yeah, they have 'real plays' and everything (including, I suspect, the bag of chips). ...but as I put it to Brad and a couple of parents, "If you go up against some real stiff competition and hang in there, you can advance your own game.". We'll find out how tough these guys are before noon today. ...and I pity the 'regular' team they play in the afternoon game!

Yep, they got blown out by that 'travel team'; I won't even mention the score. ...but they came back in the afternoon to win their second game, albeit by a narrow margin.

...and after that we all came home and tried kickin' back a little. Heck, I even made dinner (hamburgers cooked in a cast iron pan) so Shelley could take her first break of the week (mine will be today).

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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