I'm not the only one, right?

This has been bugging me for days. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees a resemblance, right?

"Sexy Russian Spy" (You know who I'm talking about, right?)

"Kaylee" from Firefly

Trash-talking

How do you plan to atone for not liking Wes Anderson more?

Well, I don't plan on it.

One of my faults is trying to go with the flow too often and acquiescing to the opinions of others, often letting my particular thoughts on something become submerged under the more strident statements of those around me.

I have been told (in a business setting, if not always in every other setting) that I need to speak out more strongly in favor of my own particular ideas, rather than working for consensus. That I should present my own ideas and creativity with more open confidence.

So . . . in the spirit of trying to better myself, I'll say here that I am not at all in love with Wes Anderson and I don't feel any particular need to *try* and be in love with Mr. Anderson either. I am intelligent enough to recognize that he is a skilled filmmaker and he tells stories with a subject matter focus and in a way that makes him unique. And I am in favor of uniqueness, individual honesty, and overall creativity.

His films (with the exception of "Rushmore," which I did enjoy when I watched it the one time) simply don't engage me in any particularly special way.

So, sorry fans of "The Darjeeling Limited." I probably won't be going out of my way to finally see it.

And my apologies to the lovers of "A Life Aquatic." I did watch it; I enjoyed the David Bowie cover songs. But I just don't have any strong fondness for the movie . . . outside of the one line Murray delivers after the pirate attack that I thought was funny but always misquote.

And, yes . . . I have no desire to rewatch "The Royal Tennenbaums." Once was enough.

Again . . . sorry.

So, well, there you have it.

I DON"T have plans for atonement on this issue. Is THAT bold enough for you?

Anyway, that's my answer.

Thanks for asking.

Ask me anything

The Friendly Stranger tag cloud

New car smell

Not the best photo, but go to Chrysler.com and search for the Town & Country to see all the bells and whistles. (Not all bell & whistles were selected.)


-- Posted From My iPhone (so, I apologize in advance for any typos I missed)

Invention Convention photos

-- Posted From My iPhone (so, I apologize in advance for any typos I missed)

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Yeah, that's me rocking out to Nirvana back in college.

Check the outfit.

Flannel shirt (I was--am--enslaved by what fashion says I should wear to match the trend. Grunge was not different. But at least that was the only flannel shirt and I wore it prior to hearing of Nirvana. And I wore it until Lynda forced me to get rid of it.)

Greenish suit vest. (Yeah, the vest has no connection to the shirt in any way. Perhaps that was the "Losing My Religion" side of me fighting against the Cobain? But I undeniably enjoyed pairing these two items together. Why did Lynda marry me again?)

Sweat pants (I've always had some kind of love/hate thing with sweat pants. They look much better on other people than they do on me. And you won't catch me wearing them these days. I think I wore them then with this outfit. And like everything else I'm wearing mid-slam--or whatever epileptic fit I'm calling a dance here--it just doesn't work. Did confidence make it all work? When has that ever worked for me?)

Unseen due to my gesticulating arm, the infamous JCrew hat.

Sarah's 9th (almost) bday party

Grace's artwork

Art at the State Capitol

Here is the official explanation of the event. Students from each country in Ohio were selected to represent their schools. Four kids from Sarah's school were chosen. In case you can't read it, I'll try to transcribe it accurately here:

2009 Statehouse Student Art Exhibit

The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and Ohio Arts Education Association have partnered to bring outstanding works of art by Ohio's children to the Ohio Statehouse to celebrate the Arts--starting on April 1, 2009--coinciding with the Governor's Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day.

This exhibit recognizes the talents, creativity, and innovation of students who received high quality arts education instruction as part of their academic experience in school. Participants in the exhibition were selected by arts educators in each of the Ohio Art Education Association's regions that span the state.

Celebrate arts education and enjoy this beautiful exhibit by Ohio's children.




Here is the artwork in question. I didn't know what it looked like, except for the fact that it was "a sandwich." But what a sandwich it is! In my dreams I imagine a sandwich like this. Truly it is glorious.



Here is Sarah with Mrs. Love, the school's art teacher. The assignment was to produce a sandwich that illustrated ten of the food groups provided. (I guess that is what inspired such an impressive sandwich that I might only hope to see on a plate in front of me some day. Go back to the previous photo and see the foods stacked together: 1. bread, 2. onions, 3. fish, Swiss cheese, 4. carrots, 5. mayonnaise?, 6. olives, 7. lettuce, . . . what else do YOU see?

And here is the proud artist with her artwork. She was also congratulated by her principal and her superintendent, both of whom were also in attendance.

Hocking Hills, part 2

The morning of day 2 we started out by getting ready. It was chilly (in the mid 40s) and rainy, so the girls wore sweatshirts under their raincoats. But I wasn't too worried about them being under layered. If they were anything like me, they would heat up as they walked. This picture was taken from the porch/deck off the cottage floor. The girls, Grace especially, liked swinging on this swing.

Here we are at the beginning of our hike, as we departed from the Visitor's Center and descended into the gorges that were cut by the river. As with most parks systems, the trail was equal parts "natural" and man-made--with steps and bridges and pathways created to make the trails easy for lots of tourism.

You can see here that I am now the one toting Hannah on my back, as opposed to the previous day's walk. I was looking forward to carrying her, but I'll admit wondering if it was a wise decision once we started up and down the trails and I wondered whether the person with the worst balance should be loaded off center with another person. But I managed to avoid catastrophe.

This is known as, I believe anyway, Lower Falls. (Yes, it did remind me--in name at least--of a similarly named set of falls in the beloved DeSoto Falls camp grounds of my youth.) But this one was much easier to get to and is pretty nice. The arched bridge above it is certainly attractive. And after we got some pictures taken with the falls behind us (which is not sported on my iPhone wallpaper), we hiked up the trail a bit to see the falls from above.


And here we have our young, intrepid hikers. To say that Lynda and I were proud of them is to damn with faint praise. (Am I using that Shakespeare right? I'm never sure on this one.) They were fabulous during the hike and walked and climbed with nary a complaint and full of excitement and appreciation for everything they saw. It was a wonderful experience, made even more important by the fact that this was our only opportunity to hike for the rest of our trip. Once we came home for lunch, the rain strengthened and we weren't able to make it back to the other places we'd intended to visit. So, we played board games and drew and I read as much as I could get away with.

It was a great experience for sure. It makes me wonder, honestly, why we haven't tried to get over there more often. It is so close and a day trip to a park is free. I hope we make the time to do it again, soon . . . when the weather cooperates more.

Photos from Hocking Hills, day 1

When we got to the cottage that we rented in Hocking Hills, we were very pleased with the place. We chose to go with a more modern facility that was set in the woods rather than a cabin that was "more authentic." If you are ever in the Hocking Hills region, I recommend Heritage Cabin rentals to you. We were all happy--and the girls were running around when we first arrived, exclaiming about how much they liked it and asking why couldn't we live there all the time? (A small part of me that didn't care about schools, jobs, snow and ice agreed with their feeling.)

There was a cat visiting when we got there and Sarah and Grace enjoyed the novelty of a pet. They played with the cat on the large deck off the living area.

Hannah also liked the experience. While this photo doesn't show it, she spent time wandering around on the deck, trying to pet the cat and enjoying the cool, early Spring air. At various points in the weekend, Hannah would pause, shout very loudly--leaning forward with each shout. Perhaps she was testing out the echoey hills?

We planned on a more long-term hike on the only full day (Monday) of our short trip, but given some of our experiences in the past with "walking" we were a bit hesitant. I mean, if they balked so badly with straight ahead city-walking, how would they handle actual hiking, with slopes, roots, and stuff like that.

So, we took a mini hike in the early evening of day one. Down the road--and down the hills--from where our rented cabin was sat the Clear Creek Metro Park. It offered several walking trails and the one we chose was basically a stroll through a meadow alongside the creek. It was a good way to get everyone acclimatized to the walking and to get Hannah comfortable with the backpack harness that we borrowed from a church friend at the last minute--and BOY, was THAT a good idea!

The weather was very good that day, if a bit chilly. (Sadly, we wouldn't see weather this nice again for the rest of the trip. But everyone took it well and we had a good time on day one stretching our legs.

There was some predictable squabbling about who walked in front of whom and stuff like that. I remember similar fights from my childhood camping and hiking past. We could have taken some of the other trails that branched off from the Clear Creek starting point, but we didn't want to run the risk of turning an ankle or anything.

Here is the last shot from day one of our trip. Hannah seemed to enjoy--overall anyway--the time spent hanging off of Lynda's back. It was a bit difficult to strap her into it without a lot of fussing. But once that was accomplished and she was hoisted upwards, she usually quit fussing and enjoyed the sunshine and the motion. Hannah does enjoy being outdoors it seems. Let's hope we can continue to cultivate this interest as she (and the others age).

I was impressed with the harness, so much so that I am tempted to get one for ourselves--assuming that the family wants it back. But that is probably a foolish hope since Hannah will be growing up faster than we'll likely take another trip like this. And I don't know if they make a similar harness for a two+ year old.

Egg gathering

awesome family

love note

Bricks

Extraordinary chicken 1

No Idling!

Here's another "picture taken while out" that I thought I might be able to get some comic mileage out of. (Taken while I prepared to gather Grace from the elementary school after-school drama club practice.)

*****

At face value, there isn't anything wrong with the sentiment behind this image. We DO want our children safe from the noxious fumes of idling cars that callously burn fossil fuels and generate toxins in the air.

ESPECIALLY if said noxious air looks suspiciously like a certain mysterious Smoke Monster from LOST. I don't want my precious girls menaced by a smoky cloud of security nanites or consciousness given form or mystical spirit of an Egyptian past or guardian of time or whatever this week's theory on Smokey happens to be.

And why, do you ask, am I sure that this sign is a surreptitious reference to LOST? Well, all of us that have stuck with the show up to and through season 5 know that Time Travel is what's up. And don't those generic kid forms look a bit too old to be representing elementary school kids? Surely they've been thrown forward in time by Smokey McMysterious there and aren't adequately prepared to live in this technological world without enough proper elementary education!!

Birthday photos