The Ride Home

Despite my being preoccupied with things I wish I wasn't preoccupied with, I did, at least, belatedly notice the lovely late day sky while driving home from work.

Unfortunately, by the time it occurred to me to take a picture, and by the time I was done fumbling with my camera, I only managed to snap one picture.

It doesn't do it justice, but take my word for it, it was beautiful.

Still More on Nancy

Continuing with my inexplicable ongoing fascination/obsession with the comic strip, Nancy - and now, apparently, with the strip's current artist/writer, as well, here's an interesting interview.

I assume you'll want to read the entire thing, but if some bizarre reason you're not as interested as I am, you can at least check out the comic strip at the top.

Today's Brief Comment

Between the after Thanksgiving let-down and dealing with my unwanted house guests (no, not relatives), I continue to struggle to get in the holiday spirit.

Maybe this will help...

A Short Time Ago

In my nostalgia-infused mind, my home town was sort of a classic small town setup. There was the town common with the town hall situated on one end. The other three sides were surrounded by stores.

In my idealized memory, everything was awesome. There was a movie theater, a toy store, a couple of records stores, a couple of pharmacies, news stands - and more. Way back, in what I consider the “classic era”, we even had a Woolworths and for a while, a Grants.

With the exception of the movie theater, most of those places were long gone by the time I moved away. Many years ago, and many, many years after I moved, the movie theater, not only closed, but was demolished. I guess it was hard to keep afloat without me spending Mom and Dad’s hard earned money at their concession stand.

One thing our town didn’t have was a mall. Malls were kind of a new thing way back then. And while our town didn’t have one, there was one in the neighboring town - a mere fifteen minute drive away.

Where I lived, fifteen minutes was actually considered a bit of a jaunt, especially since you could walk into town in about the same amount of time. But shopping at the mall was well worth it. All of the stores were conveniently located on one floor. There was a Bradlees, a bunch of clothing stores, a Woolworths, a toy store... and... now that I think about it, other than being under one roof, it wasn’t a whole lot different than shopping in town.

But it seemed cooler, and if you were intending to do a lot of intense looking around with nothing better to do, this was a pretty good place to be - even if Mom or Dad did have to drive me over.

Not long after this mall opened up, a much larger, Mega-Mall opened up. This Mega-Mall was about a forty minute drive from where we lived. (This is based on the 1960’s traffic flow. Nowadays, the ride is probably closer to three days.)

Back then, it wasn’t called a Mega-Mall and it wouldn’t come close to qualifying as one today, but compared to the other mall, that’s what it was. The Mega-Mall had many of the same stores as the small mall, but it also had a Jordan Marsh on one end and a Filene’s on the other. In between, it had a ton of other stores. In fact, there were so many stores, they had to make the mall Two Entire Floors High! (Yes, you read that correctly.)

I’m not sure how many times we went to this Mega-Mall. I don’t think it was a lot. I only remember going there three times. Of those three visits, one was when I was older - but the other two times were family trips, when I was much younger.

For both of those two visits, Dad was the one who drove us. To this day, I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that Dad would actually drive us forty minutes - to a mall - and not just once, but at least twice!

Anyway, of those three Mega-Mall visits, one of them took place just before Christmas, in 1968.

I remember the mall being so packed that it was hard to get around. The stores, the halls, even the escalators were crammed with people. Everything in the mall was brightly lit and holiday garland was draped from the railings and over the storefronts.

In one of the stores, I think it was Filene’s, I remember watching something called a “Newton’s Cradle” (though I didn't know the name of it back then). At the time, these things seemed to be pretty popular. My teacher had one and Mr. Harris, from the Science Center, had one too. And even though my teacher had one, I still thought it was pretty cool (and no, I don’t want one).

But what I particularly remember is that the Beatles “White Album” had just been released. I remember standing there, in front of the record store, staring at this album through the window, all the while, people bumped into, and squeezed by me. It wasn’t that I was terribly interested in the album, but there was a lot of talk about it at the time. I remember it being kind of a big deal.

I've often thought of that visit, and I’m reminded of it now because this album has just been reissued and it’s been in the news a lot lately - at least the news I listen to. One of the things mentioned is that this reissue falls on the fiftieth anniversary of the original release.

It’s hard for me to believe that this memory of a particular night, a night while Christmas shopping, is from fifty years ago. As odd as it sounds, the memory, or at least, the feelings from the memory, seem like it wasn't that long ago.

But fifty years - is fifty years a long time?

Fifty years ago I would have been twelve years old. And if I was only twelve years old, then that means I would have been starting junior high.

I was a little kid in junior high.

Strange. When I think back on it, it doesn't feel that way. But I guess that's what it was. I guess that's where I was.

What's even stranger is that, when I was little, I always thought that fifty years seemed like a long, long time - but now that I'm older, I find that it really isn't that long, after all.

Tonight's Video

I was never a huge fan of Pink Floyd. This is not to say I dislike them, it’s just that they were never a band that, for whatever reason, were on my radar. If one of their songs came on the radio, I usually enjoyed it. And maybe that has something to do with it - the few times that I listen to the radio, it’s usually a news station or something of that sort.

Anyway, with that said, lately, for some unknown reason, I find myself watching this video a good bit. I have no idea why. I guess I must be enjoying it.

Today's Brief Comment

I've been struggling to try to get into some kind of holiday spirit - but so far, I haven't had much success. This may be due to the cold and gloomy weather - or it may be due to an ongoing pest problem that I have been battling in my basement. I suspect it's a little of both... though much more of a latter.

I'm hoping Thanksgiving will kick start my mood.

Employee of the Year

I would like to commend the anonymous coworker who recognized that someone besides themselves might actually need to use some toilet paper.

Usual

Unusual

Instead of, like usual, leaving behind one dangling sheet of toilet paper and saying, "Screw everybody else" (if they're even that aware), this unknown humanitarian went the extra mile and left a FULL ROLE (!) for the next poor soul (who, in this case, happened to be me).


Thank you, my new best friend. Let's hope that your shining example is an inspiration for all that follow (though, I doubt it).

P.S.

Outside my window, the wind is blowing. Dead leaves scatter across soon-to-be dead grass. The threatening sky has been a deepening grey, all day long.

I have come to the conclusion that autumn and fall are two different seasons.

Officially, autumn begins with the equinox in late September - but I think it starts earlier than that. In my mind, autumn starts in early September. Sometimes, it might even start in late August. Fall, I think, starts sometime in late October.

There's a certain undefinable romance with autumn. In autumn, leaves are changing colors, and ripened apples and pumpkins dot the trees and the farms. Late afternoons are filled with golden sunshine. Sharp shadows are cast long across still-green fields. Cool nights approach gently, and encourage deep sleep and sweet dreams.

In fall, the once colorful trees have shed their leaves, leaving behind skeletal frames silhouetted against the graying sky. The cool days of autumn have turned chilly and raw. Nights arrive abruptly and linger stubbornly through the cold, long hours ahead.

In autumn, memories of summer are still fresh, though unnecessary. The pleasant days and nights of autumn stand on their own. In fall, the wasteland of November begins and recent memories of autumn are slowly forgotten. Thoughts turn instead to the inevitable arrival of a once distant winter.

I look out of my window and the wind is still blowing, the leaves are still scattering. Over the hills, I see narrow fans of sunlight streaming through distant breaks in the sky.

But the day is still cold and soon it will be dark. And the wind still blows. The leaves still scatter.

The Fall of Autumn

Sam and I finally made it outside to rake leaves on Sunday. It was less than fun. It had rained all day on Saturday, so the leaves were nice and wet. It took us about three or four hours to clean up the front yard (with another four days and counting, to loosen up my stiff back).

If I hadn’t had Sam’s help, it would have taken me no time at all - literally. This is because I probably wouldn't have bothered to rake at all. Instead, I would have let the leaves gather on my so called “lawn” and let them decay on their own, naturally - for the next decade or so.

But I had Sam's help, and I’m really grateful for it. And, if it doesn’t rain this weekend, we’ll try to tackle the leaves in the backyard. The backyard is more of a challenge than the front yard.

The front yard has one lone maple tree. I’m told this is a red maple - though it doesn’t look red to me. The leaves on this “Red Maple” drop earlier than most of the other trees in the neighborhood. This makes it slightly easier to rake up because, first of all, the damage is fairly contained and secondly, being a lone maple tree, there are fewer leaves to rake.

The backyard is a different story. I don’t have any maple trees in the backyard. In fact, I don’t have any deciduous trees in the backyard. My neighbors, however, have plenty of them - all maple trees. I’m told that these maples are "Norway Maples". Nothing against the Norwegians, but according to this article, these trees are not well loved. I can see why - at least leaf-wise.

My tiny backyard is plastered with these leaves. (Did I mention that not one of these trees is mine?) The problem is that,while there's a ton of leaves on the ground, there are still a bunch in the trees, refusing to let go. I suppose I could attack them in waves, over many weekends, but to me, this just prolongs the agony. Instead, I would rather rake them up all at once - and only once. But they take their sweet time falling. They fall late, they fall slow and they never end.

But right now, there are enough leaves on the ground that I guess it'll be a worthwhile investment of our time. I guess. Maybe.

They're predicting rain for Saturday. We'll see. If we can't rake leaves on Saturday, we'll try for Sunday. This will make it a full week since we raked the leaves in front yard. And by then, hopefully all of the leaves will have fallen - though I doubt it. But maybe, if nothing else, by waiting that extra day or so, my stiff back will have loosened up - though I doubt that, as well.

More of the Same

I guess, like the rest of the world, I continue to get my share of scam emails. These things seem to come in spurts. I'm not sure if these people have some sort of monthly quota or what, but lately, they seem to be particularly active.

Here's one I got yesterday. This is another one from my friend, Fake Chase...

I have to give him credit. Even though he continues to struggle with spelling and grammar, he's not giving up. I say, good for him!

And here's another one. This one just came in this morning...

This one almost got me. At first I thought, How flattering is this, that Google has choosed me for their Google poster? Finally! Someone has recognized my photographic skills! Thank you Google Poster Committee!

But then I noticed that, while this appears to come from "Google Photo Share", the actual email address reads: "dean.parker@jct600.co.uk".

Interestingly enough, I used to know a real life Dean Parker, but he didn't work for Google and he was about as likely to move to the UK as I am. (No offense, UK. I just don't like to travel.) I dunno, maybe you can get a UK email address without moving there. I haven't looked into it.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I right clicked on the "View Albums" button to get the link information. Imagine my bitter disappointment when I saw the address was from somewhere called "mixmeat.ru/assets forward slash something, forward slash something". I'm not positive, but I don't think "mixmeat" is a legit email from the Google Poster Committee - even if they are from Russia.

I hate to say this, but it looks like my photographic skills will continue to be ignored. But, just like my good friend, Fake Chase, I think the lesson here is to keep on trying. It's bound to pay off someday.