Frosted into the windows in the philosophy department building at the University of Washington.
“Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul.”
– Virginia Woolf
“And information severed from thoughtful action is dead, a mind-crushing load. Since it simulates knowledge and thereby develops the poison of conceit, it is a most powerful obstacle to further growth in the grace of intelligence.”
– John Dewey
Taking a philosophy with children workshop with the UW Philosophy department.
I stayed on campus for an hour afterward and just soaked it up.
The flowers were fragrant, the sun was warm, the conversation was amAYzing. Four more hours tomorrow.
Today zoomed by.
Yesterday we celebrated my cousins’ graduation from high school!
Congratulations Ian!
There are pictures on Facebook and all.
There were lots of cousins around.
But I’m here to share my first ever “funniest home video” moment.
The men-folk were sitting in the yard swapping stories about the days before arthritis, perhaps even the days that caused arthritis, and I was keeping half an eye on The Mermaids playing in the hammock with their cousin (once removed).
Mostly because I found myself facing their direction.
They had been playing on the hammock for most of the past two days and maintaining sanity, as most mermaids might tend to do, but this time I noticed they had finally begun stepping outside the proverbial envelope.
So, without much regard for personal safety, I whipped out my trusty video recording device and voila!
‘snot ‘sposed ta look like that.
Yesterday TheWeeOne and I attended her first Sounders game to celebrate Tony’s birthday.
She’s quite the fanatic, some highlights:
You’re not wearing any green!
I know, I feel so bad, I’m sorry, I’m planning on getting some.
Ok.
[turning to her friend mouthing the words] I feel so horrible!
Let’s Go!!
Sounders!!
That one came at the 80th minute and her wee voice started the whole end of the stadium chanting.
The Sounders won 3-2 and the fireworks after every goal, and the end of the game, were a big draw as well.
Overall it was a fun night spent with friends – Happy Birthday Tony!
Yesterday, on my commute home, I was kinda just poking along and turning onto the Seward Park hill I saw a very strange thing. It made me pause, and when I caught up to it (him) I paused some more, because he wasn’t going very fast.
It, rather he, turned out to be a BikeE tandem recumbent carrying what ended up to be the mast for a Hobie Cat.
A Hobie Cat (for everyone but BopOp and JC) looks sorta like this.
This is what it looks like on the back of a BikeE tandem.
Now this young fellow, let’s call him Hobie, was more than happy to provide me with a picture, he even asked if I wanted him to stop for the shot.
Nothing could have been further from my mind – him stopping that is. So I got the picture and was then nearly clipped by the back end of the mast as he rounded a parked car.
About then we were passed by an oldish gentleman, let’s call him Adolf. I would estimate Adolf to be 75 or better, riding a vintage steel lugged 10 speed, with wavy shoulder length white hair, and motoring up the hill at a 4+ minute pace, doing quite well.
As he passed, Adolf said,
It looks like you’re running guard position!?
That sounded like fun, and traffic was rather heavy, so I ran wingman for Hobie to the top of the hill – a 3 minute climb for me that we managed in about 6.
During this 6 minutes I found out a number of interesting things about Hobie and his quest.
Among them:
And where did you start?
..ake …ity …
Uhhhh, did you say Lake City?
…ep
WOW!
Did you say you were running back?
…ep! (BIG grin)
I guess, that might be ok for you (looking at him full in the face) what are you…17?
…eah?!…lmos…ighteen
That was the last question I got to ask Hobie before he pulled off the road to his Dad’s house.
I wished him well and then…I reflected.
I reflected, as I returned to my 20mph pace, that he looked like he was having fun.
He was certainly enjoying the unique challenge and that I myself might have done something similar if the NEED presented itself.
I also reflected that BopOp likes to tow things like bikes and lumber with his bicycle.
In fact I snapped that picture with lumber in mind.
Getting further down the road, I remembered that TheAmboyObserver brilliantly recognized that we could cart a half-rack of homebrew (each?) home for the holidays from the UW on our bikes when we were only marginally older than Hobie is now.
And further still, now seeing Adolf growing larger, my thoughts turned to Grumpy.
I confidently asserted to myself that, like the aforementioned family, Grumpy wouldn’t be might be found dead doing something crazy like this.
It was at about this thought that I neared Adolf, and I aligned myself to pass.
I won’t speculate on why I didn’t just say “on your left!” like I normally might – but perhaps we shared a bond? Instead, I said,
Ya know, maybe I should have asked that kid if he was German!
(and without any perceptible pause Adolf smartly replied)
HA! That did look like a German act!
and then reaching the edge of earshot I heard a prizewinning exclamation
ÜBER ALLES!
It wasn’t me.
It was a little boy though, neighborhood boy reefed on the cherry tree branch a little too hard.
It might be fine this time next year?
The Mermaids and I have a week alone together for school and dentist appointments etc…as The Mommy is in ‘Transylvania’ for her Seesters college graduation…and tonight we picked up some subs and discovered a new nearby park for a picnic.
On the way home tonight, in the crispish sunny evening, I saw something I’ve never seen before; a sun dog.
It pretty much made me quit thinking about anything else except taking pictures and notifying friends and family to check it out.
It (they?) lasted for the better part of an hour – which means I had a good chance to pull out my good camera and take some pretty decent shots.
Click on the image for a high-res version.
And here’s a detail shot.
Nothing earth shattering here – just the first time I’ve ever seen one.
[click for high res]
I’m thinking about all of my co-workers streaming out the door to avoid the crush of a May Day rally downtown.
If you are a rally-er rally’s are important and good but if you are ‘only’ a commuter then what?
If you commute by car rally’s are infuriating.
If you commute by bus rally’s are huge delays.
If you live in the rally zone then rally’s might be worrisome but…
If you commute by bike rally’s are, well, amusing.
And if you commute by ‘tele’ I suppose rally’s are-n’t. 🙂
blief 