April 7, 2004 ~ Not Dead Yet
Wednesday.
view from my kitchen window the other day
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. (To quote Mark Twain.)
No, Pokey's tendency to lose braking ability has yet to result in fatalities, and I have not yet been eaten by the wolves (how many people actually have cause to say that literally?).
Several events conspired against me, however. First of all, last week I was on vacation from work, and I had felt a little journaling burnout coming on as it was, so I ended up taking a vacation from writing here as well. It was a needed break, I think, though an unplanned one. (Had a good vacation, by the way, just relaxing at home, hiking, playing with the wolves--the usual.)
Then Morgan got sick, our guests for the next two weeks arrived, and my computer crashed in rather spectacular form all at once. And, since my computer is in the guestroom, I've not had tons of time to work on it. Thankfully, though, Morgan's well again, I didn't come down with what he had (just felt the onset, but it cleared up quickly when I nuked it with my natural remedies), our guests are understanding of their computer-addicted hosts, and I was able to disinfect the virus which caused all this, save my files from oblivion, rebuild my directories, and reinstall all that the virus broke. I'm set back a few days and even further behind in email than ever, but no permanent harm done.
spring trees
But it is spring, and gorgeous, and I've so much to report. Where to start?
bloodroot, Jones Mountain
bloodroot unfurling
Well, a few weekends ago, I got a chance to display just how badly I suck at disk golf. Heh.
Morgan's dad and step mom came up for a visit, and they really enjoy disk golfing, so they'd looked up courses in the Asheville area. (A disk-golf course is much like a golf course that you follow with Frisbee-like disks, which you try to get into baskets.)
I really liked the course. It was through a forest, with many old trees, so it was much like taking a hike, except that you were throwing this disk along with you as you went.
I imagine I'd probably be much better if I actually practiced throwing these disks, but this was my second time ever playing, with no practice since the last time in December. My disk ended up in briar patches, mud, two different creeks, a swamp, and down a gully at various points of the game, I hit many a tree, and I do believe I nearly beheaded Morgan with one badly-aimed throw.
It was a lot of fun, though, and laughing at one's self is a healthy endeavor to take now and then. I'm looking forward to the next time Morgan's parents take us out disking.
While on the subject of sports, I can't believe my luck. That is a picture of a 21-speed mountain bike with front and rear suspension and all of the amenities, 2003 model, slightly used. After some research online, I found out that it probably cost around four or five hundred dollars new.
I found it at the Goodwill for only fifty dollars. Fifty dollars for a very nice quality mountain bike. I couldn't believe my eyes.
So, yeah, I bought it. And a bike helmet. And Morgan's mom has a bike rack for the car that she's not using. Guess who's going to be taking up a new hobby of mountain biking. I've wanted a bike for years, ever since I had to leave mine behind in Portland. I doubted I'd be able to afford an urban bike, let alone a really nice mountain bike.
I love the Goodwill.
our lawn, just before I mowed it
I mowed the lawn. (Yes, this is a momentous occasion in our household).
Mowing is sad for me, especially the first mow of spring, as this was. All of the new lawn flowers, chopped down before their time, not to mention all of the bugs and critters killed by the mower.
As I mowed, though, I ate weeds as I went--violet leaves and flowers, ground ivy, dandelion, plantain, chickweed, wood sorrel. Yeah. I'm a vegan. I graze on my lawn. You got a problem with that?
It's so beautiful and natural unmowed, though, and so boring and conventional and... well, normal, mowed. Bah.
our lawn, mowed and boring
Morgan and I were asked to join the board of directors for the wolf rescue sanctuary, which was pretty unexpected, but we were glad to accept. It feels good to be helping with the administrative end, because that's what matters for human outreach and fundraising, which are very important in an non-profit organization.
I would feel as if I've jumped into more responsibility and commitment than I had ever intended to have with this, but, really, the first time I met the animals I knew I was going to be more involved than I had ever expected to be. By now, this all seems like a natural step.
may apples, just pushing up
may apples, unfurling
While watching a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from the DVD last week, Morgan and I had to laugh at ourselves. Geordie, a character who has been blind from birth, but has a prosthetic visor which gives him sight well beyond the normal human range of vision, had detected that there was a door hidden behind a rock face on a planet they were exploring.
Morgan turned to me and joked, "Geordie would be very handy to have along in a D&D game."
I snickered, then admitted, "That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Hahahaha! You know you're an uber-geek when you make a D&D reference while watching Star Trek."
"Yeah, that was pretty bad."
(And no, if you don't get the Dungeons and Dragons reference, I'm not going to explain it to you. Us geeks need our inside jokes.)
(Pst. Hey, Alicia, at least I didn't put it in binary. Heh.)
geeks also take pictures of cool spiders
and grasshoppers. definitely.
So, the guests staying with us are Morgan's old friend Brad and his fiancé Kira. They live in Virginia, but they're getting married here in Asheville this coming weekend, and will be staying with us off and on for the next two weeks.
As they rush to get everything together and finalized for the ceremony this weekend, I can't help but think back to our wedding and the final preparations for it. (We didn't finish writing the ceremony until a day or two before the wedding.)
I remember, about two years ago, Kira asked us what getting married was like for us, since her and Brad were thinking about it, but were a little worried that it would change things.
The only thing that changed for us, after our wedding, I had said, was the way that people regarded us and treated us. Nothing changed about our relationship; we were still the same couple, still loving each other the same way. Our wedding was a confirmation and public announcement of a bond that already existed. No, the only thing that changed (aside from legalities, of course) was that people suddenly respected our relationship in a more serious way.
Now, years later, they are marrying, and I'm very, very happy for them. (And jealous of the long honeymoon they'll have in Scotland plus a tour of Europe! A honeymoon. Morgan and I should have taken one of those!)
toothwart
Morgan just came in here and said in a very serious tone, "Melissa, hold very still."
I felt him rubbing something metal across the small of my back. "What are you doing? Getting a bug off of me?"
"No."
I turned and there was a permanent marker in his hand.
"What did you write?"
"Nothin'."
I raised an eyebrow. "I see."
He bolted and I chased him into the living room, tackled him on the couch, and gave a fierce tickling while he screamed for mercy.
A few minutes later, in the mirror, I learned that I now have a little smiley face smirking from the small of my back.
We should have told Kira that getting married makes a couple extremely serious and mature, because obviously that is the case.
fuzzy mullin leaves coming up
And, finally, speaking of weddings, my friends Angel and Alicia got married last weekend!
In the midst of my computer crash, I did not have a chance to send you two timely congratulations. Know, though, that all Sunday, while working with the wolves, my thoughts were on you two, wishing I could be there to witness the ceremony and give my support and warm wishes in person.
May your years together be long and blessed. shantih shantih shantih
wind flowers
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