Funny Foto #23: Paybacks

Matt promised paybacks for the "gifts" he received over Christmas.  He delivered, and then some.  I don't know what started this war of pranks, but I'm working hard to stay out of the line of fire.

AMDG

Once Around

I did something last month I don't think I've done in more than twenty years.  I went ice skating, if you want to call it that.  

Across the street from where I work is a plaza that in the summer hosts festivals and concerts.  Shortly after the Oktoberfest, an ice skating rink is set up for the holidays.  For the last six years, I have looked at that rink and thought that I should give it a whirl, figuratively speaking.

I used to go ice skating fairly often, though I was never very good at it.  I could skate forward proficiently and even learned to skate backwards and switch from forwards to backwards without falling down.  No Peggy Fleming was I, but I enjoyed it.

So, one day after work, when the office had emptied out early for the weekend, I grabbed my four dollars for skate rental and wandered across the street.  Rental ice skates aren't what I remember them to be.  These were unisex, molded plastic, heavy, terribly fitting things.  The first pair was way too big, so I swapped them for the next size down.  Those were big, too, but I was to embarrassed to ask for yet another pair.  I tied them on and wobbled over to the ice.

It wasn't nearly as easy to do as I remembered it.  I clung to the wall along the side to keep from falling and slowly, ever so slowly, made my way around the rink.  Once.  I managed not to fall, but could barely glide either.  Thankfully, I was the only one there.  No witnesses to this.  

I blame it on the skates.  Not the twenty plus years between skating sessions, or being a bit older, or out of shape, or, or, or . . .

But I haven't had such silly fun and laughed at the absurdity of it all in a long while.  Once around was definitely worth it!

“Do not enjoy yourself. Enjoy dances and theaters and joy-rides and champagne and oysters; enjoy jazz and cocktails and night-clubs if you can enjoy nothing better; enjoy bigamy and burglary and any crime in the calendar, in preference to the other alternative; but never learn to enjoy yourself.” 

– “If I Only Had One Sermon to Preach,” In Defense of Sanity by GK Chesterton

AMDG

Funny Foto #22: Welcome Back?

I was just in the office one day last week and did a double take when I walked past a co-worker's office.  I'm not sure what Matt did to deserve this "gift" while he was on vacation, but I may want to find out so I can avoid the same.

AMDG

First Photo: January 2019

Happy New Year!

At the start of this new year, I find myself reverting, going back to things I have done previously.  I dug out my old day-timer and have decided to keep my calendar on paper rather than electronically.  I have years worth of paper calendars that I can look back at and see what was happening at any given time.  The years that I kept electronically, not so much.

I am going to try to resurrect my "First Photo" in which I take the same picture from the same spot on the first of every month.  I might just be odd, but I like to see how one thing changes, but it doesn't.

A couple of years after  we moved into our house, we replaced the ugly wall and water fountain that the previous owners had built.  Tim had a vision of what he wanted - a waterfall surrounded by plants.  It came out better than we could have hoped and we have enjoy it throughout all the seasons.

We are lucky today that the falls are running and there's no snow or ice.  I think the birds are enjoying it, too.  Some Woodpeckers and Chickadees have been visiting the suet on the pole at the far right of the falls.  It is always a treat to see the birds this time of year!

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”

- GK Chesterton

AMDG