Well, It Just So Happens...

that we went back to New England Biolabs today.Here's the glass building with the large plant occupied atrium.We were surprised that we noticed so many more things on this second trip. Some of which were so large that we had a hard time explaining just HOW we had missed them. This is such a cool place that I told 'A' that we were going again some Saturday and walk around.It's still a bit spooky with the odd car parked here and there, three pumpkins on front steps, a lone man sitting on a front porch.And more creatures, large and larger!Like how did we ever miss that guy last time?The original estate must have been quite beautiful.

Maized

One thing 'A' wanted to do during her vacation week was to go to Marini Farms and do the corn maze. It's 8 acres large and while it sounds as if it would be a little juvenile...it wasn't. Yes, there were parts of the process that were 'educate the children', but even that proved challenging in a maze aspect. The idea is to collect, on your score sheet, various farming related words and picture rubbings as you go through the maze. We weren't very interested in that other than the problem of finding them all (we didn't). It took us about 90 minutes to find our way through the maze. We collected about three quarters of the puzzle (words and pictures). We have decided that next year we'll do it again with more emphasis on game play, not just finding our way through.

After completing the maze, and on our way home (sort of), we took a trip to New England Bio Labs. Strange you think? You bet. New England Bio Labs does research/development/something else having to do with DNA, RNA, genomes and piles of stuff that I haven't a clue what on earth they are talking about. Anyway, I had been told that the grounds and buildings were really cool to take a look at...so we did...and they are. The property was evidently a large agricultural estate with buildings of brick and stucco. Those buildings have been preserved in their original form on the exterior, with interiors now devoted to offices and labs. In the midst is a large, all glass, multi storied contemporary building housing more research space. It has a three story, corner atrium filled with enormous tropical plants. On the property surrounding the facility are many metal sculptures.A horse grazing.A large bird befitting a scary movie.

Just in time for Halloween...a research lab and spooky creatures amid old, brick and vine covered buildings.

I will not be driving up there after dark.

Firsts

I received one of those emails, from a friend, today. You know the type...list your whatever. This was a 'list your first' list. So here goes. Those readers that are bloggers can follow suit on your own blog.

In honor of the upcoming weekend...
First Halloween costume: A clown. My Dad made the costume. Yep, he liked to sew. He always did any reupholstering of furniture, too. Anyway, I was one and a half years old when I first wore the costume. When 'A' was two I made the same costume for her.

First car: Well, y'all know about that one. A Pontiac Firebird. An embarrassing moment happened when a friend and I went to Hampton Beach, NH in that car. I was on summer break from college and Kim and I decided it would be a good beach day. We parked right at the beach and as I was ready to shut my door I thought... I don't want to carry my purse around with me...and tossed it back in the car. Just as I slammed the door, I realized that I had locked it and my keys were in my purse. I tried to stop Kim from slamming the passenger door shut, but only managed to yell "don't shut it" just as she let go. It didn't completely shut...but wouldn't open either. No big deal, I thought, we'll just walk to the local beach police station and get a coathanger. Got there to discover that two of my former junior high school teachers were summertime cops. I had to listen to an awful lot of chiding about stupidity on the escorted walk back to my car. I've never locked myself out of a car since.

First kiss: You are supposed to remember that, right? I don't. It was probably A. D. the first guy I went to a school dance with in junior high. A simple kiss goodnight. Never dated him.

First house or apartment as an adult: When I got married in 1977, we rented the first floor of a house in Folly Cove (Gloucester). We rented for one year and then bought the Lanesville house (search this blog for 'Lanesville' or 'Greenough' for stories about our house, ghosts, and more). It was less than a half mile from our rental.

First crush: Definitely Tom. Never dated him. Still hope? (giggle)

First pet: When I was born, my parents had a black cat named Lucky. Lucky wasn't so, as he got lost when we moved to Groveland from Haverhill. As an adult, my first pet was my grey and white cat, Tiffany. My favorite pet was Tucker. An all black cat who stayed by my side through some of the worst times.

First vacation destination: Don't remember what place came first. We often traveled to the White Mts. or to Lake Winnepesauki (misspelled, I'm sure). Big trip to Niagara Falls, Quebec, Montreal. Several to Florida. Actually one of the trips to Florida would have been my first when I was three or four years old. We stayed at the Pan American Hotel on North Miami Beach. I loved the pool...and grapefruit juice with my oatmeal at the hotel restaurant.

First teacher: Kindergarten, Mrs. Hickox. I distinctly remember that she contracted chicken pox twice!

First boyfriend/girlfriend: Paul B. We dated for a couple years during high school.

First paying job: Picking strawberries at Ingalsby Farm. I was fourteen and rode my bike about 6 miles each way. Started at 7 in the morning and finished at noon. I lasted at that until I stuck my hand in to grab a nice, red berry and found a very large mound of fur. Yes, as in a dead...something...big. A total nasty job of crawling along the rows on wet straw while spiders and other bug thingies crawled on you.

So, let's go to your blog and read about your firsts!

Our Neighbors and Then Some

Remember the neighbors that had their driveway redone? Well, it's not doing very well. A lot of it has washed out and there are weeds growing up in the middle of it. But that's not really why I'm writing this. The neighbors always have a rather large vegetable garden. This year they planted pumpkins, but evidently they planted them too early as they had dozens of pumpkins by the beginning of September. They lined the driveway with them, had one at the mailbox, several up the front steps and a lot on the deck railing. Well, there are still a few sitting around. Those that haven't rotted...or been eaten. Chip evidently enjoys his vegetables, rotting or not.It was a day filled with wildlife. The Bubbas had a feeding frenzy this morning, hopping around, chasing each other off, even looking in the window for more peanuts (no beak knocks yet). In the afternoon, after a final lunch at Ellen's Harborside (they closed for the season today), 'A' and I decided to do some beach walking. First we tried Cape Hedge Beach. We walked about half the length before turning back. The tide was about at half tide and that made walking too difficult with all the popples. We drove to Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is totally covered in popples but we were more interested in the pond directly across the dirt road from the beach.There we talked to one of the swans who was, for a few moments, quite cooperative about picture taking. After a bit I think he got annoyed and decided to be aggressive about us leaving. Fortunately, he moved rather slowly so he wasn't very much of a threat. Our next stop was Land's End where we climbed around the rock ledge at the ocean's edge. That sort of tired us out so we headed for home...the long-ish way along Eden Road...a mistake. My goodness, the road is worse than I've seen it - ever! Potholes large enough to swallow my little truck! It was like bumper cars in slow motion trying to miss the worst of them.

Got This in the Mail

These folks send out the best invitations. They host a superior open house, as well! You can wander the entire workshop, sample a variety of tasty foods and drink, and enjoy a free concert on the latest organ. The entire organ is assembled, then taken apart and transported to it's new home, in this case Opus 136 (3 manual, 39 stop) will live at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I guess I'll be taking myself.
Check out the link to C. B. Fisk in the sidebar.

Jalopies

or could the plural be jalopi. I like the sound of that. During the rain of Sunday I decided to sort through my box of photos. On occasion it needs a sorting...by topic...so that I can find what I'm looking for in a reasonable length of time. First I came across this photo.It is labeled on the back, "Al's Jalopy". A shame it doesn't show the entire car. I haven't a clue as to what maker, either. I am sure that my dad spent many hours keeping it running!

I got to thinking about the first car that I owned. I got my driver's license in 1971, when I was 16. My parents owned an enormous boat of an automobile, a Pontiac Bonneville, olive green with a fake leather top in black. I learned to drive in that car. As soon as I got home from passing my driver's test, my mom asked me to take her shopping at the Northshore Shopping Center (now a mall), Jordan Marsh, Filene's, and more. My mom didn't drive back then and wouldn't get her license until her new chauffeur (me) went off to college. I also became official driver for all my friends as I was the oldest and for a time the only driver. My parents thought nothing of loaning me the car to drive to concerts an hour away in Boston. Great concerts like The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, and others.

Owning my own car came a few years later. I spent my first year at college, in Boston, living in a private dormitory. Massachusetts College of Art had no dorms of their own. My second year I decided to live at home and commute. My dad was concerned that I have a very reliable, sturdy, survive most anything, rugged auto for that commute each day to Boston. As a result, this became my first car.A brand new Pontiac Firebird (V8). I can't remember whether it was a 1974 or 1975. I know that the next year's model had a wraparound rear window. My dad installed an 8 track tape player for me. I could commute to Boston listening to Pink Floyd, or Bach's Goldberg Variations...(Yes, Bach on 8 track. I used the school's audio lab to convert my 33 rpm records to 8 track)

Then came the oil crisis. Prices jumped to over 75 cents/gallon. The bright red Firebird got traded in for a first year Volkswagon Rabbit. What a change, what a mistake!

Surfing

Yep, surf's up. And there were a couple surfers yesterday. Today we didn't see any. Well, with the exception of these birds!We are in the middle of a nor'easter. Wind gusts exceeding 40 mph, temp around 45°F, loads of driven downpours, and even a bit of sleet. Tides are a tad overly high!Today is also the second, and last, day of Rockport's Harvest Festival. Not so good. No ship this year. Some of the crew from the USS Constitution came up from Boston. They brought a cannon and installed it at the end of T-Wharf. Shot it off every hour between 11 and 4 yesterday. Some of the crews from a few subs stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard were supposed to be here. Evidently a lot of them were no-show. Not nice. Yesterday's weather was brisk and windy but no rain, so outside activities were fine. Not so today.

Breakfasts for Bubbas

As most of you are aware, we feed a large family of blue jays. To tell the truth, we started this three year habit by feeding Chip (the chipmunk) and his son, Stubby. They liked sunflower seeds. We then graduated to feeding Squirt, Squeaky, and Scooter, three squirrels that loved to hang around our deck. They got to eat walnuts at first, then we switched to more economical peanuts. Unfortunately the squirrels got too pushy and started climbing the screen door looking for more treats. We tried using a little water gun to shoo them off, but they liked getting soaked! Now Bubba, Babs, and all their little Bubbas hang out in the pussy willow tree every morning. When I open the drapes at the sliding door, Bubba lands on the fence and waits. I throw out four peanuts at a time and we watch as the blue jays flock to our deck to grab them. They have developed a few, cute habits worthy of comment. Most of Bubba's family now will weigh the peanuts before making a choice of which nut to fly off with. They hop around the deck picking up one nut after another, sometimes doing a second check of one they already lifted in their beak, until they find the largest and heaviest. One guy tries to take more than one nut at a time. He nearly swallows the first and then tries to wedge a second one in his already open beak. Only occasionally does he manage it. This is not an easy task! We throw out about 20 peanuts (still in the shell) each morning. With the last handful I generally tell them, "That's it. The restaurant is closed!" The Bubbas still return after closing and hop right up to the window of the sliding door and peer in, waiting for me to get up and head for the peanut bowl. My mom says she's just waiting until they start knocking on the glass with their beaks.

Apathy Pushed Aside

Well, the Monday workday rolled around. Instead of my usual early arrival for the purpose of getting everything ready ahead of time for opening, I decided to give it only ten minutes. Of course, I still left the house at the same time. Needed to find a free parking space and also walk up to the main store to get the key, something usually not needed on non-holidays (the candy maker unlocks the door bright and early on normal weekdays). When I arrived at the factory store, why was I not surprised to find everything in dire need of attention? Everything! So, I washed the outside windows first and then headed indoors. It was time to open but so much needed to be done. I decided to open a few minutes late (ten) and fill the taffy 'boat' first. The taffy boat is actually a large rowboat, sectioned off in to fourteen bins. The bins are full (or should be) of the various flavors of taffy. They were all half empty or less. This meant lots of back-breaking filling. The 25 pound boxes of taffy are stored below the boat, five of those had no more than a handful left in them so I had to head for the taffy room shelves to get more full boxes.

As I was filling the taffy boat I heard a knock on the window. It was the taffy puller, showing up for work. Wonderful, that meant an even busier day as while he is 'on display' working in the window, crowds gather. Inside and out. In good humor I mouthed "GO AWAY!" then opened the door to let him in.

The rest of the filling had to wait until after the store was open and there was a lot of it to do. Not just candy, but boxes and bags. Then there was cleaning all the interior glass and retrieving dead gummy bears from the window display (where they didn't belong). I noticed that the owner had left a terse note for the Sunday crew (two work on Sunday) that they were to stop shooting elastic bands around the shop (he'd evidently found many), that they were there to WORK. I decided to write my own note - to the owner. I first wrote a list of everything that I had to do that morning (he probably noticed some of it while he was there to open the registers), including filling over twenty other candies, some that were completely empty, besides the taffy. Then I added a note that I had spoken to the manager and had her approval to close the store that evening without doing any filling - nothing. It was intentional and never something that I would normally do. Truthfully, even though I was there as the only clerk, on a holiday, with the taffy pulling and wrapping attracting crowds of people, who then filled the shop constantly from 11 a.m. until a slight slow down at 5 p.m., I could have found moments to fill stock (I actually did some as needed to avoid empty trays). I had a constant line for 6 hours! I am so glad that's done! I'm not claiming to be super clerk or anything. It's just that when there is that moment to grab, you can't just stand and stare. You have to work. Today I'll be turning in my time card and picking up a paycheck. I'm curious as to what the owner's reaction will be.

Another Week - Gone

And what did I accomplish?

Monday, of course, is my 'lost' day. I work retail from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. During that time several things occurred. The first was irritating. I arrived at work to find that most of the filling of stock that should have been done on Sunday evening hadn't been done. Luckily, I had arrived quite early giving me time to get the majority filled up before customers arrived. Still, I had plenty to keep me busy for over an hour. The last of it being worked in between sales. I don't think it's asking too much to get most of the candy filled and the shop neatened up before closing in the evening. Really, should I have to be picking up trash from the floor when the evening guy was supposed to sweep? This led to the second thing that happened. I wrote a short, polite note to Sunday's crew and taped it to the back counter. Then I proceeded with the day's selling. About noontime I decided against the note and threw it away. I'm only there one day and don't want to be the only complainer. Felt good to write it, though. Yeah, still bugs me and tomorrow is quickly approaching. Monday was also the day that my latest order from the piano parts supplier arrived. I had called in the order last week and, once again, explained about the defective parts. I made a point to emphasize that ALL defective parts were in boxes labeled: Operator JR Shift 2. I told them that I had 13 defective 'D's and 13 defective 'E's (I decided to skip the part about the overly scratched ones - one battle at a time) I was assured that it would be taken care of.

Which brings me to Tuesday, when I unpacked and inspected the shipment. ALL the key top boxes were labeled Operator JR Shift 2! What a screw up. Thankfully they all seem okay. Oh, and they sent me 14 'D's and 12 'E's. sigh. My patience is wearing thin. Tuesday afternoon 'A' and I made a trip to the mall so that she could buy new shoes for work. She ended up with new boots, two pairs of pants, a shirt, and the shoes. I bought nothing.

Wednesday morning I was up bright and early to head for the Cabot Street Theater in Beverly to take a look at a player piano that had quit functioning. When they had called they couldn't remember the make of the piano so I had no idea what I would be getting in to. I hate leaving the house early, especially on a windswept rainy day. Rte. 128 was flooded in parts and I thought that I would need the extra time that I had allotted for the trip. I arrived 25 minutes early so I sat in the truck in front of the theater and waited. Once the doors were unlocked, I fed the meter and went to take a look. A Wurlitzer. Too much electrical stuff for me! I recommended another tech. The skies had cleared for my trip home. Wednesday afternoon my mom wanted me to drive her to L.L. Bean. Oh yuck. I hate that drive. Especially the drive back during rush hour. She bought a new winter coat, a sweater, and a jersey. I bought nothing.

I declared that Thursday would be MY DAY. In the morning I finished off the reed organ article and selected the photos that would accompany the article. At noon, 'A' and I headed for the Moseley Estates (Maudslay State Park). I wanted to take a look for the Kettle Hole. Supposedly a kettle hole forms when trapped glacial ice melts. We live in a terminal moraine area, where the last glacial age left enormous hunks of rock (granite) deposited at it's southern most reach. It also left broken off pieces of ice that got buried under a layer of earth. When those giant pieces of ice eventually melted, the earth collapsed forming large hollows named kettle holes. Well, we found it and...it was sure disappointing! So we hiked around some more through the woods and saw two deer cross the path just ahead of us. As it got later in the day, Newburyport's cross country running team had a meet at the park and it got bothersome trying to avoid them on the trails. We left for home stopping at the new Marshall's on the way back.

Funny thing (or maybe not), I don't even remember Friday. I'm sure something happened! Oh yeah, I submitted the reed organ article (sans photos). The editor emailed asking that I send the photos to him after the first of November, when he'll be back home in CA. (photos need to be sent hard copy) So, fingers crossed that it's a go for publication at some point!

Saturday morning was devoted to errands. The bank, buying a newspaper, and a trip to the library. I finished reading "Await Your Reply". A very strange novel of intricately woven characters, lives, and identity theft. Anyway, I bought three 'dollar books', "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency", "The Piano Teacher" (I've already read it), and "Singers and the Song". Just as I was paying for the books, another librarian told me that a book that I had requested was in - the new Nicholas Spark's novel, "The Last Song". And I've still got the next Music Book Group book sitting here to read - " The Inextinguishable Symphony"! After lunch 'A' and I went to Halibut Point State Park, here in Rockport. It was cold and windy, but we had a good hike around the quarry and down to the shore. The pictures interspersed in this post are from Halibut Point.

Yay, I remember more about Friday! I spent Friday morning tuning 3 pianos at the high school. Now I wait...to get paid...first the tuning last month at the church school in Beverly (the job with the near parking fine), then a local church, then the high school.

I Must Be Nuts

After the rainy Saturday, Sunday looked promising - no rain forecast. Both 'A' and I managed to get ready to be out the door at the same time this morning, with no hassles. I dropped her at work and then I went to church. After church, M asked if I had big plans for my afternoon. I couldn't think of a thing that I'd planned on doing. By the time I had reached home it had dawned on me. Today was the Music Book Group at the library. I ate a quick lunch ( I confess that it was just a large bowl of ice cream) and took myself to the group. The book being discussed was "The Soloist". The discussion was rather shallow and I don't think it addressed the book very well. However, it was a couple hours after the group that boredom got the best of me. I don't know what possessed me, but...I decided that we should all go to Skip's for final meals of the season. Skip's was closing today and will not reopen until mid April. Now, we'd just been there on Thursday and it is an hour drive one way. "A' got out of work at 5:30 and we headed directly for Merrimac and our last (again) cheeseburger specials of the season. On the ride up we kidded that we didn't even know if they would still be open when we got there. Then what? What a relief to see the sign all lit up!We were hungry. We got up to the window to order and found out that they were all out of hamburgers! We quickly modified our menu to chicken fingers. We did get 3 of the last 5 orders of suzy-q potatoes (curly fries). By the time we had finished eating - in the car, of course, they were cleaning the grill and closing up. My mom decided she'd get out and do trash duty. All the containers had been removed! It was a pleasant ride home smelling the remnants.

Next Spring will be the start of Skip's 63rd year in business. I can't remember a time I didn't go there!

What to Do on a Rainy Day

Nothing like a rainy Saturday to be uninspired. I even spent an extra half hour in bed this morning trying to convince myself that I really did need to get up! 'A' and I went to the local store to pick up the morning paper. I got home and found that there really wasn't much in it worth reading. I picked up a little bit around the house, fed Bubba and family, played around on the computer catching up with bloggers and piano stuff. Lunch came and went and still it was raining. My mom had some shopping to do so she drove 'A' to work. I went to the library and got out a new book. It's another fiction novel titled, "Await Your Reply". In reading the cover flap I've no idea why I decided to get this book. It had sounded good when the guy on the Today Show recommended it. I'll give it a try. BTW, I hate to admit it but...Dan Brown's latest was very good. I just hate admitting to being so trendy.

When I got home from the library, I didn't feel like starting in on the new book. What to do?

Then an idea came to me. This would be a great time to get (back) to work on that article for the Reed Organ Quarterly. Gee, it's only been 6 weeks or more since I started it! Well folks, today I finished the rough draft (long hand) AND the first draft with edits. THEN I actually sat and proofed for typos and made a couple more edits. My mom read it over and had a couple good suggestions. This is the part I really enjoy about writing. Literally working it over, making it better, improving content, deleting the superfluous. There's more work to do, including photo selections, but it's taking shape.

On this rainy Saturday I actually accomplished something!

Poor Timing

Sometimes no matter how carefully planned things seem to be...

Nearly two weeks ago I received an email from a client. He would be sending 3 sets of keys for recovering! I emailed back with some info and also asked whether he wanted bright white or slightly off-white tops. I didn't hear back. Shipping time would be only one day. He had emailed on a Wednesday, so I guess-timated that I'd be seeing 3 boxes on my doorstep by the following Monday. At the latest. Nothing. A week goes by - nothing. I sort of gave up watching for them.

Mondays are the only day that I'm definitely not here. Remember that retail job? My mom stopped by the store yesterday to tell me that the 3 boxes had arrived. I got home at 6 p.m. and got to work. Unpacking, labeling, removing the old ivory, and sending another email. What color?!

This morning I checked my email. Still no response. I phoned him, got his machine, and left a message to CALL ME WITH A COLOR CHOICE. Yep, I was getting a teeny bit perturbed. I went back to work on the keys and got all the machining done in preparation for the new tops. Still no call or email. 'A' and I decided to head out for the afternoon. She had to buy a new DVD/VHS recorder/player. As a treat, I bought a new Beatles CD. We arrived back home around 4 p.m. to the caller ID flashing. He called! I headed down to the workshop to glue on all three sets of off-white key tops/fronts.

Why is it that when you are in a rush there are always additional roadblocks? I had been having some quality problems with the key top supplier. I thought they had been resolved - until tonight when I discovered another two batches of defective keys (Ds and Es only). Last time the problem was with white tops; this time with off-white. Thankfully, I had enough sets on hand to complete this lot of keys. I'll add here that each key is unique in shape and size. Key tops are oversized and trimmed to fit each key. However, they come in basic shapes of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A-A, C-C (each end of the keyboard). Only rarely could an F be substituted for a C, or a D for a G. There are no spare (extras) per set so once even one is damaged an entire set must be raided for a replacement. Can you see the problem in this photo? The light shows the sunken line near to and parallel with the top front edge of some keys. (yes, the keys are not lined up perfectly in the photo, that's not the point) That 'valley' is not supposed to be there and looks really horrendous when lined up with perfectly smooth, level keys. So add to that problem an additional 7 key tops that were too deeply scratched to buff out and I have a new lot of 33 damaged or defective key tops.

I'm calling the supplier tomorrow.

Title-less

Could be scattered, lack of patience, sort of ill, problem solving, or it figures. Any of those could be a title for this post. Yeah, I'm still sick, although not terribly so. I started with a couple days of dry, burn-y throat. That progressed to some slight head cold feeling - just for a day. Now it's sneezy feeling and a dry, tickle cough. None of the symptoms overwhelming, just enough to be generally fatiguing and annoying. I haven't felt like tackling a big project. The rest of the household doesn't seem to understand this. Mostly I've tried to avoid the evening question, "So what's on your list to do tomorrow?"

I have done some things. I've signed up for the school's holiday fair so that means getting my stock back in shape. I'm just finishing up with five new necklaces and eight pairs of earrings. I spent (mostly wasted) several hours trying to print my own two-sided business cards. Avery supposedly has made this easy. Avery has succeeded in making me feel like an idiot. The first three batches printed poorly spaced on the cards. Not usable. I tried, unsuccessfully, to use the 'alignment' tool that Avery provides in the print set up. Didn't work well. I ended up printing 60, one-sided cards with no border so that the slight misalignment isn't evident.

I'm back to work on restoring my player piano. It's driving me nuts. It's very temperamental. I'm in the process of testing one 'deck' at a time, isolating problems and attempting to correct them. It seems that I can fix these problems without too much difficulty...until I put it all together again and they reappear. I just don't get it. It's definitely punishing me for some unknown reason!Here's a picture of the little set up that I have for testing the player mechanism. The box contains a vacuum motor. It has a dimmer switch in line so that I can regulate the vacuum applied to the player action.This is a photo of one of the decks being tested. I'll scream at it some more tomorrow.

This morning I had a church tuning job. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from home as when I arrived to "the door will be unlocked", I discovered it wasn't.

Naturally.

Just to prove to myself (and Avery) that I'm not a complete idiot, I had brought a contact phone number. Made the call and waited 10+ minutes for the key toting person to arrive. I love church tunings. No interruptions and usually some fine visuals. I must remember to bring my camera along next time. I did wonder about the pipe organ and checked it's name. A Stevens & Jewett if memory serves me correctly at the moment. Made in Boston.

Finished off Saturday with some errand running. Sunday is forecast to be rainy and cool so that should make me feel worse!

Me, Myself, and I

So here I sit...alone...trying to complete a list of seven things that I truly prefer to do alone. Beyond the obvious. Being an only child complicates this. Most of my life I have desired and sought out companionship. On the other hand after so much time alone, I feel quite comfortable with it. Prefer it? No. Apathetically accepting? Probably. I'm pretty much tired of trying or hoping for anything different. So, I could write a gigantic list of things that I would love to share with someone else, things that I now do alone, but that isn't the task, is it?

Here goes.

1. Painting (as in art). My little studio is set up in my dad's side of the workshop, far from the stairs. I desire only music while painting.
2. Playing the piano. I can't play with an audience - usually. And don't try to sing along, it'll screw me up. When I lived in FL, I would practice sometimes a couple hours each day. If I caught a glimpse of the mailman heading up our walk I'd make a mistake - just because I knew he could hear me playing. Once, though, I did manage to sit and play ragtime on a piano that was being auctioned at a local church as potential bidders filed in and out of the building for over an hour.
3. Shopping (as in clothes). 'A' will barely spare me the time amid shopping for herself. Mom is always commenting when she shouldn't. My first husband used to follow a couple steps behind all the time - extremely annoying. Although I rarely have opportunity, let me shop by myself.
4. Reading. Sharing newspaper stories with another is pleasant, but don't interrupt a good book. I can sit and read while watching the TV. Actually, that's sort of my norm. Not much of interest on the tube anyway. Even when there is a good show, I'll read during the ads. Having another person around while reading a good book is, well, irrelevant to me.
5. Writing. I can collaborate and have. When it's me and the words, I need peace and quiet. You can hang out and comment and offer constructive criticism when asked - later. I appreciate the comments. I also like a proofreader.
6. Floating. Yep, you read it correctly. I don't get to float anymore, but I can easily recall the sensation. During summers in Florida, I would force myself to take 1 hour lunch breaks. I would drive to the pool at the park where my parents wintered. Not a soul around, the pool to myself, I'd take 45 minutes and just float on a inflatable raft. Lovely.
7. Crying. I'm a private crier. Yeah, there have been times in my life when I've shed tears more publicly. I'm not comfortable with that. I cry alone.
   

There you have it.

Bunches of Stuff

I wish that I had the time to write entries when I really felt the desire! The past few days I have contemplated a few topics, but life has not given me the time to put the ideas to keyboard. Then I end up writing short blurbs about all of the things - one fell swoop. I don't particularly care for writing that way.

Here goes.

The best laid plans and such...A set of keys arrived from CA just as we were heading out the door to drive north for the afternoon. Oh well, I thought, I've plenty of time. I'll get them prepped and glued in the evening upon our return (didn't happen, too tired). No worries. I'll get that part done first thing in the morning, machine them in the afternoon, ship them on Saturday. It'll still be within the 3 - 4 day turnaround time. Company arrived at noon Friday, called first, they have a summer home in ME and were leaving on Saturday for their winter home in IL. Ate out, visited, ate out again, no keys worked on. Saturday was very busy and I managed to ship the keys out at 1 p.m., just before the 2 p.m. closing at the shippers. Then while my mom was out to lunch with friends, I got working on mowing the lawn and weed-wacking. I also replaced a bulb in one of my mom's walk lights, only to find out that the reason it doesn't light is NOT the bulb. Cooked myself a nice hot meal of roast chicken with onions, whole green beans, and a baked potato. Struggled with an aching body to pick 'A' up from work. An Aleve meant a good night's sleep free from the day's aches!

Sunday, a day of rest...hah. It's nice having Sunday free from 'outside' (meaning retail) work. After a quick clothing sort (summer away, winter on hangers) first thing was church. My mom drove 'A' to work. I got home and had a delicious lunch of tuna, lettuce, and Marini Farms tomato. The tomatoes they grow are so yummy I could just slice one up in a bowl, salt it, and be satisfied. With only an hour left before retrieving 'A' from work, I just poked about a bit re-nailing a bit of siding on the house and shed. My mom reminded me of my promise to recaulk a couple windows and I got that done after the retrieval. (oh yeah, Friday the electrical engineer visitor and I fixed my mom's doorbell). None of these things being on THE LIST so I don't get to cross anything off. Then it was off to the library. 'A' didn't find anything of interest and I picked up one book. Which brings up the 'Recent Reads'.

The monthly music book group is meeting again. September's book was "Beethoven's Hair". I had only four days to read it (not knowing if I would have THAT Sunday off, I hadn't bothered to sign the book out until late). While it was a fascinating subject of the journey and subsequent analysis of a lock of Beethoven's hair that was snipped from his head soon after his death, the writing style was overly textbook-ish for my taste. On the other hand, the October book is "The Soloist". Read that one in two days. A probable total of 4 hours. Some of you may have seen the movie about the life of a homeless man on the streets of LA, made even more poignant by his past musical success, schooling at Julliard, and the comfort that playing an instrument gave him.
That finished, I started in on "House of Sand and Fog". An Oprah Book Club book. It is nothing I could truly recommend. Interesting. Way too depressing. I broke down and bought Dan Brown's new novel, "The Lost Symbol". I know, I know. I have succumbed to all the hype. I haven't read either "The DaVinci Code" or "Angels and Demons", so why this new book? Well, evidently it's heavily in to Freemasonry. This intrigues me. My grandfather was a Mason and I have some of his stuff. I tune for a Masonic Temple and the Temple Room is breathtaking, even in a modestly outward appearing building. So, for those reasons alone I have bought the book. One copy out of 5 million in this publishing! I am five chapters in to the book and have been interrupted by another that I picked up today. "Losing Mum and Pup", by Christopher Buckley is a memoir of life with and without his parents (William F. Buckley, Jr. and Patricia Taylor Buckley). An only child who is orphaned at the age of 55 when both of his parents die within one year. I read the first two chapters while waiting for 'A' at the library and since it's a loaner from the library, I'll continue with it and restart Dan Brown's later.

At last I'm almost caught up! Here that is, on the blog, never with real life. I've been spending some time thinking about a post I read elsewhere. About being alone and listing activities that you enjoy doing alone. The goal is to come up with seven things. I've only thought of four. I can think of far more things that I do alone that I wish were shared. (sigh) I'll keep thinking and post later.

Timely Things

I had to set the alarm this morning. I had a tuning in Beverly at 9:30 ish, a new customer, a Catholic elementary school. I knew pretty much the location and had no problems getting to the area. Finding a parking space was somewhat challenging, however. I had my instructions. I would find a metered, city parking lot with 2 hour meters across the corner from the school or on-street metered parking would get me up to 12 hours. Not knowing the condition of the piano and therefore not knowing exactly how long I would be there, I was hoping for on-street. As I drove down the street bordering the school, all the parking spaces were occupied. I came upon an intersection with a one way street and saw a vacant space on the corner. I loved it! Easy parking! I made sure I was within the lines and only a couple inches from the curb. I hauled out my tuning gear and headed for the meter with the load of change that I had brought. Quarters only. 2 hours for each quarter so I cranked in two of them. No worries with four hours to get in the school, find the room, tune the piano, and drop off the bill to the secretary.

It was 9:15 when those quarters registered in the meter. It was 10:45 when I returned to my truck, job finished, to find a bright orange parking ticket on my windshield.

Huh?????? There was still nearly three hours left on the meter. I was not a happy tuner. I racked my brain for the location of the Beverly police station and thought that I remembered seeing it when I had gone to tune at a different location a few months back. I headed that way, found the station and couldn't find parking. I did, however, find a parking spot at City Hall, and decided to start with them. I was very pleased to find that the first office inside the doors of City Hall was the parking clerk's office.

Now, before I finish this saga, take a look at this and tell me which meter I used when I parked for my job (A, B, C, or D). Notice it says 'Deb' on one of those parked cars!Well, I put my 2 quarters in meter D (bottom dot) and I was wrong. Yes, I knew that usually the meter is at the front of the vehicle. But, not always. I had even looked at the set up of the other cars and meters before making my choice! There was no other space behind me, yet there was that meter. Must be mine.

Wrong.

So, back to the parking clerk... I told her, "I parked at a twelve hour meter, put in two quarters, and went to tune a piano. I came back about one and a half hours later and had nearly 3 hours left on the meter and found this ticket on my windshield!" I explained the odd meter arrangement and that there was NO parking space behind me.

Her explanation was that they had painted the parking space lines incorrectly. There SHOULD HAVE been a space behind me.

Yeah, well, now what?

She voided my ticket.

You better believe I'm hanging on to two copies of that voided ticket so when the paperwork gets lost I'm not in trouble! (And take another look. If the meters were IN FRONT of parked cars, why wasn't there one for that top car in my drawing?)

I headed home. 37 miles round trip, a tuning fee, 3 quarters used in meters, and I wasn't going to add a ten dollar ticket to the day. The sun was shining and it was a pleasant trip on the highway. Once I got on to local roads there was a surprise waiting for me. You're thinking a police car speed trap, right?

Nope. (and I don't speed)

For the last 3 miles of my trip home I got to be the fourth car in a line-up following the trucks painting the center line in the road. 3 miles at an average speed of 5 mph. I wasn't going to let that get to me and cranked up a Beatles tape that 'A' had left in the truck. Cruisin' at 5 mph with "Ticket to Ride", "Kansas City", and "Revolution" blaring! (the paint vapors helped)

Oh Deer

This week has been very busy. The holiday weekend, at least Sunday and Monday for me at Tuck's, was extraordinarily exhausting. Evidently, record sales. Then Tuesday it was right to work with a pinblock to CA. This required some creative piano action removal due to tight quarters, but all went well. Tuesday afternoon was what should have been a routine tuning. However, I was given some incorrect information and ended up with a monster tuning and quick repair. My Wednesday morning tuning rescheduled to Friday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon I was back at that pinblock treatment job to reinstall the action and tune. Out to dinner with my mom at Ellen's Harborside on Wednesday night. Then my back started to ache just over my left hip. I took some over-the-counter pain stuff and slept well Wednesday night. When I got up today, my back felt almost better. I could still tell that it wasn't quite right, yet it was hardly noticeable. I did business paperwork all morning as well as scheduling an out of town school tuning job for Tuesday morning. By noon-ish my back was a bit worse but still okay enough to keep going. We decided to take a ride up to Skip's for an early dinner. On the way we stopped at a shoe store for my mom, and on the way back made a quick stop at a chain department store for 'A' to pick up a couple things. It was dusk by the time we got to 'deer crossing' territory in Essex and were pleased to see this sight. A family of deer with the youngsters jumping and playing together.Now it's off to bed, some reading, and the heating pad. Got to get the back better for tomorrow's tuning, church and book club on Sunday (yay, no more Sunday's at retail!), Tuck's and clerking by myself on Monday, and another tuning Tuesday morning!

It only hurts when I walk...or stand.

090909

Today's date deserves a quote of the day.

Copied from WT on the Pianotech List:

Yeh, reality is definitely overrated,
particularly these days..  I'm hanging
on to fantasy for dear life.

Evening Chuckle

After working two days dealing with (foul language deleted) tourists, swarms of them, more than I ever want to see in one place again, particularly in the place where I'm working, I came home and checked my email. A nice update from my best neighbor friend in FL, some piano stuff, Scribb's clever comment on my last post, and this photo, sent by some family friends, titled "The Boat Goes In First".