Suburban Sunday

My sister surprised me with a hula hoop today! (Yes, I did want one, as a  matter of fact.) I find I need to practice, though. Apparently it's not like riding a bicycle, where it all comes back in sixty seconds. So, you won't be seeing any video of me just yet. Kenny, on the other hand...

Ken is a natural-born hooper. Some people just have the skill.

 

 

We're Back

As time goes by, everything naturally goes....south. And so do we, every so often.

We took a few days last week to visit friends and family in southeast Florida. Here's Olivia enjoying the ocean breezes. It was her first visit to the Sunshine State, and she made the most of it, insisting on a visit to the beach despite the cool temps and overcast skies. Although a few hardy tourist-types braved the waves in swimsuits, we kept our black-leather New York uniforms on and just enjoyed the wildlife.

The egrets danced along the edge of the water:

And the blue heron stalked, elegant, with now and then a sudden down-and-up swoop, like an erratic sewing-machine bobbin, catching tiny creatures swept in by the waves:

The white ibis preferred the inland waterways, nearer the hotels. This photo was taken by Ken during a morning run around the commercial district:Another highlight of the trip (at least as far as I was concerned) was this - a mall wall! I'd scrambled over a small share of the Shawangunks, albeit in a most casual manner, sans equipment, in my college days, but since then I've always wanted to essay one of these faux rock walls.

Here was my chance to do it! Here was my chance to climb *almost* to the top, turn around, and shout out to those below, "Does this harness make my butt look fat?!"

How could I resist?I can't understand why nobody else wanted to try. Oh well. (Photo by DH)

The church named after me was still in business:

The bougainvilla was in bloom:
And we saw signspinners on the drive from Cooper City to West Palm Beach.

On the way home, we noticed the Southwest Airlines Gate at Palm Beach International Airport had gone all out for Valentine's Day:


Friends and family: well and happy. Who could ask for more?

Eight Arms To Hold On

Finally, the videos you've all (not really) been waiting for: the Amazingly Intrepid Spider (With Soundtrack!) and the Same Fearless Spider On A Different Day. This little guy, a common garden variety arachnid much like the one pictured above, was living for several weeks in Ken's car's sideview mirror. Having built a web overnight, he (she?) would come out when the car started moving each morning, battle the wind for possession of the silky strands, and, having gathered or gobbled them all up, would retreat inside the shelter of the mirror's overhang for the rest of the ride to the parking garage in Jamaica, where he (or she) did who-knows-what all day while we were at work. Then, having traveled back home with us, he (or she) would spend the evening building another web. This went on three or four times we could see. Now, there's been no sign of the Tenacious One for many days, but for what it's worth, his (her?) indomitable spirit is captured in these movies.

Upstate Downer

The final Hall of Fame Game was being played in Doubleday Field on June 16th and it was sold out; we didn't even know about it before coming up here, but there we were in town, and tickets on the street were not exorbitantly priced. The nice guy who sold us two for an oddly nominal fee ("Ten bucks? For both?") had probably heard the weather report...or looked at the sky. We were optimistic, though; hadn't the sun held sway for the parade? So what was a little rain now? It's just a drizzle. Ignore all those people who are leaving. They're still letting us in, right? They'll get in a couple of innings and we'll get to see a little baseball...but it was not to be. Just before we entered the stands there was an announcement urging those not in the covered grandstands to "seek shelter immediately." Ten or fifteen minutes later, there was hail on top of the now-driving rain. Cooperstown felt a little like Mudville a couple hours later when the last Hall of Fame Game ever, scheduled for 2 p.m., was finally called on account of this:

We were under that tree on the left at first, then Ken spotted a place under this bank portico. Thanks Ken!
The Cubs and the Padres left without playing, and suddenly, everyone who was at last year's game tried to remember a little harder what it was like.
Four hours later, it was clear and calm, and we had dinner at the Lake Front restaurant.

Cooperstown Hall of Fame Game Parade

Olivia relaxes with Ken before the parade starts. She knows she'll have a good view from here. Ken's photos came out much better than mine, so the following are all his:

This man on the train float is firing explosives from a miniature cannon.

Mighty Casey waves to the crowd. He and his fellow dead heroes Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were the friendliest players there.

The Aqua String Band

Fire Truck

The Big Green Monster

The Money

So we're back from a few days of vacationing in Corning, Watkins Glen, and Cooperstown, New York.

The last day we were in Cooperstown, the Cubs and the Padres were in town to play the Hall of Fame Game, a tradition since 1940, now coming to an end as a result of contract negotiations.

There's a big parade before the game, featuring the players riding in a trolley. The townspeople put on a great line-up, with the Cooperstown Community Band on a flatbed, the Edward P. Maloney Memorial Pipe Band (and another pipe band whose name I didn't catch, that's two pipe bands,) a fire truck, a lawman of some kind on a very large horse, Mummers from Philly, special appearances by Micky Mantle and Babe Ruth, and lots more, interspersed with cool classic cars (from a major sponsor.)

Make Way for Ducklings

In this case, make way for just one duckling, the only one observed so far this season along the route I usually take. The duck and her lone young'un were grazing and splashing in the same spot yesterday and today, followed all the while by two drakes who would try time and again to get close, only to have the mama lower her head and charge at one or the other until they backed off. (As you can see here in this video.) But after a bit, they'd be trying again. Drakes don't care what mama don't allow, gonna follow 'round mama anyhow...

Circle of Life and All That

And to think I almost left my camera home again...
On our walk yesterday, DH and I were lucky enough to see some real wildlife, a red-tailed hawk that had caught a squirrel.
Here I thought I was the squeamish type: can't watch slasher flicks, clean a chicken, dispose of a dead bird, or even make hamburger patties without feeling slightly ill. Yet it didn't disturb me to watch the hawk eat lunch. (Okay, there's one shot where you can see the squirrel's face, and that is kinda sad. But overall, no.) Raptors gotta eat, and for all we know the squirrel was sick and slow and sufferin' and now he's gone out in a blaze of glory; way better than getting run over by a car. It was great to be able to observe it so closely. (Um, the hawk, not poor Rocky there...)
Oh, and for the non-squeamish amongst you, there's a few more shots on my Flickr page, and a
half-minute video here.