Month: January 2012

Show and Tell

One of the reasons we are on the road is to pick up a van that has been converted from a empty shell to a mobile dwelling. It’s tall, long and thin –and turned out better than we expected. Check it out.

Before

 Sprinter first look 002Sprinter first look 005

Here was our first look at the finished product, standing at back looking in, we were dazzled with it. Wrap around windows bring the outside in; the 24’ body goes on forever.

The Sprinter First Day 003The Sprinter First Day 011

At the first rest-stop, we park on the truck side and eat ham sandwiches and potato chips while looking out on a unplowed field next to an asphalt parking lot.

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We keep checking out the features, admiring the finishes and marveling that it is ours.

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Here is one of two pull out pantries, and the cupboard that opens on both sides and stores a super duper ice chest that will keep big bottles of wine chilled.

Sprinter day 3 016Sprinter day 3 019

Right now, life is particularly good.

In hospitable

On my own, I wouldn’t have stopped; it was a run-down, over-used gas station built say, forty years ago. The smeared windows of the office cum convenience store were plastered with crude posters of past events, beer and cigarette specials.

At arm’s height on the door, a sign said, Restrooms for customers only. Right below it, If you’re not a customer, Sorry! Since I fell into the customer category,  I walked straight to where I believed the restroom would be and found a single door with a unisex symbol.

The room was a grimy rectangle with painted concrete block walls and a spattered concrete floor. Trash spilled on the floor in the corner and a film of dirt covered the top of the sink and the toilet. Stuck on the wall opposite the mirror was a sign, No eating, drinking or smoking in here.

Doncha just love the chutzpah behind putting up a sign that warns event planners to choose another place.

Buzz Kill

It wasn’t until Maggie was a very old woman that she finally admitted that she had no idea of what really happened.

She had met Lance during her first semester at Texas Woman’s University in Denton in a cowboy bar across the street from her dormitory. He was an apprentice to the founder of a horseshoeing school in Ardmore. Their first real date was at McGee Creek Reservoir where they had torn into fried chicken and potato salad and laughed their heads off.

Lance’s family was prominent in Love County, Oklahoma. His mother, Mona, was at the top of society’s heap, a gracious hostess, high-octane volunteer and philanthropist. In fact, when the plans to create a lake in the valley were finally done, it was called Lake Mona McCoy.

The twins always called their grandmother, Big Mac and the lake was Lake Macarooni. Maggie smiled to remember it.

Those were the days, she thought as she drove home through the deepening twilight, the western sky glowing a rosy tangerine as the sun sank and lit up drifts of pink cotton candy clouds–

“Hey, how about stopping at the rest stop coming up?”

“Oh, Ok. So do you wanna drive now?”

“Yeah. I’ll take it on in from here. Nice sky, isn’t it?”

“It really is something, kinda rosy tangerine, would you say?”

“No, not really. It’s about the color of the tile in the bathroom, whatever that is.”

Tonight

After months, I bite the bullet and buy something that promises to turn my laptop into a tv because we are buying a travel van and need something.  I go to Best Buy, ask for help finding what I’m looking for — and come home with a box the size of a cake mix.

I’m superficially confident but underneath know that I haven’t a real clue about what I am doing. I prop up the box on the dining room table and read the directions.  I carefully lay out all of the components in a line.

I plug in the tv stick and connect the antenna. I insert a CD and follow the next prompts to load. After a couple of self-explanatory clicks, I end up with a TV screen, a channel guide and a help button.

All the while, Sig is watching Pittsburgh versus Denver.

I find the same channel. I can see it over the back of his chair as I look into the living room. Wait a minute, wait a minute — mine’s in high-definition!  The football players pop out from the background like shadow cutouts. They cart-wheel, careen, bump and bounce and their uniforms really catch the light.

Cool.

I think I’m gonna love being a geek.

When the 2nd is the New 1st

Sunday holidays do a number on me. I was all ready to shape up, do right and think about doing good, yesterdaaay, the first day of the new year. Then I discover the Rose Bowl Parade isn’t even on until today. Talk about throwing a dog a bone. On Sunday, I spend the bulk of the day at a movie and the rest in bed.

Today there is no garbage collection, no US mail service, no in-house banking. Today we have we have lots of football on all day. It’s a sign. Today really is the start of 20/12.

I am dressed before 9:00. I use my exfoliator, electric toothbrush and Mario Badescu  moisturizer. I clean off the top of my desk, eat granola with skim milk, do laundry, eat tuna for lunch, put away the Christmas stuff, fold laundry, talk to a friend about going to Texas for the winter, find a recipe for skin-less, boneless chicken breasts, rearrange the mantel, and go to the store.

It crept up on me, this phony first day of the new year. But I have it covered. It is gonna be great.

2011 in review

Here is one of the reasons I like Word Press; if you’re thinking of starting a blog this year, check them out — they make it painless. So now, I can go off and see an afternoon movie. Happy new beginning all over again.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,500 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.