Robot Boy

Here is the first part of Graham's Halloween Costume.

Keith and Dale Celebrating

You can't hold a candle to it: Keith and Dale Celebrating Keith's 60th. Photo by Mary Stebbins.

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The party

The birthday party happened.  It took three days of work to prepare for it and at the appointed time, 2:00, the first guest, Gail, arrived.  She helped me bake a from scratch chocolate cake, preparing the spring form pans and decorating the cake.  Then Keith came with his mother, ML.  Then Graham came and played the piano for us.  Gail and I made salad and then Dale arrived.   One person, Sue, didn't come--had to work, which was too bad, we missed her, but the bad thing was that Keith, the birthday boy, was sick all day.  We didn't cancel because people were already here when he got home, so he didn't enjoy the festivities as much as he might have.  

The cake slumped and the wafer thing slumped, but they both tasted good.  The food was good and the company was good and Dale LaPointe entertained us with his stories and props about primitive skills.  He brought his atlatls and spears in to show us and we looked at knapped points and talked.  Graham played the piano, the boys (big and small) shot bomb bags and mini bombs on the sidewalk.   And we washed a lot of dishes but they still aren't done.  The sick birthday boy is down there doing them.  I had to quite--I've been on my feet all day and my fibro hips are killing me.  (Ouch!)

It took three days to get ready and may take another three to clean up.

We had a good time, but it'd'f been better if Keith weren't sick.  He's now gone off to bed.  I'd better go join him.

--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

The Birthday Troll

Keith in a hollow tree at Belle Isle--not bad for a guy turning 60!!! YEBA! Photo by Mary Stebbins
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Keith's Birthday

Today is Keith's 60th birthday and we're having a party to celebrate. Food to cook and presents to wrap. YEBA! A celebration!

Maria Lourdes C. Fernando, Mayor of Marikina

This is Maria Lourdes C. Fernando, Mayor of Marikina, in the Phillipines. Pea took it on her cell phone. 

Primal

Tom and I went out yesterday into a hard rain. We wandered the streets of the Old Port, walked down onto the wharves, around and sometimes through the deep deep puddles. We looked at the lobster boats and fishing boats and the nets and traps and buoys, Then we went to the ruins at Fort Williams and along the rocky beach and out to the open ocean at Two Lights. The rain was nearly horizontal and the waves crashed on the rocks sending up huge plumes of spray. The wind lashed us, and though we got drenched, cold and saturated, there was something exciting and primal about being out there alone in the elements. Something we don't experience on a calm sunny day!

I took a lot of pictures, but won't be able to post them until I get home (I'm still in Maine now).

more about this.

Tribute to the Soldiers

Tribute to the Soldiers, Pea and Yolly visit the Tribute to the Soldiers exhibit during lunch. Phillipines. Contributed by Pea.

Throwing Away the Sky

Throwing away the Sky, photo by Mary Stebbins. I was taken by this, looking fown into a recycling bin to see the trees and sky--it struck me hard. I see our administration doing this to our world--destroying it, throwing it all away. I say "our" loosely, since I didn't vote for the despot.

Dinia, Yolly and Pea at the Tribute to the Soldiers Exhibit

Note from Pea (PAY-ya): The photo attached was taken this morning during the opening of the Tribute to Soldiers exhibit at the city hall grounds, with the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff as the guest of honor. He is originally from this city and so the mayor thought it a befitting tribute to him to have the exhibit here. There were all sorts of military paraphernalia on display, rescue vehicles ( a lot of armored personnel carriers!!), and even the police dogs (I can't seem to recall the correct phrase being used for these animals) were there. The public can go inside the tanks and the soldiers give them a ride!! Awesome!! They say it's airconditioned, would you believe it??!! I wonder if they turn the airconditioner when they go to war? I think I'll get myself a ride tomorrow. Anyway, there were soldiers everywhere (very cute ones, really, but very young, ha ha). A friend of mine called me early on and asked if we are having a coup d'etat at the city hall grounds!!! LOL!! Well, it was rather festive the whole day, and the exhibit will run till the end of the week. Maybe i will try and take more pictures tomorrow and the next days. Pea

Note from Mary: A number of you have asked why I keep saying YEBA. Yeba is the Filipino word for YAY. It was taught to me by my friend Pea (Pay-ya), the woman on the right in this picture. From right to left, Pea, Yolly and Dinia. Mary

Heron Pond from Sixty Road

Heron Pond at Three Rivers from Sixty Road, tonight. Photo by Mary Stebbins

Heron Pond from Scott's Place, Far back 40

Heron Pond at Three Rivers from The Scott's Place Trail, Photo by Mary Stebbins

Scott's Place, Back 40

Scott's Place; The View Toward Heron Pond at Three Rivers Game Management Area; near sunset, tonight. Photo by Mary Stebbins

Waving My Arms Wildly

Because I am planning on moving to Detroit, I want to get out and walk in the woods and pastoral countryside around Baldwinsville, where I live now, as often as possible before I lose it. But I had a rude reminder today that life in the countryside isn't all peaches and scenic vistas. Fall is supposed to be nearly insect-free. I look forward to the relief of that freedom with pleasure. But whether it's global warming or simply a freak year, the bugs this fall are worse than ever.

I walked today out at "Scott's Place," one of the many access points to Three Rivers Game-Management Area. It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky, warm, and slightly muggy. And, I discovered, buggy. There were clouds of mosquitoes and in the sixty-two minutes I was out there walking, they got denser and denser. They were tiny, and had sharp proboscises. Ouch. Every time they bit, it hurt! And they bit a lot! I ended up running (okay, well, I'm not much of a runner--jooging--staggering--) back to the car as fast as I could.

I remembered how I used to walk in the city to avoid the country, the very country I long for now. When I worked at the museum, I often walked during lunch to avoid walking where it was buggy—at (or near) home. But that was summer, not October! And it was interesting there, sort of, more so than the manicured streets of Detroit. Suburban Detroit. People in suburban Detroit work very hard to look as much as possible like their neighbors. They try to look like they're rich, or as close as possible to it, as if being rich were the be-all and end-all of life. It's distressing!

On Marcellus Street, no one tried to look rich. Where I walked, street people warned me it wasn't safe for a white woman to walk alone there. But I did anyway, for years. There were drug deals going down on the corners and crack heads hanging out in the doorways. And prostitutes. Half- (or fully-) naked children and old people who looked out of their doorways looking puzzled and frightened. It wasn't boring. And there weren't any mosquitoes.

I'd take the mosquitoes, though, over mall-walking. I tried that once. What a bore. All those stores and more people trying to look rich or punk. Consuming wildly. The air-conditioned and filtered air, tasting like stale grease and the insides of other people's lungs. UGH! I really hate malls.

In Detroit, one of the favorite walks I ever took was down by Eastern Market, where we met Dale, a street person who lived in an abandoned building. My walk today among the mosquitoes on Scott's Place was not my favorite walk in Baldwinsville!! I guess I'm just weird. (You probably already knew that, though!)

--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

Rocky on Keith. Photo by Mary Stebbins 

Rocky and Mary, photo by Keith. Parsing the Motivation of Bird.