Whoosh

Yeah, whoosh - that's the sound of a weekend flying by. Didn't even get the camera out all weekend, although I wanted to get a shot of the rotten cardinal out there that repeatedly raids our grapes. Oh well, I guess there's enough out there for all this year, and cardinals literally put just a dent in the "harvest". Certainly less intrusive than the night we looked out about three years ago to see three raccoons and a possum that had climbed up the trellis to avail themselves of the fruit.

Let's see, on Friday, six couples from the squaredance club went through a few dances with our caller up at one of our town's nursing homes. I think the residents were suitably entertained. This seemed to be a pretty nice nursing home, as those places go. We have gotten fairly familiar with the concept of nursing homes, as my mother in law resides in one, and when we take her out somewhere, she is often anxious to get back - seems to really think of it as home (plus she has a very friendly and agreeable room mate, and they can chat a lot, which really helps).

Anyhow, the most humorous thing to me was the house dog. This is one of those nursing homes that has an official dog, who has pretty much free reign (I imagine any resident who is really anti-dog can have a policy of keeping the pooch out). Anyhow this dog, a big ol' black lab, is obviously well fed, and some of the residents clearly enjoy feeding it more biscuits than are needed.

We took a break and walked into this very nice, well-appointed living room or lobby. There, sprawled out on the couch, right in front of the 50 inch HDTV, was this canine. That dog has it made - but it really needs to get up and walk off all those biscuits.

On Saturday, our town had a "trash to treasure" all-town garage sale and flea market downtown. They closed off Main Street and anyone could put up a table for twelve bucks or so. I found it interesting enough to tour the wares. One vendor gave us a fairly complicated lecture on doorknobs. Who knew there was so much to learn about old, historical doorknobs? I managed to spend about eight dollars - I got a book about Route 66, and a CD of Joe Cocker's greatest hits. I am fascinated by former major highways, and have traveled some of the old 66 (even stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona once, just like the guy in the Eagles song). Also, grew up within spittin' distance of U.S Route 40 in Baltimore, the old National Pike, another major historical corridor. I'd love to take a month - or a year - and cruise some of the old roads, snapping pictures of what's left of the old motels, eateries, tourist traps, and amusement parks (like the Enchanted Forest back home out past Ellicott City).

And the Joe Cocker CD - well, has anyone ever done a better cover of a Beatles song than Joe belting out "A Little Help From My Friends"?

Anyhow, I am sure that by not bringing my camera down to this flea market, I have missed out on a wealth of weird objects. Oh, well.

Today had a new twist for me. At my ripe old age I am trying something I've never done before. I have always enjoyed music, listening to it and playing it as best I can. I was approached to play keys in a new band they started up for an 8:30 "contemporary" service at our church. I told them if they were looking for someone who could fill in the chords and basically keep up with the melody, sorta winging it as we went, I was their man. It seems that, after some research, this is the best style for such a band - play the chords, sort of hold the middle, note wise (since we have a bass player, drummer, and electric and acoustic guitar players, plus three female vocalists). So despite the challenge of trying to be awake and cognizant at an early hour, I signed on. Today was our first service; we ran through about seven songs in the course of the service, and it was quite rewarding. I always wanted to have that "band" experience, and the others are quite up to the task (the bass player does things with music for a living; our Pastor is an accomplished drummer!) and fun to play along with. And most important, I think the result was a pretty good worship experience for the 94 or so people who showed up.

Later on, I came home, took a nap, watched about as much of the Browns playing football as I could stand, and we walked the dog. That walk was kind of interesting too, come to think of it. We went by a field where, every Sunday, a large number of Hispanic folk come out to play or watch a game of soccer (futbal?) This is getting to be a pretty big deal, as there are Mexican food vendors set up, and quite a few families on the sidelines. I understand they come from several counties to these games. It is sort of interesting to see another culture in our midst.

Anyhow - empty nest? Didn't notice this weekend.