a walk in the woods

captured on the way down

We took an hour out of our busy schedules to walk in a nearby woods, dodging falling leaves and scattered raindrops. I am fairly certain that a walk in the woods does more good for me than the new stuff the doc prescribed yesterday for the ol' systolic and diastolic. Almost as good as petting a dog. So it was gloomy with clouds, and spittin' raindrops, but we ventured in anyway. Some pictures:

Z-A Monday: K

He knew it was time. Time to kick-start this life, to sing that karmic karaoke, to key in on life's kinks (and its keepers) and just keep on keepin' on.

Yet, he felt a bit knackered. But, hey, he was knee-deep in this journey; no time to kick back now. Hardly seemed kosher!

To kick things off, he held the key to a slightly used Kia Rio; away he kazoomed.

The Life Book kinda creeped him out. Was Wendy indeed a keeper? Or the kooky buzz-kill of his recent past? Would her kindred spirit help end his Kafkaesque life of late? Was some strange karma at work? Or was this just some knee-jerk reaction? He wasn't too keen on the prospect, but felt a certain kinship, a knowledge of what would, ultimately, be best.

Keeping an even keel, he kicked the Kia into overdrive. Thinking ahead three weeks, He Headed for Home.

Scenes from Safari

Took the day off and it is raining (and "leafing"), so I am trying to get some things cleared out inside. So I am going back to last weekend and sharing a few pictures from our trip up to the African Safari Park near Port Clinton. It is always a good time, although I do fear for my car's paint job when the water buffalo show up. I love the picture of our son with his new buddy, the camel. I'm not sure who was makin' the goofiest face...


And... some unfinished business. As reported in an addendum to a previous post, the cat's owner surfaced. An acquaintance of hers had alerted her to our classified ad in the local paper, and she described the cat to a "T", thus passing our ownership test. The cat lives about a block away, and is an indoor cat who evidently slipped out through a window and, upon finding our deck, thought it was his deck. Here he is, last weekend, being examined by our daughter's puggle (and being very, VERY tolerant, I would say...)

Do You Trust Your GPS?

Took a trip down to Appalachian Ohio yesterday. I decided to play a little game called "Blindly follow your GPS No Matter What". It worked great going down US 250 to I-77 and heading down 77 to Southeast Ohio. Then it had me exit on SR 831 or something. Well, 831 was closed 11 miles down the road, but fortunately the GPS routed me onto some County road. Well...the county road was five miles that looked and felt like this:
But I was in the game for keeps, so I stuck to the route. Eventually it dumped me out on a nicely paved State Route and I was on my way, only about 15 minutes later than original ETA projections.

My destination was a meeting I was running on doing a community strategic plan. You know, that process where you figure out where you want to go, and then tryt to figure out how to get there. I had a pretty good example of having the "vision" of where to go, but not so much the actual tactics to get there...

Ah...That's better!

Z-A Monday: A Lucid Look at Life

Xavier lifted the large volume, admiring its gold leaf cover. He leafed through it, looking at the cover page ("Lessons for Living"), then started in on page one.

"You should be a Leader, not a Loser. Heed these Lessons; you shall be Lavishly rewarded.
What is your Lot in Life? Is there Laughter? Or are you Languishing in a Lukewarm existence? Do you seek a new Lease on Life? Is your Love Life Lackluster?"

So far, seemed like typical new age Lunacy. He skipped to mid-book, and read the leading lines:

"Law #86: When life gives you Lemons, Lose them

Law #87: Light the Lamp, then Listen

Law #88: Let Love be your Landlord

Law #89: Life is Linear; Not Lucky"

These seemed to come out of left field, suitable for the landfill; no logic at all. Then Law 90 leapt off the page.

"Law 90: When you Let her go, you felt Liberated. Leaving her Lightened your Load. But she shall Land in your Life again. And you shall Lament that you ever Lost her.

Law 91: Learn to Love Lettuce at Lunch..."

OK, Xavier thought, the list was getting loopy again. He closed the book and loped down the lawn, suddenly feeling just a little lonely.

it keeps coming back

Ever try to center a cat in a picture? Not sure it can be done.

The new deck is a big draw for this fella, a declawed, neutered male cat age maybe 5 or 6. It stayed overnight Sunday then we let it out Monday and it went away. We assumed it went home. We were glad it was gone and hopeful that it had found its home. Then at dinner tonight I looked out on the deck and...

We took it to the vet - no chip so no ID. They said it was well enough cared for. Next step is a free ad in the paper and canvassing the neighborhood to find its owner. We can't keep it. Linda's and Em's allergies preclude felines. So it is short term lodging for this fella.

Addendum: The cat is gone! Its owners described it to a "T" and indeed passed the owners' test, and took it home today - It lives a block away. A bittersweet departure - I had grown fond of that kittie.

a public service notice from streetpolo

Just interjecting here: If you ever get that desire to watch a live feed of ELEVEN German Shepherd puppies, head on over to this site . It's a hoot!

Z-A Monday - A Mountaintop Moment

Xavier motored away in his Mercury Monterey mini-van he bought for minimal money down. He made for the mountains, looking for a magical, meaningful, mind-boggling moment.

While the past few days were memorable, they were not so meaningful - just marginally so. Something was missing; time to miss the mainstream stuff, and meddle with the mediocrity of it all.

As he made his way up the mountain road, he felt his life was like a map with a maze of multiple routes. Like a trip to the Multiplex - Which movie was his? He sought some mystical mountaintop message. Was he mad to do this? A mental case? A Meshuggener?

He stopped the Monterey to use a men's room; as he made his way, a meteor flashed by overhead, passing the moon. Was this whole trip a journey to Meaningfulness, or pure Myth?
He looked down. On the ground was a booklet marked with the words: "Your Manual". He picked it up, and moved on.

Good Weather + Saturday = Opportunities

A good day to get outside, after a couple days of rain and gloom. We were off to a "fall fun fest" put on by our county soil and water conservation district. It's rural Americana at its finest. The county Commissioners judge chili concoctions. Balloons everywhere. Master gardeners showing off their stuff. Free cider and donuts. Kids decorating pumpkins and climbing up the hay bale pyramid. Horse drawn wagon rides. All set in a big barn at the fairgrounds, amidst a backdrop of fall foliage.

Linda was there at the First Book table, giving free books out to kids who wanted them. First Book is a great cause. In this era of videogames and, well, computer screens, it is important to show children how reading books can be a lifelong adventure.

But enough of this - I need to get outside!

Z-A MONDAY N is for

NOTHING.

Xavier is taking a well-deserved week off. The guy is tired. It's been a rough few weeks, and he needs to shake it off a bit.

As does the writer. There are no creative juices available just now. Going for those juices is like when you are at a convention or workshop, and the 10:00 session lets out, and you could go for one more cup of coffee, and you find the coffee stand, and there is the coffee server, and you press down on the little valve, and nothing comes out, so you look around, and no one's looking, so you tip the whole thing forward, and out comes about a half-inch of coffee, and that's all you get.

That's where I am right now. My employer does an annual "agency day" where all the employees get together in a big venue somewhere, and there is a speaker, and some awards for years of longevity, and then there is this gap in the afternoon. This other guy and I have been emcees for this thing in past years. This year we get to fill those last couple of hours. We are the roadblock between 400 or so employees and their weekend. So we need some decent content.

This year we are going for a talk show, Leno-like affair (notice I did not say "Letterman-like affair"; other connotations!) and although this thing is far from finalized, there are enough interesting components to make it somewhat fun. Among other things, we got this band put together, and I wrote some lyrics, and I will be a sort of Paul Shaffer, and it may be a hoot (or not...) Now we are trying to string enough little fragments of ideas together to make a go of this thing, but it has become an all-consuming monster, and of course the "day job" does not relent, so there we are with no Xavier this week.

Back Next time.