Halloweenie

Red Sox, First Date, etc.

First off, I'm glad Boston really made them earn it, pushing them to a game seven. Now I hope the Rays have the good manners to win the world series. At least if you're going to beat my team you should go all the way. Secondly, a first date which was actually comfortable and relaxed. Of course we'd chatted and emailed for the last couple of weeks so discovered we at least had a few things in common, not the least of which is a desire to go to Australia. That's a great start. Seems we hit it off well enough and although I was attracted, and loved the way he touched my arm and hair, I wasn't so attracted that I forgot how to speak the English language, which sometimes happens. Beautiful blue eyes, hair on top and a kind demeanor. Extra points for his short stature, we're the same height. So a date two is in order, hopefully a hike and dinner, but we can work that out later. The urge to keep my own individual life and not get all joined at the hip is a strong one. It helps that he lives out of town. I don't want an all-consuming thing that takes over my life. I do however feel the slightest bit vulnerable for the first time in years, to actually put myself out there and reveal to a person I'm actually interested in them is scary.

More B Bar, no snow this time

Pink never looked so good

Late Summer Days

Colors & Textures

Black & White

Experimenting with black and white lets me know how much I have to learn about photography. I really do need to sit down for several hours with my camera manual and do some putzing around. My problem is once I know the basics and things are coming out "good enough" I tend to not bother with such trivial things as directions. My goal is to change that as I just love my new camera and have been having a blast snapping pictures since I got it. And after last evenings art walk I'm motivated again to start some painting. those two horrendous paintings I made are just screaming "cover me up" so that's where I'll start. Weather is supposed to be crappy next weekend, so that may be the time slot I've been looking for.

Pilots

3/9/08

Through my adult years of traveling I’ve always noticed a tendency of height challenged men flying the planes. Call it Short Stature-Big Bird syndrome if you like. Perfectly understandable to me: you’ve always been the little guy so you get back at “them” by flying jumbo jets.

Well, I’ve traveled quite a few times with my children and had mentioned this observation to them. My daughters especially laughed at me, said I was imagining it and then would further point out each tall pilot as we made our way through the terminals.

So of course today they were not with me as I traveled my way back to Montana from Boston. Last minute travel arrangements dictated especially long layovers and as I didn’t care to get a book or a newspaper I spent hours watching the people cruise by. And among them were dozens and dozens of pilots, a clear majority belonging to the five foot seven and under crowd. Miniature men marched by in their pilot caps and black trench coats with their little roller bags trailing behind them. Now I notice these men not just because I’d love to prove my own theory, but because I have an especially fond spot for shorter men. I don’t know why that is but it may be rooted in the fact that my dad was six two and a half and has always represented to me what NOT to look for in a man.

So as I’ve spent this long day traveling back from what can only be described as a monumental week of family history, I’ve smiled many times as I spied another shorty strolling by.

Girls Making Movies

Just watched Two Days In Paris, Julie Delpy's first movie as director. Nice first effort, a funny, painfully realistic view of the insecure, psychopathic nature of most boy/girl relationships. Then I saw Matthew Broderick on David Letterman this week out promoting Helen Hunt's directorial debut which looks very promising. I hear Colin Firth also co-stars, reason enough for me to shell out $7.50. And of course there's the funny and oh so talented Tina Fey who's latest effort, Baby Mama is supposed to be pretty funny, even if it is more of a chick flick. (SNL really suffers since she's moved on.) This brings us to the awesome realization that more and more women are sinking their teeth into movie making, not just starring as the pretty leading lady. It's about time the "boys club" gave way to an equal forum for both sexes. And who couldn't be excited by the prospect of more quality movie offerings?

Getting Back to Normal

It's been a wild ride the last couple of months but things are settling down now and spring is visibly trying to take hold, FINALLY! Spent the weekend doing more housecleaning, shredding old bills, gathering the brush from last years garden and making an effort to give myself an attitude adjustment. Still feeling disappointed in the male species however, and becoming more and more reluctant to do to any online introductions since I've had such dismal results so far. No interesting men in the "real world" either, unfortunately. I don't think it's just me though, I do believe people are getting more and more isolated from each other. Just the fact that you can't paruse the faces of the other drivers because of tinted windows is depressing. I guess it's time to face reality. I was happy to see Rafa won a fourth straight Monte Carlo title, even if it wasn't televised. Another final with Federer would've been nice to see, but alas, not a big enough event. Plus such shit like the big NFL draft, NBA finals and lots of baseball take priority. I was also happy to hear my brother has gone back to work full time after the November aneurysm that nearly took his life. The stars were obviously aligned for him.

Montana Matters

This is the first time since before I moved west, 1977, that Montana has mattered on the national political scene. Since the Obama/Hillary neck and neck race shows no signs of letting up, they're making the rounds to the rural small states this time around. Which is a real bonus for us political buffs who like to see our candidates up close and personal. Now all I have been hearing for a year is what a pair of rock stars these two are in person, so I had to go and judge for myself. And suprise, they both are. However, Clinton still holds the edge for me. She just gives off an air of confidence after spending 8 years in the White House like she knows what is expected of the president, and how those situations are handled. Bravo Hillary. So I'm still, idealistically no doubt, holding out for an '08 Clinton/Obama ticket, to be repeated in 2012 and then an Obama/Tester? or Obama/Schweitzer ticket the next two go rounds. Oh well, I can hope at least!

Jon Stewart is My Hero

Keeping a Sense of Humor

I'd love to write comedy because my family is so absurd that it seems to lend itself to the genre. It's been a hell of a year, Nana died Sept 25 nearing the age of 97. Brother John at age 47 had a life threatening aneurysm break on the golf course but miraculously is recovering well. Then last week the patriarch bastard died. The long and storied and complicated drama that was my father's relationship with the five of us kids is sometimes hard to comprehend. I escaped west when I was 20, had my family of three awesome kids, and have pretty much kept my distance, although not in a nasty way, concerning my dad. Every couple of years or so I'd visit while I was east and seeing the rest of family. The last visit was a one on one at his house about 18 months ago. I figured if either of us had any issue or question we wanted to bring up, that would've been the time. Neither ventured forth, I believe at least on my end, because I'd long given up the anger associated with the way he left the family and never looked back. So after some chit chat and a couple of his disparaging remarks about my siblings for which he was famous for, I left his house for the last time in his life. While my siblings all had very contentious and combative relationships with dad through the years and I've always felt content that I'd made peace with the past. Life's too short to worry if either parent, or anyone for that matter, approves of your life, your choices or your kids. So I guess I should've just stayed away after I got the call that he had died last Thursday, or thereabouts. The drama though, I was still to learn, was just beginning. While my mom was destitute through the years to the point where she lived with her mother for decades, my father was amassing wealth from his inheritance of stocks and bonds and the million dollar house in a toney Andover Mass neighborhood. SOOO, when the contents of the will were revealed, it was no surprise that two of the siblings, myself and brother John (with whom years of running a business together with my father proved too much to keep any kind of cordial relationship going) were specifically notated for omission. The wording, to the effect of "it is no mistake" that these two are not listed in said will were words he must have reveled in over the years, as the will was written June 18, 2003. Even in death the lack of good will and decency lives on, so to speak. The unfolding of the probate will be quite an ordeal of which I, very thankfully I might add, will not have to partake or witness. This is a blessing which it seems, judging from my dad's actions, must be an unintended consequence. That I will not spend the next year depending on my brother as "Executor" to handle things in a coherent and ethical fashion is a bullet I'm happy to dodge. Not to mention that any mourning or unresolved feelings, which were minimal at best, are now replaced with a final closure that quite honestly feels great. So back to Montana to pick up my life where it left off before I got the phone call that I was now half-orphaned. However, several days remain of which I feel assured more drama and histrionics will reveal themselves. Stay tuned, epilogue very likely to follow........
THIS JUST IN: two funny notes of interest, (if you have a twisted sense of humor like I do) the high class burial plot in Auburn Hills Cemetery that the family bragged about all these years, (my grandmother in fact telling my mom early in her marriage to my dad that there was just enough room for my father and his brother but not her) was total fiction. NO SUCH PLOT in existence after the funeral home spent an exhaustive afternoon researching. #2 The drunk driving incident in which my dad hit a bicycle with rider is still an outstanding lawsuit against my dad, and now against his estate, which could drag onto eons and drain the "inheritance".

California Dreaming