That Which Is Dangerous Can Also Be Beautiful.

Walking down some trails the other day, I came across some poison ivy.  By some, I mean a lot. As a kid I was constantly getting rashes and would use ivy dry and calamine lotion to attempt to soothe the burning itch of the three leaved demon that bit me. I even had a bout that caused my eyes to swell closed and my face to deform. I remember walking around for several weeks feeling like the elephant man.

For so many years I feared three leaved plants. If I even thought I came in contact with one, I would wash in an OCD manner. I'm not sure whether with age, fear subsides or experience teaches but thirty odd years later, I walk through fields of poison ivy and oak with no ill effect. I no longer fear but admire the vines for their beauty and zest for survival. 

Creative Thursday... "Dear God" and "Just Some Punks"

Dear God!

Just Some Punks

Cutting The Cord... For The Second Time.

Where has time gone? I've been taking my eldest child, Emily, to visit colleges. As a parent, it is strange how we watch our children grow older as we do not.

While on a college tour, a feeling of melancholy battled immense pride. No longer would Emily hold my hand, for security and guidance, as we walked to the park or down a busy street. Those days only live in photos and memories. She is now an incredible young woman, amazingly independent, self aware and slightly stubborn (not sure where she got that from). Walking a few steps in front of me, she was dreaming of independence. Where I saw a small, confining dorm room, her eyes twinkled with the promise of freedom.

I look back, not in regret but astonishment. Welcoming her to this world; listening to her first words; helping her with her first steps; playing Candy Land; teaching her to ride her first bike. In my minds' time line, it was all just last week and now; she is graduating high school and planning her launch into a story of a new life, her life.

In a few months it will be our last summer together. Knowing I have prepared her seems a small consolation to the thought of her hours away and less frequently in my life

Writing this, I realize that the first time I cut the cord, it was a whole new chapter in my life, the next time it will be a whole new story in hers.

Ride Like the Wind, Die Like an Idiot.

      Sunday morning is bowling morning.  R., the kids and I try to go every week.  This past weekend the girls were at their moms, so I had to pick them up on the way to the alley.

     Well, I like bike riding as much as the next person, maybe even more so.  It is one sport that you really can’t screw up at.  It’s like walking with pedals on your feet and thanks to almost 200 year old technology; gears spin, wheels move and forward momentum is obtained.  At least, I thought you couldn’t screw it up.  I was proven wrong. 

     On the way to pick up the kids, a swarm of people on bikes invaded the roads.  It was a bizarre group, of about 50 differently dressed riders.  None of them understood the bike laws of NJ or cared about their lives.  The fact they were wearing helmets was ironic, as falling on their heads may have actually improved their intelligence.   Swerving in and out of traffic on a 45mph. road, they brazenly made left turns against traffic like guppies floundering through a school of sharks.

     As I turned down the road to pick up the kids, I figured I would lose them.  That worked until I got back on the main road and a trailing group of riders had caused a seven car deep and growing traffic jam. Someone didn’t get the memo that you can only ride two abreast and only if it doesn’t impede traffic.  As we got to a traffic light, they had all huddled together in a mass of spandex, helmets, stupidity and gears.  When the light turned green, they were too busy talking, so I honked the horn.

The guppies woke up annoyed and started to give me a dirty look.  I mouthed out, “Side of the road” as I cut harshly around them to avoid oncoming traffic. I decided to change my route as I saw an idiot induced traffic jam further ahead.

     I try not to wish harm on anyone but if one of those bikers accidentally ran into another one causing a chain reaction of face falls into the pavement, I definitely would not have minded.  Kind of like if a policeman in Tinton Falls would ever decide to do his job and cite those bikers on the many laws they were breaking that day, I would have actually wished him well too.

For now, I can only hope karma and sperm killing biker shorts catches up with them and saves future society.

     P.S. Ok, so today I was driving to the mechanics, to have my car worked on, and saw a school bike ride in process.  There was a teacher in the front, twenty or so kids in a line after him and a teacher or supervisor bringing up the rear.  I guess there is hope for the future.

Cohabitating.

     It’s been one year since my girlfriend moved in.  I realized, when it first happened, that I had been living alone, for so long, I had forgotten how to live with someone else.  I’m not saying it was good or bad, just different.  In the last year, my man cave has been slowly transforming.  The design edges aren’t as rough.  There is a cat litter box in the kitchen, women’s underwear in the bedroom and enough hair care products in the shower to have a ‘My Little Pony’ party.

     The initial move was tough.  People don’t understand how small 980 sq. ft. is and my girlfriend was no exception.  After bringing in countless pieces of furniture, chachka and the like, she quickly realized that she would need to trim down significantly.  Even with my minimalistic life style, most of the space was already filled.  Large amounts of compromise happened over the little amount of space.

     The Co-op has by no means been transformed into a finished product.  It is still a work in progress.  The difference now is that things have to be a joint decision and not a unilateral whim.  The good news is that if I plummet to my death, off of the ladder of doom while putting something in the attic, my lifeless body won’t be lying at the bottom of the steps waiting for my neighbors to call the police because of the smell of decomposing flesh.

 

70 Million Years in the Making.

     R., the girls, and I have taken up the hobby of fossil hunting.  Yeah, I know what you are thinking, ‘Fossil hunting in NJ?’.  Ironically, the first dinosaur for exhibit in the United States was found in NJ in the 1800s.  It was a Hadrosaur (Named for Haddonfield, NJ).   

     Our journey into fossil hunting started because I saw a preserve on the way to a golf outing.  I couldn’t remember the name when I got home, so I searched for preserves in the area and found a place named Big Brook. 

     That weekend the kids and I jumped into the car to do some recon.  Arriving at the preserve, we could see the trails leading to the water and heard the sloshing of screens and sifters. Running into a young man dressed like Indiana Jones, we found out that everything from sharks teeth to dinosaur bones could be found at the location.  Feeling silly, that we did not bring any gear, we decided to come back the next day with R.

     The following day was sunny.  Armed with our water shoes and dollar store colanders, we arrived at the water.  When I was younger I did some shark tooth hunting at Sharks River Park but it left me ill prepared for Big Brook.  We stepped into the cold rushing water and found what we thought was a decent spot.  Immediately we began to pull up interesting rocks and pieces of ancient sharks’ teeth.

Within fifteen minutes of arriving, we found our first whole shark tooth.  It was awesome.  We started finding fossilized squid, brachiopods and other goodies.  All of us were excited about our finds.  We each picked our favorite five (Park regulates amount of fossils taken to five per person) and left.

      As excited as R, and I were, the kids were interested enough, that they wanted to go back a few days later.  Again, we were amazed at the items that we pulled up from the underbelly of the currents.  We even got to see an ancient clam bed on a river wall.

      It was time for a kid project, so we headed off to A.C. Moore to pick up a shadow box and some stickers to create a display of our newly found treasures.

      Looking at the shadow box now, we kind of laugh.  Since then, we have purchased some real sifting screens and trowels.  We have found several more fossil hunting locations and have sifted perfect shark teeth, shells, jaws, spines, vertebrae, Brachiopods and even an early dear skull.  We’ve also met many interesting people and have learned much about the items we have collected.

     Of all the treasures we have found in the river, the best was a hobby the whole family enjoys and it was only 70,000,000 years in the making.

Creative Thursday - Self Portrait in a Mermaid's Purse and Praying to Hatch

Self Portrait in a Mermaids Purse.

Praying to Hatch