Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)

Last June I paid a visit to my parents' house in Wolcott, NY. I shipped back a lot of stuff; books, floppy disks, and a bunch of old photographs. Yesterday I started (finally) scanning in some of those photos.

Actually, I did scan one in a while ago - a picture that my ex took of me not too long before we were married. We were camping at Lake Lila in the Adirondack Mountains; my hair was long and unkempt, my beard was untrimmed, and I had a fat doobie in my mouth. I love that picture.



My doobie days are over, it's been three years now. I cut the hair off as well. Still have a goatee; every once in a while I shave it off, but my chin has some nasty scars from a couple of bicycle accidents so I usually grow it right back.

Lake Lila was a great place to camp. No motorized vehicles allowed! Even the ranger who watched over the place didn't have an engine on his boat. You had to drive miles off the main road, then a few more miles down a rutted dirt road, then leave your car in a parking lot and carry your canoe through the woods to the lake and canoe to the campsites. The last time I was there, you still couldn't see any other campers from your site. I've heard that they put more sites on the lake since then. What a great place. You have to watch out for black bears; take a compass, too - you don't want to get lost in the Adirondacks. And always - Always! hang your food in the trees. Away from the trunk. Preferably over a stream, to make it that much harder for bears, raccoons, and porcupines to get at it. One day I was sitting by the fire cooking my breakfast and drinking coffee, and I heard what sounded like a cat padding across the pine needles behind me. I turned and spooked a porcupine, who quickly trotted off. Heaven on Earth.

Tonight I provided a link to this blog from my listing at Classmates.com. What better way to clue in all the people who used to think I was a geek, to what I geek I still am?

Bought a violin a few days ago. Never played one before. This should be interesting. I can't wait for it to be delivered. The way I figure it is, it has strings, so what is the big deal? The only thing that concerns me is the bow. I've never played an instrument with a bow before. I keep picturing Jack Benny's screeching instrument.