A New Spin

I recently did a little research to find out why in the world military air traffic, especially helicopters, has increased so much lately in the air space directly over my house. The racket was driving me crazy and making me a little paranoid.

I found a perfectly plausible explanation which claimed that in the dramatic decline of commercial air traffic due to the pandemic, many agencies and branches of the service have opted to take advantage of the space to schedule more training. Still! As relieved as I was that it wasn't the beginning of some pre-coupe activity in advance of the election, those choppers are low and really loud, and they circle several times a day.

Finally, in an effort to turn my irritation into a plus, I decided that whenever I hear one of those cursed contraptions I will send a blessing to the universe.

May we all have the time to refine our skills and the patience to find whatever we are searching for.

But it's still tempting to add, Now go away you f-ing helicopters!

Namesake

"I think I'm going to watch the Republican Convention next week," my friend Lincoln told me today. "I don't agree with them, but I just want to see what they're going to say," he continued.

I was impressed, both by his curiosity and his open mind.

Especially since Lincoln's eight.

Change of Seasons

The weather here has taken a rare and most pleasant turn for August-- highs in the low 80s and hardly any humidity at all. The water in the pool is almost cold. Almost. But a few brisk laps will warm a swimmer up nicely. This evening we were on our way home from the pool when we ran into a neighbor and her 8 month old. Babies love Heidi, so as the little one giggled and cooed in his stroller, his mom and I caught up. "Well," she sighed after a little while, "I better get inside and check on my bread." She raised her eyebrows. "It's my first time making homemade. I've got to see how it's rising."

I nodded with complete understanding. "Is it sourdough?" I asked.

"No!" she shrugged. "It's a quick no-knead recipe. But I'm making stew tonight. This weather just makes me think of fall and stew and homemade bread."

Standing there in my wet bathing suit and towel, I found it a little early to pull the trigger on autumn comfort meals, but who am I to judge? Plus? She's from Georgia.

So That's How It's Going to Be?

I woke up at 7:30 for a virtual meeting at 9, ran downstairs, made coffee, jumped in the shower, dressed a little less casually than I have all summer, set up my extended screen monitor, and popped my airpods in, all in plenty of time to join and complete the ice breaker. (Yes, the icebreaker!) I listened, took notes, sent informational emails and texts to colleagues who were not "there", answered questions, read and commented on documents, and otherwise participated fully until almost noon, when the meeting ended, about 30 minutes late.

I sat back, away from the screens, and tried to relax for a few minutes before my next meeting at 1. Rubbing my eyes and ears, I felt a rumbling in my stomach.

It was only then that I realized I had forgotten to eat breakfast.

Madame Replicant

The day was dark and rainy yesterday, just the kind of late summer weather that would ordinarily be an invitation to the movies for us. But since that was out, we closed the curtains and turned on the TV. It took a while to find something blockbustery enough, but in the end we decided on a double feature of Bladerunner, the classic from 1982, (a movie I had seen and loved when it was new) and its sequel from last year, Bladerunner 2049.

We gasped when, after the credits rolled on the first flick (yeah, last century they did those at the beginning of the movie, remember?), it flashed Los Angeles 2019 on the screen. I think I knew we had passed the date Ridley Scott set for his story, but seeing it was something else. And although it was dark and rainy throughout the entire movie, that was really the only thing the world of Bladerunner had in common with our world.

Flying cars, video pay phones, and a huge Pan Am billboard were just the top three buzzers, and only if you accept as a premise of the story the fact that almost everyone fit and able enough had moved off the planet. And pacing? Oh my gosh! It was like all those songs from the 70s and 80s that you are sure are fast enough to add to your workout playlist, but when you actually listen all the way through they are either deleted or moved to the warm up or cool down section. The truth is Bladerunner is like an opera: a dark and slow and melodramatic exploration of humanity.

And, I still liked it. 

Who Was That Masked Man?

When I was a kid watching TV, it always seemed kind of silly when people couldn't recognize the Lone Ranger say, or Zorro, or Robin, or even Batman, just because he was wearing a mask that covered part of his face. The same was true for all sorts of burglars and bank robbers on every sitcom from The Flintstones to I Love Lucy. On those shows, secret identities were always safe; that suspension of disbelief was just part of the price for those 30 minutes of diversion.

These days, everyone is wearing a mask (at least around here). It's required in all inside public places, and it's becoming a lot more common for folks to wear them outside, too. I was wearing my mask this morning in line at the farmers market, when a fellow shopper called my name. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Pretty good!" I said, but just then the vendor called me forward, and we waved good-bye. As I ordered my produce, I wondered who I had just been talking to. I think it was an English teacher from another middle school in our district, someone I have known slightly for many years, both because we're in the same discipline, but also because we have a mutual friend. I'm not a hundred percent it was her, though, and I'm impressed she recognized me.

Later, we were out for a walk with the dog, unmasked, when a couple of women with face coverings hailed us from down the block. We waved back, a little uncertainly. As they neared us, and began talking, we saw realized that it was a former neighbor and her daughter. We know them pretty well, but we haven't seen them in at least a year, probably two, and it took a few awkward seconds to figure out who they were.

I have a feeling experiences like those two are going to become ever more common in the months ahead, but I also think we're all going to develop a new skill set to more quickly recognize people with only a partial view of their faces. And when that happens?

Super heros and bad guys alike are going to have to rethink their disguises!

The Wrong Side of the Pike

My goal was to walk over 4 miles today, leaving from home and pushing into at least a little unexplored territory. The challenge was not the distance but rather the route, because after 5 months at home it seems like we have walked everywhere. As such, I had a notion to journey beyond one of our usual boundaries and see what that neighborhood held.

There were a few surprises, most of them to do with real estate development. Among these wonders of gentrification were mcmansions popping up like mushrooms, and newer houses down very long driveways behind much older homes, suggesting that several somebodies sold their back yards. It's hard not to judge, even as we marvel at the value of property in this tiny county we call home.

Crossing back over the pike, we walked a winding street through a most unappealing apartment complex. The grass needed mowing almost as much as the windows and doors needed painting. Litter lined the sidewalk, and the tall weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement suggested that even the county had forsaken caretaking the public property adjoining these homes.

Because that's what they were to someone.