To Occupy my Time – Page 157

A Trip to Edgefield

I took myself on a short vacation to kick off my spring break. Here’s where I went and you can see the bus stop where I disembarked. It takes about 90 minutes door to door to get to Edgefield. Only one transfer!

Copula as seen through blossoms.

Grape vines ready.

I planned to check in exactly at 3:00, so as to maximize my stay. Since I was early, I took a little walk. Of course I headed straight for the vegetable garden.

Potatoes had been planted, and this chard was doing well.

The first asparagus I’ve seen this year!

Mustard. Bolting;

Edgefiled has many nice cobb benches.

It turns out many people had the same idea to check in exactly at 3:00, so there was a bit of a line. But just look how big my room was!

Two beds, two chairs and a couch! I booked late, so all the regular Full-single rooms were taken. But I was very happy with the couch and chairs. There was a lot of sprawling and reading.

On my way to the Power Station for some food I found this pretty plant.

Fulfilling my stamp requirements, I purchased a Beer sampler. I discovered that 1) I was not a fan of the Termanator Stout (too bitter). 2)Both IPAs did not wow me. 3) I was completely in love with Ruby Ale. Like I would actually order it of my own volition, not just to get a stamp. 4)I liked the Seasonal Madness, which had the word “red” in the title. 5) I really liked the Brewer’s choice, but alas do not remember what it was.

Also, as a public service announcement, I also did not drink all the sampler on my own. I drank three of the samples and sipped on the other two enough to confirm I did not like them. Even with eating a pizza, three samples were probably my limit. Which is how I like it. Being a lightweight is quite cost effective.

Also, I never did read the back of the sheet. Perhaps when we order another sampler so Matt can get his stamp.

The rest of my Edgefield visit involved reading quietly in my room, doing my usual McMenamins plan of choosing a different bathroom every time, soaking in the soaking pool in the morning when the pool was mostly deserted and it was pouring rain.

It was a lovely visit.

From my commute.

I’m still waiting for my Poetry Post to appear in front of my house. In the meantime, I enjoy other people’s posts. I particularly like the style of this one, and the nice bird perched on the edge. If you would like the full text of the poem, without glare, go here. This particular post is outside TaborSpace, which is my favorite multi-use space/Presbyterian Church in Portland.

On the way home, my heart sang at the sight of this overly spotty young man being dwarfed by this balloon, clicking through his Rubik’s cube. Just when I’m getting resentful of the time it takes to commute via bus, the universe presents me with something like this and I’m in love with the world again.

Treefort. You don’t say?

I was skeptical until I read the article. Apparently, they schedule this festival so that the Pacific Northwest Bands coming home from SXSW (South by Southwest) stop over in Boise and play a few more shows/replenish their coffers.

For my regular amusement.

We have a student this year who needs some special attention. He was in the office one day with me because he didn’t want to do something and while I was trying to calm him down/let him wind down, he threw a notebook at me, hit me several times, tried to pull off my watch and flipped up my dress a few times. Luckily he’s a quite-small kindergartener and wasn’t too effective in his wrath.

The Speech Pathologist happened to be in the building that day and after he calmed down, she worked with him to make a poster about what he COULD do when he felt upset. Everyone who comes in contact with him got a poster of their own.

So the day came when he was in the office again. He was upset, so one of the Educational Assistants handed me the poster. I set it down on the chair next to him and started to remind him of what it said.

“I don’t want this,” he said, and crumpled it into a ball, which he then threw into the garbage can. I chuckled. When he calmed down, he pulled it out of the garbage can and we smoothed it out so it could continue to hang on my bulletin board, mostly so I could see it and think:

I don’t want this.

Sopping wet paper.

Here is the paper packaged in its failed prophylactic bag.

And here it is, wet through. Good times.

I can’t believe it took me so long to think of this. Portioning out the pints.

Portioning ice cream from a pint has always stuck me as being a pain. Because the pint is not a cylinder with straight sides, it’s hard to estimate when where just one quarter of the ice cream is. And now, New Seasons has a special birthday ice cream with Ruby Jewel Salted Carmel, chocolate cake and fudge on top. How to get it out without disturbing the layers?

Ah-hah! I realized I could just cut the whole thing into quarters, slicing neatly through the cardboard edges of the pint.

Here you can see the layers. I pulled one off for myself and wrapped the rest in a bag and stored it in the freezer.

Today’s funny comics. Subtitle. Two ways I appreciate the boyfriend.

Thank goodness I took the band Journey’s adage to heart and learned eventually that “lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be.” If I hadn’t left drummers behind, not only would I be marking time through endless drum solos, but also I wouldn’t have met Matt.

I grew up in a family that watched spectator sports. Baseball and football mostly, but also college basketball. So I am quite familiar with this interview. And thank goodness the boyfriend has absolutely no interest in spectator sports so I don’t have to listen to this interview any longer.