Wheels

Wheels seem to be the theme of the day. A short while ago impact with a noble woodland creature resulted in this:

A tragedy for the deer, no doubt. And the loss of a convenience we had grown accustomed to. A second car has always been a given for us, but we were rethinking the wisdom of it leading up to the accident. The decision made for us, we moved down to a single car.

Many people have applauded this move. "Good for you!" they say. "I am so proud of you guys!" "That's so environmentally friendly!". The truth is, if finances allowed, we'd have had another car in a heartbeat.

Both my wife and I were farm kids, raised in the Ontario countryside where a car wasn't just a nice thing to have - it was a necessity. Now that we live in town do we really need a second car?

Well....no - but, it's still such a handy thing to have.

So how does one adjust to being carless after having constant access to a set of wheels since the age of sixteen? One gets a second set of wheels with his price range.

This is my new sweet ride. I did the math and this is my first new bicycle in 32 years! I have not ridden a bicycle since I rented one from the train station in Bruges in Belgium about 20 years ago. That bike was a nightmare surplus thing that I am sure had fled Nazis at some point in its history - only it was such a shitty, chain-skipping monstrosity that it must have fled them none too quickly...

Bikes have come a long, long way. Gear changing is no longer some esoteric combination of the two little levers mounted beyond easy reach between the handlebars. A flick of the thumb and a clear display now let you know exactly

where you are as you effortlessly traverse the 21 plus gears at your disposal. The seat, while still ass-numbing, has lost most, if not all, of the testicle-bruising harshness of the bicycle seats of my youth.

I am well pleased with my new bicycle.

The other wheel I'll talk about is the one at the entry to my town's newest park. Last Friday we began the physical work on the site of BT Corner. Our main entry consists of a replica mill wheel surrounded by limestone boulders. The millstone symbolizes the town's earliest industries, while the blocks represent the building material of choice for Fergus' early masons.

The millstone started out as a single squarish slab of limestone that weighed close to 2200 pounds. It was rounded down and chipped away into its final wheel form but still weighs an impressive 1700 pounds. It will be surrounded by plants - junipers and such - and will have a sandblasted stainless steel sign mounted above the diamond-shaped cut-out.

Following our official park dedication on Saturday at noon I'll post pictures of the completed entry, but here's what's on the ground so far:

Front

Back

P.S. I do have some writing related news, but it'll wait until the next post.

When you can snatch this pebble from my hand...

When I was going to university all those years ago I lived for two years across the road from this really interesting 72 year old guy. Alex was one of those people who has done everything. I met him one day as I was walking back to my house and he invited me to stop a while to sit on the porch and have a beer (and not in a creepy old guy way, either). As I had the beer (what student would ever say no to free beer?) I discovered that conversation between us flowed easily and the "beer on the porch" soon became an almost daily ritual. We had great conversations, though it was mostly Alex doing the talking - he did have fifty one years more material than I did. It was from Alex, who had spent some time at the end of WWII in Thailand waiting for his naval ship to be repaired, that I learned that for a little bit of coin you can get ANYTHING in Bangkok. ANYTHING!

Apparently, if you're an aging one-time cultural icon, you can get yourself killed there, too.

Ahhhh David Caradine...

This is how I want to remember him.

Looking back now, I know Kung Fu was cheesy. I know it was, but for an eight year old kid it was the coolest thing on TV. I wanted to be Kwai Chang Caine - minus the bald head, of course.

Actually, I really wanted to be Master Po - far better, I think, to be the gent holding the pebble than the poor bastard trying to grab it.

Anyway - it is sad to see him gone. Some reports say suicide, others suggest auto erotic asphyxia. Regardless, the news did not surprise me. All the police will officially say is that they found him hanging in his hotel room's closet with a curtain cord around his neck.

He was in Bangkok making a movie called "Stretch"

Really - that was the name...

Up lifting

I promised a more cheerful post after the unpleasantness of the last one.

Today, in conjunction with celebrations of my wife's birthday, the whole family went to see the new Pixar release, Up.  We went to see it in 3D.  

I have avoided the new rash of 3D movies for a couple of reasons.  The clips I've seen have always made the use of 3D look gimmicky, as if scenes are contrived to take advantage of the effect while lending nothing to the story.  The second reason was the last 3D movie I saw.  Many, many years ago, long before kids and small town living, we had friends living near Los Angeles.  On a visit to California, we went to Universal Studios and watched this in 3D.  Not only was the 3D effect fairly poor, but there was the emotional damage to contend with.  Needless to say, the entire thought of a three dimensional motion picture was tainted for me from that day forward.

I am so happy that the technology and subject matter have advanced leaps and bounds.  The 3D effect in Up is just magical - as is the story.  It was a deeply moving picture and there was something for all ages.  It dealt with so many issues and pulled no punches.  It was masterful story telling and, in my opinion, is the best of the Pixar movies to date.

One little note about the 3D glasses - I must have received a defective pair because at a few critical, emotional junctures in the movie the glasses caused my eyes to inexplicably water.  Now that I think of it the whole theatre must have received a defective batch.  

At times there wasn't a dry eye in the place.