I’m a longtime fan of Calvin & Hobbes, and thought this strip would be fun for readers of this blog.
Category Archives: Random Thoughts
More Fortunate Than Many
Kathy and I were in Asheville, NC last Wednesday, just prior to Hurricane Helene. We knew the storm was approaching, but of course at that time no one knew how severe it was likely to be. Those of us in central and western NC usually take comfort in our distance from the coast, which usually is sufficient to soften any blow.
Our first clue that trouble was brewing was on Thursday morning, when we drove to the Biltmore Estate for a previously scheduled tour with friends. The main entrance to the estate was closed due to flooding along the Approach Road, so they routed us in through a back entrance. Little did we know at that point that the French Broad River, which runs next to Biltmore, had already started to flood.
At 1:00 they announced that the estate would be closing and evacuated. And the storm hadn’t even come ashore in Florida yet! We went back to our motel to decide what to do. We were with friends who were traveling to Florida and had plans to meet my brother and sister in law in Waynesville that weekend, so we decided to stick it out. How bad could it be, right?
Now we know how bad.
Power went out about 4am as the brunt of the storm passed through. By Friday morning the damage was just starting to become apparent. Our friends left to head on to Florida, and Kathy and I headed to Waynesville. We made it, but just barely. What a mess.
In Waynesville, power had just come back on in town but there was no cell phone service, no cable and no internet. Businesses that were open were on a cash only basis, but all the ATMs were down because there was no network.
We stuck it out until Sunday, when it was clear that we could make it out safely. We headed toward Charlotte, figuring that we could at least get back home, although what we really wanted to do was to complete the rest of the trip by visiting Bourbon Country in Kentucky with my brother and sister in law. The map looks a little silly, but we made it and are now safely in Kentucky.
Needless to say we know that we are very fortunate and are counting our blessings. Many were not so fortunate.
For The Birds
Posting this for Ken, who liked the bird in my last post. I think I got the right one, the right way. 😉
Before I Forget
Since my last post was a bit of a bust, I thought I’d post this to rev things back up. When we were in Michigan I caught up with this guy. Had dinner with Mark and his wife at a nice seafood restaurant in Marine City. I’m much taller in person…. 😉
End Of An Era
Well, the era actually ended long ago, but I recently made it official. I’ll explain.
Some of you know that many years ago I was a musician, playing the trombone. I started college as a music major before realizing that I wanted to earn a decent living, didn’t want to teach and wasn’t really good enough to make a career of performing. I even played in a Chicago/Earth Wind & Fire/Tower of Power type band for a while. One of our members went on to become a famous drummer, the rest of us got jobs. So I was good enough to have fun with it but that was about it.
Over the years, I lost touch with the playing side of music, and like many things – old cameras, golf clubs or cassette tapes, my trombones took up space in my attic or in my garage. Conveniently out of sight, and mostly out of mind.
A year or so ago I was thinking about the likelihood of ever playing the horns again, realized that was probably never going to happen, and started to think about what I could do with my old horns – I had three of them. Not knowing what kind of value they had, I figured that they were 50-ish year old instruments, probably worth little and thought about donating them to a local charity. The Charlotte Symphony, for example, has a program for providing instruments to needy kids to study music.
I started checking around and was amazed to discover that there is a healthy market for used, professional quality musical instruments. And unlike old cameras, golf clubs or cassette tapes, they are worth some real money. Not Stradivarius money, but pay-attention-to-me money.
I made inquiries through local colleges and got the name of a guy in Detroit, the bass trombonist for the Detroit Symphony who has a side gig of buying and selling used trombones. I contacted him, we worked out a plan, I had the horns reconditioned at a local music store and delivered them to him in Detroit on our recent trip. He had buyers for them before we got home! Done and done. Turns out they were a pretty good investment – who knew?!? I don’t think I’ll be buying a new camera with the money (sorry, Jeff!) but I’ll see if I can find something suitable to do with my windfall.
A few days ago Kathy asked me if I was now a former trombonist. I told her that I was more like a reformed trombonist. Not much difference probably, but I understand the distinction!
Tom Does Trucks, Too
Jumping on the “Does Trucks” bandwagon. Anyone else? I know Ken has some…. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Kathy & I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a season full of family, friends and fun!
What’s Our Role?
As hard as it is to believe, Kathy & I will soon be celebrating 6 years of retirement. Time has flown by, for sure! When we contemplated retirement, we talked about what we would do, and occasionally talked about some kind of volunteer activity, like reading to grade school kids, financial counseling or something to use our former work skills. Interestingly, that has never transpired. Why? Most likely inertia or lack thereof, although we’ve rationalized a bit with the idea that our frequent travel would prohibit us from committing to a regular schedule and that anyone looking for volunteers would probably want a more reliable attendance. I have no idea if that is true because we’re never checked. But we keep thinking that we could be doing more without compromising free time or travel.
For the last 10 years, Kathy & I have lived in a 55+ neighborhood. When we first moved here, we were barely 55 and still working, and even after 10 years we are still among the youngest residents. We have struck up a nice friendship with a few other couples of similar ages, although even they are a little bit older than we are. We have had rotating dinners at our respective homes and recently did a holiday progressive dinner. We find it much more fun to drink and eat at our and our neighbors’ homes as opposed to overstaying our welcome at a restaurant and then having to drive home. Much safer to walk!
Kathy & I have had peripheral involvement in our neighborhood, with Kathy participating on the Social Committee and me on the Finance Committee. We have mixed feelings about participating more, such as board membership or committee chair. We’re pretty protective of our time at home, generally preferring to mind our own business and stay out of the way. But we’re also aware that we have skills and knowledge that would allow us to contribute more.
Kathy & I were talking recently about how so many of our neighbors are old enough to be our parents’ ages. Many of our neighbors are widows or widowers, and although they have children and other family around, they spend a lot of time on their own. For the most part they’re nice folks and we enjoy spending time with them. Like all of us, they have their foibles, but they have been a source of encouragement and inspiration. Encouragement because many of them have been travelers themselves, and are quick to tell us to “go while you can” and “don’t wait.” Inspirational in both positive and negative ways, unfortunately. Positive as in having done things we aspire to do, negative as in seeing the unfortunate result of years of not taking care of their health or finances.
Since we no longer have living parents, I mentioned that maybe we should try and get to know some of these older folks individually. I still cherish the memory of time spent with my grandparents, and feel that some of our neighbors would probably appreciate the attention, and we would undoubtedly enjoy the conversation. Group activities are okay, but once the group gets to be more than 5 or 6 people, “conversations” are more challenging, especially for those with difficulty hearing or being heard. I’m a little leery of a friendship evolving into some kind of surrogate caregiver role, but I think it’s possible to be aware and set limits if necessary.
Anyway, this whole thought process revolves around my idea that we all have various roles to play. Child, parent, spouse, worker, traveler, customer, friend, mentor, etc. Just because we aren’t “working” doesn’t mean we don’t have something to contribute. Helping others is a lot more rewarding than watching the news or playing video games, and it behooves all of us to spend some time considering our place in this world. It’s an evolving concept and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads.
Why Do People Litter?
Monte’s recent post reminded me of this sign I came across on the island of Curacao. Litter, and trash in general, is a problem everywhere. This particular sign was in a national park, which thankfully appeared to have its litter problem well under control.
I need to get a sign like this and post on the road in and out of our neighborhood.
A Little Something New
I just bought myself a new toy tool. It’s hard to believe it was over a year ago, but I had written in March 2022 about having rented the Peak Design Travel Tripod. I liked it a lot but couldn’t justify spending $600 (at the time – it’s now $650) on a part-time tripod. And I wasn’t sure it was good enough to be an only tripod, so I had lots of excuses to not buy one.
There aren’t too many cases where I really want a compact, highly portable tripod. I had a Gitzo, that while wasn’t designed for travel was sort of portable – it would fit in a large suitcase with the center column detached, but just barely. My only tripod lately has my big and beefy RRS TVC-33 with the matching BH-55 ballhead. An excellent and steady base, but really overkill for my relatively light Fuji equipment. While it is great for car travel, it’s just a little too tough to jam into a suitcase. It was just the thing when I was shooting with the big-a$$ Canon equipment. Of course a too-big tripod to a photographer is sort of like a too-big diamond to a lovely partner. No such thing, right? But I had been looking for a suitable travel candidate, albeit not too hard. I had done a little research and identified a few likely candidates, but the ones I thought would do the job were still a little pricey for comfort.
A couple of days ago I saw a post on a Fuji Rumors site that B&H was having a MEGA DEAL ZONE – 100s OF DEALS TOO GOOD TO LAST! sale. Included in the sale was a “Benro MeFoto GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod Kit” on sale for $175, marked down from $365. The ad indicated that it was $300 off, which is a bit overstated, but it is still half the regular price. It was one of the “finalists” that I had on my Wish List, the price was too good to pass up, so I pulled the trigger.
FedEx delivered the package on Thursday, and while I haven’t had a chance to use it extensively, my initial impression is that it is quite a worthy tripod. The build quality appears to be excellent, and I have to say that it appears quite sturdy. Compared to the RRS model I have to wonder why they are so expensive in comparison. The specs indicate that it is designed to hold 26 pounds. I don’t know about that, but even my heaviest lens won’t come close to testing it. I won’t know how good until I have a chance to use it IRL (‘In Real Life’ as the kids say) but I have an opportunity coming up that should let me put it through its paces.