Long Live the Monitor

The Parking Lot of Dead Monitors

Okay, this is just too funny not to share.

I recently had my computer monitor die on me.  In its defense, it didn't go without warning.  It had been dying for some time, the picture fading in and out at weird times as I tried to work on the computer.  It was old.  At least fifteen years old by my reckoning.  (Which is ANCIENT in computer years.)   It gave me good and faithful service all those years, too.  I thought of trashing it months ago, but I finally decided to wait for it to slip away quietly on its own.

On Memorial Day it faded to black for the very last time.  And stayed that way.  There was no hope of resuscitation.

The Monitor was dead.  Long live the Monitor.

It was a hugely awkward, ponderously heavy old thing, so I had to enlist the help of a neighbor to dispose of it.  I asked if he could please take it downstairs and leave it by the dumpsters.  There are always folks scavenging for stuff there.

Instead, he dropped it into one of the large, deep black trash receptacles.  Okay.  That was the end of that, I thought.

The next morning I came outside to find that someone had fished that heavy, huge monitor out of the bottom of the dumpster and set it out in the middle of the parking lot off the alleyway.

Someone went to great trouble to draw the perfectly concentric circles around it

Bizarrely, they had also drawn chalk circles around it.

WEIRD.

I thought someone was just marking it for a pick-up.  However, when I came home from work that night, the monitor was still there, the circles were still there, and people had carefully parked their vehicles in the parking lot to avoid hitting it.

AGAIN WEIRD.

It was way too heavy for me to lift, so I had to leave it where it was.

It looked so lonely

The next day, I didn't see it.  I thought, "oh good!  Someone has found a home for it!"

Oh, no.  When I returned from work, I finally saw that someone had dragged it back over next to the black trash dumpsters.

Poor thing.

It sat there for nearly a week before someone indelicately bashed it, ripped it apart, and took whatever there was of value inside it - Copper wires?  Gold circuit boards?  I have no idea.

It made me a little sad.

It's gone now. What was left of it finally went to that mystical, faraway land of all trash.  In its place I have a small, sensible flat screen monitor.  The day of these huge bulky things is long past.

I still wonder why someone would place that monitor in the parking lot and draw circles around it.  It looked vaguely like it was part of some strange pagan ritual or something.

I suppose I'll never know.

Elder Jayson Attends a Wedding

My good friend John with his son Jayson and his wife Gayle
at Dillen's wedding

What do you do when your best friend can't make your wedding because he's still serving as a missionary?  Sometimes parents come to the rescue!

In my friend John's case, he made sure his missionary son was still able to attend his best friend's wedding. Well, in effigy, anyway!

Dillen, the groom, returned from his mission to Washington about six months ago.  That gave him enough time to find a great girl and plan a wedding.  Sadly, his friend Jayson wasn't going to be able to attend.  Even though Dillen and Jayson are close, Jayson won't be released from serving his Latter-day Saint mission until March.

What to do?

John writes:

"I bought a Mitt Romney cutout at a party store and pasted Jayson's face over it, so he could be in the pictures, sorta.  I sent him the pics today and he thought it was a hoot! He even got to 'dance' down the aisle with a pretty redhead at the ring ceremony."

They photoshopped him a proper missionary name tag to make it official.

Mom Gayle with her missionary son, a very pregnant daughter Jen, and 2 year-old grandson Christopher
Elder Jayson almost looks like he's really there!

John swears he also saw Jayson participate in a few line dances at the reception.

Not bad for a missionary who is still serving hundreds of miles away in Indiana!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

The Happy Birthday Panda Cake!
You can just see my youngest nephew Christian via Skype on the laptop in the top of the photo

 My oldest nephew turned 30 over the weekend.

ARGH!

MY OLDEST NEPHEW TURNED 30!

ALERT THE MEDIA!

Daniel and his 3 year-old daughter have a jam session

You know, I don't think of myself as aging.  Then, I look at these kids growing up and I realize how old I am.  I suppose we all do that to some extent. It's part of life.

It seems as if Daniel had a terrific birthday in Ottawa.  There was music and good food, at least! Wish I could have been there.

Daniel and his nearly 5 year-old son enjoy a Korean birthday luncheon

I'm in the mood for Korean food after seeing these photos.  It always looks delicious.  And there was a lot of it.  This was Daniel's choice for his birthday meal.  I can't say I blame him.

This Korean Birthday Lunch looks really yummy!

I love seeing this little family as they do things together.  I remember how my own family did everything together when I was a little girl.  We had a lot of good times.

Holly and little Livia think it was a pretty good birthday party! (What? no hair clips, Livia?)

Building good, happy memories is an important job for any parent.  I'm glad Daniel had a happy birthday. It's nice to see him and his little family thriving.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Little Miss Fashion

Miss Livia from the front

Miss Livia, age 3, has discovered hair clips.

As you may already know, hair clips are an important fashion accessory.  Livia seems to think the more the better!

Miss Livia from the back

I think I know what to send her in the mail for the next special occasion...  I think she may be starting a new fashion trend.

What do you think?

Roses in Bloom

The Bonica Roses

It's been a while since we've heard from our Oregon correspondent, Desiree.  That's mainly because they had a rather harsh winter and a very cold spring.  In fact, the winter was so harsh it killed many of her plants, and even took the lives of a couple of her resident hummingbirds.  (So sad!)

Anyway, it's finally warmed up and 'decided to be summer', she writes .

Her Bonica roses, above, are glorious.  She says they finally became full-size bushes this year.

"Three years ago they were literally one spring four inches tall.  Now they are full bushes four feet tall.  I have twelve of them around my vegetable garden"

Lovely.

Desiree says she had to tent her sugar snap pea plants and strawberries to protect them from cold nights and save them from the scorching afternoon sun.  Temperatures have been fluctuating between cold nights in the 40s (degrees F) and then skyrocketing to 90 degrees F in the afternoons.

The wild temperature swings aren't good for the baby plants.  Or humans, says Desiree.  I don't blame her on that one!

Below you can see Angel smelling the lovely Bonica roses, while Rocky (the black smudge in the upper middle of the photo) is watching a bird who is in the tree above him!

Angel smelling the roses

The kitties are enjoying the beautiful garden.

Desiree says that Rocky has befriended the squirrels who come to eat the sunflower seeds at the bird feeder. In any event, Rocky doesn't chase them... Desiree thinks he's too afraid of them to chase them!

(Rocky may have something to say about that!)

It's nice to know that the animals are all getting along with each other and enjoying the garden.

Hey, maybe it's a reminder to all of us to stop and smell the roses today!

My Stealth Kitty

"Jack?  Where are you, Jack?"
My boy was nowhere to be found!

Jack likes playing in our small courtyard.  It's relatively safe there during the day, and I keep the door to our home open, and a watchful eye out for potential problems, as Jack scampers about, frolicking in the grass.

He usually comes out and scoots back into our apartment when I call for him.

Sometimes, however, he hides. Well, he's a cat, isn't he? He hides for fun, and to tease me.

He did this on Memorial Day.

You can't see me.  You can't see me.

I kept calling him and calling him.  There was no answer.  Well, he doesn't talk, but he didn't suddenly spring forth, either.  I got worried.

I couldn't actually see his hiding place until I'd walked the length of our courtyard and started on the way back.  There he was.  Sitting very quietly in the middle of the potted plants.

You still can't see me!

I pretended I hadn't noticed where he was.

I looked high.

I looked low.

Ha!  I gotcha!  I'm a stealth kitty!

Jack!  I see you there!

"I'm really sneaky, aren't I, Mommy?

You sure are, Jack.  The Sneakiest.  You're the best.

Stealth kitty enjoys his time outdoors.

"You couldn't find me!"

Nope.  I looked and looked.  I thought I'd lost you forever.

Back inside, Jack on my lap

"It's okay now.  Here I am."

Thanks for the cuddle, Jack.  You're a good boy.  I hope you had a nice Memorial Day.

"Yup.  It was great!"

Native American Artifacts

Petraform Snake Zig-Zags

My friend Donna lives in Connecticut.  She is an avid historian and has been busy searching for her Porter ancestors in the areas close to where she lives.  She also loves digging into historical sites.  She writes that back in early April:

"..I caught the last half of an episode of America Unearthed, which was looking at Snake Mounds.  They compared one in Ohio with one in Scotland, and another in Iowa, I think.  It reminded me that [there was] a "petraform snake" that I always wanted to see, and a few other indigenous art works that I'd heard about.  So before the leaves came out, this was a good time..

"In the meantime, I received an email from Hopkinton's Historical Association (I'm a member now), that they were having a "Pre-Tour" of the Pelloni Preserve.  This is conservation land with numerous cliffs that were utilized by Native Americans in the past ". 

This Preserve is located in the Tomaquag Valley, which is in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.  Donna was invited to check out the sites with a small group before they started giving historical tours of the area.  It turned into a day-long adventure into Native American sites, not far from her ancestor John Porter's farm.

The old wagon road with a stone bridge from the Colonial Era

There is an old wagon road that leads north.

The first picture in this blog is of the petraform snake they found.  Bob, one of the people on the "Pre-Tour", said he'd hunted these woods for years and never even saw the snake until one day when the light was just right and there it was!  If you look closely you can see the head is at the bottom of the picture.  The stones are laid out in zigzag form.

Just beyond the snake is a large rock in the shape of a turtle shell.  Donna says there are a lot of these types of stones in the area.

The Orchard Farm driveway on the way up the trail

This is the first of the sculptures (below).  Can you see the rabbit?  Bob's foot is in frame to show you the size of this thing.

The Rabbit

The High Cliff Cougar (below) is another art form.  This looks, at first, like a naturally shaped rock.  However, there is evidence it has been worked on by people.  Different light during the day can bring out the cat features even more.

Donna tells me these rock sculptures are not intricately worked, like ones we might find by artists today. Native artists tended to see a rock or stone that already had a specific shape and would add some small touches - such as an eye - to enhance what they saw there.

The High Cliff Cougar

I have to admit I have to squint to see it, and it looks more (to me) like a person's head or a turtle head, than a cougar.  But then, I haven't see it in person!

Below you see the other side of the Cougar.  Donna says when you stand under the cliff this creature appears to be looking down on you.  She said it was disconcerting... which was probably the point!

Under the Puma's Eye

There were numerous small caves or grottos among these cliffs.

A Grotto

These caves would have afforded protection for indigenous people and animals, too.

Below: early artist scratchings and gouges in the rock.

Artificially created gouges in the rock face

Below, the stone chair:

The Stone Chair

The tour group found a curious gap which could have been a hunting blind or possibly used for defense.

Ms. Lorén Spears of the Narragansett (center) with the Pre-Tour Group in a curious gap
Ms. Spears runs the Tomaquag Museum

This stone circle was full of very worn stones.  It was a nice place for the group to sit!  It faces East - which means it was oriented to one of the significant sunrises, Summer Solstice.

A Prayer Seat or Council Circle?

Ms. Spears gave educational commentary during the actual tours on May 18th.  The main purpose of the Pre-Tour was to show her around.  She ended the actual tour in May with a traditional Narragansett prayer, which is a prayer that is sung.  Donna said it was really nice.  That's Bob, the guy with the boots, in the orange cap.

Below you see a quite distinctive part of the high places:

High Places

Donna notes that there were some standing stones on the left. (See above, looking up on the left)

Stone Rows and a Door

It's not readily apparent from the photos, but according to Donna, there was a long-curved row of stones and a doorway of sorts.

It sets your imagination to work, doesn't it?  What was this place?  Wouldn't you love to go back in time and see what it was really used for?

The stones curve off into the woods

More of the stone wall

This photo (below) is of my friend Donna.  It was taken at the old Porter Farm south boundary wall and gate.  The Porter family are some of her early American ancestors.  They're also related to my step-mom Merlene. 

It's a small world when you do Family History Research!

Donna at the Porter Farm Gate

Thanks, Donna, for this fun walk in the Connecticut woods!