Paddy's Wanderings

Stone Statues

Is it the Moon? Or a Martian landscape? Maybe, it is a five year old on a beach stacking stones, making a bit of sand art. It is all in how you look at it.

Imagination is the key.

Children have a wonderful imagination. I think we all know that. They use imagination to fill in their world, to help to understand it. The techno-kid is filled with stories and explanations for everything from how bees make honey to, well to why there is a stone statue on a beach. At one time, this was a temple that Inyanna Jones explored looking for treasure.

The old saw a picture is worth a thousand words seems to be true. But if you are kid, and you really stretch the imagination, then it is worth a thousand stories. It is amazing how easy and free a mind can be when that mind is fresh to the world.

Here there be magic.

When I am in the midst of the January Blues, I can sit down, look at pictures like this one. I can talk with the t-k and have him tell me a story. I can smell the lake breeze, feel the sun on the sand, and for a moment, be free and see the world for the first time.

Remember..

 

Then & Now ~ LotR

That is the cover from my first copy of Lord of the Rings, bought at the bookstore in the mall, way back in 7th grade, a.k.a. 1978. Crazy as it seems, I still have that dog eared copy. Even crazier, I say the first copy because I have two other paperback versions and a swanky leather bound hardcover of all three books in one.

I also saw all three movies in the theater and have the swanky extended version book case DVD's. I guess that qualifies as a fan. I have miniatures, action figures, all kinds of stuff from the Hobbit as well as all the other writings. I have passed on that fascination to the older boys and now it is the techno-kid's turn.

The other day I was wanting to watch the second part of Return of the King because, well, I love the scene where the Riders of Rohan charge down on to the Fields of Pellinor. Awesome scene right there with an awesome performance from the actors. Go Eowyn! Well I was watching and the t-k wandered into the bedroom and stayed and watched it with me.

Now, he has seen parts of the trilogy before, but he never really seemed to get into it, until that day. So we started the series from the begining and, over the weekend, watched it all. He even made me watch the end, you know, the part where all lovers of Hobbits get all teary eyed. Yeah well, he turns to me and with big crocodile tears says, 'Dad, that is so sad Frodo has to leave.'

Not to miss an opportunity to discuss the literary merits of one of my favorite stories, I asked him if he knew why Frodo was leaving. He says 'Well, Frodo had the ring and it was bad and it still hurts him, so if he goes with the Elves, he will get better. He can't stay with his friends, but thats ok, they are safe now.'

The t-k is six years old and of course, has not read the books, but he gets it. I can not wait until he is older and reads the books, and he can read the scouring of the Shire. Then he will really get it. He'll probably start spitting fire, especially when the beloved Party Tree gets chopped down. I admit, I look forward to that day because we then can discuss it all in detail.

But, he gets the gist of it already, and that is truly amazing. It is a powerful story, and the movies, albeit not perfect, do a good job of telling the story. I have read a bit of the Fellowship of the Ring to him, but I think he is much like me, impatient when someone reads to them. Soon though, very soon he will be able to tackle ye olde tome on his own. The Red Book! There and Back Again!

I can hardly wait. I remember the older bros enjoying the story a great deal, both in book and movie form. To say I am excited about the upcoming Hobbit movie is an understatement. We shall all enjoy the continuing stories of the beloved Hobbits and the good guys and bad guys of fair Middle Earth. As a wee lad I was enthralled, still am as an adult. The beauty of it all is, the kiddos are just as enamored as I am.

That, is cool.

Happy Hobbit Trails

 

 

 

Radio Waves

Imagine 1958, new set of wheels with a state of the art radio, cruising the strip. Brand new music from Elvis, Ricky Nelson, and the hot song from that summer, Purple People Eater.  Sure looks strange to me, especially that one horn.

Flash forward to the Fashioned Challenged Seventies and I am just a wee lad, riding in the back of a 1968 Pontiac. What did we listen to? You got it, AM Radio. I grew up on a steady diet of 70's AM Radio, and I am thankful I did. Some of the best music from that decade I first heard in a car. From short trips across town to long Sheeple Vacation Road Trips. If I played it right, I could convince my parents to play something other than country music, for a little while.

You gotta have Rock N' Roll.

Tuneage on the go. I still listened to AM Radio, but mostly just for baseball games. I moved on to FM and the hot 100. I was a teenager, what can I say. And, all of thirty years ago, is when I started listening to a local 'Oldies' station. It was hip man, all the cool cats tuned in to get a blast from the past, listen to the classics man. The squares were doing the hustle, you wanted to get a groove on, you caught this station.

At that time(remember this) they played 50's and 60's and I could dig it. This is long before we started putting a lower case i in front of everything, long before the net, you know, stone age days. Those tunes were hard to come by unless you caught a garage sale where some oldie who had lived past the hipster stage was selling old 45's. The magic of radio though.. yeah, it was all there, Elvis, Ricky, and even a Purple People Eater.

It sucks, but you grow up. I dont listen to the radio much anymore. That is a shame really. Just on ocassion, in the Jeeple, do I tune in the radio. I have a CD player, I can play whatever. I have a lot of those oldies on CD, so I can catch it then. I do not listen to that oldies station much anymore, but I did yesterday.

Caught some cool tunes by Seeger, Bowie, early 80's stuff. And.. that right there, my friends, is the problem. That station is STILL an oldies station. The oldies are the Hot 100 from the Fashioned Challenged Seventies and the Hazy Eighties. Yep, you gotta it, they bill themselves as playing all oldies, all the time.

Except.. the oldies are from my teeny bopper years.. Shazam! In the blink of an eye I have become that past their prime old hipster cat selling ancient cassette tapes at a yard sale. If that fifteen year old could see me now.. he would laugh, snap his fingers and say too bad old dude. Maybe you should listen to the 'current' Hot 100.

But I can't.. I just can't get into it. For kicks, I just looked at the Top 40.. I know a couple artists and recognize one song. Sad really.. truly sad. I think I understand how my grandparents felt when all their favorite radio shows, The Lone Ranger for example, got replaced with that loud, teenage rock and roll stuff. Funny how that works.

So I will keep trying. I will still catch a Hot 100 radio station, hoping something catches my ear. After all, you can't listen to only the oldies, not if you want to be a real cool hipster cat, and not some kinda square.

Happy Musical Wanderings

 

So Long Odd Year

The road through time.

Time is something that can be shaped and has variable speeds. Case in point, I had planned to finish this on the first but was sidetracked. That is a continuing story in itself. But I had a good excuse, I was watching Lord of the Rings with the techno-kid yeterday. So here it is, last year.

January was a whirlwind with the new job and very little posting. Actually there was very little posting last year in general. Working fifty plus hours and trying to juggle all the new stuff was a challenge, right at the begining of the new year.

Febuary and March was more of the same. Long hours away from the page was the continuing theme. Still looking for that kidney shaped table. We are still looking for a house for that matter, but our decorating aspirations are still early sixties.. weird, I know.

April had more exerpts from the blasted novel posted and a fun post about Easter Egg Hunting. I also started a Then & Now category. Kinda comparing me, from forty years ago, to the tecno-kid. Kinda illustrating the changes. I did more of that in May, the post about the changes to TV being the post with the most hits this past year, a post about Rabbit Ears.

The summer brought about the container garden and canning! It also gave us a chance to head north to The Farm.  So much to come, so much to write about that I will continue to fill the screen with stories and pics. I also did my favorite post of the year about building Sand Castles.

We did a lot of weekend Sheeple Trips. We went to the Fort at Mackinac, Mackinac Island, Mill Creek and of course Friday Night in Traverse City. Mix in trips to the Farm and it was a good time to be travelling. Been too long since we were able to go for a weekend and explore, I am pleased we were able to do so and look forward to this summer's adventures!

Cool new thing for the year, and there were many, was taking Better 1/2 to see the Tigers at Comerica(Tiger Stadium, it will always be Tiger Stadium). We had so much fun, and are planning to take the techno-kid this summer. It was my first game in the 'new' stadium, alas it has been that long, but we can make up for that now.

I finally wore out and ended up on the couch for two weeks with pneumonia. Recovered now, more or less, but that was a bad stretch. Had a good Christmas and New Year and looking forward to this year. More wandering, more writing, and more just doing, living. This is good.

Even numbered years are years of change and I am looking that right in the eye, lets do it. I am ready, do time warp, definitely wander.

Happy Wanderings!