(no subject)

[auntiemeesh]

lyda_pearl and I went kayaking this afternoon.

We went to a place in North Park that rents kayaks, canoes and paddle boards. LP and I got a tandem kayak since I'm what you would call a novice at water sports. It was a lovely day for it, cool and cloudy. If the sun had been out I'd have burnt to a crisp no matter how much sunscreen I put on. We saw a heron (pictured, poorly, below), ground hogs, a turkey, and several deer, along with a variety of other swimming and flying creatures. Also, many many people on the water.









Afterwards we stopped at a bar/restaurant in the Boathouse for a late lunch (I had yummy fish tacos, LP had what looked to be an equally yummy salmon salad). There are walking trails up as well and we thought about going for a walk, but couldn't find any trail heads. So instead we went back to the car and took a leisurely drive back almost all the way into town and then out again to make a stop at the Joann Fabric in Pittsburgh Mills. I picked up the spray fabric paint I need, so that was a helpful trip. I was also hoping to find some cool little 'steampunk' type accessories but they don't seem to be selling anything like that right now. No big deal, I picked up some things at Home Depot the other day that I'm hoping to fit into the outfit (copper wiring, that sort of thing).

I got home and was feeling sore in the thighs from all the crouching I did yesterday while pinning/cutting/sewing on the floor, so I thought it would be nice to soak in a nice hot tub. Well, I turned on the cold water to give the tub a rinse and then couldn't turn it off again. The water's been running for two hours now, and it's another hour or so until the after hours emergency maintenance guy can get here. It's been hard to turn off since I moved in almost a year ago and I had a moment a couple weeks ago when I thought it might not turn off, but of course it would finally go on a holiday. The emergency maintenance guy didn't sound thrilled and actually called me back after a few minutes to ask if I couldn't just try harder to turn it off. Sorry, dude. No can do. And I'm not skilled in the plumbers arts, and I don't have any of the right tools or supplies, so I can't fix it on my own, you have to come out and do that. It's what you get paid for as the after hours emergency maintenance guy. I hate feeling like some stereotypical 'useless girl' but this is just not one of my skills.

No sewing today, but I'm nearly done with the book I'm reading. I read a lot of the Shannara books by Terry Brooks when I was in my teens and twenties and remember them as fun adventures. Reading The Sword of Shannara again in my forties, I'm underwhelmed with his editing skills and use of impersonal articles. There's a lot of independent body parts doing whatever they please, seemingly without any connection to the person they should belong too (ex: Instead of 'he scowled' it might be something like 'the angry face scowled'). He switches point of view mid-sentence, everyone knows things about each other 'instinctively,' there's very little subtlety or shading to any of the characters - they are all described in absolutes and superlatives, both positive and negative. And it's much more derivative of Tolkien than I realized when I was younger. All in all, I'm a bit sad to find that I don't like it very much. I think I'll take a pass on re-reading any of the others.

I think I'll look for a good movie to watch tonight. Tomorrow I have to get back to work on sewing - I'm hoping that step two, the shirt, will be fairly quick and easy.

Comments

[shirebound]

What a delightful excursion!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It was a very relaxing and soothing way to spend an afternoon.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

That looks like fun. Great photos!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was fun and I hope I get to do it again before too long.

[wbkbb.livejournal.com]

It's dangerous to reread childhood favorites. My worst disappointment was discovering that I couldn't like Charlotte's Web anymore, because the author was so negative about Fern - a girl - spending lots of time in the barn. Probably a good decision not to read the rest of the series. On the other hand, it does make it easier to weed out some of those books when new books need to go onto the bookshelves :)

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Nothing seems to make it easier for me to weed out books when it's time. I hold on to them for the sake of nostalgia rather than re-reading purposes, I think.

[antbee362.livejournal.com]

The kayaking sounds great--I am glad the two of you had a good time together.
I can relate to you plumbing story due to my experience with the car. It would happen on Friday evening of a 3 day weekend. And the guy made me feel a bit stupid when he said it started 10 time in a row for him. The only thing that helped was that the tow guy had me try and it didn't start (more than once). Several options on FB of why this might be. Soon I am going to go out and try to go somewhere so we will see how it is this morning. The good thing is they fixed that nasty thing with the brakes while it was there.
I have had similar experiences with books too. Like WKBBB said it makes it easier to get rid of them.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

LP and I both had to talk ourselves out of bailing on the activity but I think we both had a good time once we stirred ourselves out of our respective homes, lol.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos from the kayaking trip!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I wasn't sure at first that I'd be brave enough to pull the iPhone out while we were on the water, but no disasters occurred and I got some pics.