Saturday, June 09, 2001
I'm HOME! Only for three nights, but then i only have one week on the road before i'm home for the summer! Yeah! The car ride was painfully slow, and the radio was treating us bad, and we don't have a book we're reading right now...but i made it. With a jump start from the neighbor i got my car over to Autozone where they told me that indeed my battery is the problem and it's toast. So now i have a new battery and to top it off i put a good tank of gas in it with some techron fuel system cleaner to remove winter guck and ran it through a quickie car wash so it looks neat. Happy car! Now it's sitting in the back again since i've been home all evening since then unpacking and reorganizing my life. Whew!
Back to work.~w
wendi's 9:47 PM ravings
My hotel room tonight has the phone line hard wired into the phone and the wall. I'm posting and checking email from ciro's room, so this will have to be short. (Thanks Ciro!) Tomorrow night i'll be back in my own home. Yippee!
Driving through the green mountains of upstate New York i was struck by the number and variety of Harley Davidsons travelling in all directions. It must be the season for them.~w
wendi's 12:28 AM ravings
Thursday, June 07, 2001
We rode a ferry today! It was a gorgeous spring day and we stood out on the deck for the very short ride across Lake Champlain from Vermont to Plattsbury, NY. The hills were green the lake was blue and the wind in my hair was cool so i got back in the car for the end of the trip. It was a very small ferry, smaller than any i'd ridden on in Washington. But it was cute, and different from the everyday drive kind of thing. A much needed bit of relaxation after a near disasterous end to our day in Brattleboro.
The performances and the workshops went swimmingly. In fact, i'd say it was a very fun day at the school. It was leaving that was a problem. No one mentioned to us that the parking lot was closed until all the buses have left. Now we've left many schools at the end of the school day over the past few years. Kids board buses on one side and the cars drive through on the other side of the lot, so that's what we were doing, and we were actually encouraged to hurry to avoid getting stuck. Well the officer managing traffic for the school (not the principal we'd asked directions of yesterday when we scoped out the school) wanted to give ciro a ticket for passing several school buses who's red lights were flashing. Now, in reality, only the bus at the end was flashing it's lights where we stopped and the fellow came to talk to ciro. We were totally confused, he was pissed, and it took getting help from the kind man in the school office who'd helped us earlier in the day to talk the guy into giving ciro a warning. It's good i went for help because by the time we got back he'd called for back up and i was afraid he was going to cart ciro off. Note to self: even if it looks like you should be able to get out of a school parking lot during bus loading, always check with the traffic directors before moving your car.
On a different note, this was our second visit to Vermont and for some reason people up there seem to have a problem with ciro. It's very white, so it could have something to do with the fact that he's not. It's not like some of the blatant racism i've seen in the south. It's this odd wariness and feeling that just by being there he's causing a problem. I can notice the difference between how they speak to me and him. In fact i remember visiting a town in New Hampshire near the Vermont border with Roger who has much darker skin and seeing the same sort of reaction. I vividly remember the principal walking into the auditorium there while we were warming up and seeing Roger, taking a few steps back and then noticing me and coming over to shake my hand and say hello. He never spoke directly to Roger. There were a few girls at another school in Vermont who said ciro gave them "the creeps," but they couldn't tell me why. It's strange because two hours south in Boston he blends in like a native and people actually recognize a trace of Bostonian in his voice since he learned to speak English there as a child. The folks there are very friendly to him. Anyway, this is probably the last time we'll be in Vermont for a long time. Even though it's pretty in the spring, i'm glad to be done.~w
wendi's 11:45 PM ravings
Wednesday, June 06, 2001
On we drove today to Vermont. It's much greener now that it was the last time we were here. It's still snowing though, pollen this time. My eyes started itching and ciro's sinus' recoiled as we watched the white fluffy pollen bearing stuff fly at the car while we drove. Just for kicks we stopped in Northampton, MA on the way for some tasty breakfast at Slyvester's. It helps traveling with someone who knows his way around so many towns.
Beyond that? It's game night. With ciro as my guide to the game i've actually taken an interest. We're rooting for the 76ers to beat the Lakers. Iverson is much more fun to watch play that Shaq. He plays the game well dancing around the other players while Shaq gets away with pushing defenders out of the way with an elbow to the face or chest. I want the little one to outsmart the big bully.~w
wendi's 10:52 PM ravings
Tuesday, June 05, 2001
I got to see a bit of Connecticut's countryside today. Ciro drove us out to the farm and the dairy that he worked at six years ago. I even had a sample of fresh yogurt with whole milk from Jersey cows. It was yummy! Not like the stuff you can buy in a store...much better. It's too bad that every town doesn't still have a dairy where you can buy fresh unpasturized milk. Town Farm Dairy is located out in Simsbury, CT and you have to visit it yourself to buy their products (i supposed unpasturized milk doesn't ship very well, and he says he has no need for a website since he has no problem selling out what he produces). Granted this man is one meticulous farmer to keep his place clean enough to be certified to sell whole milk. It also means that his field and cows have to be pesticide and drug free so the milk isn't tainted and can earn the organic seal. We stopped by at around 7:30pm and he was still out taking care of business even though he rises at 4am for the morning feeding and milking. It's not the kind of long day's work that makes a man rich, but he seemed pretty sastisfied with it. Not the kind of job you take a vacation from, or retire from at a certain age. I suppose that's why there are so few people willing to run a dairy like his.~w
wendi's 10:38 PM ravings
The thing about updating a site is that there are always little details you forget...
I think i finally got everything working again, but let me know if anything looks goofy.~w
wendi's 10:05 AM ravings
Monday, June 04, 2001
Fifth grade wore me out today. Or maybe it was the day that wore me out today. I'm not sure, but i feel well done. We're back in Connecticut again. Enfield this time for a couple of nights. No shows tomorrow though, so we may drive out to visit the farm where ciro used to work.
Now i'm watching Bugs and Daffy on cartoon network because that's about all my brain can handle at the moment.~w
wendi's 11:19 PM ravings
Sunday, June 03, 2001
Our drive to Long Island was easy today. That was the biggest accomplishment of the day i suppose. I saved a little girl from drowning in a dream this morning though. I was having some big kinda moral lesson dream about leaving other people's drama behind and allowing myself to be available where i am truly needed. I think it's very easy to get caught up in the minute details of daily living and create stress over things that really aren't that important.
Okay, so here's an example out of my dream, with minor details changed to protect the innocent...
Joe and Sally arrive at a festival and are looking for a spot to sit down and listen to the music. They see Paul and his wife Lisa and go to sit with them. Paul sees them and hurries over to tell them that they can't possibly sit with them. It's been years since they've seen each other, but Paul is afraid of what Lisa will think of him associating himself with Sally. You see, many years back Sally was mixed up in some affair with Lisa's best friend Sue and Sue's boyfriend Tom. Granted Paul and Sally were friends back then and he was very supportive of her, but he's never told his wife any of this. Joe and Sally could tell Paul just how silly he's being, but what's the point? Sally dislikes the choices of a)not admitting where Lisa might have met her before, b)lying about what happened to fit the stories people were told about her c)telling the truth and dragging old composted garbage back into the daylight. So what do Joe and Sally do? They find another spot to watch the music and enjoy themselves leaving Paul to his drama. So, i think the moral of the dream is that it's more important to stay true to yourself, even if that means you miss the company of some of those old crazy making friends of yours. Besides, after watching that scene i got to the part in the dream where my character got a chance to save a little girl from drowning. That seemed to be a much more important battle to fight.
Anyway, tomorrow we play poetry with 5th graders in Northport, so i must be rested.~w
wendi's 11:03 PM ravings
Sleep, laundry, and paperwork. That's all i managed to do today. Oh, and a good dinner too. Tomorrow i'll try to be more active, but today my body demanded rest.~w
wendi's 12:08 AM ravings
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