our erev meal had a middle eastern theme.  appropriate.  it’s one of my favorite cuisines.  well ok, the beer isn’t middle eastern, but it was still good.  here are random scenes.  you can see frankenstein’s tower past the herb plants.  later on we went to the fen and saw something REALLY EXCITING, but you’ll have to wait until the photos are ready.

Here are final shots of E’s car, after the dealership (and we) paid it off.  It was sad leaving it behind, after all the adventures we’ve had in it, but it served E well throughout her transition, and she couldn’t afford to keep it.  We are now down to one car, my faithful old Subaru.  One more step toward leaving the old behind, and starting over with a clean slate.  It will take a while to recover from all the hits and blows she’s absorbed, but one step at a time.  We just regroup and readjust to the new plan going forward.

today we took the first step in the process of E’s legal name change: we filed the papers for the county probate court hearing (in Jan.) and the newspaper publication.  now we wait a couple of months, while we continue to take care of other business.  hopefully this at least will go without a hitch.

of course, this event called for a debriefing at ye olde waterhole, where the fireplace was on, and the beers were just the thing.

those pesky elves, at it again.

some crazy elves were going crazy redecorating with lamps and a bookshelf we got cheap and free.  i can finally put most of my books out.  the bar is now more strategically located.  there are antique lights and shiny things everywhere.  can you spot the crazy elves?

one thing this area is, is a scavenger’s paradise.  set things out by the curb, and they magically disappear within moments.  never make it to the landfill.  gives new meaning to the words recycle and repurpose.  it’s almost like a developing nation, around here.  works for us.  who says poor folks can’t be creative?

on this warm and very bright evening at the fen, life was going into its dormant phase, although we could have sworn we heard frogs trilling, and there is still plenty of life if you look for it.  the fen is coming full circle, back into the graveyard scene that we first encountered a year ago.  then, it seemed like a desolate wasteland that could never support life, but we know better now.

i got a little distracted by deteriorating world events last night, so i failed to post my usual erev pictures, and then it somehow seemed inappropriate to appear to be feasting while Paris was getting all shot to hell, sts, so i’ll just leave you with these.  the bread is a homemade pumpkin bread with nuts, fruits, and spices.

just a little shabbat thought: may the whole world not get even more paranoid, hysterical, and xenophobic about refugees and immigrants, themselves fleeing terrorism, than it already is.  may we not be stupid and crazy enough to build more berlin walls and start more pointless, destructive wars with inexcusable collateral damage, or elect the maniacs who preach it.  we’ve seen how well that works.  let’s be mature, rational adults here, and not get sucked down by infantile politicians who don’t care if innocent children get gunned down, orphaned, or deported in the name of ‘security’.  you don’t defeat terrorists by being one.  thank you, that’s all.  back to our regularly scheduled program.

we explored further the massive ancient rock structures along the creek at indian mound.  the huge cavelike layered rocks covered with green moss, ferns, and lichens are so unique.   large deer were crashing around us.  someone lost their rafting tube, makes you wonder.  can you tell i’m going through a tree and fungus phase? part 2 follows.

here are more fen shots, including another of the iconic sentinel tree.

on the way home, there was a rainbow over ‘frankenstein’s tower’, which looms over our apartment.  there are many of these creepy old industrial derelicts just abandoned all over this area.