Finally have some computer time so I’ve been catching up on my pictures.
The pictures from the play
Tango Lessons are there.
Easter was enjoyed with a
family dinner at Grandma’s
and, it being a beautiful springtime here in with
Willamette Valley,
there are
pictures
of the dogwoods and roddies.

Happy Spring.

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The dogwood trees have gone crazy this year.
Crazy in a beautiful way.
The picture to the left is the view out my bedroom window directly into
one of our dogwood trees.
Here
are some more pictures of our beautiful springtime.

We were awoken at 6:30am by our
window bird.
This robin has been tapping at our window every morning.
It starts sometime between 6 and 7am and goes until I don’t know when.

We’ve tried taping up cutouts of cats on the outside of the windows.
We’ve tried changing the look of the shades inside.
The only thing that seems to dissuade the bird is to move the shades.
This causes it to fly off for 30 minutes or so before returning to continue the
attack on the windows.

I guess there is no sleeping in late until this bird finds something better to do.

On the one hand, my mind… on the other hand, my heart. Both are to be explored and both need to explore.

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I couldn’t resist a picture of this electronic projector
using an old overhead projector as a base.
The technology advances and the new piles up on
the old.
This reminds me of archeological digs where new cities
are built on top of the ruins of old cities.

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Last fall,
I reported
that a bird was throwing itself against the windows of our bedroom.
Well, this morning, I was awoken by a bird against my window.

Last fall, it was a small bird, but now it’s a full sized robin.
And this is has been going on for several days.
But there is no sleeping in — at 6:15am there is tapping and thrashing.

Last night, my son’s
school
presented a set of plays entitled
Tango Lessons: Three One Act Plays
.
They were all written and directed by
David Wagstaff
— one of the teachers at the school.
They weren’t usual “school plays” in that most of
the actors were professional.
Two of the actors were students at the school
and this provided excellent experience for the
student actors and the technical staff
(my son did lights and sound).

In the Director’s Notes, David Wagstaff relates
reading an article on the tango
and the five rules of that dance:

1. perfect communication is better than perfect execution
2. space between partners keeps them close
3. after three dances you have the right to change partners
4. you can dance your way out of a corner
5. always wear the right shoes

He continues: “It is the dance we are all born to dance;
it is the performance of the heart that gives us the
freedom to be who and what we are — passionate, conflicted
creatures moving to rhythms deep, terrifying and delightful.
The dance of love.”

Do the five rules of the tango relate to your dance?

Looks like we survived.
And it was yummy, too.

Tonight only my son and I are home and we’re having steak and potatoes.
Steak marinated and grilled and baked potatoes with butter and sour
cream.

Why the fancy dinner?
Well, I found some steaks in one of the drawers in the frig. They must
have been left over from a party we had a week and a half ago.
There was a little green/blue color in the liquids under them.
They didn’t smell bad and they weren’t slimey.
I refered to an article

Guidelines for slaughtering, meat cutting and further processing

and decided that we were just at the beginning of bacterial growth.
I’m hoping that maranating and comlete grilling (no “rare” steaks)
will get us through.

Wish us luck.

I am sitting in my back yard looking out over the green lawn, listening to the mowers of suburbia and connected wirelessly with my laptop.
The weather is a warm 70F here in Oregon and I am sitting in the shade of an early leafing tree.
The wind is blowing and it will be chilly tonight since it is not summer yet.
Only spring.

But my observation is on the pleasentness at sitting in the green, warm yard of a home in America.
The level of wealth is phenomenal.
Here I am, sitting listening to the wind in the trees, connected to the Internet while others are starving and dying.
I am so lucky and blessed.
How can this be while others are suffering?

Last week was a lot of eggings and TP’ings — it must have
been spring break.
This week is full of real crime :

• A resident of an apartment complex reported the disappearance
  of her cat.
  It’s a black, gold and white female with a red collar,
  and the owner is offering a $1000 reward.
• My therapist is harassing me, says a local woman.
• That big screen TV is not
  stolen from an apartment, it was repossessed.
• Same goes for the dog stolen –
  it escaped and was picked up my animal control.
• An elderly man instructed his off-leash dog to
  “kill her, kill her” while gesturing towards the
  mother of a man wo decided he’d better call police.
• A sick racoon found lying against a fence at [...]
  was sent to live on a big happy farm out in the country
  with lots of other raccoons,
  if you know what I mean.
  [As
  said
  before
  , this is exactly how it appears
  in the newspaper. --MB]
• Three men fishing under a no trespassing sign
  were advised to dip their lines elsewhere.
• A man called police to say a telemarketer is
  harassing him.
  [We all should be doing this. --MB]