j f l e c k : : a t : : i n k s t a i n

Holidays Will Never Be The Same

John Fleck — 2005-10-21T09:15:47-07:00

Our neighbor Doris came by this morning with the bad news. Someone stole her Halloween decorations. She will put out her holiday displays no more.

This is a tragedy of neighborhood proportions. Every Halloween and Christmas, Doris, who is somewhere well beyond 80, puts out lovely displays. She has a perfect touch - modest but charming, never overwhelming, a gift to us all.

As evils go, this is a modest affair. And it's worth remembering that the overwhelming majority of people in our community have never stolen Doris's decorations. Most people are not bad. But that makes me no less sad at the prospect that we may never thrill to Doris's holiday magic again.

Lee's Ferry

John Fleck — 2005-10-15T18:51:27-07:00

There's no point in even bothering to try to take a picture of the Grand Canyon, so here's Lee's Ferry:

L and I just got back from a lovely week circling the Four Corners. We saw:

Aspens turning where the head of the La Plata River meets the feet of the San Juan Mountains
Ruins in the Dolores Valley, where the Anasazi toiled in the shadows of Mesa Verde and get no respect because of their cliff-dwelling kin
The old orchard at Lee's Ferry, a wonderment on the flood plain of the Paria - a blooming desert
The Grand Canyon

My Dog's New Trick

John Fleck — 2005-09-29T07:48:29-07:00

Sadie is so busted. From the front page of this morning's Albuquerque Journal (paid sub. req.):

The one improvement in her life, her owner says, is that she recently figured out how to open kitchen cabinets to get at the trash can.

It was in the newspaper. It must be true.

Tikimon

John Fleck — 2005-09-03T10:55:27-07:00

This amused me:

It's a Tikimon "hand-activated spinner". You push down on the top bit and the little guy in the middle with the stickey-out tongue spins around. It was the toy included with a Carl's Junior child's meal.

Where the Cool Hang

John Fleck — 2005-08-03T09:22:47-07:00

We already knew where the cool cats were hanging out in virtual Albuquerque. Now even more so.

The Accidental Pumpkin Patch

John Fleck — 2005-07-24T18:33:04-07:00

A new pumpkin patch has sprouted, largely of its own accord, in our backyard.

Last fall, I put one of the Halloween pumpkins out in the raised bed in the backyard, smashing it open with the idea that the birds would eat the seeds. They seem to have been less than interested. Then over the last few weeks, Lissa has been disassembling the planter box and using the dirt to make a new mound in the back garden. The pumpin seeds, mixed in with the new mound's soil, have sprouted enthusiastically, on several fronts.

It's late enough in the summer that we should be past the risk of squash bugs, which have made previous pumpkin experiments sketchy. So perhaps this fall, we can sit in the backyard in our accidental patch and await the arrival of the Great Pumpkin.

�ponge jaune

John Fleck — 2005-07-23T21:32:20-07:00

Lissa notes that SpongeBob always wears the Yellow Jersey.

Small Victories

John Fleck — 2005-07-20T08:36:45-07:00

Using my l33t haxor crutch skills, I was able to load the dishwasher this morning. Slowly but surely, the little victories add up.

Sunshine Spin

John Fleck — 2005-07-06T09:33:16-07:00

In honor of Lance, and my goofball friend Barbara, and that guy with the cast, I reprise Bonus Time:

Back at the finish, we sat around on the lawn in the shade of a big tree for a while. The guy on the beach cruiser was there, grinning, and Charlie and Katie rolled in the grass.

Later in the afternoon, everbody got back together at the park for drawings for a bunch of swag. Barbara, the organizer, called bib numbers and if we were there, prize action ensued. There were bike tires and Harley Davidson beer glasses and water bottles and all manner of goods donated by the event's sponsors. I won a helmet and explained to Barbara that it was destined for the head of my cancer survivor wife.

The guy on the old beach cruiser came up to collect a prize - I wish I remembered what - and Barbara pointed out that he is a cancer survivor, one year out. So now I understand the grin, and the fealty to a beautiful old Schwinn beach cruiser and the way he didn't seem to care about the discomfort of riding with a big cast on his arm. This guy is on bonus time.

If you're in Albuquerque and you've got a bike, you could do worse with your Sunday morning a week hence than riding in this year's Sunshine Spin. Barbara Tyner, the organizer, an artist and bike racer and impish angel, uses it to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. She understands the importance of living strong and celebrating survival and the next great thing after you get through the current one when the current one might suck. She understands bonus time, and whether you hammer the long ride or just take the leisurely river ride, it's a chance to celebrate being alive on the morning of July 17.

60 degrees

John Fleck — 2005-06-19T11:20:41-07:00

Thanks for all the kind notes. It's odd how this blog thing has created an extended community of folks I've never met face to face.

The knee is still swollen, but it's moving a lot better now, and I've got a lot more energy. The question is now to use it, what with only one functioning leg and all. Books, I guess. FInished Daniel Coyle's new Lance Armstrong book, which is a ripping good read. My buddy Paul yesterday brought over Jane Leavy's Koufax book, which shows great promise, a trip back to my youth in LA.

The knee bender contraption is up to 60 degrees flexion. Doc says I need 70 as quickly as possibly. PT says 110 to ride the bike.

Injury Report

John Fleck — 2005-06-17T14:58:16-07:00

So I survived yesterday's knee surgery with no nausea from the anasthetic, and almost no pain. That's the good news. The bad news is when the knee repairman finally popped the hood to look inside, things were substantially more messed up that we had hoped. He had to do some bone work, not just cartilege. I'm going to be laid up much longer than I thought.

Back on the plus side, I've got one of those cool CPM devices, idly popping my knee up and down while I'm parked on the couch watching Dr. Strangelove.

Hollyhocks

John Fleck — 2005-06-12T20:40:50-07:00

We're not entirely clear on how we first got hollyhocks in the garden. Our best recollection is that we got an old stalk from our neighbor Alison across the street and shook it over the garden to scatter seeds. Or maybe we bought some. Whatever. They just volunteer now, wandering the yard looking for a cozy spot to do their stuff. This year, thanks to the prolifically wet spring, they're putting on a show:

I assume the varieties of color we see are the result of hybrization, because I sure don't remember ever having salmon pink (not shown) before.

The show's going on all over the 'hood, with an especially striking one up the street that's a sort of lemonade yellow with just a hint of green. Double blossoms. Magnificent. Must see if I can score some of the seeds when it's done blooming.

(See Sim Yard for last year's disquisition.)

The Biscuit Fairy

John Fleck — 2005-06-01T10:27:41-07:00

I awoke this morning to a plate of seven plump, lovely, freshly baked biscuits on the kitchen counter - a visit from the Biscuit Fairy? I almost plopped a couple in my lunch, but then thought better of it. What if the Biscuit Fairy was planning on having friends over for lunch? Or, worse, what if the Biscuit Fairy was a Vengeful God, and left the plate out on the counter to test me, like Lot or Job or one of them guys in the Bible?

Penguin Pride

John Fleck — 2005-05-28T11:17:55-07:00

sculpture by Nora Heineman-Fleck

This works on so may levels.

Weeds

John Fleck — 2005-05-22T20:23:13-07:00

The lily in our pond is happy this year.

The shade structure that collapsed in the big March blizzard let the sun in, and the lily responded with a lovelier than usual bloom. The fish, which have always been a bit of a mystery, seem more so. The cattails (the "weeds" of the title - I didn't plant them) seem more exuberant as well.