Russia-love

I just finished reading Ian Frazier's "Travels in Siberia." I tried "On the Rez" a few weeks ago and didn't get beyond page 4. (I had been in search of the former at the librarylast month, and didn't find it, so settled for the latter.) This book was a totally difference experience for me. I found myself, near the end, trying to gauge my progress so that I would end up with plenty to read right before bed-time, but not so much that I couldn't finish a chapter. Last night I mis-judged and wound up with a little left over this morning. But as it turns out there were notes and a bibliography and an index as well as thank-yous in the final pages. So I was able to finish the book this morning at breakfast and still get to my office not-too-late! It was kind of like planning the eating of a meal so that you have just the right amount of each, meat, veg, starch, so that you finish up everything at the same time, or like having your burger and fries and ketchup all finish up together. Once in a while my reading of a really good book elicits this same desire, for it to wind up when I'm ready for it, and not before. (Please be gentle in judging my eating and reading quirks.)

I realized as soon as I read the words that I share the "Russia-love" malady with Frazier. I'm not really sure when it set in. It could have been when I started collecting stamps, 40 years ago. It was definitely infesting my soul (though still un-named) by the time Libby and I hosted a charming pair of Russian girls (ages 9-10) as part of a mission-exchange when we lived in Richmond. The girls brought with them darling little trinkets that we (but mostly I) still have. The idealism I once imposed on that nation has now been tempered, but my desire to visit is no less strong.

I was struck by Frazier's experience of traveling across Siberia by van in comparison with our recent visit to Chattanooga. His experience of litter, restrooms, hotels and urban areas in generally was in marked contrast to what we, and pretty much any person traveling in the US can experience. I think he called the general tenor of the nation "incomplete grandiosity" near the end of the book; contrast that with what might be termed America's "adolescent swagger."

Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in traveling through Siberia. But a trip to western Russia is definitely on my bucket list. In the interim this book was a wonderful surrogate. I could have done without that mercifully short "telescoped" writing about 3/4 of the way through. But I haven't enjoyed a narrative travelogue so much since I devoured Robert Kaplan's oeuvre a few years ago. I'll have to try again with "On the Rez" and Frazier's other books here soon.

TN Vacation: Aquarium

Since the schedule for Saturday got shot out of the water, we let a visit to the aquarium holdover until Sunday. It was well worth it, and well worth the near $100 for all of us to get in. There are actually two buildings, River Journey and Ocean Journey. I thought the River building was the more dramatic of the two: the seemingly endless descent through layers of river water was pretty cool. The attempt at "surround" in the Ocean building was nice, but not as all-enveloping as the Seattle Aquarium.

Saturday night we went back downtown to walk along the riverfront, hoping it would be calming and somewhat interesting. It was a lot more spacious than Richmond's riverfront and it's like they planned for people to be able to visit and park, with lots and meters and such. We arrived near the aquarium buildings and found a water cascade park area. One could begin at street level and descend a water ladder (a couple of hundred feet long, descending maybe 30 feet toward the river) of sorts and finally arrive at a very shallow, but graciously proportioned wading pool. The whole thing is an artistic installation celebrating Cherokee culture and mythology. People of all ages were there and our boys enjoyed it tremendously. And except for the $1 to park, it was free!

TN Vacation: Railroad Museum

The plan was to ride this historic train at 1030AM and then drive downtown and catch the Incline Train, grab lunch and then visit the Aquarium. Sadly that was not to be. The TVRM oversold seating on the train. The only saving grace was that the tickets could be used any time that day and there were 4 other opportunities. When we finally got back after the longer-than-expected sojourn at the top of Lookout, the ride was nice. It didn't go far, but did include seeing the turntable spin the loco around and a visit to the shops. The so-called museum car didn't have a whole lot going for it, and was hot, hot, hot. We've now ridden historic trains in VA (several), WV (several), MD, NC (several) and TN.

TN Vacation: Incline Train

View of 3 of the 6 (supposed) states (TN, NC, GA) one can see from the top of Lookout Mtn.

We took a weekend jaunt to Chattanooga last weekend. Friday when we arrived we dove into the pool then had supper, drove around (into GA, just to say we went there) and called it a night.

Saturday we went to the Incline Train which climbs Lookout Mountain and reaches a maximum grade of 72% near the top. It was hot at the bottom where we started, and we had to wait through three cycles of the train to get aboard. But the view up top was nice enough.

A new window

The upper sash for one of the dining room windows was broken when we purchased the house. The upper pane of glass was totally gone. There was a storm window there, so we didn't worry too much about it. We had found a replacement window in the shed when we were looking at the house, presumably for this broken window. We made it part of the purchase agreement. But then once we got into the house, we hemmed and hawed about how to go about fixing the window. On the one hand we dreamed of being able to afford having someone repair the broken sash and replace the pane of glass. But we never got around to it. For the past 3 winters we've but plastic sheeting over the window to keep the worst of the cold air out, but with only so-so effect.

This spring Libby finally came around to my point of view (I had gotten to this point about a year ago). We agreed to go ahead and put the replacement window in. I saved the old window, including the lead weights for the sashes. (I had understood that usual experience was that these would be lost. But upon opening up to make the switch, the weights were right there in an open cavity.) Too, I learned just why the windows in this house are so drafty: the way things are put together at least on this window, there is a one-inch gap around the frame, nothing filling it, so nothing but exterior siding and interior paneling between us and the elements. I had fun-with-foam filling up those gaps.

The removal of the old window and putting the new in went smoothly. I spent today caulking and otherwise sealing the thing up and putting things back together (all of the trim was salvageable). Next is priming and painting. I'll be very interested in how this new window holds out the cold weather this winter, compared to the original windows on the house. Much as we like the look of the original windows, even with the storm windows over them, they are drafty in winter.

Day on the lake

Eli, Briggs and I spent today at Lake James. We had borrowed a canoe and other equipment from my buddy Andy G. Andy's directions were spot on and we were on the water by 1030AM.

We headed for a large island in the middle of the lake. The island had several small coves; we pulled into three of them and ate at the third. After lunch we continued our circumnavigation of the island. Both Eli and Briggs helped with the paddling. Eli had earned the canoeing merit badge at Scout camp three weeks ago, and then had taken canoeing as one of his activities at Camp Rockmont. He's got the essentials down pat!

We saw some neat boats, including a dredging barge. We were able to work on the skill of turning the canoe so as not to get too wobbly from the wakes from the larger boats!

By then it was beginning to look a little bit cloudy. We headed in; luckily no storm. We drove around a little and explored the area, thinking of places we'd like to explore next time (a train trestle bridge, Catawba River, etc.)

Lake Lure

We decided to make a run down to Lake Lure on Saturday. We had driven through the area right after we moved here, but had never gone to the beach at the lake. That was the plan for yesterday. We had a nice time. The beach is very clean. There is a small splash area with fountains, plus a couple of water slides. Briggs tried those out yesterday, his first time. The weather was okay: partly cloudy and not overly hot. We wondered if we would get rained on and run off. We had a picnic lunch under the shelter. Unfortunately all the tables were occupied by other families; most seemed to have staked claim to their table for the day, shutting them out for anyone else. That kind of blew. The rain held off there; it poured at home later in the evening. All in all a nice day trip.

Lake Lure is in the Hickory Nut Gorge in Rutherford County and is surrounded by Chimney Rock (soon to be an official state park) and Rumbling Bald Mountain. You drive through Bat Cave, NC, Chimney Rock, NC on the way south to Lake Lure.

ATL Braves #9998

Briggs and I went to Atlanta Thursday to see his first MLB game. I purchased the tickets on-line and thought I had us in the shade. Section 325 at 115PM was smack dab in the middle of the sun and hotter 'n hell! The back of the second deck for us next time! Actually by 3PM it looked like our seats had been taken over by shade, but by then we had found seats in the 400's.

We watched innings 1-2 and then went walking during 3; came back and sat in the fourth level, in the shade, for innings 4-5-6. We walked around some more during 7 and sat for 8 and the top of the 9. The Braves were ahead coming into the 9th, so when Colorado failed to score again, the game was done after the first half of the inning. It was kind of cool because the team is homing in on win #10,000.

We parked on Pryor Street, in the YMCA lot which was only $8, and worked really well. it's a bit further to walk (about an extra block), but the guy seemed genuinely friendly and the lot was secure. I got a little rattled leaving town, but a straight shot all the way back up Courtland to JW Dobbs Avenue should work fine next time.

The main thing, though, was that Briggs had a blast. There were a couple of home runs, so he got to see some fireworks from the Coke bottle; he ran around in Sky Field; he threw some (24mph) pitches downstairs.

I never watched pro ball as a kid. But have now seen MN Twins, B'more Orioles and ATL play at home. Briggs is trying to claim the Twins game because he was in utero at the time!

It was about 215 miles from Black Mountain, and right at 3.5 hours driving the speed limit (Thank you, Alice P.). Fast food at Gainesville is not right of the highway, so we lost some time there; pick another place for a quick lunch. The game was done at 420PM; we were on the road by 440PM. Downtown was starting to pick up tempo (in a perverse, opposite kind of way). We added about 45 minutes to the return trip because of rush hour traffic.

Around the Folly July 2011

A couple of random pictures from early summer. We have a purple martin family in this bird house. Libby took several pictures trying to get one of the occupants. This is the best. There are also blue birds in a house on the back fence. One of the young was struggling to learn to fly last week; I had to pick it up and put it back in the house a couple of times before it really took off and stayed out of the way of the lawn tractor! And a shot of two goofy boys rolling around in the grass.