Away From Home

Some days you got to get away. Some days life presents the requirement to change the venue to a different spot. Some days you must take a new adventure and Shake Things Up. 

Friday was one of those days. 

Gotta get away. Pack up enough "stuff" to live off the land for a short time and grab the rail. 

But the road trip turned into a 2 hour wait, then a spot and go journey north. Cool, pleasant scenery, weird conversations between young marines and slutty girls. 

Finally the arrival to a northern town and an old friend and his wife and son. Comfortable and pleasantly calm. Low soft chairs (not good after a 7 hour ride) and wide open spaces. 

The first taste of Philly in a sports bar watching baseball and eating pizza. Both daughters work there. And it was loud too. 

Sleep on the floor after an interesting talk with his son about computer games and music. ( His son reminds me of his younger brother.... it runs in the family.)

Wake to coffee and sunshine. Quick scan of the local newspaper (compare the color and gutter space), then off to Philly to walk the wide side and pack down a Cheese Steak. 

Log into the network (without a password) while napping. Then grilling chicken, sprouts, broc, and chow down. Yum! With Jack! A postal guy who has some fun energy. 

Boys to the boys room to gather before the BIG SCREEN to listen and view music presented on disc and sound mix to keep little minds entertained. Steve Miller, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, and brews on soft seats in the darkness. 

Another morning, but this wakes to dim sunshine and the smell of baking bread. Two cups of coffee and glance through the Sunday newspaper (thankfully, someone supports news) in the Sun Room. 

To another adventure, let's discuss PhotoShop techniques, then make a Compilation CD. 

Layers and blurs. Now you try it. OK!!

You pick a song, then I'll pick a song, then you pick a song, then I'll pick a song.....

Now how do they stack up? 

Move that one up, these two down. Rock to pop to girl sing to rock. 

Now blend them together, Good

Break for lunch and another beer and some football.

Back to work.

Burn a test CD and to the "Man Cave" music room to test it out while viewing a football rout of the Skins. 

Sounds good, unless you are the Skins, but it doesn't matter if you are in Phillyland. 

Light the fire, start the grill, plant a bush, enjoy the sunshine, appreciate the cool weather, tall trees, and full moon. Yum, burgers and puppies before the fire in a quiet time. 

Football turns to baseball and the yawns take the day. It's almost time for the butterflies to go home. 

Sleep until 7 am. Wow! What a rest. And everyone is still waking up over the dancing puppies. 

Newspaper, television news and "Pete and Pete". Very ordinary day. 

Pack up and off to the train. Follow the arrows and it's on time. At least for 18 minutes, when it stopped to let two other trains go by. So after a while of watching my seat mate watch Chinese and India music video and Yiddish movies, I moved to an open seat in Washington. 

And back to the capitol of the confederacy. So leave the ancient red stone building and walk up the economic hub of Richmond. The sack is full and heavy so public transit is the choice. 

So the Willow Lawn express pulled us up out of the bottom and onto Broad Street, but across the construction of a new Performance Arts Center resurrecting an old department store, the city bus picked up a wheelchair and immediately broke down. After a few tries and patched by the driver, the wheels rolled onto the old Broad Street train station which is now a Science Museum, where the wheelchair disboarded. And the public carrier stopped again. After several minutes, we unloaded the stricken wheeled chariot to board another, then on down the 4-land main street. 

But it was not time yet to wander home. Another night was needed to gather the thoughts and do research on possibilities for the future. And watch Nixon on PBS. 

Pretzels for dinner as the butterflies come home. Make some notes, close your eyes and dream the dream of tomorrow. 

And so it goes