Awkward Moment #1

Someone at work had an awkward moment today.  That prompted me to tell about an awkward moment (and I've had quite a few of those) I had about thirty years ago.  You know awkward moments?  Haven't you had one?  It's one of those moments that is not funny when it happens but as time goes by, the humor of the situation increases.  This situation was so awkward and so deeply buried in my memory that I never did consider it funny until I told about it today.  This awkward moment happened at a previous job I had working with people with disabilities.  I had a dozen people in my charge and we were all invited to a Halloween costume party at a home in Robbinsdale.  I drove the 15 passenger van to the party.  The invitation said costume party so I came in a costume. We all did.  That is what you do when you're invited to a costume party, come in costume.  My costume was a clown.  I don't remember all the details except I was a clown with white paint on my face and large, black, rubber ice fishing boots.  The boots were not mine and a men's size 11 which made it difficult for me to walk.  When we got out of the van at the home in Robbinsdale, I parked in the driveway.  We all got out.  One person in my group had trouble with transitions.  He got upset because we had never been to this house before and he didn't know what to expect.  Unfortunately, how he showed he was upset was to drop his trousers.  He would pull them right back up again.  I gave him some comfort and reassurance and we all went into the party.  I didn't know we were being watched.  The staff at the home hosting the costume party did not dress in costume.  So that was awkward. Here I was looking like a clown while they were dressed in regular clothes.  I thought they could have made that clear on the invitation, thank you very much.  We were at the party for about 5 minutes when the Robbinsdale police came to the door.  A neighbor complained to the police that a man exposed himself in public.  The staff at the home called to me to explain the situation.  I could see they were ready to throw me under a bus.  Great.  So here I come, clumping down the stairs of the split level entry, dressed as a clown, with a face coated with white make up, to talk to the uniformed officer who had not one tiny little bit of humor to his personality showing on this particular day.  He never cracked a smile.  Thinking back, this had to be somewhat funny.  How often do the Robbinsdale officers get to interview a clown? This could not be an everyday occurrence.  I wasn't smiling but I had a big red grin on my face that I could not, as much as I wanted to, change.  I thought my guy was going to be in trouble for an innocent act of basic communication.  I owned up to the situation.  I said it was my fault.  I apologized.  I explained how innocent he was and how closely I would supervise him (although ironically at that moment, I wasn't supervising him, I was talking to the police).  I promised it would not happen again.  I felt completely ridiculous in my costume.  How can a clown be taken seriously?  How can a clown give a heartfelt apology?  It is impossible to be taken seriously when  you have a big red grin painted on.  Eventually the officer left with a, "Don't let that happen again."  I clumped back up the stairs to the party in my giant black boots.  We drank punch and ate a cookie and went home.  Worst. Halloween. Party. Ever.

Band Concert

A friend of mine plays the flute in the North Suburban Concert band.  I went to see a performance on Sunday.  As it turns out I know two women who play in the band.  One plays the flute and the other plays the clarinet.  I have never played in a band or an orchestra.  I've never been involved in musical performance other than the church choir in elementary school.  I wonder what it must be like to be involved in a band performance.  I imagine it would be great fun to be surrounded by and a part of all that music.  I wonder what it feels like to have your lungs be a part of your performance?  Is the music marked when to inhale and when to exhale?  And if I could choose, what instrument would I play?  I think the tuba would be fun to try.  The french horn sounds beautiful but the tuba would be a hoot.

Project Feeder Watch Update

Mr. and Mrs .House Finch

Northern Cardinals-2, Black Capped Chickadee-5, White Breasted Nuthatch-2, Downy Woodpecker-2, Hairy Woodpecker-2, Red Bellied Woodpecker-1, Crow-3, House Finch-3, Goldfinch-5, Brown Creeper-1

I had a big group of finches eating crab apples and sunflower seeds this weekend.  I've never had that many before.  I looked and looked at two birds hoping they were pine siskins who sometimes socialize with finches.  No matter how long I stared and consulted my bird identification books, they were still female house finches, not pine siskins.

I did get one big satisfying moment though as I watch a squirrel try 10 consecutive times to get on my bird feeder without success.  I added a dome to the top of the wide pvc pipe.  The squirrel would climb up halfway, see the dome, and angrily push off the pipe sending himself flying to the side a couple yards away.  The squirrel was trying really hard though. I think he is going to figure it out.

I Like The Crust

Winter is not my favorite season.  As I walked to the mailbox to get the paper this morning and to the compost pile to drop off my weekly vegetable trimmings, I did enjoy walking on top of the crust of snow.  I love it when a hard crust forms on top of several inches of snow that is strong enough to bear my weight.  Usually you don't get to the strong crust right away.  The hard crust forms farther away from the house.  You crunch through it at first and gradually you feet don't sink as low into the white stuff until you are walking on top of the crust.  Walking on top is so much easier that sinking in.  Precarious but easy.  Just think, some people never experience walking on the snow crust.  They have no idea what it is like.  I remember once in seventh grade I walked to a Girl Scout meeting.  I took a short cut  through a field rather than staying on the road. At first I was walking on top of the crust.  Then I broke through.  My legs were bare.  I must have been wearing a dress with boots - how fashionable!  The boots went up to my ankles.  The snow crust had sharp icy edges  that hurt the skin on my legs as I broke through. But once you're more than half way across the field you may as well keep going.  I clambered over the snow bank at the edge of the road.  As I stood on the road I looked down at my bare legs.  I had a dozen tiny cuts trickling little rivers of blood all over both of my calves.  Not cool.  I dropped Girl Scouts soon after that.  Going to meetings didn't seem worth the effort anymore.  Maybe that is why I like walking on top of the crust.  I am sensible enough now to wear clothing to protect my legs from snow and ice.

The Adventures of Augie March

Saul Bellow wrote The Adventures of Augie March.  Some reviewers liken it to a modern day Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I don't really agree with that.  For one thing, modern day would have to take place in this century, not during the great depression.  And Huckleberry Finn was great because of the river, the nature, the wild open spaces.  Augie spends most of his time in Chicago, Mexico, and the big cities of Europe.  The book follows Augie as he grows from a young boy in Chicago to a middle aged man.  Saul Bellow has a way with words.  Sometimes, after hearing a complicated sentence, I would have to pause the book on CD to decipher the meaning word by word because the language was so colorful and ripe.  Bellows makes lots of literary references and I am sure an English Lit major would get a lot more out of the book than I did.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this story that Time Magazine says belongs in the 100 best novels.  Augie was a complicated character.  Many times people would talk him into doing things that he really didn't want to do.  The trip to Mexico, for example, was to train a bald eagle to hunt iguanas.  Augie knew this plan would not pay out but he went along anyway; he was in love. Bellows spent many pages describing exactly how the eagle was trained.  Augie and his girlfriend picked up the eagle in Missouri and traveled with it into Mexico so it could hunt in the mountains.  The eagle rode in the back of a station wagon.  Of course the couple and the eagle made a big stir when they would stop for the night in a town.  Augie's girlfriend is the trainer.  Both had to build trust with the eagle and train it to listen for their voices.  Eventually the proud American bald eagle, tethered and wearing a hood. became a trained pet.  People are not allowed to keep bald eagles for hunting anymore and I, for one, am glad of this.  But it was fascinating to read about it.  This was a really good book.

Bird Class

I signed up for my ornithology class again.  This is my fourth year (I think) taking the same community education class.  There is a group of us who take it over and over.  It's not that we're in the class to learn exactly.  It's more we value the time spent in the fields and forests looking at birds together.  The class is popular and it fills up quickly so I wanted to get in right away. So beginning in April, my Monday evenings and Saturday mornings will be busy.  This means I had better get some things done in March while I am content to stay indoors.  Let's see, paint two bedrooms, finish knitting the gray purse, redo the laundry room . . . I had better quit blogging and get busy.

Something I Would LIke To See Some Day