The Path Not Taken

More fun with Hipstamatic

Behind the wheel and stuck in traffic

I spent 90 minutes today stuck on Route 1, Northbound, just south of Route 18.

The view from behind the wheel.

All this and punch too.

I work with a people from all over the world. I am also lucky enough to have a supervisor that likes to celebrate. Not the usual stuff, though. She likes to celebrate National Waffle Day, Chinese Lunar New Year, Halloween, etc. Every year we organize a big feast to start off our Thanksgiving feasting just a little bit early. We get together and create the complete traditional Thanksgiving along with new dishes. This year, our feast included a Chinese spare rib cook-off and a Serbian Cheese Pie. Of course, there were plenty of desserts and a wonderful fruit punch with raspberry sherbet.

Round and around

My clothes washer broke down this summer. It was a front loader that was only 7 years old. I was amazed that it fell apart in less than 10 years. I was even more amazed that it cost me $169 for someone to come out and tell me that it was going to cost $450 to get it fixed. Even he admitted that it was going be cheaper and easier to buy a new washer.

We have top-loading washers in my townhouse community for every one to use, but unlike landromats, they just aren't clean. There is no one to really maintain them on a regular basis. There is only a phone number to call if something is wrong. And top-loaders just really do not get the clothes clean, in my opinion.

So now I go to laundromats. The one I prefer is actually a 20 minute drive away, but they have front loading machines of every size. Even a couple of them are so big that they can wash two or three quilts. The machines are kept clean and are pretty efficient. My only complaint is that they don't spin well enough to get out all the water.

In some ways, going to a laundromat is annoying because I have to bring everything and drive and unload and wash and fold and reload and then drive back. But it is also social and I get everything done in two hours - everything. No doing load after load. And I can bring the big stuff too, like bedspreads to be washed. I also get fascinated by watching the clothing go around...

But now there's already new dirty laundry to wash. It is never really finished is it? I think the dirty laundry breeds while we sleep.

Channeling Your Inner Salvador

Please vote for my photo entered on the Hipstamatic contest site. The winner will get their photo displayed in the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The voting is only open for five days, so please do not wait.

A rose by any other name...

Or altered digitally, would it not smell as sweet?

Reece's up close

One of the few occasions she sat still long enough to let me photograph her.

Reece's gets bold

Sometimes we give the cats a "treat" of Fancy Feast crunchies. It's one of the few treats that Reece's really loves. She actually got very bold today and pushed Al out of his bowl and ate from it. Even better - he didn't attack her for it. He seemed a bit bemused.

Outside and Inside

Autumn is moving into winter and the cats are still being themselves...

Al at rest

New shower curtain

More cat pics

These two are becoming my favorite models.