In which I finally get home, and I am tired

I am home.  I am too tired to write a blog so this is not a blog.

JD's car engine is trashed.  They did actually pull the spark plugs and used a breaker bar to try to get it to turn, and nothing.  They have to order a new engine.  It will take a while.

With that established we rented a car.  Amazing that they actually had one, and they came to get us minutes after we called.  In fact just about everybody involved in our extended stay was incredibly nice and helpful, except the passing policeman and the tow operator's coworker, who (correctly) thought that we were four letter word idiots.  And with the blue sky today, New York was really pretty.  So I must say that my opinion of New York (aside from the Appalachian Trail, and the Adirondaks where I worked) has been significantly improved by our problems there.

Anyway this is not a blog, this is a picture post.  All pictures by or of me on or near the Appalachian Trail in Maine.  Not in order, either, because the software isn't good at that.  And not even labelled.  It's Maine.  There ya go.

PS I took over 400 pictures so just be grateful I didn't post them all.

TV ate my brain

Totally forgot I had a blog yesterday.  Oopsie.  I was home sick and watching tv.  TV will eat your brain.

Twilight turned me into a pedophile

Oh it was nice to spend a quiet day today.  After visiting our beloved families all week, JD and I wanted a day of nothing much.

The dog woke us up.  I kept shushing her, but eventually I pried my eyes open to peer at the clock and it was 9:30!  Whoopsie!  Felt much earlier.  But Delee was coming over for breakfast so I needed to get my behind out of bed.  JD had a plan to make stuffed french toast.  He faked it, but it was pretty good anyway.  For the record, I preferred the jam to the nutella.

We opened the rest of our Christmas presents, and then I'm not really sure what happened but now it's bedtime and I have to work tomorrow.  Wah!  I'm all used to not working now.  Can't we just say it's been a good couple of decades and call it a day? 

I guess not if I want to, like, eat and have shelter and healthcare.  Sigh.

It'll be good to get back to work.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, I know how part of the day passed.  It started snowing and I decided it was chili weather so I started a big old pot of chili.  It's made of miscellaneous stuff we had in the house, including a package of venison I didn't even know was in the freezer.  Bambi smells delicious, for the record.  I wasn't hungry this evening so I haven't tasted it yet.

While the chili was bubbling away I watched the Twilight Saga:  Eclipse.  Delee gave it to me for Christmas.  I hadn't seen it when it was in the theatre, so I was pretty excited to see it.  I can't wait for the last movie to come out.  I'm solidly on Team Jacob.  It makes me feel like a horrible perv because he's so young, but I can't help it.  The boy is hot.  Nevertheless I'm curious to see how they'll handle the Bella/Edward honeymoon and pregnancy scenes in Breaking Dawn.  The whole thing is kind of freaky with the superman scenario of "I can't have sex or I'll break somebody's pelvis" going on.  Superbaby pregnancy is apparently a real trial, as well.

After the movie I went back to the dvd menu and found the commentary track, and immediately started watching it again.  So far there is a lot of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson giggling.  Kristen has more interesting things to say than I expected, though.  And Robert does some funny accents.  I stopped the movie when I realized it was pretty much bedtime (already!) but I bet I resume it tomorrow.  And then I might watch the OTHER commentary.  Hee.  Ah, love me some Twilight.

Home, where the buffalo never, ever roamed

I've never really wanted to live anywhere but here.  I can't relate to people who pine for the mountains or the seashore.  I like it here.  I like the rolling hills and the grass and the trees.  When I go somewhere else it feels alien.  Hiking has helped me be comfortable in more environments, but no place feels like home to me but here.

I've spent short periods of time living in Minnesota and New York.  I've taken long vacations in Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Maine, and Colorado.  They were nice enough.  But they weren't home.

I've been interviewing places to see if they'd be good retirement homes.  Some place a little less busy, with warmer winters maybe.  Maybe Virginia, Tennessee, or the Carolinas.  Much further than that and I don't know if I'd ever get used to the vegetation.  Even if I did, everything else is different.  Even the major chains change as you move farther away.  In our consumer nation, not being able to buy the brands you're used to is its own source of alienation.

Despite my love of this place, I'm also ashamed of it.  I'm ashamed of racism (both the regular and inverse kind), the lack of grand geological features, the lack of distinguishing characteristics.  One time a man in Texas asked me where I was from, and when I told him Maryland he thought it was a small town in northeastern Texas.  Maryland does not stick in people's minds.

I wish my home state would be kinder to pedestrians and bicyclists.  I wish I had more restaurants to brag on.  I wish our schools were better.  I wish there were more trails and fewer strip malls with empty storefronts.  I know I'm lucky to live on a street where I know my neighbors well enough to use their shower or their guest room if something goes wrong at my house, but I also know that's uncommon here.

But still, Maryland, I kind of love you.  You're cute, with your bifurcation and your blue crabs.  From your watermen to your farmers to your hillbillies way up in the northwest, you have diversity.  Your long history of horse racing means I can buy a new horse trailer a mile from my house if I want to.  You have four distinct seasons.  You might not have a bounty of ethnic businesses, but I can get Ethiopian, Malaysian, or Korean food if I know where to look.

Stay green, Maryland.  Keep those rolling hills.  Keep those generations of watermen safe, and keep those crabs safe too.  You know I can't resist you.