...and the Return

Okay, we're home. We didn't use the GPS to get home, so we got home quickly.

Got to see, but fortunately, not participate in, two significant accidents while in N'yawk. For one, a car two ahead on me on the Long Island Expressway dropped a big chunk of its engine, causing all around to have to slow from about 75 very quickly. Great fun. My wife said she was impressed that I was aiming for the lane next to me as an escape route, and was only a little dismayed when I told her that I had no idea if there was anyone in that lane at the time. And for two, traffic on the Belt Parkway slowed way down to look at two things -- a car with about a third of its engine compressed into a couple of inches, and a car with essentially nothing past the rear window, save some dangling metal. Quite impressive, too. I did have one pickup truck do a high speed whip from my left across my and another lane to get all the way to the right, turning so sharply that I could see the cab rocking back and forth. Alas, they didn't roll and burst into flame.

I now have a picture of my mother's father when he was about ten months old. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this. It was one of the pictures that my cousin stole -- no other word suffices -- from my mother when he moved out. Why he wanted it, I've no idea. Hell, I've no idea why he took pictures that I had snapped when I was about thirteen, of planes at LaGuardia and buildings in Washington DC. Or pictures of unidentifiable people standing behind cars, swimming in an unknown lake, or getting married. A total mystery, all of it.

Sourdough starter is doing well. At least, I think it is. A person whom I communicate with via Twitter expressed interest in the recipe, so I said give me your email address; I'll mail it to you. I scanned the pages and mailed it. Turns out the email address is a dummy one, and you're supposed to apply to have permission to send it emails. Ah, no. Doing a favor, sure. Delighted, in fact. Jumping through hoops, though, no way. But on the other hand, now I have scans of those pages, so that's goodness for when I have to return the library book.

My daughter is still watching the CDs of West Wing. She says she knows that it's an unrealistic portrayal of how government works, but, even so, she may start reading the newspaper -- at least, the Politics parts.