Bring on June

The month of May has had it's ups and downs. I thank all of my dear family and friends for their support during the stressful time leading up to yesterday's court date. I don't know if I can say it went well. How can anything so ridiculous go well? I will say that my original complaint was upheld and the fine that was initially $25.00 ended up having added court fees bringing it to close to $80.00. Such a foolish thing to do just to try to fight the system? target anger at a specific person? As far as I could tell, he is paying the fine and not appealing to county court. Maybe the first smart thing he has done. It was my words that sealed his fate. The magistrate zeroed in on my carefully mentioning the tenet initially introduced his girlfriend to me as his sister as he wanted to sneak her in to a one person apartment saying they had family trouble. The magistrate tore him apart for starting out with a lie and that no one will ever know when to believe him or not when he starts off lying. That was the crux of the whole situation and I was glad to have the magistrate be so intuitive.

Back to the good stuff. My visit to NYC to see both of Ravenboy's performances as the Bronze Idol were real highlights that helped me through. Between that and his very kind and soothing words, my son has been so very dear to me this month. He gave me a call yesterday during his rehearsal just to lend me support. His whispered tones of, "everything is going to be fine," assured me as did the reminder, "but a little sage, salt and carbon never hurt anyone." I love my son. He knows just what to say.

During that busy weekend we visited him, he made time to eat a meal with us at Ollie's Noodle House. Tracdc and Maga11 were able to come along on this trip. We all missed having Dabralady there, she only came to the Thursday performance but she was there is spirit. We had a lot of laughs over tofu and mei fun (no, that's MY fun) and got to meet Arika and Amy, great friends of Ravenboy.

This past weekend a nice crew of letterboxers was able to get together and bend elbows at Otto's. I was very proud that I caught up on all of the personal travelers that I needed. It was so much fun not being able to get up from the table and move around as we were forced to pass log books and secretly write answers to PT clues on slips of paper. It felt like passing notes! The 4Rhines brought Cookie Monster along who rightly demanded that we be re-seated out of the loud bar section. Archaeobirder and Litchick took time out of their busy wedding plans to come out and share their generous smiles. Long distance travelers included the effervescence Lotus and Leafcutters. I will say that it is Leafcutters' humor that got me through the weekend. Just as I would start to dwell on my upcoming court appearance, he would say something that would just crack me up. My cheeks hurt so badly from smiling and laughing with these folks. We finally got to meet Thick or Thin who is an exemplary boxer and geocacher from Chalfont, PA. It was great to see MsBeachys (what a smile!) Wanting Snow and XS Baggage (I can't believe that was you!!) again. They pointed out what I think is an error in my clues to We All Live Upstream #474 clues and I will check on that today.

Sweetest of all was seeing Cyclonic and Sheba. These dear folks traveled from so far and did some of the most strenuous hiking in the area. I was so distracted and things started to fall apart as the Memorial Day weekend wore on. We had hoped to hike with them a bit on Nittany but RGBisMe needed to leave town for most of the morning and afternoon, his mom has not been well. I have to say I was turning into an irrational nervous wreck worrying about my 10am court appearance. I didn't want to burden them with this information so this is my apology to everyone to whom I seemed distracted and inhospitable. Your kindness was so much appreciated and got me through a rough spot.

Something that we got slipped in through the cracks that make me smile in retrospect, I checked on my Tubin' @ Poe letterbox. No one has found it since August when it was planted.I am proud it has weathered so well. The trip down Penn's Creek is better earlier in the summer and it is so ready for a first finder.

Memorable Mini Meet

A group of awesome letterboxers are going to be in the State College area this weekend. We are getting together at Otto's for some good times and I have posted it as an event on Atlas Quest. I hope you can make it!

Click here to see details for
Memorable Mini Meet

A Lifetime Highlight

Words can not clearly explain how much seeing my son perform his dream role at The Met meant to me this past week. The opera house itself is glorious and I am always in awe when I go. I find that I mentally pinch myself and say aloud, "Our son works here!" to RGBisMe.

Although it will shock some of you, I am not a big ballet fan. I am a fan of my son. Through the years I have become quite knowledgable on ballet and technique. La Bayadere is a good ballet and I enjoyed it twice this week. What surprised me both performances was the cheers and applause that were showered upon my son.

I am sharing a video made of his first performance of La Bayadere's Bronze Idol. His friends (seen briefly before the music starts)filmed it from the wing. The curtain does not open until just after he raises his arms so you also see him preparing to perform behind a closed curtain. I am so proud, words fail me.


(the audio comes across a hair fast for some reason on these links, his musicality on the originals is perfect)

Bold & Stylish

Arron Scott pictured above

In today's New York Times:
Arron Scott was a bold and stylish Bronze Idol.





Below is a video of his dress rehearsal. It is an "MPG" file through photobucket.

Going for the Gold... I mean Bronze!

Arron Scott in American Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere


Ever have a dream? Did you ever work toward a single dream for over a decade and have it come true? Ravenboy has been steadily coming closer to dancing his dream role of the Bronze Idol in the ballet La Bayadere. He first saw a video of the solo when he was 10 years old and here it is, almost a dozen years later, he just had a dress rehearsal for it.

His Bronze Idol solo opens the act. He is the only dancer on the stage sitting lotus style at the top of a steep flight of steps at the base of a Buddha shrine. He descends the stairs while looking automaton-like straight into the audience. The dynamic and demanding variation is done wearing a huge ornate head piece and loin cloth, nothing else. A solid gold sheen, he wears full body paint that takes a half an hour to apply. Mineral oil with some type of gilt glitter, it does not come off easily but anything that sweats off is immediately wiped up by a stage hand dedicated to following the dance around until the curtain rises.

A thin gauze curtain, or scrim, is another difficulty that the dancer faces when performing this variation. The lighting on the dancer and the stage allows the audience to see the beginning of the act through the scrim but the dancer cannot see anything but a huge blank wall in front of him, no audience, no lights. This makes accuracy and stability of turns more difficult because it is hard to orient where a dancer has to spot or look for each turn. That and the heavy head piece make pirouettes , double tours or any turning leaps very difficult.

The Bronze Idol gets a solo curtain call at the end of La Bayadere. This requires the dancer to stay in the gold paint for quite a while and Ravenboy was warned it could make him ill. He said it made him a little dizzy. Oil based, it took the help of the costumer, Bruce Horowitz, to start scrubbing it off.

Yesterday's dress rehearsal was also a "tech rehearsal" and they were running it for time. After he completed his solo, he said to Bruce that he was ready to do it again! Bruce said he was crazy and also told Ravenboy that it was the best first time through he had ever seen anyone do. I wonder if Bruce saw Baryshinkov's first time though Bronze Idol while he was at the company?

Pack it Out

Ever feel the blood drain out of your face and go as white as the sheet of paper your were holding? I am subpoenaed as a witness for the commonwealth for the whole dog poop issue of a past tenant in my apartment building. Why he had to get a dog (lease said no pets) and then let it run loose (against township code) and not clean up it's poop in our shared yard (DUH) is a real push for my comprehension. I had hoped early on that gentle letters or kindly spoken verbal information would put things on track. Even a visual demonstration of a Walmart bag heavily filled with their dog's waste RGBisMe had cleaned from the yard was not enough.

My deciding to go through appropriate legal channels has gotten me a white piece of paper to back up the state against someone who doesn't want to pay a fine. They had gentle warnings. From me, my husband, and the dog enforcement official. After all of the warnings, they have persisted and are now fighting a fine. We heard they contend many things. They felt they only paid rent for the inside of the building and the yard was not their responsibility yet they helped themselves to trashing it with dog waste and emptying the contents of their vacuum cleaner into the yard and onto my sidewalk. They also have said that it was not their dog but loose dogs in the neighborhood that left the waste in the yard. I imagine it was the same dogs who brought their vacuum cleaners there too.

I am disheartened that so many (not always younger - see addendum below*) folks I run into seem to have the attitude that they do not need to be held accountable for their actions nor do they need to follow rules or laws. So much of what I see is a general attitude of, "This doesn't apply to me." When we, as a society, clean up after people are we enabling them? Should I have kept cheerfully dodging land mines of poop in my lawn until it was time to mow? Should RGBime continued to shovel up a weekly +5lb bag of dog waste when we don't have a dog? Along the same lines should we hikers pack out the trash others leave in the woods? If a ready "yes" comes to your mind then ask yourself if PSU should clean up the tons of trash left behind from tailgating parties on campus? Again "yes"? What are we teaching people when we clean up their messes and don't hold them accountable?

I won't stop picking up trash on the trail but I am very depressed that I have been called to court. I am also counseled to wait outside the magistrate's office, in the parking lot, until I am needed because the person who has been fined has a history of being so irrational as to become physically violent over this issue.

I don't like cleaning up other people's messes.

* If you are thinking that the tailgating messes are a bunch of drunken college students, think again. These are out of towners and alums who party and trash the area. Kudos recently given to our tidy PSU students and townies.

Philly Zoo

RGBisMe and I had made plans to find a group of letterboxes near Hawk Mountain. We made those plans twice this week and twice we have changed our plans. Yesterday, our plans changed to go along with Out of Sight, Lil' Milk Monster and Janila to check out some new Natty Bumppo boxes at the Philly Zoo.

It was very odd not letterboxing with our kitten. We said goodbye to him early in the morning and went to check out a bunch of wilder animals. They made have been wild but had plenty of personality. Some crazy big birds behind glass came up to greet me and offered me a toy. I was so touched, it wanted to play. I could see it's care taker inside throw is bites of food and then throw some toys around for it. These were cool birds.

That is where Janila and family met up with us. As we followed clues through the zoo, we enjoyed all of the animals. Lil' Milk Monster loved running around and made us all laugh. RGBisMe made a new buddy by the end of the day.

It was really odd walking through the big cat house and watching them react to Neshota, Out of Sight's guide dog. The lions took notice, the pumas were very disturbed and the tiger was upset. Neshota started getting quite jittery with all of the unwanted attention.


Between stamping and viewing, we all had a great time walking through the zoo on what was a perfect weather day. I hope others can check out the series, the stamps are amazing and the clues are ton of fun.









Today, we went to find some local boxes. Not all of them are posted but we took the little guy along to a couple of Dog's with Wings boxes in Reeds Gap State Park. We hadn't been to this park in a few years and I have to say it did not disappoint. It was another terrific morning with my favorite guys. Arjuna the Hunter and Planting Moon - Hawthorn Tree are two of the most lovely hand carved stamps we have ever logged. Folks are going to love these letterboxes.

Beltane

Happy May Day folks. Spring has come on full force here in Happy Valley. Jim and I were too ill to get out and enjoy it with some of our friends who were hiking in the area. This was a little depressing. It also kept of from helping out some of our most excellent neighbors from moving across town. This kept us house bound, trapped as it were, as the final few days of terrible downstairs tenant torture terminated (see previous post). The glum weather on Saturday suited our moods.

Sunday dawned so bright and cheery but we were in a weakened state. We did manage a nice walk around the edge of our field with our kitten. Even our cat asked to come out for a bit when she saw the beauty of the day. RGBisMe's mom, MagaG came over for a visit in the early afternoon. This normally would have been a fine diversion if the jerks on the lower level weren't fishing for a final fracas. Choosing to turn their overpowered car stereo system to the max, rap music with the most choice words filled the air, and I mean FILLED. Two other neighbors were mowing their lawns and you could not hear their mowers. We refused to say a thing, seeing the bed packed in the U-haul meant this was the final push, we could put up with just a few more hours of rudeness. The one mowing neighbor, however, had reached his limit. He shut off his lawn mower, walked over, and asked the foul people to turn their music down. They did, now it was merely "loud." Just as MagaG arrived, a tasteless hispanic comedian's act was pouring the "best of his act from the car speakers. I turned up "Thistle & Shamrock" on NPR so thankfully she was oblivious as she chatted away about this and that most of the afternoon.

Big sigh and huge relief as the afternoon meant we were feeling recovered and maybe even a little hungry. The tenants were moved out so we felt we could leave without a gunfight occurring in our absence. We decided to find someplace new to eat. We took a quarter and flipped it to decided which way we would turn at every stop. This started us in a circle and we thought we might end up back home. We ended up on the highway that had no stops so we flipped the quarter at each exit to continue on or get off. This took us along a wonderful back road through Zion and on to the town of Lamar along interstate 80. We passed a very flashy Amish buggy with the young fellow looking his Sunday best. The sky was blue and the area was green and looked so hopeful.

We poked our heads into the restaurants near the interchange. None of the buffets sounded good, we had not been eating for so long with the illness that we felt a buffet would be a bad idea. We settled on a little mom & pop place that we see as we drive along I80, The Cottage Family Restaurant. It was so cute with loads of silly crafty items for sale hung all over the walls. They didn't have a lot for vegetarians but we were satisfied with the veggie burger and side dishes that came with it. The waitress was friendly and chatted with may of the locals that came in for the late afternoon crowd. I nodded to RGBisMe and said, "This is what I hoped for, a place with regulars." Not that we will make a drive up the valley for just a veggie burger but if we find ourselves in the area, we know this place is very pleasant. It was a salve to a rough weekend that preceded it.

As we drove back, I told RGBisME how I would miss him going back to work on Monday. The weekend felt abbreviated with illness and the like. He reminded me that he had taken the day off for Beltane! I was thrilled and we agreed to check the weather and see if we might have the possibility to get out and hike a bit. We chatted about possible new letterboxes to seek and just as I checked my e-mail on the cell phone another new letterbox was introduced in Lewisburg, AdVenture with a Capital V. I called Maga11, excited to hear what it might be like and she read us the description of Kelly & Ben's first letterbox near a cute town playground. It was nice entertainment and we mused on the many things we might check out.

For the first time on about a month, I was able to sleep in my bedroom. The tenants who had lived below my bedroom had a habit of frequently arguing as they headed out on their 3AM paper route. I am a light sleeper and hearing other people's business of who paid what bill and their disturbing opinions of each other left me frequently all together sleepless. I slept like a log with no yelling or doors banging all night long. The cats even behaved and we slept in longer than we intended on Beltane morning. Thank goodness the morning dew had not totally burnt off and we took the kitties outside. All four of us washed our faces in the natural wetness. Highlight of the morning; the first oriole song of the year in a nearby elm. It never fails. I love Beltane.

Our plans changed as the morning went on. A good old friend from Lewistown had something to interest us. GeoZiggy was an avid outdoors man who used to geocache now and then. His geocaches used to be one of the reasons we loved hiking and seeking them before we were able to travel far enough to find a few letterboxes. While he got busy with helping with scouting and other activities, we became enthusiastic with letterboxing. We would still run into each other now and then, always a most affable fellow. We were surprised when we saw a new geocache in Lewistown hidden by him. It was a multi staged cache and was posted Saturday. Here it was Sunday and no local crazies had gone after it. A GeoZiggy cache being ignored!? Folks didn't know what they were shunning! We both decided it was because it boasted a mile hike. That distance was an easy round trip, level, along the Juniata and the old canal. These were our old stompin' grounds so made this our first stop with the kitten enjoying checking out many of the natural features. The walk and cache did not disappoint. We would seek more geocaches if there were more folks like GeoZiggy hiding interesting walk like this. The final location was an old stone culvert, just too cool. We were sad that we were first to find this cache that should have been enjoyed all weekend.

We went on with intentions of surprising a letterboxing friend by finding a passel of her new boxes but a wreck on the interstate shifted our plans. We were able to get a new mystery planted then ended up far from where we intended, near Lewisburg! Time to look for AdVenture with a Capital V. The park was very cute but the kitten was very unhappy with the sounds of children squealing with glee. We enjoyed seeing their cute hand carved stamp and hid it well before traveling on. No photos were taken there but we did go on to check on on of our mystery boxes where he enjoyed stretching his legs and exploring sections along the Mid State Trail. A spring, a trail and many trees offered us sanctuary in Penn's Woods. Kittens don't take to water but this bold fellow actually eschewed a few dry routes and jumped a large puddle at our encouragement. We praised him and his boldness. He even was calm enough to listen to some of his commands and "sat" on a keystone by the spring to have his photo taken.

Our return home was in time to tackle some yard work and celebrate the day by erecting the Maypole in our garden. Both cats came out in the failing light for a few photos. Young had to bite the old on the neck to show who was boss of the outdoors. RGBisMe then whipped up some supper and we enjoyed a late meal. We looked back on the whole weekend with pleasure. The year looks like it offers so much potential and we wish you all felicity as it progresses.