Get Out of the Way

You may think I have "lost it" what with all the reruns recently. or perhaps you think I never "had it" in the first place.  I offer this one not because I could think of nothing new to write but because I think this expresses very well exactly what I would wish to say today.  From 2010, then.

On the other hand, some of us are not still young, Marcus. In point of fact, we despair of ever achieving super power status. It is sufficient to be able to rise, shower and dress; to then place one foot after the other, to find the coffee pot and a mug. Fly? I think not. In the dreams and fantasies of our youth, we moved the earth, we conquered worlds. We are fortunate indeed to have lived a life in which we did not provide serious impediment to the progress of society. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way". Some of us exercised sufficient "powers" to stay out of the way.

We, too, merit recognition.

Cartoon: Foxtrot by Bill Amend

An Evening in Vienna #T

 

We had all strolled down Dorotheegasse together.  The boys were urging one more adventure.  It was nine in the evening, though, and we had been on our feet all day.   Ellie and I held out for cashing in and heading for the pension.  And thus it was that we split up, they to their adventure, we back to our hotel, or so we supposed.  We had been in Wien three days and except for an excursion to Schloss Schönbrunn we had scarce been farther than a kilometer from the hotel.

We had "done" the Kunsthistoriche, had had Sacher torte at The Sacher Hotel.  We had explored the Stephansdom and its immediate environs. This evening we had witnessed a performance of The Wiener Sängerknaben     We knew our way around.  And we were young, Ellie and I, in our fifties.

So we walked.  And walked.  And as foot traffic and vehicular traffic became increasingly lighter there began to arise in our consciousness the awareness that somewhere we had made a wrong turn.  Then soon we were gripped by the cold reality that we had no idea where we were nor any notion as to how to get where we wanted to be.  And we walked.  Ellie, who seldom complained about anything, remarked that her feet were beginning to hurt.  "Killing me," I think she said.

And we walked, turning from one street into another, alleys really at this point.  Wound in and out of lanes, increasingly more narrow and now completely deserted.  Dark, dismal, and eerie.  Then we found ourselves staring at the Donaukanal.

That at least suggested that we needed to be going the other direction.

So we walked.

And eventually we turned into a street from which we could see the spire of St. Stephansdom.

And thus we found our way home, arriving there long after our cohorts had called it a day and had returned to the digs.

Good times.

See also Spanish Riding School

Word of the day: walk: it's what you do. 

Fair Time 2015: Not Animals

There is more to the Fair than the animals, even if they are mostly my favorite part.  Sunday evening we went to a presentation by a local church youth group called "Liberated."  They presented the gospel through singing and dancing, and with their personal testimonies.

They were bustin' some moves, for sure.  I told one of the young ladies after the performance that I understood that in addition to the hour they just gave us, they had practiced for three hours that afternoon.  "Yes."  

"Ah, youth!" I said.  "I may have enough energy left to walk to my car, and all I did was watch."

Well, I could have told her, "You don't know what you got 'til its gone."  But that's not very original.

Monday afternoon we did the Exhibition Hall.  Lots of work represented in the displays of crafts and arts.  Very much worth the time spent there.

Well, yeah.  That's why I went to point-and-shoot long before digital made the scene.  This display fascinated me, though, and it clearly had taken the eye of the judge.

The title says, "White horses do not exist."  The "not" in bold, clear blue letters, looking just like all the other letters.  But when I snapped the picture, the "not" disappeared.  I took a second picture. Same result.  Weird.

Anyway, the presentation was well-done and very interesting.

A day in which one doesn't learn something is a wasted day.