Fridayness

1. I guess I really am a photographer after all. You know, as opposed to someone who just takes pictures.

I just got an email from Dave of Emeryville Taiko regarding the pictures I took at their Earth Day Performance.

"You've got some wonderful images in this set! We would like to use one or two for our May newsletter. We would give you a photo credit, e.g., "Photos by [Closet Curmudgeon]" and your name would be a link to your Flickr stream or personal site.... Would that be agreeable?"   Heck, yeah!

2. From my sister, this morning: "I think I will be going to a Cisco conference the week of June 28^th   in San Franciso, so maybe I will bring everyone and we can see you. I should know by today or early next week. Brian [the five year old] asked me just the other day when could he see Aunt Lisa."  For once I don't think this conflicts with anything. 

3. It's been raining on and off all day. I have to wonder what the conditions of the dirt roads on the sheep ranch are going to be like at this point. Beltane is going to be interesting, as in that ancient Chinese curse interesting. And on that note, I'm bugging outta here and hitting the road.

An attack of common sense

Left work a half hour early to get on the road - and watched my head start evaporate as I crawled up 880 to the maze. Weather.com has been talking about 'showers.'  What we got varied from "cats 'n' dogs" to "tigers 'n' timberwolves" all the way up the dial to "riot police with fire hoses". It took me an hour and a half to get to Novato with no let up (for my non Western friends, that's about 40 miles of freeway with a toll bridge crossing thrown in).

Envisioning vehicles stuck to the axles in mud on the dirt road onto the sheep ranch and trying to set up in a downpour in the dark, I pulled over and called Urtatim, who was STILL trying to pick up her rental car. I told her the situation and suggested she save her money and stay home if she had no other committments to go to Beltane other than to hang out with me.  I said I might try to find a motel along the 101 corridor and see what tomorrow's weather looked like.

The sky was still on fire-hose setting and it occurred to me that I really do not need to get a cold right before James' and Sylvia's wedding. 101 was a parking lot heading north, but traffic southbound was moving along at a decent clip. That did it. I got off in Petaluma, got back on 101 south and headed home. Total detour, $4 toll, 1/4 tank of gas and four hours out of my day - but I'm dry, I'm fed, and I get to sleep in my own bed.