A tale of two shoes

Right foot, jade shoe, left foot, blue!

Who do you suppose made the rule that says that shoes have to be worn in (matching) pairs? My curiosity drove me to wear the unmatched halves of two pairs of shoes today. I wondered if anyone would notice.

The shoes were the same style, but different colors; the difference may have appeared subtle to some. My work day consisted of working at my desk (facing my computer and away from the entry to my cube), attending some meetings, and walking in the office, stopping to meet (and chat) with my fellow worker-bees. If I spent the day simply sitting at my desk I wouldn't expect anyone to notice my feet, but I was up enough that I thought someone would say something. My curiosity had two sides: would anyone notice that I was wearing two different shoes, and would anyone tell me that my shoes didn't match. I suppose it was entirely possible that people would notice but would not tell me.

By late in the day I assumed that either no one had noticed or that someone had noticed but didn't say anything because they didn't want to embarrass me. Then Steve wandered in to chat. In the middle of our conversation, I heard the words "Are your shoes different colors, or it is the light that makes them look that way?". I couldn't help it; I started laughing. When I told Steve they were different colors, he assumed that it was an accident, telling me about the time that he had inadvertantly grabbed two different (but similar) shoes in the morning. When I told him that my choice of shoes was deliberate, that I was curious to see peoples' reactions, he laughed too.

I wonder if I should try my experiment again someday with shoes that are so different in color that the mismatch would (should?) jump out at people faster. It was definitely good for a laugh today.

A mirror image of my feet today, clad in two different shoes. I had to do it, really!

Visits, musings

Thanksgiving is always a good excuse for a family visit, a long weekend, good conversations, shared quiet time together.

This year the weekend was a mixture of happy and sad. Happy - the joy of sharing time together and enjoying each others company, smiles, comfort. Sad - the thought of my brother waging a battle with a very nasty disease, wishing that there was something I could do to help. I consider myself lucky to be a part of a caring family. You choose your friends, but family? It seems like luck to me...

A weekend away from home, a weekend with camera in hand. My camera wasn't as active as it is when I'm wandering on my bike, but there are photo galleries from the weekend of both family members and of our animal buddies - just in case the few samples below make you want to see more.

Hey look - I get to sit with everyone at the dining room table. Too bad I wasn't up here when the food was still out, but it's nice to share your space.

Kiss, kiss!

Playing with mirrors

Zipper & his "dad" (OK, it's really Neal!)

Fog

An early morning flight took me home again after a very relaxing holiday weekend. As I waited for my flight, I watched the sky light up, bright pinks and oranges highlighting the horizon, fading to blue punctuated by some wispy clouds as the sun emerged.

Flying high, clear skies, ground obscured. Descending, visions of white. Fog.

As I drove toward home, the fog lightened, eventually giving way to a clear blue sky. A beautiful transition...

Sunset when?

Counting down, we now have only three and a half weeks until the winter solstice - known as the first day of winter here and (I think more fittingly) as mid-winter's day in others...

The lack of daylight shouldn't surprise me any more, but sometimes it still does. Today's surprise was travel-related. I live in eastern Massachusetts, but I spent this weekend with family in eastern Pennsylvania. Both states are in the Eastern timezone (do you see a pattern here?), and yet there is a very noticeable difference in the time at which the sun sinks below the horizon. Today's sunset times? Sunset at home was at 4:14 PM, 24 minutes earlier than the sunset I saw at 4:38 PM at my weekend home away from home.

Just out of curiosity, I also checked the sunset time for Jonesport, Maine where I had a conversation with a B&B owner about winter sunset times. The sunset in Joneport today was at 3:55 PM, 20 minutes earlier than home (for me), and 44 minutes earlier than Philadelphia. Jonesport is pretty close to the eastern edge of the timezone, but Philadelphia is no where near the western edge. Grand Rapids, Michigan is pretty close to the edge, and the sunset there today was at 5:12 PM. Would you say that the Eastern time zone is too wide?

Curious about disappearing daylight in your area? Check the sunrise and sunset times here.

The lack of daylight seems to bother me more each year. A possible solution? Maybe I should just move to Hawaii. No cold weather, a fairly consistent number of hours of daylight, and my bicycle and I can happily (and comfortably) wander the roads year round.

Yes, you're right, I'm not moving anywhere right now. But I can dream, can't I?

Fortunes

How often do you get a fortune cookie that seems to fit? Six of us shared a Chinese takeout dinner tonight, and all of us read our fortunes at the end of our meal. Most said nothing meaningful, but I found mine to be quite appropriate:

To truly find yourself you should play hide and seek alone.

Circling, searching...

...upstairs, downstairs, running. Mom, where are you? Mom?

Bailey is very much attached to his (ok, our) Mom. He is not happy if she isn't around and spends his time looking for her. Oh, and if you haven't already met him, Bailey is a dog, a very funny miniature dachshund.

We were sitting in the kitchen, relaxing, talking, and Bailey was sleeping in his crate in the same room. Mom got up to check something in the basement, and I continued to sit at the kitchen table. After a very short amount of time, Bailey woke up, shook his head, looked around the kitchen, and realized that his mom was missing. Time to move!

He raced down the stairs looking for her. Into the family room. Dad was sitting there, but there was no trace of Mom. Bailey looked down the stairs into the basement, but he didn't see her. He looked again. He circled the family room, running in circles. He ran upstairs. He ran back downstairs. Where's Mom? Where? Oh, there!

Bailey, you did it again, you made me laugh. You may not think so, but you're a very funny little dog. And yes, it appears that you are in charge of the household.

Hey Mom - don't you know you're not supposed to leave the room without telling me where I will be able to find you? You must realize that by now!

Early morning surprise

Early? Amazing!

Today was a travel day for me. I always spend Thanksgiving with my family, usually in Philadelphia. That means I'm always traveling on this very busy holiday weekend. I learned a long time ago to take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a vacation day so I could travel very early in the morning, before the airports turn into crazy places with people jammed in every nook and cranny.

Today? I was on the first Southwest flight from Manchester to Philadelpha, with a scheduled departure time of 6:35am. We pushed back from the gate a couple of minutes early - and, almost unheard of - landed in Philadelphia a full half hour ahead of schedule. And second surprise - the gate was available. Truly awesome.

If I can't be wandering on my bike (not a reasonable mode of transportation for me for a long weekend in November with significant distance to cover) - today's flight was definitely the right way to travel!

Cool, dry, rolling, relaxing...

Ah, a quiet November weekend. A weekend for relatively short rides, a weekend for relaxing, reading, revising my short hair (no nothing different, just short!), and a weekend for remembering how many layers match cool temperatures for outside activities.

Both days sported temperatures in the 40s with Saturday in the high 40s with sunshine and Sunday staying low from both the temperature and the daylight standpoint. In fact it was gloomy enough on Sunday that I rode with clear lenses in my "sun"glasses.

I'm getting better at late-season layering. Even though I was wet with sweat by the time I finished my rides, I would have been very cold if I had left home wearing fewer layers. And I don't think I would have been comfortable (that is, warm enough) if I had stripped a layer while I was riding. Oh Denise, that's what zippers are for! Ah, yes, the jacket I wore has sleeves that can be removed - I wonder if just removing the sleeves once I warmed up would have kept me a little cooler (or dryer). Next time.

I have to admit that although I'd prefer temperatures in the 50s (supporting longer comfortable rides), a quiet activity weekend can be pleasant too. And while I hate watching the trees return to their winter bare state, there is beauty in the sight of the underlying bones of the trees, and the predominance of brown makes the occasional remaining colors absolutely pop.

The branches of most trees are bare, but vines twisting around the tree trunks somehow maintain their life as the temperatures creep downwards.

And a few very young maple sprouts have somehow held on to some brightly colored leaves.

I stopped the forward motion of my bicycle wheels to visit with this horse. I thought I'd take a picture of him happily munching away at the grass in his field, but as I approached the fence he decided to come to the fence to say hello!

Dropping sun

Timing is everything when it comes to the setting sun. Late this afternoon the sky was highlighted with tones of rose - but in what seemed like a very short amount of time, the sun disappeared and darkness prevailed.

Clouds with a pink highlight hide behind what appears to be gray fluff.

Computer? What computer?

It's a really good thing that I left my computer in my car last night (after my off-site meeting) as opposed to bringing it into the house...

I walked into my office this morning and saw an empty desktop. No computer. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that I had taken it with me yesterday and that (luckily) it was still sitting in my car. That problem was easily solved - but if I had moved it from the car into my house last night, well, I have a feeling that I would have needed to turn around to make a reverse-commute this morning just to retrieve my work environment.

I suppose it was just dumb luck that my computer was waiting for me in the car, wasn't it?