For Memorial Day

Oregon in May - Pictures from my garden

Hidden dangers.

Two weeks ago I was mowing the lawn in my backyard and ran over some low-growth ivy that up to now I used to trim by hand, but bending down these days would be much painful. About 4 feet from the house, hidden in the ivy, there was a natural gas line capped about 1 inch above the ground. As I mowed over the area a sudden explosion lifted my mower a foot or so and the gas was fast hissing up into the air. I pulled the mower very fast as far away as I could, ran into my house and called 911. In minutes (with the sirens going full blast) four huge fire trucks appeared, eight firemen in gas masks, and all the neighbors of my street. Police cars blocked off the street and everybody was ordered far away from my place (including me, whose knees were still shaking).

Hoses were pulled, gas and electric company trucks showed up while it took them about one good hour to stop the leak and re-cap the old, rusty pipe.


I do not have natural gas in my house and nobody has it in the neighborhood either. I live here 16 years without even noticing this very old gas line hidden in my yard. I have no idea if the gas company knew about it or not, but certainly has neglected to mark it. I was very lucky to escape a disaster, and now the line is completely cut off from the main.

Somebody sure was watching over me.

For the Mothers of the World - I could not find more expressive song than Tom Jones' live recording

The Ross Sisters

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=BNR74UCidBI&feature=player_embedded

Spring Excercise

This is a video of an act from 1944 - a sister act of the Ross Sisters.

Remember in 1944 they did not use "special effects".

Hope you enjoy it!

My Edsel...

I bought a secondhand 1958 Edsel once, way back in 1965. This car was a beauty; it had everything, V8 engine, electronic locks and windows, white leather seats - and an ailing constitution, with multiple problems. But we had fun with it and a hilarious story comes back to my mind.

I was driving down on the street; at the first stop sign the car started to shudder and with a final kick the motor died. My three children (quite young and pesky that time) were jumping up and down in the back seat with excitement and anticipation. They knew their mother will perform an act of resurrection, just like she had many-many times in the past few weeks. I had to hurry, because a line of cars were honking impatiently behind us. So, I jumped out from behind the wheel with my hairbrush in my hand; opened the hood, took off the air filter and stuck my brush into the carburetor to hold the choke open. Then rushed back into the car, and successfully started up the engine while my kids were cheering in the back. All I had to do after that was to remove my brush and with the filter back in place slam the hood down, and we were (and everybody behind us) happily on our way.

Later, at my friend's suggestion, I had the carburetor sprayed with W40, but all the screws fell out and had to be replaced. However, when the brakes and the electronic windows started to fail and the mechanic had a very vague offer of fixing them, I had to get rid of this "lemon", my very first car.

Happy Easter!

Celebrating with the beautiful paintings of two great Italian Renaissance artists:

Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin, 1518-1594)

Sanzio Raffaello (1483-1520)