I just can't believe my eyes ...

Darwin (l) and Jay Bear (r) eye each other carefully at Fidos For Freedom

My goodness, this old internet hangout is a bit dusty. It smells pretty bad in here too. Lots of moldering ideas, dangling participles and a few toxic typos are still hiding in the corners.

It's been almost 30 months since I visited this silly corner of my mind. I used to call it my "blogging" room when I first built it in 2005. You know, it was one of those virtual rooms we all have to store unexamined ideas or projects that we haven't quite finished polishing but promise ourselves that we will finish some day.

The Laurel Connections Blog was someplace where I always enjoyed playing.   On these pages, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, aka SWMBO, became my worthy foil and transformed my long-suffering wife, Joanne, into a neighborhood celebrity in her own mind.  Some of you still call her SWMBO. It's gone to her head.

Together, with these megabits from Al Gore's internet, we discussed Laurel's elections, elected officials, minor events, major tragedies and the never-ending stream of local comedies.

Lots of things have changed since I last stopped in here for a visit with you.  We lost good friends.  We made new friends.  SWMBO retired.  I retired.  SWMBO made me get another job and out of her house during the day.   The world changed but Laurel and this great neighborhood we call Oldtown has survived just fine without me.

But this old place was a pleasant way for me to spend a few minutes laughing or questioning.  A place to share a few ideas.   So I've decided to open it back up once in awhile.  Air it out, fix the lights and post when I have a thought worthy of sharing.

I've missed you guys!  So what's new with you?  Please use the comments section below.

Sunday Morning in Oldtown

It's so quiet you can hear the house age. Floors creak like my fifty-two year old knees. A faucet drips with the slow rhythm of a Sunday morning hymn, tic...tic...tic...

No NPR warning me of crisis nor folly. Even my Blackberry is quiet, its battery exhausted from a week of what passes for work these days.

I step outside for the Post. Laurel Ave sleeps. Route 1 is still, bracing itself for the crush of the after church crowd in a few hours.

I love to be the first one up on Sunday morning. I wallow in the quiet. Alone with my coffee, dog and paper. No need to rush for the Marc train. No need to steal myself for the countless noisy duties of the day. I seem to even breathe and think better in the quiet. A thought comes to mind and I have the quiet to savor it thoroughly.

I hear the shower. Someone has turned on Morning Edition. I've got to get ready for Mass at Saint Mary's. I plug in my Blackberry.

Sunday morning in Oldtown has recharged me.

Peaceful Palette

Don’t you love the way they smell? Is it more of a musty or a dusty smell? Or is it just the memories of blue sky, crisp air and being at peace with the earth? Throwing great fistfuls of them into the air and leaping into a pile are some of life’s great joys. Even if your pushing fifty instead of five.

Short work with a rake and we had a fresh palette of harvest wheat, yellow ochre, brick red, burnt sienna, and dying green colors at our curb. I love the fall. Especially fall in Laurel.

The leaves are three quarters down in Oldtown. Only the oak trees have nearly full crowns. My neighbor Eric’s oak tree slowly drops its brown, crinkly leaves all winter. A hopeful installment plan to guarantee our next spring.

We have a sixty-five foot dawn redwood tree that is the last to drop its leaves in our yard. It's a very confused, deciduous-evergreen tree. It always drops its needles during Thanksgiving week. For nineteen years, I’ve raked mounds of needles in the morning while waiting for Joanne to finish our turkey feast. The picture on the right is how our redwood looks this afternoon.

Eleven geese just flew over the tree tops of the alley between Laurel and Montgomery Streets. It looks like they're heading for the Patuxent River. Their V pattern is almost as perfect as their honking.

I always want to live in a place that has four seasons. I hope Heaven has a fall as wonderful as Laurel’s.

UPDATE 1 - I forgot mention above that Laurel's Public Works Department will vacuum up leaves from your curb for free. Oldtown residents living west of 7th Street have their weekly pickup on Tuesdays and east of 7th Street addresses are scheduled on Thursdays. Here are Laurel City's leaf pickup schedule map and the leaf pickup instructions.