the day is winding down...

the day is winding down...
the day is almost done...

the day is winding down
it has been a long day
for some reason the week has been painfully long
even with my work week starting a day late because of our monday return from new orleans I was feeling like today was friday
but it was not friday... it was thursday
a very long slow moving thursday

when I was finally finished with the tasks of the day so that I could slide down the dinosaur and head for home I rode straight home
I did not pass go
I did not collect two hundred dollars
I rode straight home without extending my ride
I rode straight home without stalling for a photograph not even one photograph
what was my rush?
I felt that I should get home before the rain

when I arrived home I raked the back yard before the rain
it was not the leaves that I was racking
it was the backyard full of hay
I was gathering the hay and putting it under a tarp so that it did not get soaked if it were to rain

I did not want the hay to get all wet
we want the hay to be nice and dry for the halloween party that we are having this weekend

it never really rained
a few drops but not much more

after finishing racking the hay I walked in the backdoor just as lisa and the boys walked in the front
the sun was dropping fast and my black dog brutus was excited to get outside to lift his leg and drop a load
in an effort to allow Dean to do his homework without distraction I offered to take Grant on short hike with me
Grant was not game but Dean was
so I took Dean
there was a mild objection from Lisa
but I assured her that he would focus better on his homework after a quick twenty or so minutes in the woods

we moved briskly down the trail
it amazed me how quickly the color of the leaves had changed
earlier this week everything was green
now there were great sections of golden leaves

once back home Dean settled in at the dining room table to start his homework
Grant swarmed around him with no concern that he is a distraction to the task
all that Grant realizes is that the center of the action is at the table at this moment and that he wants to be at the center of the action
so I offered to Grant to go to the hardware store with me

it took nearly twenty minutes for me to find a tape measurer so that I could figure out the correct size of the frame so that I could get some plexiglass
it was an aggravating task searching for the tape measurer
like a small furry shadow my black dog brutus followed inches behind me as I looked for the elusive tape measurer
this following thing is the practice of this sometime neurotic dog
sometimes the following is worse than others
often at the worst time
finally the tape measurer was in hand and then the measurements were taken
Grant and I went out to the car
as Grant started in on the seat belt he paused and said... actually I do not want to go
then I reminded him that Bruce's Variety was next to the hardware store and that they always have a good Halloween selection

on the short cross town drive Grant and I discussed that each trip to the store did not involve buying him a toy
then I formulated in my head how I would possibly take a kid into a Halloween Store and not leave with something in his hand
ten minutes into a fifteen minute drive and Grant was asleep
I turned it around so that I could carry Grant up to bed and then head back to the store solo
which was good because I still had not figured how I could take a four year old boy to a Halloween store two days before he hosts a Halloween party without buying some sort of halloween junk

finally I had purchased the glass I needed so that I could hang this photo
at least a year ago my friend Rob had given me a historic photo of a lock house on the C&O Canal
a historic photo that he bought at auction at Shakey's Pizza in Bethesda after it closed for business in the late ninties

Rob gave me both of the photos that he purchased at that auction
the one of the C&O Canal
and another one of the Bank of Bethesda in downtown Bethesda at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Old Georgetown road
the image looks like it was taken in the late 40's
the street shot is a classic shot
really not a shot of much other than the traffic rolling down the road
it is a moment in time captured
that intersection has changed significantly since that shot was taken
just as the world has changed significantly since that shot was taken
both very cool images
both images are well over due to be hung
the C&O canal shot is fairly large
nearly three feet by four feet long
which means that the place where it is hung needs to be a large space
but where?

where and not right now
it is late
I need to put my feet up
because the day is almost done
this day is done