Last One in the Woods

Sunday afternoon Aaron and I decided to go for a walk together. We are lucky enough to live less than a mile away from a Rivanna Trail entrance. The Rivanna Trail is one of my absolute favorite things about Charlottesville. The city linked about 20 miles of path that circle the area so if you live within city limits a trail head shouldn't be too far away from you. I think it's a brilliant way to preserve green space and it makes for some really interesting runs and a great place to walk. Besides that there are "ruins" scattered along the trail. If you keep your eyes open, under tangles of overgrowth are old stone chimneys and cellars that are fun to explore. And it's a great place to spot wildlife. Aaron and I have seen deer, groundhogs, rabbits, a fox, a skunk, squirrels, mice, a turtle, lizards, fish and countless birds and insects. If you want to see maps or learn more about the trail you can go here.

Anyway, yesterday Aaron and I got a little ambitious and decided to do a little bushwhacking along some overgrown deer trails. We ended up wading through a meadow of plants that came up to my neck, so Aaron's belly button. I forgot to change my shoes so I was wearing flip flops. Aaron had shorts on. I was wearing jeans but felt exceedingly jealous of Aaron because it was STEAMY hot. Neither of us had on bug spray. And while we charged through the tall grass and over marshy ground, unable to see what was under our next step, both of us returned unharmed. We were not attacked by snakes, bears, bugs, perverts, cougars, or anything rabid. It was a great time and made me think of all the fun I had when I was younger wandering around in the woods behind the house, climbing magnolia trees and building dams in the stream. I hope my kids get the chance to get out and play in the same way.



While I was at BYU, a professor recommended this book, Last Child in The Woods by Richard Louv. I really enjoyed it. The book describes how recently people have become AFRAID of the "wild" thanks to media fear mongering, so afraid that they won't let their kids play outside. Enter child obesity. Also, Louv showed children pictures of common North American animals, Pokemon characters and rain forest creatures. The kids did best on the Pokemon characters. They did second best on the animals from the rain forest. They did worst knowing the animals that they lived around. Louv contends that if the trend continues the next generation will know nature only as an abstraction. Louv then offers some practical advice on ways to get kids outside and learning about the outdoors. It was an interesting read.

My Commute

I was happily finishing up my work day when my coworker leaned over and said, "You do hear the thunder right? Didn't you ride your bike today?" What? What thunder? My heart dropped as I recognized the increasingly loud rumbles had started to shake the windows in their frames. The sky had darkened and an ominous thundercloud loomed visibly in the near distance. In desperation, I ran out the door, jumped on my bike and started my mad dash home.

About a mile back with 2.5 to go, the bottom dropped out of the storm. With each breath I was sucking in as much water as air. It was coming from every direction, heavy drops of rain pelted my back, gusts of wind beat it sideways, cars spewed filthy sheets off the road, and I could feel it trickle and pool through my helmet and down my face. The synonymous cracks of thunder and flashes of lightning drove home that trying to make it back, maybe wasn't one of my smartest ideas. I started to think, I hope I don't die like this, I was really looking forward to seeing Aaron tonight. Well, the Lord was willing, and I survived. But lest you think I exagerate, here is a snippet of the storm I captured on the video camera when I got home. That noise is the wind and rain. And I know, No awards for cinematogrophy on this one. Hope you don't get too dizzy.




And I have to provide an ad for the BEST bags in the world: The TIMBUK2 messenger bag! As you saw, I was in DRENCHING rain for at least twenty minutes and all my possession remained snug and dry. AMAZING! I'm not so waterproof. I wanted to show how wet I was but I, of course, chose to wear a white t-shirt to bike in today so to keep this post PG it had to be a neck up shot.

Feist First

I wrote earlier about going to the Feist concert up in DC, but I'm still eager to get the word out about her because her music is so great. She has a beautiful voice and really wonderful upbeat songs. So if you haven't had a listen yet, now you can, just click here. Happy Listening!



I also found a new band I've been enjoying called Let's Go Sailing. You can listen to them here. I love hearing new music so I thought maybe some of you would too. But by all means, Feist first.

ENVIRON EGO or Lets Talk About Old News

So a couple of days ago I read the story in the Washington Post about Gareth Groves' 38,000 dollar hummer being taken out in a wealthy, environment friendly DC neighborhood by "eco terrorists." They used a bat to smash in all the windows and scratched the message For the Environ in the paint. So my first thought was, Don't we send those things to Iraq? And it can't stand up to two guys with a bat and a knife? My second thought " I HATE those cars."

And as I read on it was confirmed that I am not the only one that has hummer hate. Apparently a lot of Groves' liberal, elitist, enviro-friendly neighbors do too. Groves' friend is quoted saying ""I'd say one in five people who come by have that 'you-got-what-you-deserve' look." Hmm, yeah, despite my respect for personal property and law and order and knowing that this was a "hate" crime, deep down, I know I would have that look too. And if I didn't have that look it would be because I was working with all my might to keep a straight face and on the inside I would still be making that look. I mean, hummers are designed to be provocative. And for me they provoke the response YUCK! CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION of the worst sort. What are they trying to prove?

When I told a friend about the crime, they were all for it. "People drive hummers because they think it's cool. They need to learn it's isn't appreciated. They're F*ing things up for the rest of us and destroying the climate." I countered that the extreme elements of society should not be allowed to govern the majority through violent action, probably because I was in the middle of reading Harry Potter. They agreed but I could see they were still having visions of hummer smashing dance through their head. And deep down so was I. How wrong is that?

Aaron?

I've begun to hear questions about Aaron's role in this blog. At this moment, this blog claims to be by Katy AND Aaron. So where are the posts by Aaron? I want to make it clear that I had every intention of this blog being mutually mantained. So here is where the trouble began:

Aaron, I've been thinking we could do a blog, what do you think?
Yeah, that'd be good.
So you'll do it with me?
Yeah, it'll be fun.
Okay, I'm putting your name down.
Okay.
So you'll write on it too?
Yeah.
You'll do posts?
Yeah.
Okay, here it is www.meldau-cummings.blogspot.com
Blah! What? Why is there a hyphen? Katy, a hyphen? Ohhhh nooooo! Not a hyphen! ANYTHING else! Can we change it? You know how I feel about hyphens!

I thought he'd get over it but It appears he never really recovered enough from the shock of our artistic differences to contribute.

Beware of Children

Since starting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I have become terrified of children. This is not because I am afraid the precocious young characters' habit of attacking adults will rub off on "Muggle" children. No. This is because by now, most children in this country have finished the 700+ page behemoth of a book and are eager to discuss it. Sadly, I have not. Most of them received their book Friday around midnight. The ones with lazy or insensitive parents got theirs Saturday. Mine landed on my doorstep just as I was stepping out to work on Monday morning. I still have 200 pages to go and I REALLY want to enjoy every twist and turn. I do NOT want to learn the ending by overhearing a conversation or being asked wasn't is sad when....? I'm so afraid that will happen that I considered staying home from work and just reading all day.
(Many of my coworkers who have never read Harry Potter read the last ten pages just to know what happens and are now a threat as well. That's childish so I'm lumping them in with the kid threat.)
So if you know me and you have read Harry Potter, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't tell me what happens!

Gratuitous Ugly Cat Picture

So Battle started getting lazy a couple weeks ago and began to neglect his personal hygiene. He started to really stink. If he wasn't going to clean himself, we were, so we threw him in the bath. After a lot of angry yowling and splashing he came out clean and smelling like Pantene ProV. It was the only shampoo we had. I think we managed to put the fear back into him because he's gotten back on his cleaning routine.