Physical Therapy and a Bicycle

I started my second round of Kranken Gymnasic, or physical therapy today.  This time it's for the neck and back which are the reasons my leg is cranky.  There's 20 mins or getting the muscles warm, 20 of massage, and then half an hour workout with machines and normal calesthenics as well as a giant ball i have to roll around on.  All and all, I think it's a better approach than anyone's taken before.  We'll see at the end of August.

At the suggestion of three, now, count 'em, three doctors,  I've finally bitten the bullet and ordered a bike.  It'll be here in a week or two.  The guy at the bike shop is a Kazak, so we discussed the bike in Russian.  It's black, with 7 gears and two wheels and a regular guy frame.  I passed on the old man style thingy because it did not sit well with my ego.  A couple of times around the Herford wall round way and I'll know if I'm crazy or stupid.....

More Books, More Plans…

The hardest part about being a map nut is actually getting to the places on the maps.  My disassociation with the space-time continuum has a tendency to turn plans and map-reading sessions into memories.  Cogito ergo I did that……

One of the luxuries about retirement is not having to do the frenetic summer dance, that is, fitting it all into two weeks in July or August.  Time frame for serious wandering is September and October.  Stayed tuned for the maps-

On the writing side, it’s all the Yellow House.  A few short stories, but they’re not ready for the world yet. 

no travel, just work

when you're really writing, when the words are flowing, diving from the mind cliff onto the page, when you miss some of the best scenery of the day because you don't want to look up from the words to break your concentration, when you're writing so good that you can't wait to write the next sentence even though you don't have the slightest idea what it will be about, when you're writing like that, you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

tomorrow comes the punctuation, the painful choices of what stays and what goes, the thesaurus and the attempt to sound brilliant without arrogance or, at the least not to sound like an idiot....

these are the fruits of the weather that says, sure you can go for a walk and sweat and work on your photography, but look at that umbrella, look at the shade, look at the cold glass of apple juice that woman is drinking, look at that woman......

and so, the brothers learn each other and the plot is thicker than a namyak from west mayfield.....

Situation Normal-All Fucked UP....

not really, but it gets your attention.....

new cell phone came this morning and it appears to require a three year battery charge before it will work. The old one was okay in most respects, but a couple of buttons and the speaker for the ear quit working, undoubtly due to a swim or two as well as the inability of such little machines to take much physical abuse. They don't like sidewalks. My number stays the same, so in the event anybody ever wants to call me (I've had one incoming call since April and mayber 3 sms, shame I've got 18 months left on the contract, or i'd switch to pay as you go).
Oh, yeah, the incoming call was debitel asking me if i would like to extend my contract.....

It's liveable on Steinstrasse, outside temparature is going up above 90 again, but it stays in the 80s inside. Some good acoustic music by a couple of acquaintances at the Hoeker fest yesterday evening, then ten rounds of Schwimmen, or 31, a card game, at Giovanni's without a loss. Playing cards is better than television, at least I get to steer the conversations when i've a whim......

it is a pain not going for long walks, but the weather and i don't agree, so I sit under an umbrella or a tree.  not a bad way to spend a day, reading Ulysses and Sartre's 'Nausea' in alternate gulps.

Test

Test

Hoeker Fest, a clarification

in case you don't know, the Hoeker Fest is basically a lot of food and drink and bands in the three major marketplaces (maybe squares, the two on the ends have fountains, the main one doesn't) as well as Linnenbauer platz, where the statue of the Hoeker resides.  As you can see, he smokes a pipe.  Hoeker means huckster, or pedlar, and Linnenbauer (or Leineweber) is a linen weaver.  This guy was the last of the hand weavers who peddled his own goods around the county.  The fest starts on a Wednesday and goes on until Sunday night.  The Steinstrasse neighborhood gets pretty crowded, but if you're into eating flesh and drinking fine wine, our Gänsemarkt is the wine locale of the fest.  The Alter Markt and Neuer Markt ain't half bad either...


Gänsemarkt=Goose market
Altermarkt=Old market
Neuermarkt=New market

None of them are really marketplaces anymore, the hucksters all park around the Rathaus (city hall) on market day and you can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, and various and sundry items with which to whet the imagination of your palate,

Hoeker fest: view from Almundo

2 liters of apple juice, four BIG coffees, an espresso, and almost a full chapter of the Yellow House under my belt, I now occupy myself with staring at women. Life is good.