Jude

I am in a chaos of principles--groping in the dark--acting by instinct and not after example. Eight or nine years ago when I came here first, I had a neat stock of fixed opinions, but they dropped away one by one; and the further I get the less sure I am. I doubt if I have anything more for my present rule of life than following inclinations which do me and nobody else any harm, and actually give pleasure to those I love best. There, gentlemen, since you wanted to know how I was getting on, I have told you. Much good may it do you! I cannot explain further here. I perceive there is something wrong somewhere in our social formulas: what it is can only be discovered by men or women with greater insight than mine--if, indeed, they ever discover it--at least in our time. "For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?--and who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?"

Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy.

Back health

I will be glad to see my chiropractor when I get back to Ithaca. Don't get me wrong, I've been feeling pretty good since my last visit (right before I left town), and having a gym routine that works out my core and the muscles along the spine has been wonderful.

But I know I'll feel better after an adjustment. Actually, my jaw kinda hurts when I open it wide and YES, having my spine adjusted will help with that! Only the uninitiated would doubt it.:)

The whole deal sounds kinda kooky, but so far so good! My friends tell me that I sound like I've joined a cult of some sort whenever I talk about how my chiropractor has helped me. I agree! I'm just so glad I found them when I did, and I'm really glad that I stuck with the treatment, even if it means sitting up straight and carrying cushions around with me all the time. I haven't sat in a couch or a soft chair in over a year and a half.

Doing all the weird things Pierre tells me to do is easy . . . putting up with all the teasing I get is the tough part! Nowadays, it's just easier to tell people I have a really bad back, which is a kind of a lie since my spine is a hundred times better now. :)

Batman!

Saw this quiz on a friend's site and thought it sounded like a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, my friend scored highest as both Neo from the Matrix AND Batman, while I scored Batman AND MAximus (who's he??). The quiz-maker had seriously dubious methodology. But it was still fun. :) :)

Spiderman's my favorite superhero, I think, followed very closely by Batman. The quiz-maker put Capt Jack Sparrow as a superhero too, which sounds a little odd to me, but once I get used to the idea, he'll definitely supplant the Dark Knight and the web-swinger. Johnny Depp is way cool.

Tupper Lake!

Some folks from CICF are planning another canoeing/camping trip for Sept 2-4! See my earliest blog entries for pictures and stories from last year's trip.

I hope this year we won't have to paddle for 6-7 hours before finding a campsite!!!!!! Cold weather comes pretty early to the northeast and the nights were pretty chilly the last time.

Monkey Business

I live in an upper unit "townhouse" so we don't really have a proper backyard, but there's a little strip of greenland out at the back that's slowly being eroded. If you know what you're looking for, you can see some of the remaining wild monkeys sitting on the branches in the pictures. I could only get one clear picture of a monkey clambering off my neighbor's back window.

Two years ago, you could see the whole tribe (or band??) of monkeys playing and swinging from tree to tree, but now there's hardly a baby monkey among the few monkeys that still visit these trees.