Ohio pirates and the such

I'm feeling quite proud of myself; I've managed now to keep up the habit of writing each morning (for at least one hour and occasionally up to four--very occasionally) for almost a full week. I've also managed to keep myself on a semblance of a schedule, waking at or around 7 am each morning and going for a walk before settling in for the day. Go me!

I've managed to keep this up, despite taking the weekend off (which I've already decided I probably will do anyway, just to give the weeks some sort of shape) to visit my friend S, who lives in Ohio. I visit her at least three or four times a year. It's been a while since last I was there, so it's always a pleasant respite to get out for a weekend of fresh air and new scenery.

This weekend, we played games with some friends when I arrived Friday night (and it's ever so nice to have the whole of Friday to travel--I get there much earlier and less frazzled that way), then Saturday we went to see Twilight and visited a park to take a nice, long walk. We also did some mall shopping, but that's neither here nor there, as that was the least interesting part of the trip. I perked up when we went to Half Price Books, but only because I'm a total book hoor, and I was certain we'd be tossed out of the theater for laughing so hard as we did at Twilight. I can't help it; sparkly vampires. What will they think of next? Sunday saw us in another park, just outside Yellow Springs, Ohio, along the Miami River. I found the perfect little nook in the river for the pirates to moor up.

I have another picture that shows the gap from straight on, and the land slopes up to the ridge above the river. Lots of interesting places to plop a small cabin in which to sleep and count your pirate booty, argh. Well, such as booty might be on the Miami, but hey. We all do what we can to get by.

We had ice cream (yeah, I know, it was cold, but hey, I don't get out much) and then dinner and played a round of Carcassone, which is a totally fun game. S's cat kept pretending to be Catzilla, terrorizing our thieves, knights, farmers and monks, but she never really messed up the lay of the land, so to speak. We built some very suspiciously shaped towns, and then peppered the countryside around them with monasteries to off-set the naughtiness of our fortifications.

There were quite a few touches of the Japanese aesthetic in the two parks we visited this weekend. I never thought of Ohio as a bastion of Eastern Philosophy, but there you go. You just never can tell, I guess. F'rinstance, this bridge with willow, reflecting calmly in the pool of water.

Branches of willow,

Green against a bright blue sky,

Fronds of springtime joy.

Sorry for the craptacular haiku. I suffer delusions of poetry.

There was something about the arrangment of tree and stone in the middle of the river that looked vaguely like calligraphy. I hope it's not saying anything unpleasant, although it was such a pretty day, I'm not sure how it could have been.

A little lamp tucked up next to a bench. Very pretty.

I feel quite rested and relaxed. I think the little holiday has done me some good. I think I've also gotten some good done by checking my unemployment website today and finding that a) they simply refused my first application (the one I screwed up), as I'd applied during my 'waiting week' (ie, the week I got my last severance check). No ramifications, just a quiet no. Le sigh. and b) my application completed last week for the week prior (the week after the severance ran out) was approved. Now I'm just waiting for the debit card--we no longer do checks. That's just so 1995, I guess.

Anyway. I feel better. At least they won't be dragging me off to interrogate me about being such a dumbarse I can't fill in the applications properly!