The White Spirits

Inertia, that's all there is too it. For years I used the same shaving cream, Edge. Sometimes it was the soothing aloe, sometimes the sensitive skin. I liked the gel type of shaving cream over the foam types, think Barbasol. But then I went through the hunt for the next great blade.

I've never had an old fashioned straight-razor shave. I've never had the experience of a hot, steaming towel wrapped around my face, heard the razor being pulled back and forth the strop. I've bever trusted a barber to not slice open my neck.

My experience with razors (and shaving cream) has been fairly traditional American (disposable) and not very imaginative. This picture covers a range of my path through shaving hell, and maturity. In my foregone past I traveled through several "safety" razors. Single, double, triple, quad... Seems that every few years the razors grow another blade.

The dark ages were the first single- and double-blade disposable safety razors. Those were the years I struggled to control the loss of flesh, and how to staunch the flow of blood from a fresh razor wound. I do not have fond memories of these shaving years.

Several months ago, it was time to buy more blades, Gillette Atra Plus, and I became decidedly peeved at the cost. I looked at options, I ruled out buying a straight blade. I ruled out an electric shaver. Then an add for another blade, Harry's, appeared on my horizon. I made the leap and bought a kit, it included blades, handles, and shaving cream. I can't say the cost was substantially less, but it offered more blades per cartridge and I thought they'd be worth at least a try.

What does any of this have to do with White Spirits? It was the shaving cream. Harry's shaving cream arrived in a tube, similar to toothpaste. One gets their face wet, squeeze out some cream, and lather it up. After years of foam I learned, decided, that I preferred lathering up a shaving cream over spreading a foam.

So, what to do with cans of shaving cream that I no longer used or needed? Gave it to the kids, of course. They sprayed it all about, lathered up their faces, hair, and bodies. And it was hilarious. I just might buy some cheap stuff in the future for more fun-n-games...

And for the rest of the pics, CLICKY CLICKY

The conclave

About a week ago my wife and children had a conclave. I wasn't part of, wan't I invited. The outcome was a unanimous declaration: Dad needs a vacation. In other-words, the kids wanted, needed, a few days without me.

The first few seconds was, "what?" Quickly, (within milliseconds) was, "yep," I can do that. And followed even more quickly was, "I know where."

So, I'm going to Albuquerque,

In the fall,

For the annual balloon festival.

Once I stumbled into a balloon festival in Temecula, CA. I saw the beauty of 30 or so balloons tethered to the ground on a foggy morning. Albuquerque offers more, hundreds more. Many consider it's mass ascension to be the pinnacle of hot-air beauty.

And now I get to attend.

Don't get me wrong, I love my children and hesitate to be away from them. I love (lust) for my wife and don't relish a week away from her. But a week watching hot air balloons while not shuttling kids around town, delivering a string bass for orchestra class, doing dishes, cooking meals, and refereeing my children's fights is just fine with me.

So, I offer my thanks to the conclave membership for their vacation mandate. See ya!!!

Yosemite

Yosemite National Park, in my humble opinion, is quite simply the most beautiful place I have ever visited. Raw granite, gigantic trees, sweeping vistas, mountain domes, waterfalls, there's so much. And I wanted to share that with my children.

I didn't think that asking them to hike, participate, and enjoy was much to ask - yet at times, it was. Seems that when a trail wasn't to their liking, tired, grumpy, whiny, stubborn little shits appeared out of nowhere. And my first inclination was not one of accommodation. My first one was to lecture, push, cajole. My guess is that some passing hiker saw me as a bad parent, one of "those" kinds of parents. For a few hours along Mist Trail to Vernal Falls I probably was. I was letting my own expectations of pleasure cloud my judgement. That evening was only marginally better, I used the events of day as a cudgel, reminding the kids that life (and this vacation) was full of trade offs. We sometimes need to take turns deciding what to do, where to go, how to have fun.

Yep, that didn't work. And I knew I had to change.

The next day was a bit better. I could of used still more improvement to my own expectations and desires, but it was better. There was fun. A day in the high country, Tuolumne Meadows, gave us cooler air, fun water to play in, sweeping mountains vists, and rock to climb. There were some ohs-n-ahs. And there were forest fires within Yosemite, and without.

The fires within were controlled burns. Going faster than planned, but still within the designated area. It was the fire without that hit us like a tooth ache. It was the El Portal fire and it closed a short, 9 mile section of road between the park valley and the Tuolumne Meadows road. That road closure forced us to leave the park and drive a 110 mile - 3 1/2 detour through the western foothills. We made it back, we (and the park) were safe. And the kids were mostly OK with it all.

Our last full day in the park had us visiting Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove. I'd been to both just once, and I wanted a return. There is something humbling about the big massive trees, and the valley view from Glacier Point is awe inspiring.

I lack the words to properly describe giant sequoias. The forest of where they stand is full of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir, black oak and incense cedar. The ponderosa's, when viewed alone, are huge. They can be 200 feet tall and 3 or 4 feet wide, yet the giant sequoias make them look small. The park literature states that one particular branch of the Grizzly Giant is larger than all the other local trees - except of course other sequoias.

The trees did not disappoint. We were walking through Mariposa's Lower Grove, when Galen asked, "Whose idea was this? I want to thank them for bringing us." I felt warm, happy, and a bit of relief swept through me. At some level, Yosemite made a connection with at least one of our children. The magic of those massive, ancient, and magnificent trees entered the mind of my child, and I hope it never leaves.

In the end, we had fun. The good memories outweigh the grumpy ones, and another summer vacation is filed away.

For those intrepid viewers, more of our Yosemite Vacation photos can be found HERE.