Check out our new video at our YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/gcarreraiii

-George and Michelle the Bikers

Behind.  We are horribly behind on updating this.  The good thing is that we are actually busy with things unrelated to cleaning the rowhouse.  Let me go over some of the things we have seen in the past two months.

First:  The first weekend here we took a walk over to the Mall in an attempt to check out the health care reform protest.  We were too late to see the likes of Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, but boy did I find exactly what I was looking for.  My intent was to find “Real Americans” who had a message to spread!  The representative we found was the perfect person.  She had a van decked out in window paint and signs like cheerleaders going to the homecoming game.  I walked up and proceeded to talk with her about the events of the day and she lit up like a big bottle rocket on Independance Day!  Saying excitedly, “We’ve been out here since 8 am… and… and protesters walked past our van for three hours straight… right here… and they had signs… and we had signs… look at this one (caricatures of Pelosi and Reid)… and I kept screaming ‘baaah Obama, baah’… and people loved it… and they… and it was great… and this health care thing is crazy… and…” on and on and on.   She was absolutely great.  And I just stood there listening and dying inside.  I asked her to take a picture and she obliged, she even gave me a shirt.  Michelle was so embarrassed that I was acting so interested.  Alright, so maybe it was a little mean on my part, but I did mostly agree with her on the issue.  I say, good for Americans who try to get things done.  Anyway, the picture is below, clearly it’s one of those pictures that will come back if I ever ran for political office, which I never would.

After walking around the aftermath of protest, we ended up walking 4 more miles and grabbing a bad dinner in Chinatown.

Second: Michelle’s supervisor over the summer, Brad, from Shriners gave us a gift certificate to go kayaking on the Potomac.  We went to Jack’s Boathouse after having lunch with Becky from church and cast off into Washington’s river on a beautiful afternoon.  For two hours we relaxed and kayaked towards Virginia and enjoyed a very nice time.  I highly recommend doing this sometime Jack’s is only $10 per hour and even has a patio area to grill on.

After getting back we were graced with the first $50 gift from DC parking enforcement.  I kid you not, this was absolutely ridiculous.  AND it was a Sunday afternoon.  The person gave tickets to about ten cars in a row who all interpreted the parking sign instructions the same.  DC is insane with parking tickets.  Did I tell you about my $100 parking ticket for literally two minutes of parking?  I was picking up a bike from my coworker’s place and we ran in and back out to assure I didn’t get nabbed, but this guy was quick.  As we came out he was speeding away as I yelled to stop him.  If you have ever watched Parking Wars, you can imagine how DC parking enforcement operates.  But hey, I fought the tickets and actually got out of the $50 one, so take that!

Third:  The Capitols is the hockey team here.  What an obnoxius team.  No history or pride combined with fans who actually think that the Caps are all that.  Are they good?  Yes.  But please, make no mistake, they are not nor will they be a real hockey team for the long haul.  Anyway, the Hawks were only scheduled for a preseason game in DC, so per Michelle and my agreement that we would attend sporting events anytime a Chicago team is in town, we obtained tickets.  We got them from Crosstown Tickets online for only $9.  This broker was great and his operation runs out of a place on Milwaukee just up the street from Northwest.

I was happy to go because I believe it is very important to support the boys at every opportunity, but the game was terrible.  The hoopla of Verizon Center was terrible and annoying, of course when a team doesn’t have any rich history they must resort to over the top shenanigans to get the fans geared up.  Worse than that, the punk Ovechiken (or however you spell his name) made the net look as large as the Redskins endzone.  I don’t know why people here like that idiot, nobody else in hockey world does .  He is classless and verbose.  I take a quality leader like Johnny or Sid the Kid any day over some jerk like him, I don’t care how many points he scores.  It is funny how blind people in DC are about hockey, they are clueless, non-invested fans.  The Caps and Ovechkin are a match made in heaven.  Original 6 will always be the king’s court.

At the end of three periods, Hawks got killed 1-5, but as a result of the Hawks gift, we got 20 free wings from a restaurant here.  Great promotion and because it was pre-season I didn’t feel bad about cashing in.

Currently, the Hawks are losing 0-3 against the Coyotes.  Not typical against that pathetic team.  We’re still in first in any case.

Fourth:  Michelle and I went back to Illinois for a weekend to see Jimmy and Lindsay get married in Springfield.  That was a good time.  We got to see many cool people and Jimmy gave me a hunting knife.  Awesome.  Dancing at the reception was a blast.  When we arrived at O’Hare at 11:00pm, we went straight to TBK for a Mexican fill before driving down state that night.  Much needed for our four hour drive.

Fifth:  Pittsburgh was my territory for all of two months so I made some trips up there to meet with customers (my territoy will be changing to somewhere closer).  It’s about a four hour drive.  Michelle came with me to see the leaves changing in mid October becasue it can be a beautiful drive.

In Pitt, we got to spend the evening visiting with most of the Musgrove clan.  Amy and Ella were in town and it was great.  Ella gave us a good greeting and kept giving me and her grandpa coasters for no apparent reason.  We even got a to hear a good Napolean Dynamite impression from Amy’s brother in law Zach.

On the way back to Washington, I kept taking the scenic routes, which Michelle got tired of quickly.  Driving through Eighty Four, Pennsylvania was interesting.  I felt like I was seeing down home America.

We’ll, gets us closer to the present.  I am tired and need to go to bed.  Hope you are having a good week.  Enjoy the weekend!

-George and Michelle the Place Goers

Our place has character.  Michelle would probably not use the same description.  It is an old rowhouse having some attributes with great potential.  Since moving in, we have done a lot to clean and make it our place including destroying a mouse and a few bugs.  Again, we are emulating Cory and Topanga in finding a “stinkhole” and fixing it up.

Michelle was the cleaning fiend.  She is very good disinfecting and scrubbing a place to make it squeeky clean.  I on the other hand am talented in organizing things functionally and efficiently.  Thus, we have done a really great job in assembling our apartment.

After arriving here we discovered that we had a ton of stuff and lacked a ton of needs.  So we decided to go through and get rid of the things that we clearly had no need for, which was relatively easy.  A little bit harder was to decide what we actually needed to feel like we could function.  This included a desk, a mattress, shelves, a cabinet, and what ever else IKEA sucked us into buying.  We have already made three trips to the Swedish superstore and will probably make many more in the next few years.  You see, IKEA does one of two things when you make a trip there.  Either you walk out with nothing feeling as though you have nothing, or you walk out with everything and feel that you have even less than when you walked in because most of what you buy is useless.  The tough part is mastering the art of separating wants and needs, which almost nobody can do.  The point is that on each visit, you always lose and they always win.  It’s a retail casino!  What a genius business!

Truly, we do love their stuff and I couldn’t be more pleased with my new cork coasters and potholders.  So, we would like to show you our place so that you know what to expect when you come to visit.

Below are some pictures, but even cooler than that, for the first time in our blog’s history, video!  Michelle didn’t want to be the host so no complaning that you have to watch me.  She insisted on not giving the tour.  It’s at YouTube at the link below. In addition, our outtake is also available.  Enjoy!

The Rowhouse Tour

Outtakes

-George and Michelle the Washingtonians

My Dad used to sing a song from his day camp as a kid in Lincoln park.  It went

“We’re from Lincoln, mighty might Lincoln

Where ever we go, the people want to know

Who we are, so we tell them

We’re from Lincoln, mighty mighty Lincoln!”

Growing up in the state of Illinois, Michelle and I know everything about Lincoln.  Every Illini took at least three trips to Springfield during grammar school.  I had many classes in Lincoln Hall at UofI and rubbed the nose of Lincoln’s bust before tests in the auditorium of that great living monument.  All of our history classes focused on Lincoln’s politics and policies.  And just last year my family took a trip to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield just for fun.  The point is that when we arrived in DC, I couldn’t help but feel a pride and connection to our 16th President.

The first Friday night that we had here, we decided to take a walk down around the Washington Monument.  It was a beautiful evening and the tall stone structure towered prominently over The Mall.  Even though I had been to DC twice before, I never had walked up to the monument.  It is beautiful when lit in the middle of the night.  The juxtaposition of the luminous white stone and Stars and Stripes is superb.  It is hard to believe that the tower was started before the Civil War (You will notice the different shade of stone about 1/3 of the way up the structure due to a halt in building during the war).  Grabbing an idea from tourists, we found that standing up against it and looking up is kind of neat to do.

After appreciating that monument, Michelle and I decided to walk west towards our self made man.  On the way, we stopped to stand between the White House and Jefferson’s monument.  Story has it that after FDR built it, First Lady Eleanor said, “I want to see Thomas” and the President authorized all of the trees between their house and the monument be cut down.  I’ve always enjoyed that little story.

Moving further west, we came upon the WWII monument.  The water was beautiful and you really can hardly believe the simplicity and intricacy involved in the design.  One aspect I love is that when you look from east to west, the pool is clearly an oval, yet when looking from north to south, it looks a perfect circle.  I seem to recall the designer doing this to emulate how the war was fought across the world in the Atlantic and the Pacific, but when looking from the perspective from one location of the war, the other battlefield across the world was integrally important.  It’s hard to explain, but when viewing the monument with one’s own eyes it all seems to make sense.  The most astounding part of the place is the Field of Stars representing 400,000 lives lost.  It’s just unbelievable.

Later on, we kept walking west to Abraham.  We walked along the Reflecting Pool and talked about how amazing it must have been to see all of the people around when Dr. King made his speech on the steps at the end of the Mall.  It is a far walk and I remember not feeling like we made any progress every time I looked back to get some perspective.  Finally, we arrived at Lincoln.

How cool to see the sculpture up close.  You can actually see it all the way from the other end of the Mall from the steps of the Capitol pretty clearly.  I just recently discovered that the sculptor, Daniel Chestor French, was also the sculptor of the World’s Columbian Exposition’s Republic.  Lincoln seems so “Lincoln” in the piece.  Every characteristic he has ever been described is emulated in the statue.  I was so proud to stand in the memorial and felt like we deserved to stand there.  We put in our time committing Lincoln’s legacy to memory.  He is what Milton would have described as the “one just man” of his time and he is OUR guy, from Illinois.  Michelle and I both read the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address on the side walls.  I read every line twice.  There is something about reading them in that place, it makes the words more real.  The words were simply beautiful and God honoring.  I guess I’m oozing over this experience because I didn’t hype myself up for it, I just really felt that good old American pride while we were standing there.

On our walk back east to the car, we made a stop to the Vietnam Wall.  It just makes you awestruck.  It is so subdued in every way and it is very easy to not think twice about it even when looking directly at all of the names.  The exact opposite of the WWII memorial.  That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Fast forwarding to the following weekend.  Michelle found an ad in the Washington Examiner (my favorite local paper with a Newt Gingrich article every Friday) for Walking Town DC.  Twice a year, the city offers free walking tours all over the city to take advantage of.  Keeping in stride with Mr. Lincoln, we took a tour with Ms. Elizabeth Keckley, well an actress who played her.  She was a friend and seamstress of Mary Todd Lincoln.  Before setting up her own clothing business where she made dresses for many prominent Northern and Southern politicians and their wives, she was a slave.  She married and was able to buy her freedom.  Her life was fascinating and she wrote a book called Behind the Scenes describing her time around the White House.  Michelle is reading the book now which, oddly enough, my grandma bought for me last year at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield.  The actress who played the role was phenomenal, probably the best tour we could have picked.

Later that same afternoon, we took another tour to Barracks Row which is on 8th Street along the famous and long standing Marine Barracks.  This was the place to be throughout DC’s history.  Just to put into perspective the significance of this place, every President except Nixon visited the barracks at one point in their Presidency, including Obama and 30 day term Harrison.   This tour was good, but not as good as the first.  We learned about the architecture, significance in city planning, and general history of the street.  When walking back to our place, we saw Jesse Jackson Jr. having lunch at Matchbox (a pizza place I will review).  That was amusing.

So, you can see that we are taking advantage of what the city has to offer.  We have much further to go and will keep on trucking until it has all been seen!

-George and Michelle the Lincoln Learned

17th and P NW

Friends, this is our first DC restaurant review!   We stumbled upon this place one night while looking for a Baskin Robbins after walking the Mall.  Luckily for us, 31 Flavors was closed and right next door was our new favorite place for a quick date.  Mr. Yogato is a frozen yogurt place that is all about simplicity and fun.  They have only four flavors at a time and many toppings.  Imagine the heavy substance carried in typical ice cream and the sweet fluffiness of a typical Yoplait.  Now think of the perfect medium.  There you have Mr. Yogato’s product.  PLUS!  It is one of these healthy, possibly “organic”, places so the calories are really low.  Don’t worry about a hippie complex, Mr. Yogato does not have one.

What’s neat about this little dessert place is that it maintains a fun environment with good music, funny rules, weekly activities (like Seinfeld trivia night), board games, Nintendo NES, and great ways to save money.  My favorite way is to save is to get my forehead stamped to get 10% off.  You can bet when you visit that we are making a stop here.

Check out the site http://www.mryogato.com/

Rating: 10

Price: $$

-George and Michelle the Yogatos

Alright, this blog is back in action.  So, please spread the word.  But don’t tell people I told you to tell them.  Just bring it up in conversation like, “Hey, have you been reading George and Michelle’s blog?”

“I didn’t know they had one”.

“Oh yes, it is the greatest blog ever.  You should really check it out.  I’ll send you the link asap”!

Let’s make this really grassroots.  Here we go:

Goodbye Chicago.  But not goodbye forever.  Just long enough so we can more objectively affirm your superiority to the rest of the country’s second and third rate offerings.

Let’s start from the very beginning, September 4th, 2009.  The very best place to start.  The Kennedy.  It was 4:30 am.  Dad ran out of the house after Michelle and I got up to prepare for what would be one of the longest days of our life.  After we were finally ready to jump in the Uhaul, my father had a smorgasbord of Dunkin’ Donuts laying out on the counter.  A dozen donuts, a box of munchkins, 2 everything bagels, and a full pot of coffee.  The bagels were the only thing we requested after the insistance of a run to DD.  It was a kind gesture.

We woke Jack up to say goodbye, hugged my parents and jumped onto the road.  I drove the 14′ Uhaul and Michelle drove the non-air conditioned, radioless Lumina.  I had packed the Uhaul the previous day as we said goodbye to all of Michelle’s family at her parents house during another huge eating festival.   As we drove in the early morning on my favorite roadway in the country, I stared at the best view of the skyline in the dark fog of the morning.  I remembered having the same feeling as the previous summer when we drove to New York.   At the merge, the city rises up next to the El which lines the left of the periphial.  I later looked at the mural to the right and was  sad that I wouldn’t see the annual marathon painting finshed.  As I passed Ogden I was hit with sadness that I wouldn’t be exiting the ramp this season to park at Big Top parking on Paulina to walk down Madison Avenue on a cold and windy Blackhawks night while wearing my shiny red jacket and screaming about how warm it is.  The tears hit while crossing under Jackson and looking at the always and forever Sears Tower.  What a city.

The Skyway is the most disgusting “way” in the whole country.  I was happy to exit the ugly route as we neared Michigan City heading for the amazing and crazy Bill Carrera family labor day celebration at 6:30am.  Tim being the guest of honor there gave us the opportunity to surprise him with a goodbye before we left.  When driving up to the house with too many Carrera’s to count under one roof, I saw Tim sleeping in a hammock on the poarch with a smile on his face.  Rach walked out and I parked the loud truck  and walked up to Tim with an annoying dolphin keychain that squeeked to wake him up.  Ha!  He knew pretty quickly who it was when he opened his eyes.  I later gave the keychain to Tyler, just to add fun to the house.  I don’t know how quickly it was taken away.  We stayed for around an hour to see the house gear up to full swing.  What a sight to see.  It would have been nice to stay later.  Thanks to Liz for encouraging us to stop by.

After saying goodbye, we drove to Norte Dame so I could get cash for the drive.  Luckily, we got out of there before the game that Saturday.  By 11:00 am, Michelle already wanted to stop and call it a day.  That was not the plan.  No, we were driving the whole way.  At one rest stop we pulled off and took a nap because the last thing I wanted was a car wreck just as we started our new life (Michelle – “Actually, I made him stop”).  I like driving through Ohio because they have the best rest stops and the terrain is still flat.  Once you hit the Turnpike the tolls and hills annoy you.  Our problem was that Michelle was not happy about driving at this point.  So the rest of the trip was a struggle to keep going.  She would call, I would say we’re not stopping, she would get frustrated, I would agree to stop, she would agree to keep going, and then we would keep driving.  An hour late the cycle would start again.  My goal was at least to get through Pennsylvania.  At that point there was no more fighting and when we hit 70-S I thought we would stop for sure,  we were two hours out.  To my great surprise, Michelle said she could endure it.  The only issue was that we were not making good time and we needed to get there before 10:30pm to get the keys from our neghbor before he left for the night shift.  So we raced and made one quick stop at Subway on 270-S before hitting the Beltway.  Once we hit the Beltway, Michelle couldn’t take it anymore.  She would call every five minutes and test to see if my time framing was a lie, not that it mattered, no time would be quick enough.  (Michelle – “I was crabby”).

Finally, we exited  on East Capitol to see RFK rise above the street  much like the city does between Montrose and Irving.  I’ll take a picture of it one day on my drive back from work.  We drove around the stadium to C St. and followed it to our neighborhood, Capitol Hill.  We live 1 mile from the Capitol building.  Luckily our neighbor was still home at 10:15pm and we entered into our new home.  We brought in the stuff from Lumina so we could leave it on the street as we decided to stay in a hotel for the night.  We drove over to Virginia and stopped at the Iwo Jima monument before finding a room.  I love the statue because it looks over the Mall beautifully.  I wanted to show Michelle our new city from a good perspective as a welcome for us.

After that we drove near the Pentagon to a Radisson.  We got an amazing rate and were upgraded to a suite because I was a former employee.  We were tired as it was almost midnight.  What a day.  Then I hear the toilet flush; and Michelle say “Geeeooorge”!  “What?” I stated frantically.  “Your phone just  flushed down the toilet”, Michelle said while laughing hysterically (Michelle – “I couldn’t help it…it just fell out of my pocket and was sucked right down, I couldn’t believe it…I was just so amazed I had to laugh”).  This is when I freaked out.  My phone was in her pocket and as she flushed the toilet and as she got up, the phone fell out and jumped into the toilet.  It went straight down the tubes.  I wasn’t that angry about the phone.  Sure, losing the numbers stunk, but I was far more irritated with Michelle’s lack of concern and face of laughter.  I didn’t know what to do so my outburst of frusteration was to throw the pillows off the bed in a very childish manner.  After that, Michelle and I were angry with each other until we cooled off and laughed about how long the day really was.  We never would have made it without each other.

The next day we unpacked our truck by ourselves, which took about four hours.  She was a great help.  After the unpacking, we looked at our disaster and realized how much stuff we had.  We knew the next weeks would be rough.

Finally, we were in our new home.  We had waited for that day for a very long time.  I could feel immediately that this was exactly where God wanted us to be.

-George and Michelle the Drivers

If you have been trying to call me, now you know why I haven’t answered.  We will now be using Michelle’s phone for the both of us.  Please email me for the new number and address.  gcarreraiii@gmail.com.

We started on Friday morning.  The plan: walk around Capitol Hill with a couple of addresses and phone numbers.  Knowing that the city is quite a spotty place in regards to safety, we took the Metro to the Potomic Avenue stop and worked our way into more comfortable territory just to get our berrings straight.  In doing this we had already fulfilled my requirement when visiting a new city of feeling uncomfortable.  After arriving at street level from the station it was clear that this was not a place to be at night and certainly not a place to live.  Give it ten years.  Walking NW up Pennsylvania Ave. gave us a sense of at what points to the east it would be safe to live (“points” is plural becuse I couldn’t give you an exact dividing line of safe places to live in the District).  Soon enough we had discovered the first address we had and liked the neighborhood.  Oddly enough, the first place we stood outside was an address being used for a scam.  The place was being rented out by an agency on the Hill, but some jokers online were trying to pose as the owners and wanted me to send them money, I rebuked them for their deception later on.  The second place we walked to had a number to call, but nobody picked up.

It didn’t take long for Michelle and I to realize that DC is nothing like Chicago in regards to renting.  There aren’t many places with FOR RENT signs hanging in the windows.  Beside that, almost nobody calls or emails you back when inquiring on a craigslist post.  So the truth was, we had no leads, no plan, and no agent to help.  Clearly, this lack of preparation was on the husband’s head and the fighting escalated quick.  I’ll be honest, I had no clue what to do.  After a half hour of blowing every short fuse we had, Michelle and I realized we needed to be a team, sat in Lincoln Park, regrouped, and decided that we needed to find an agent.   

Finding an agent was a bust.  DC just isn’t a rent friendly town.  It seems like the whole city is selling real estate, yet nobody is renting that space.  On top of that, average rent on craigslist for a one bedroom runs around $1900.  Our goal was to stay under $1300!  One way we decided to achieve this goal was to find an English basement.  We found one basement that was perfect.  Cheap and updated.  We met the other tenants of the building and they gave us a tour and the owner’s cell number.  His name was Bob. 

Here I shall move ahead, the next two days were miserable.  Each day was blisteringly hot and we walked miles and miles.  Every time we sat down, mosquitos sucked blood from our heals and each puncture started itching in the worst way we have ever felt.  There were no other leads, nothing promising, nobody calling us back.  Every evening we walked back to the hotel with our heads down.  I would shamefully open my computer to keep searching and Michelle would lay on the bed in exhaustion and confusion.  Our dinners were full of frustration with our unsuccesful afternoons.

Throughout the days we would pray that Bob would call.  After looking at one basement, Michelle cried and said, “I don’t want to live the dungeon”.  We laughed about it later because she was right.  We tried to rely on the Lord and remind ourselves that everything would work out.  Jokes about being homeless started rolling.  We even bought Street Sense, the equivalent of Street Wise, from a self proclaimed “hard working homeless man” and read about tent cities and a story about a lemming written by a local. 

On day three we went to a place that had two bedrooms, was on a second floor, and was in the price range.  A really great deal for the Hill.  Michelle liked it and so did I.  That owner’s name was Kevin.  So we left him a message and started praying for Bob and/or Kevin to call.  All day on Sunday we waited and prayed and called people to pray that we could have a lease by the end of the day.  We still looked at places that we could, but none were as good as Bob’s or Kevin’s places.

 It was tough leaving the city on Sunday without a signed lease.  We felt defeated.  When we got back to Chicago we had to pack our stuff and move out which kept us up until 3:30am because we had to be out the next day.  I checked my email and Bob emailed us.  His place was gone before we viewed it.  There was only one hope left. 

We got up at 8:00am becuase Michelle had to get to work.  After finishing stuffing the old van, we closed the door to our summer home, locked the door, and we were officially homeless.

BUT WAIT!  Literally one minute later, the phone rang.  I picked it up to hear, “Hello, this is Kevin, how did you like the apartment”?   Nothing could have been better to hear.  Immediately, I told him we wanted it and just as quick it was ours.  Now we can say that we live on the Hill. 

I call the whole thing one of those God stories.  He knew we would grow together in the situation and knew what we could handle.  It was so amazing.   

-George and Michelle the Homeless

P.S. – This experience completed the replication of Cory and Topanga’s journey.  You must watch the two episodes after their honeymoon to know what I’m talking about.  Gotta love my life.

Capitol Hill

Now it is time to dominate.  Leave no museum unexplored, no fare uneaten, no street untread,  no wealth unspread!

Find me on twitter.

Next post coming soon: Blood, Sweat, and Tears (A tale of two twenty somethings roaming Capitol Hill)

Our journey hasn’t started yet, but when I last visited D.C. our tour guide was a strange lady.  At the end of any sentence regarding something unique about the area she would say in a weird tone, “… in my city, the DisTRICT of Columbiaaaa”.

Watchin' Ledge

For the past 3 1/2 years I have looked at this photo and always had a calm feeling about it.  I didn’t really think about the intricacies of it until I looked through my pictures for a picture with a context.  To most people, it is a simple image of two guys; the only thing you can really tell about them is that they are watching something because their eyes are looking in the same place.  To me, this photo is a reminder of “the good ol’ days”. The subjects are two of my very best friends and they are sitting on a fence up at the camp where I used to spend every summer volunteering.  For 10 years of my life I called Lake Geneva Youth Camp my second home.  Unfortunately, things have changed and my relationship with the camp ceased on a bad note 3 summers ago, but when I think about the good times I had there, this is an image that pops through my head.  Why this picture speaks to my feelings so powerfully is because there are many factors in it that come together to paint my ideal day at camp.

First, let’s look at my buddies.  They’re as happy as ever, Joey has a relaxed look on his face and this is one of the happiest and care-free looks Tim has in his arsenal of emotions.  Joey’s clothes are typical of his standard attire of some kind of superhero/wrestler tee-shirt with khaki shorts and a hat we got the year before at the Teen Camp week.  In fact, I believe I gave that particular one to him because he wore his other one out.  On the other hand, Tim’s garb is not typical at all.  I have no clue what the plain white tee is all about and the hat came from somebody else who lent it to him.  This is telling of how Tim was feeling, occasionally when he is in “hakunamatata” mode he randomly puts something on that nobody expects him to like a new hat or nice shoes.  I love the contrast between how their dressed compared to each other and themselves because it is exemplary of their being content.

What they are watching is of huge significance to the context.  It is a game called Ledge in which you throw a hand ball at a step and another player is supposed to catch it.  There are teams of two and the scoring is roughly based on baseball.  It derived from a game called “pinners” that was played in Chicago on street curbs 50 years prior.  Many afternoons at camp, ledge games were the social center of the gazebo area.  Teams of two would line up along the fence they are sitting on and hang out until their turn.  At times I counted 50 people out of a camp of 200 watching games of Ledge.  What made Ledge special is that almost anybody could play it and it filled the area with some of the most beautiful sounds possible.  There was a distinct, thud-thud when a batter hit the flat side of the wooden steps, or a glorious pop when the ball hit the step’s edge or “ledge” and the ball left the playing field for a home run.  Tim and Joey were admiring the game and taking in the amazingly calming feeling that occurred on days when the sun was setting over the ledge court.

Just as they were taking it in, so was I.  What really brings home of why this picture is so significant is where it was taken from.  The only place I would rather be sitting than on that fence where they’re parked, is on the porch from which the picture was shot.  Nowhere in the whole world has ever given me the pleasure I used to experience when sitting on the bench and watching Ledge, and looking at campers run around happy as clams, and hearing doors slam with anticipation of seeing who just walked out, and seeing a good friend walk down the path in my direction.  This picture is a glimpse of the visuals I used to have when I sat on that porch.  And the truth is that I will probably never be able to experience that again.

You see, I remember taking this picture and knew I had captured something special.  I thought, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now” and I knew they wouldn’t either.

-George the Reflector