augustmarsblog

                                                             Arriving in Tidewater                                                   From the Mountains to the Sea My first visit to Tidewater took place when I was about four years old. My father didn't get any paid vacation leave, but he managed an occasional trip out of town on a weekend. He had managed to leave work a bit early on Friday. My mother had prepared everything, including a meal we could eat on the road, so by the time he had washed and changed clothes we were ready to leave before 4:30. A long dri...

                                                               Table of Contents for Home Label Arriving in Tidewater (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) My Unlikely Hobby (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) The Envy of the Neighborhood (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Pets (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Blasting Away (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Rural, Suburban, Urban (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com) Neighbors (augustmarsblog.blogspot.com)

                                                                                          My Unlikely Hobby I often spend a warm summer afternoon sitting in a lawn chair in the shade of that tall pine tree in my front lawn while translating a novel or short story from Russian. I have no interest in visiting Russia or communicating with Russians in any way. This hobby developed in a circuitous way. When NASA had offered a free on-site course in Russian, I enrolled in it because I thought it would help me to translate some Russian publications on ionized gases. I had studied German in college, and had maintained and improved on my translating skills by reading German stories and watching a few German language movies. This ability proved to be of some benefit in ...

                                                                               The Envy of the Neighborhood When I'm sitting in the shade working on my translating, I often catch glimpses of the passing parade of strollers, joggers, bicyclers that get their daily exercise by taking advantage of the street layout in this neighborhood. It contains many dead end cul-de-sacs and stop signs at intersections, which discourage fast automobile traffic. Occasionally one will stop to chat briefly, and the conversation often includes a compliment on my beautiful lawn. It's true. Out of about 100 homes in this area, this one is (IMHO) the prettiest. But it wasn't always this way. For years, for decades, I struggled with maintaining a lawn that wasn't embarrassing by its appearance. I dutifully s...

                                                                                              PETS Sam and Denise are neighbors who live diagonally across the street from us. Denise is a retired dental assistant, & still likes to talk about dental work and oral hygiene. She is also obsessed with dogs. At one time she had 5, but now that she is older (in her 60's) she is down to 2 Rottweilers, which are big scary dogs. She actually has a bird house that is shaped like a dog's head, so that a bird has to fly into the dog's mouth to make a nest. Both she and Sam are genuinely puzzled by the birds' reluctance to use the house. He has moved it twice, thinking that the birds just don't like ...

                                                      Blasting Away in the Neighborhood In my previous post I wrote about our neighbor across the street – the one who has a monster fish aquarium in her living room. Her son Austin is a nice young man, but he has a pick-up truck that is not so nice. He has customized it in a strange way. His mother parks her car in their driveway, and he parks his truck in the grass between their driveway and Sam's lawn. One evening when Sam and I were sitting on his porch, regaling each other with anecdotes about events that occurred 60 years ago, I was suddenly scared out of my wits by what sounded like a cannon firing right behind my back. I jumped up a couple of inches, and then flopped back down, still shaking a bit. Sam was as calm as a cucumber. He chuckled, and ex...

                                                          Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover One of the new neighbors that moved onto our street is a young man named Will, who is probably in his early 20's. His house has an attached garage, and in mild weather he often leaves the garage door up, so that any passerby can see what's going on in there. Usually what's going on is Will working out with weights or some other training equipment. He often steps out onto the driveway and flexes his muscles so that the results of these physical workouts are clearly displayed from shoulder to ankle, because he only wears short shorts and shoes for his exercises. He would be a nice looking young man without big muscles, but with them he must certainly be attractive to young women. I began to suspect th...

                                                                          Rural, Suburban, Urban In the first half of the 20 th Century, the Virginia Peninsula consisted primarily of a couple of the two sea-front urban areas of Hampton and Newport News, smaller fishing communities in Phoebus and Poquoson, a couple of military bases, forests, swamps, and farmlands. The NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) consisted of a few buildings and wind tunnels located within Langley Air Force Base. However, by the end of World War II, the population had begun to grow, along with the necessary accompanying infrastructure. But it didn't just grow. It exploded. The reasons for this rapid growth were multiple, but they were all related i...

  Neighbors Many decades ago, when this neighborhood was still under construction; the existing houses having been rapidly occupied, and new homes being built, that this was not an especially friendly neighborhood. We were all new to each other, and we were hesitant to ask the kinds of questions that would lead to real familiarity. But all of that changed when Sam Harvey moved in. He has that kind of natural outgoing personality that makes him eager to meet new people. And so, he became a kind of one man welcoming committee. If the family moving in were not using professional movers, Sam would go and offer to help move the furniture into the house. He would introduce himself, and tell the new neighbors a few relevant facts about the existing neighbors. Then, when the opportunity arose, he would introduce them to each other. Some of the newcomers picked up immediately on Sam's friendliness, being happy to have a contact in their new environment. Others chose to re...