Irony In The Air

I woke at Mindy's place again this morning yet being convinced that I'd fallen asleep at my own place. I'm all but certain that she's sneaking into my home and carrying me out into the cold night air, placing me in her van, and driving home where she carefully carries me once again to her room of sleep. There I lie still till the first break of day.Then, in an instant I wake and rise quickly to my feet in route to the urinal to which I'm certain is due right then quickly left. However, today on my trek, I crash solidly into a wall. Tired, confused, and now sore, I lie in pain wondering what has happened to my bathroom doorway. It's gone. It's sealed up! It's Kaput! Per usual, I pee, brush my teeth (usually at the same time), and ready for exercise. Once downstairs I tuck my toes under Mindy's comfy sofa and begin my morning round of 55 sit-ups and 50 push-ups. To complement my exercise, I also squeezed in a round of dumbbells, which I lovingly got Mindy for Xmas. Albeit much lighter than my personal set at home, they serve their intended purpose by stimulating the targeted muscles. Here's the Irony ... This was a day that Mindy and I had selected for a snow skiing date over two weeks ago. In kind, a few of her Xmas gifts were to support such an endeavor. Sadly, though, swirled up in a bit of irony, this was going to be the warmest day of December, and easily the warmest of the early winter season. The high today was predicted to be in the mid 50's. Skiing wouldn't be so bad had we had a cold night prior to aid in Ohio snow making, but that wasn't the case either. In addition, the forecast called for a 90% chance of fairly heavy rain. Since this would be her first attempt at skiing, I decided that we should resort to plan B or even C . Plan B was hiking at Hocking Hills & plan C was a visit to the Columbus Museum of Art. Because of the forecasted rain, we opted for the museum. I left Mindy's around 830am destined for home. Upon my arrival my goals were simple. Walk Ykraps, run, then ready for the museum trip. Mindy would join me at my home once her sitter arrived to care for the children. As I completed the first 1/4 mile of my run, Mindy came rolling down the road. She knew the house was open for her convenience so I went ahead with the remaining 3 & 3/4 miles of my run. Upon my return home, I showered and groomed for a day about town. We had discussed going to breakfast too, but by now it was 11am. We decided instead to visit the Thurman Cafe for an early lunch prior to the museum stop. We couldn't help but notice the clear blue sky overhead. Despite the bleak forecast, the weather was doing nothing but improving. One barely needed a jacket it was so damn warm and sunny. We thought that perhaps we erred and should've gone to Hocking Hills. Oh well, Mindy and I always have a good time regardless of the venue. We arrived at the Thurman Cafe right around 1110am. And because of our early arrival, we beat the lunch rush, which is always heavy given the popularity of this place. We both ordered burgers. Their burgers are all 3/4 lbs. and loaded with various toppings. I ordered The Jack and Princess ordered the Three Cheese along with a side of giant onion rings. Also, Mindy ran into two acquaintances that she recognized from her past. One was an ex-boyfriend's mother from about ten years prior and the other was the fire chief of station #10. I suck at remembering names, so we'll refer to the mother as Jane (Caroline?) and the fire chief as Dick (Mike?). Dick & Jane. Our food arrived after about twenty long minutes. We were both very hungry since neither of us had eaten much if anything yet today. We quickly attacked our food, but me with a little more caution than that displayed by Mindy. She ate quickly and ate a lot. This would be her demise later in the afternoon. Soon we were through. Because I had half a burger left, I ordered up a to-go box. Mindy had just a small sliver remaining, but still enough to throw on board with mine. Out the door to the Trooper, we couldn't help but notice how nicely the afternoon was shaping up. It was warm and sunny. But we had already committed to spending the afternoon at the museum and we gladly accepted our decision and moved forth. The museum was noticeably crowded upon our entry into the lobby. This was one of the final days of the Renoir exhibit. The admission was $10 each and $3 more to park. Not too bad! We took in the totality of the museum. We toured all the current exhibits: Eye Spy, Renoir's Women, Arthur Leipzig, Age of Armor, Michael Mercil's: for love or money, and finally the museum's permanent collection. Everything was good. What made perhaps the most lasting impression on me today was Renoir's determinism. Despite his waning health and rheumatoid arthritis he continued to paint up until his death, which was at the ripe old age of 91. As the story goes, his assistants would change the brush and colors and slide them into his hands where he would stroke away on the medium at hand. There were photos showing ropes tied to his wrists to keep them suspended on level with his canvas. That's passion! A few of his contemporaries included: Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cezanne. After our fill of the touring exhibits we embarked on a journey through the museum's private collection. Among them, we observed the Chihuly piece displayed prominently in the indoor courtyard. But what caught my eye was the painting I wrote about for a college humanities class back in 1991 or so. It was titled, Haymaking, by Winslow Homer-1864. I felt like I wrote a nice piece about the painting. Until now, the painting had always escaped me over the years on subsequent visits. Too, I had many times searched for it via Google but could never find it. It turns out, I was off a little with the search. I would search for Haymaker instead, and of course net nothing close. It turns out that there are numerous paintings titled Haymaking, too. Today, I found mine hanging in the lower level hall way. Truth be told, I selected this painting at the time more for its ease of access and simplistic form, thinking that I could easily draft a paper describing the artist's conveyance. Now, however, I look at it almost as my own - funny! Alas, we were done touring the museum. Mindy was tired from the all walking. I suggested we visit city center or perhaps even the downtown library. The library is a piece of history in and of itself. Mindy sadly reported not feeling well and having a tummy ache. It seems she'd had it all afternoon but was reluctant to rain on my parade. God Bless her. So, instead of more city scaping, we headed for my home. I was tired too, so no biggy! Once back at my house, Mindy headed right for my bed and slept for 2.5 hours straight. I used the time to download photos and to blog. Interestngly, I had the audio turned up on my PC, which I normally wouldn't do. But because it was up, I heard a Weatherbug weather alert. I usually don't click on them, but this afternoon I did. To my dismay, there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Pickaway and Hocking Counties, and more specifically, Hocking Hills. They were expecting torrential rains, lightning, and hail. Good thing we didn't go hiking instead!!!! Come 530pm I took Ykraps on his evening walk. He was more than happy to have both of his Wednesday walks at their usual times. Mindy got up some time around 6pm. We discussed going to Barley's but later opted for a quiet evening at home talking and sipping a drink or two. Mindy had a couple glasses of wine; I had a few Raspberry Vodka and Club soda's with a hint of lime and a dash of Splenda (yummy). Mindy parted around 845pm. This would be the first night we'd spend apart since last Thursday. After she left I played guitar and watched some Southpark. I fell asleep around 11pm.