The Lost Art of Driving a Stick

She's a bit young and short for this as just her tiptoes touch the ground but she enjoyed it for a while

Sunny watching Josh intently

We watched Allie for a bit yesterday while Josh gave Julie a driving lesson. He wants to replace his car with yet another car with a manual transmission (better mileage, more control, better performance,cheaper..)but Julie would not be able to drive it in a pinch. As time goes on, less and less people in the US can drive a stick. (in Europe though, it seems that every car is a stick..to rent an automatic is prohibitive). She seemed to do OK but is not ready to go out by herself or worse, with Allie.

I learned to drive on a stick with the world's worst teacher, my father. We did have a car at the time with an automatic transmission where I could have had learned the basics such as steering and braking but no...he didn't want me messing up that car. He failed to tell me about the 'friction point' where you need to hold the clutch until the car gets moving. Plus he liked to set the engine idle at the lowest possible setting so not to burn too much gas waiting at stoplights. This made things even trickier. Basically I taught myself while trying to zone out him screaming at me (I was used to that). At least that car, a Ford, had something called 'synchromesh' transmission meaning you could downshift to first without coming to a complete stop. The driver's ed car did not (a Chrysler) but its idle speed was set so high one needn't worry about giving it gas until you were well on your way (one less pedal to worry about). My friend had a late 50s or early 60s Volkswagen van. That was a tricky vehicle to drive requiring superhuman strength to depress the clutch and to shift gears. I even drove a jeep, a real one not like those in name only today. To engage the 4 wheel drive feature,one had to get out of the jeep and do something manually to the axle.

I've taught many people how to drive a stick over the years including Steve and Josh. Growing up in NYC, Steve's family rarely had a car. He didn't learn to drive until he was in his 20s and out in the work force. My only failure to teach was Shanna. We bought her a second hand car to drive to school not even considering that it being a stick might pose a problem. Not even the shame of driving a minivan instead (heaven forbid, going on a bus though we had Naomi go by bus given that I believed she was too immature to drive at 16..much less 18)was enough to motivate her. I haven't even tried to teach Naomi though she seemed irritated that Josh taught Julie before teaching her.

We haven't had a stick shift here for a while excepting when we trade cars with Josh so he can get work done on it. We rented one for a week when we were in France and Germany but I did the driving as I get used to driving different cars more quickly plus I had driven in France before (different considerations there).
It might have been useful for Steve to have a car in England where he was for a month but a stick-shift on the left side plus very narrow roads scared even me.

I've been busy with my projects. I watched the Golden Globes last night with a friend. It was fun making fun of the dresses. Worst? Lena Dunham's with those tiny pointy boobs. Best Cate Blanchett with that black lacy number.

Even though it has been above freezing for the last few days, ice persists. And we will have the polar vortex return tomorrow. Hate winter. Maybe I will go to a yoga class later.

Out of the Polar Vortex; Into the ice

From Passive/Aggressive: Parking spots are rare downtown when it is trash day and noone lifts a shovel down there. Miracles of miracles, I found one the other day so I could go to the Y

Shanna's odometer the other day when the polar vortex had allegedly left

It has been above freezing for the past 24 hours yet the side roads are still covered with ice. The sewers are all clogged and there is nowhere for the melting snow to go. Ice is underneath the puddles making running treacherous. I think I prefer the dry cold.

It occurs to me that my blog is becoming a sad weather report. It has  too much influence on my life.
We had a visit from Naomi yesterday (no Maya though). Maybe I could pay her to leave her hair alone. It is fading though so more of her natural color is seeping in. Why would someone with beautiful red hair dye it dull brown?

I guess it is colder in our house than she is used to

I read up more about the Cartagena statue pictured the other day. Gabriel Garcia Marquez spent much of his life in Cartagena. His novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, took place there (That novel I liked: I could never get into One Hundred Years of Solitude) His father wanted him to be a lawyer. Facing this statue, he finally got the courage to tell his father that he would prefer to write. He was then told that he would eat paper.

As for the Noli Me Tangere statue itself, it was supposed to ward off pirates, their favorite spot to plunder as most of the gold passed through Cartagena's harbor. There also were a lot of 'foreign' invaders including the British, the French and the Americans).  Huge forts surround the harbor. (see below)I had seen a statue in Rome of the same name in one of the churches (St. Peters of the the Chains?). It depicted the biblical scene.

When is a screening mammogram not a screening mammogram

When they find something wrong.

According to my insurance (and one of the Obamacare reforms), I am to be provided one screening mammogram per year. However when they found something wrong, I received an addition $1000 of scans plus I was billed for the screening (and it was itemized as 'screening'). I called UM to complain (that took a half hour on hold). I got a call back for them to say that it was 'appropriate' to bill me for it even though it was to be provided free to me. I guess I have to deal with the insurance company next.

Not a fan of UM right now.

I am cancelling my follow up ones as I am sure they will find something minor, cause undue anxiety, charge me an arm and a leg and then say, never mind, it was just fat necrosis.

Obviously I am not a happy camper.

It is a few hours later. I noticed several folders missing on my computer and spent hours looking for them. Fortunately Steve had backed them up and they were on an auxiliary hard drive. Among the missing (from a trip to the Meijer Gardens in 2010) :

Noli me tangere

This photo was taken by my niece who recently traveled to Cartagena
She has an eye for color
See more below

Sometimes I think these words are emblazoned on my forehead for all to see except me.

Don't touch me!

Though the actual translation of the original Greek (my title is in Latin) presumably says

Stop clinging to me!

This what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene after he appeared  after his death and she tried to touch him to see if he were real. It is the title of several famous paintings. But it is apparently the motto of this city.

Various groups have conscripted the phrase for military purposes such as Alabama when it seceded: I do like the snake hiding under cotton and magnolias

But back to me. There was a  short period of time a couple of years back in which I was in two separate groups: my family and my friends. Everyone was hugging each other. Everyone except me. Tears in my eyes: wtf? I must be sending bad vibes. Or maybe I am unlovable.

Ugh! I thought the polar vortex had left. A smaller one replaced it. Fortunately I can go to the Y today.

Some color to my white landscape. Below such prettiness! My niece can be found in a shoe below. Usually she can be found in Boston as a scientist having defended her thesis last year at Columbia. (her twin is there too living a few miles away having just received her doctorate from Harvard). I first thought these were going to be pictures of NYC but no, it's the other Colombia

Ice bubbles

Oliver's paper snowflakes with a backdrop of real ones

Alas I don't have any cool photos of my own of bubbles blown in sub-zero temperatures. I did try yesterday but the wind destroyed most of my bubbles before they could freeze. Some bubbles went up in the wind and I could see them turn opaque from freezing before bursting into bits. I gave this experiment another try this morning when it was 7 below and calm. I captured some of the bubbles on the wand. They did freeze but then they burst. Too fragile and no cool photos.

But for more success, see: http://www.boredpanda.com/frozen-bubbles-winter-photography-angela-kelly/
One of her photos:

Tonight, if it remains cloudless, Michigan can possibly have Northern Lights due to yesterdays solar flares. Best chance: after midnight.

So I can deal with cold as long as it is calm. I waited until it was a toasty 6 degrees before venturing out. I overdid it with the layers. Too much fleece. But it was good to move again. I tried to run on the sidewalks first as most people clear theirs. However some decided that that they would not do anything more than necessary or didn't know their property line so there would be 1 foot walls of ice between properties. A few didn't even bother to clean anything. I took to the streets which were glazed over from car exhaust keeping to the rough edges.

Then a visit to the grandbabies who are almost healthy again. School begins tomorrow after a 3 day extension for most. Roads still are slippery.

I gave shark slippers to Maya; puppy slippers for Tess

Oliver and his brother above squirm when a camera is near thus the fuzziness

Inside the Polar Vortex

Yep, it is colder than Alaska

Polar Vortex is what the media calls what we are experiencing. I am not sure if that is the correct meteorological term but suffice it to say, it is cold. We will top out at zero today after waking up to minus 15. And it is windy. Steve was out there shoveling last night to clear again a path out after the plows threw the snow back into our driveway. He wears very thick gloves when the temperature is below 55; imagine how he felt at minus 15.

Today would have been my exercise class at the Y but instead I was watching Maya while her mom was away for more than 4 hours at the dental school. And they still aren't finished with her. To keep our house less germy, I went to Naomi's place. Maya fortunately is mostly better. This is only the second time I've been there in the past 2 years. I see too much there that makes me sad. Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing.
And did she say thank-you.
Ha.
From Michigannutphotography:

Lighthouse along Lake Michigan

Days of Snow

One of our squirrels enjoying a snack before the storm

Tough walking when the snow is above your knees

We will be able to drive the red car maybe in the spring

Biggest job isn't the sidewalk but to clear a path from the driveway to the middle of the road. Snow mountain is almost as tall as me

Inviting entry way to our house

It was actually sort of warm yesterday so I took Maya sledding
After a tumble, she lost interest

Storm Ion looked like a no-show. Ann Arbor had narrowly escaped the first wave of snow but by late afternoon, the second wave began. Temperatures are dropping and winds are picking up as I type though the snow itself stopped. Between Electra, Hercules, and Ion we have about 2 feet on top of our table outside with even deeper drifts.

The city did make one pass with the plow on our street so as long as you don't have to turn, or run into incoming traffic, you'll be fine. However turning is a problem. A cul-de sac faces our driveway. They are last to see a plow so the residents were out there this morning cleaning the road. I warned my Spanish neighbor (he says it snows in Asturias but I bet not 2 feet at a time) not to turn until he got to the clear part of the road. Didn't listen. One can use momentum to plow through a snow bank but only if the wheels are straight.

As early morning was going to be the warmest part of the day, I did the shoveling then. I wanted to make sure the wet stuff the city's plows put in our path didn't solidify into an ice wall sealing us in for the next week. I got a workout.

I took Maya to our Sugarbush Hill, very popular with the neighborhood kids. The older ones build snow cliffs to fly off of. Had to find a mogul free area for Maya.

Naomi reports that Maya now has the norovirus. Great. Already I feel queasy. I assume she picks this crud  up from her father's girlfriend's kids. Wish he would recognize in advance what a bad idea it is to expose her.

And most of Shanna's family  has some version of Oliver's flu-like disease. I was careful not to touch them or their stuff.