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<\/a><\/p>\nOur neighborhood association has\u00a0rules about keeping things out of sight. Things like garbage cans, utility trailers, and wood piles, all of which we keep\u00a0on the dirt driveway\u00a0alongside the house. Yes, rules are a pain in the ass, but we\u00a0don’t want to live in a nabe\u00a0where people park old cars\u00a0in their\u00a0front yards. We’ll\u00a0play along to get along. Sure, it’s a silly gate. You can walk right around one end of it. You can even see through it. But it’ll make the neighbors happy.<\/p>\n
I’m officiating at a memorial service in two weeks\u00a0and have started to\u00a0put some words together. The service will be in honor of a woman who\u00a0took her life, and her friends, mostly members of the Hash House Harriers club we belong to, want to give her a good sendoff.\u00a0The woman’s family was originally going to fly out for the service but I’m told\u00a0they’re not coming now, so I shouldn’t have to worry too much about people’s sensitivities, suicide being\u00a0one of those subjects we tend to\u00a0tiptoe around.<\/p>\n
The way I’m leaning now, though, I may not even mention suicide. Originally I was going to say a few words about looking out for one another and being ready to offer support, but the more I learn about depression and suicide, the more I wonder whether those words are even worth saying. Her friends knew she was depressed, and they did offer support, but she kept her demons to herself and once she made the decision to kill herself there was probably nothing anyone could have done to stop her.<\/p>\n
Speaking of depression, we have a 40-year-old alcoholic daughter living at home.\u00a0She’d been living with her boyfriend in a border town a hundred miles from here, but the boyfriend kicked her out and she had no place to go but home. She’s been with us for a month, and although she obeyed house rules and stayed sober for three weeks she’s started drinking again. Yesterday we had a come-to-Jesus and told her to get her ass to AA. She found a group that meets nearby and Donna took her to her first meeting\u00a0this morning. She’ll have to go\u00a0every day from now on. AA has meetings all around the clock\u00a0so people can schedule around their jobs. Having a job\u00a0is the big plus here, or at least we hope it’ll be. Polly got\u00a0her old job back, a job she loved, and she starts tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Donna will be horrified to find I’m writing about this. Family secrets, etc. But if I’m to write, I\u00a0have\u00a0to write honestly. Every family has problems. Our daughter, a brilliant woman,\u00a0is an alcoholic. It is what it is, and we have to find a way to deal with it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, my face is a scabby mess. Thursday, the\u00a0dermatologist burned several pre-cancerous spots on my nose, temples, and cheeks.\u00a0I really ought to stay home\u00a0for a few days, but I have to get out. At least I don’t have air museum duty this week. The public will be spared!<\/p>\n
Speaking of the air museum, I say enough already with HDR aviation photos!\u00a0I work with old airplanes, write about them, and post photos of my own to Flickr and my blogs.\u00a0I like to compare my work to that of others, so I follow aviation photography groups on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. Too many photographers over-manipulate their work. Take this HDR photo of a PBY Catalina, for example:<\/p>\n
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