outsdr | Trip Pics 2012

This trip went so fast, it's like I was never there.

Luckily, I have pics to prove it.

Many, many pics.

My nephews and I. Cole is five, and is on the right. Kyle is on the left. He's two, and he's still my little Doctor Who monster.

I'm not sure how well it's captured here, but the wind rushed through the trees with a sound that brought back memories and feelings I'd long forgotten. The birds are different, too, and I suddenly realize that this is what Summer sounds like to me - this is why summer doesn't feel right anywhere else in the world: the soundtrack is wrong.

I'd also forgotten how Maryland nights sound. Wyoming doesn't sound like this; it's quiet here.

Cole & Kyle have a Lawrence Welk moment.

Rascal has a snooze on the porch.

As per usual, I was called upon to repair my father's computer while I was there. This was the first problem. The second problem was that the SATA ports on the motherboard had gone bad, which led to an adventure of trying to find a PCI SATA expansion card, which we finally bought in Morgantown.

Cole was an eager helper when he was around.

Probably because he got to ride in the truck with me.

It's all so ... green!

The last time I was there, he'd just finished tearing off the old porch. Now, there's a nice new one there. I miss the old cement steps, however.

Inside the house, he's been tearing down walls and cleaning up in general.

I told him if he had just wanted to salvage the staircase and then tear the rest of the house down and build a new one, that no one would have blamed him. The house is nearly 100 years old; the earliest deed he has is from 1914.

Down the hallway to my old room.

When vermin move in. I swear I heard something digging around in there while I was moving boxes.

My things.

The old dining room, with the solid wood wormy chestnut wall panels. This room is also worth saving. The entire house was built using wormy chestnut; a wood that's relatively unique to the area, I believe.

From the dining room to the kitchen through those beautiful arched doorways.

The kitchen window, over the sink. He said he doesn't plan on saving any of the cupboards, which I can understand, but I hope those shelves end up somewhere. There's so much of my mom in that room. It's like her essence soaked into the surroundings.

This large walk-in closet used to be filled with my brother's Big Little books. And then raccoons arrived.

It would have been in 1986 that I photocopied a poster from a magazine and hung it on my bedroom wall. 26 years later, it's still there.

That lonely dragon still keeps watch over my room. I considered taking him down, but where would he go? Instead, he'll hang there until the end,when he's no longer needed.

Oh, the things I saved! That's for the Commodore 64.

Which I also still have.

Who's a good dog?

My brother found this level inside one of the walls. Apparently, it was a fairly common practice to hide something inside the walls of a house while building it. Luck, maybe?