Like fish in a barrel

Some of you may recall the saga of the fish in our pond . For those not up to speed here is a little history...
The builders created a nice looking pond in the back of the house with a large waterfall, fed from a submerged pump. Two weeks after we moved in, I decided we should put some fish in the pond, to help keep it mosquito free and clean. I took Alexander to the nearby pet store and proudly purchased 10 ‘feeder’ goldfish for $3. (The non-feeders were more expensive.)

Upon putting them in the pond I only counted 9 fish. The next day the number had fallen again to 7. By the middle of the next week, I could only see 5 and waterfall didn’t seem to be flowing quite as well. Upon investigating the pump I found that the builders had installed the most powerful pump on the market, which pumped more than 1200 gallons of water every hour! (To be like ‘Niagara Falls’ as the builder put it.) The sheer power of this pump was too much for the poor little fish and it sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner.

Well, the 5 fish thrived while we were in the UK and when we returned we saw not only 5 fat happy fish but another 5 happy baby fish. It was a real delight.

And then... one Friday a couple of weeks ago Dena gave me a call at work.
"We have an egret walking around the garden isn't that neat? I wonder what it wants."
For those of you reading from the UK, egret = a white heron.
I told Dena it wanted a fish supper and to shoo it away as fast as possible.
Alas it was too late, the bird had got our zip code.

Between 6:00 and 7:00am, as dawn broke on that Saturday morning and Dena, Alexander and I slept soundly beneath the covers: The 5 fat happy fish that had survived designation as a meal for bigger fish in the pet shop, an underwater vacuum cleaner and a summer of abandonment, met their fate at the beak of a very hungry bird doing a John Cleese impression.

The solution for the future is to get a plastic heron (they are available in the UK), paint it white, and stick it by the pond. (Herons are very territorial so I think egrets are too.)

We went on a date and...

...where does one go when one has the night off from parental duty? The Lego store in Santa Clara of course! In fact, we just happened upon it. We were actually buying underwear for Alexander on our date.

I have been rather anti Lego's modern day marketing. It used to be that one could buy a small box of wheels, roof tiles or clear bricks with your pocket money. Or perhaps a great aunt would send you a little gift of windows for your birthday. All that seemed to have died with the all new themed Lego. Every box had a theme or just appeared to make the one thing that was on the box lid. There was no real creativity in my mind. Over the past few years I have bought Lego for my nephews and friend kids. I guess I am definitely still a believer. But it has been hard to find items that (I feel) offer limitless possibilities as opposed to say, just building "Hagrid's Cottage".

Well tonight my view changed: The whole back wall of the Lego store in Valley Faire, Santa Clara is covered with hoppers full of different bricks. You buy an empty tub (there are two different sizes) and then you can fill it with whatever you want- windows, doors, purple bricks (never had purple in my day), steering wheels, rubber tires whatever. My faith in Lego is restored and I hope Alexander will have something that he can work towards, save up for, and create with for a very long time.

Mark’s Funeral

The rain came down shower after shower, as we drove to the stadium in San Jose. As we turned the corner we saw a giant American flag above the road held up by two crisscrossing gantries. Driving under the railroad bridge, we realized that two fire engine ladders were forming the X across the road with the flag suspended beneath. The perimeter of the whole stadium was circled by fire engines from all over California as if guarding their fallen. Each engines badge with a black line through it. There were dozens and dozens more on the streets around.

The service was a fitting tribute to someone so dedicated to his profession and family with literally thousands of his brothers from the service there, along with many of us mere mortals that this man had touched.
http://www2.cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_050181616.html

It was a terrible time and a wonderful time that Dena and I will never forget.

Well, time to close the gate on this story so to speak (before my gate closes and I miss my flight). It's been really fun to be here and see not just the gates, but the reactions to them- indifference mainly, but also anger and delight. As well as these pictures, I am also ordering one of Christo's illustrations to hang in my office with the Reichstag pictures. Of course I won't have an office when I get back, but at least I can hang at home. :-)
 

Or this. 

I don't know. Maybe closer is better. What I do know is they look really cool when the wind blows like this. 

I decide to have a go at the New York subway to get up to the reservoir. It seems pretty safe. I guess it depends on where you go and when. Of course you do see some interesting characters around the park. Look at this weird dude. 

All around the installation are guides. Each has an extendable pole with a tennis ball on the end. This is just incase the gate loops the loop in the wind and they have to unwind it. One of the guides leans close and tells me "what he really isn't supposed to tell me." Later in the afternoon each guide will have samples of the fabric and if you know to ask you can get a sample to take away. It's a PR coo. Everyone is walking around asking for fabric squares in hushed tones. I got one! 

Everyone got in on photo opportunity 

7503 Gates, 1000000 feet of fabric and me 

It is fascinating to watch the New Yorkers go about their daily business- heading for work, jogging, walking the dog without so much as startled glance at what they are walking through. I think the dogs are getting the most out of it- lots of giant orange trees to mark as their own.

It really is big! 

I guess the first thing that hit me when I got up this morning and walked up to the edge of the park was the sheer scale of this installation. It is goes as far as the eye can see and these gates are big. Big enough to let mounted police ride right through.  

Valentines Day

It seems to me that as we go through life we learn to expect the unexpected. But it seems that as we learn, and the unexpected becomes the expected, fate itself, angered by our by our ability cope, lashes out with events yet more tragic and unexpected. So it was on Monday as I sat in coffee shop and read the email about Marks death.
http://www2.cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_045141612.html
He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.