Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,037
Recently I have come to learn that when both Lisa and I are working crazy schedules, we don't get much quality time alone together, and I have to make the time on one of her off days if I want it to happen at all. I have also learned that if our quality time is going to be limited to one or two lunch dates a month then I have to go with a quality over quantity approach and make the time as pleasant as I can. The upside is that the limited number of opportunities more easily justifies a greater expense on the times we do get together. She is off on Mondays, but Mondays are a crazy day for me. They usually start before sunrise with either important photo shoots with the morning light, meetings after 9, and then working until sunset out in the field. So, I have planned that every other Monday I take the time for a long lunch with her, enjoy a meal together and just hang out and talk about life. I've learned this helps me keep my goals in mind and not just get lost in the mechanics of doing the work, which is actually very easy for me due to previous life experiences. . It helps me stay in touch with why exactly I work as much as I do. Yesterdays lunch was at Tony's Pasta Shop in the Bluff View Art District. It was were we went on our first date as more-than-just-friends thirteen years ago, and where we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this past June. It is our favorite restaurant overall.
It has a nice atmosphere inside with exposed beams and wooden panels with lots of windows, but this time of year we prefer to eat out on the back deck. The view isn't bad with the large wind sculpture right beside the deck and the the art garden just down the hill.
She has a tendency to make me laugh by stating the obvious...lol, I have known this for more than a decade
I love have never gotten the hang of the fork and spoon method of eating pasta, and I don't dig the twirly method, so I have a tendency to gut my pasta to the size I want, somewhat like eating a steak...but different... I love the spicy Low-Country sauce at Tony's and always have them add extra sauce and extra craw-fish. Seemed fitting to use the Handyman that I edc for this
I still have a habit of feeding bread to the birds. A habit I developed thirty-five years ago as a teen living on the streets one winter in St. Louis. Day old bread is cheap at bakeries and will fill an empty stomach pretty quickly. Feeding them today is still enjoyable for me today and therapeutic as well. It helps me stay in touch with where I came from, and recognize the improvements in my life for what they are.
Some things just haven't changed about her in the years I've known her. She still prefers to go barefoot. When we used to meet at the art district for lunch when she was going to UTC, it would always make me laugh to see her coming up his walkway barefoot, carrying her shoes.
I did notice I seriously need to get a nicer sheath for this knife. The Condor sheath is actually well made, and works well for it, but doesn't seem suited for this knife, and actually seems rather insulting...
EDC-ing the Handyman is another thing in my life that is therapeutic for me. When my work involves testing new designs and new steels for RMJ it's easy for me to get drawn back into the darker memories of my youth and get hung up there for a while. The hawk in this shot is an experiment with cryo-quenched 80CrV2 steel, and the Dagger is a new issue tool for the Marine Raider Teams in cryo-quenched CPM3V. Later I will be testing out a 3V hawk and comparing it to both their usual 4140CMA and the 80CrV2
I have also been snapping some quick shots to supplement the wild plants work shops for the folks at RMJ, and using tools they are familiar with as a size reference. Like easy tips for distinguishing between Solomon's Seal and False Solomon's Seal, a topic that came up in the last workshop.
Solomon's Seal plants terminate in a leaf at the end of the stem. The flowers and berries grow along the stalk
False Solomon's Seal plants terminate in the flower and later a seed head.
Both are in the Asparagus family, both are edible in different ways, and both have important medicinal properties. But with the rhizome of one being an edible starch much like a potato, and the rhizome of the other being an excellent laxative, it is good to know the difference between the two in a wilderness setting
Some interesting contrast from my evening at work
.
It has a nice atmosphere inside with exposed beams and wooden panels with lots of windows, but this time of year we prefer to eat out on the back deck. The view isn't bad with the large wind sculpture right beside the deck and the the art garden just down the hill.
She has a tendency to make me laugh by stating the obvious...lol, I have known this for more than a decade
I love have never gotten the hang of the fork and spoon method of eating pasta, and I don't dig the twirly method, so I have a tendency to gut my pasta to the size I want, somewhat like eating a steak...but different... I love the spicy Low-Country sauce at Tony's and always have them add extra sauce and extra craw-fish. Seemed fitting to use the Handyman that I edc for this
I still have a habit of feeding bread to the birds. A habit I developed thirty-five years ago as a teen living on the streets one winter in St. Louis. Day old bread is cheap at bakeries and will fill an empty stomach pretty quickly. Feeding them today is still enjoyable for me today and therapeutic as well. It helps me stay in touch with where I came from, and recognize the improvements in my life for what they are.
Some things just haven't changed about her in the years I've known her. She still prefers to go barefoot. When we used to meet at the art district for lunch when she was going to UTC, it would always make me laugh to see her coming up his walkway barefoot, carrying her shoes.
I did notice I seriously need to get a nicer sheath for this knife. The Condor sheath is actually well made, and works well for it, but doesn't seem suited for this knife, and actually seems rather insulting...
EDC-ing the Handyman is another thing in my life that is therapeutic for me. When my work involves testing new designs and new steels for RMJ it's easy for me to get drawn back into the darker memories of my youth and get hung up there for a while. The hawk in this shot is an experiment with cryo-quenched 80CrV2 steel, and the Dagger is a new issue tool for the Marine Raider Teams in cryo-quenched CPM3V. Later I will be testing out a 3V hawk and comparing it to both their usual 4140CMA and the 80CrV2
I have also been snapping some quick shots to supplement the wild plants work shops for the folks at RMJ, and using tools they are familiar with as a size reference. Like easy tips for distinguishing between Solomon's Seal and False Solomon's Seal, a topic that came up in the last workshop.
Solomon's Seal plants terminate in a leaf at the end of the stem. The flowers and berries grow along the stalk
False Solomon's Seal plants terminate in the flower and later a seed head.
Both are in the Asparagus family, both are edible in different ways, and both have important medicinal properties. But with the rhizome of one being an edible starch much like a potato, and the rhizome of the other being an excellent laxative, it is good to know the difference between the two in a wilderness setting
Some interesting contrast from my evening at work
.
