Saturday, June 10, 2017

Mylar



On my way to work the other day I saw these red mylar balloons stuck in the top of this radically pruned tree, flapping energetically in the breeze. Then we had a couple of incredibly windy days and I thought sure those balloons would be somewhere over France -- but no, when I walked past last night, they were still there. Deflated and limp, but hanging on for dear life. They'll probably be there for years.

Plastics -- our modern curse! I guess they're better stuck in that tree than in the belly of a whale.

Dave had a work dinner last night so I came home and watched "The Big Chill" with Olga. I haven't seen that movie in years, and it was fun to watch it again.

Dave and I have been trying to watch the newest season of "House of Cards" this week, but I'm finding that my enthusiasm is lagging. I'm so confused by that show. Part of the problem is that so much time elapses between seasons -- now I can't remember all the characters and I have no idea what's going on. I think it's jumped the shark, along with "Orange is the New Black."

We have just a few days of school left! Three days with students next week -- and even then, they're not around much because they have exams and field trips -- and then two days with just the staff working. The library still has a fair number of books out, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. If they don't come back next week, the kids will have to return them in the fall before they can check anything else out. As Alfred E. Neuman used to say, "What, me worry?"

9 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

"What, me worry?"...I can't see you adopting such a philosophy wholeheartedly. It's not in your blood Steve. As for plastics - they make me feel very despondent. The shores of uninhabited Henderson Island in The Pacific are littered with millions of items of discarded plastic. It's such a tragedy and of our own thoughtless making.

37paddington said...

I applaud your newly zen attitude about the outstanding library books! I'm confused by House of Cards too. What are they doing and why? Plus everyone is just so unlikeable. I might not finish the season either.

Ms. Moon said...

We watched one episode of House of Cards and I said, "Nah. Too much like real life."
Done.
We watched the new OITNB last night and WTF? Really?
Plastic. We lived without it for eons. Now we'll have it for eons, even if we stopped its manufacture this second. Our entire culture is based on it. Plastic and greed.
I'm having a rough morning. Sorry.

Red said...

Plastic garbage worries me almost as much as global warming.

Sharon said...

I gave up on House of Cards last season. I decided the characters were so horrible I didn't want to have anything to do with them any longer. The good thing is, I could just turn it off and never look at it again. Too bad, we can't do that with our current administration.

Anonymous said...

The story of plastic will be an ongoing one long after we creators of it are gone. I'm never sure why humans don't wake up to the real world around them, but it seems to be the tradition of our species to pretend. Ah yes, "What, me worry?"

Jennifer said...

We just finished season five of HOC, and honestly, it's gone so far into left field (in terms of what the characters do and get away with) that it's no longer enjoyable. The first half of this season was super boring, too. Maybe they should have ended it by now.

Maybe someone could get a ladder and remove the platic from the tree? It seems to be an eyesore that's not going to come off naturally anytime soon!

A Cuban In London said...

Hmmm... red balloons... And they insist on sticking around... That's a sign, mate. Look at what happened in the last 48 hours. :-)

Have a great weekend.

jenny_o said...

In the fall and spring when the trees are bare here, I often see plastic bags caught in the branches. The first time I saw one in the neighbour's big tree that overhangs our yard, I realized what the strange flappy sound had been the previous summer every time it was windy! But in all seriousness, yes, plastics of all kinds (storage containers, bags, utensils, packaging) are so much a part of our daily life, and they weren't used at all until so recently, historically speaking. We COULD survive without them. But the will to do it must be found.