Some Photos I Found on My Cell Phone

Once upon a time, I couldn’t see the point of these new-fangled gadget cell phones that can text-message, play MP3’s, take pictures, and sometimes can just barely not even make a phone call. (You know what I’m talking about.)

Today, however, I copied all the files from my cell phone onto my computer, and I found numerous photos that I and my kids had taken, some of which are kinda cool, and others of which bring back memories. Most of us don’t carry a camera around, but we do carry our cell phones around. So when a photo-op presents itself, good thing we have some way to capture the moment.

(By the way, my cell phone takes pictures no better than any other cell phone, of much lower quality than the camera my brother’s uses to take his pro-quality photos. Most of the shots on there stunk. But some of them I was able to salvage, and the images you see here have been enhanced and processed to look half-decent.)

Start with this cute shot I took, across the parking lot from my favorite Starbucks. When I saw these two storefronts, side by side, the only thing I could think was, I wonder if they’re in business together.

(You can click on the photo for a higher-resolution image.)

So, I have my radiator replaced…

Some time ago, the radiator on the 1998 Saturn had been leaking. And the coolant pump had blown as well. As I recall, I had them replaced, because they were leaking coolant, and it was really annoying that my engine kept overheating.

After a few months, my Beloved took it into one of those while-you-wait oil-change places. They did their thing and checked all the fluids and what not.

So a few nights later, I pull out of the parking lot, get a few hundred feet down the road, and the coolant warning light starts flashing at me. Oh no. Not again! I turn around and park back in the lot. Good thing I have a jug of coolant in the trunk, left over from before the last time I had the coolant system fixed. I pop the hood, wondering if it’s still safe to remove the cap to the coolant reservoir. And what do I see?

Oy vey! Hello? Did someone forget something?

In case you can’t tell what’s going on in the photo, the black-and-yellow thing near the top-left is the coolant cap, sitting there nice and pretty for the camera. And the white thing with the flashlight on it, in the middle, is the (uncovered) coolant tank.

No wonder I was losing coolant.

Fortunately, after the initial shock, and a promise never again to let my car go to a while-you-wait oil-change place, it was a fairly straightforward matter to refill the reservoir with coolant and properly replace the cap. It’s been fine ever since. (Or at least that part of the car has been fine.)

Parking Inside the Lines

I guess I’m the one of the few people who played with crayons as a kid. Because it bugs me that people can’t park inside the lines.

We have limited parking at our apartment complex. So every, tiny parking space is valuable. It’s a constant here, though, that someone it bound to want more than one space for his car.

When they do this, it means that the next space over is too small to fit a car comfortably. I often end up telling the rest of the family to get out so that I can squeeze the car in. And I have no compunctions about banging my driver’s-side door into the car next to me in order to squeeze myself out.

Fourth of July on the Lake

I didn’t get any pictures of the fireworks. Last Fourth of July, we visited with my Beloved’s family at her Dad’s place on Lake Contoocook in New Hampshire.

That’s where my Beloved and I honeymooned, in the chilly off-season September air. A budget honeymoon it may have been, but it was still romantic. We cuddled up in front of the fireplace to keep warm, and went shopping in Keene, and had dinner at the Woodbound Inn. But that’s another story.

I don’t know whose toes these are:

I’m thinking they’re probably my Firstborn’s. Here she is on my father in-law’s boat:

And of course the Little One had a lot of fun playing in the sand as well. (Maybe those were her toes.)

As you can see, she’s not so little anymore. But she still insists that I call her my Little One.

Old Herb, We Hardly Knew Ye

You may recall that over the summer, we got rid of Old Herb, our old Volvo. This was the first car we got after the kids were born. So the following photos stir memories:

It was his time to go. Too many things wrong with him. And you can’t even see them all in these shots. But we’ll always remember him fondly.