Did I Mention I Love John Lennon?

• Location: Blue Pearl, New Haven, CT
• Description: blue crane with words to the song “All we are Saying is Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon
• Date: March 29, 2008

We went to Connecticut this weekend for my sister-in-law’s birthday and a non-Easter dinner at my mother’s house. We ended up going out to a restaurant in New Haven, where I left a crane. It was dark. I’m sure you can tell that from the photo.

While we were walking around the streets of New Haven, a bum approached us and asked us where the ice cream shop was, and then he followed us for a block. That’s the first time something like that happened to me.

I’m pretty tired. We went to the blood-letters today (aka a Red Cross blood drive). I think I’ll go.

And Keep Your Eyes Wide

• Location: on top of a cooler, Sports Authority
• Date: March 28, 2008
• Description: Pink crane with the words to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A-changin’” in red

I had a very specific quest tonight: find a stainless steel water bottle. (As we looked, all I could think about was how I’d be marking myself.) I have a Nalgene, but I’m concerned about hormone-disrupting toxins leeching into the water and possibly being the cause of the migraines. I drink from my Nalgene every day, and it goes to work with me, and I’m clumsy so I drop it and it gets rolled around and everything, otherwise I would get the No Impact Man style of reusable water bottle. Am I making excuses? Possibly.

So we left home in search of a stainless steel water bottle. You’d think it would be so easy, since they’re getting rave reviews. Guess what? It’s not. We went to three stores, and two were sold out and one just didn’t carry them. I couldn’t believe it. My quest was unfulfilled.

I chose “The Times They are A-changin’” for tonight’s crane because of this part:

Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside raging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing

Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command

It’s not the typical peace quote, but it’s quite poignant. I think it fits very nicely with the theme of this blog. I’m a big fan of activism of any kind. As long as you’re organized and going for what you believe in and trying to make a difference, although I might not always agree with what you say…. I was especially optimistic tonight because we just watched the show “Eli Stone” before we left, and it was an episode with George Michael in it. George Michael was lending his star power to talk about how abstinence-only education doesn’t work, and that it’s important to give kids all the options. I love it when people bring these issues up on something as widely seen as a television show — and it really was George Michael. That makes it all the better when a famous person stands up to say something. On a side note, Bob Dylan wrote these great protest songs, and then later denounced that they were actually protest songs. I suppose it speaks to the longevity of the song — if we had thought they only applied to the political upheaval from the Vietnam War, then would we remember them the way we do today?

I guess until I find a stainless steel water bottle, I’ll pull a glass jar out of the recycling, wash it out and use that. Then, maybe if I realize I’m not going to break it, I’ll stick with it. Hm.

What are we Going to do About the Other Generation?

• Location: the wall, Cafe Escadrille
• Date: March 27, 2008
• Description: aqua-ish crane with the lyrics to the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan written in brown

For the past few weeks, I’ve been easing myself into the new job and out of the old, and today was the last day of my fabric job. To celebrate, my boss took me and Lynne, my early 40s-ish replacement, out to lunch at the Cafe Escadrille. We had a nice lunch. The restaurant as a beautiful old-world India feel — lots of rich carving and plants everywhere. I could see at least two great places to leave cranes in terms of photography, but they were very much in the open. At the last minute, I took a detour into the sitting room and spied a ledge where one rock poked out along the rock wall. It was just the right size for a crane.

My boss, meanwhile, thought I might have dropped something or needed help with my coat, because he came right over. “What are you doing?” He asked in what I thought of as an unnecessarily loud voice, “What’s that?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I said, and fumbled with my camera.

“What’s what?” Now Lynne became involved, “What are you doing? Why are you taking that picture?”

“I’ll tell you,” I said, “but not at the moment. Just — hang on.” I steadied my hand to take a non-blurry picture in the semi-darkness.

“This is weird,” Steve announced, but he was smiling. “Is this some kind of game?”

“I don’t understand. What’s that bird thing?” Lynne wanted to know.

I tried hard not to laugh. Had she really never seen origami before? “I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said and took another picture. “Okay, got it. Let’s go,” I stowed my camera back in my pocket and started to walk away.

“Wait! You forgot your bird,” Lynne and Steve said at the same time. It really was in unison — I notice these things. I also noticed that Lynne went to grab it off the wall.

“No, leave it, let’s go,” I gestured for them to follow me, feeling like I was in a three stooges skit. We managed to walk out without looking too guilty, I thought, and I told Steve and Lynne about The Crane Project. They weren’t impressed. More likely, they thought I was nuts. Oh well.

I put Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind” on this crane because of these lyrics:

Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

Bob Dylan’s lyrics are cool.

What Would Happen If….

• Location: the shoe store
• Date: March 25, 2008
• Description: blue crane with the song title “99 luftballons,” by Nena on it, as well as a brief description of what the song’s about.

Did you notice how the blue cranes photograph really well? They look so nice — although I have had some really great pictures of other colors. And get this: on the shoe boxes in the background of this picture, there’s a very faint “peace” above the word “happiness.” How serendipitous. I didn’t even realize until I looked at this picture. Okay, back to Nena. The song 99 Luftballons is about how the military would overreact if they saw a mass of balloons floating in the air — they’d probably think it was an enemy aircraft, and everyone would nuke each other and no one would win. This song was particularly popular in the early 1980s, the Cold War era. The original version is in German, and the English version isn’t an exact translation. you should watch the video. I love it.

I went to the shoe store last night, left the crane, left the store for an hour or so, and then came back. It was still there the first time I looked, but on my way out, I realized it was gone. I think one of the employees took it, the one who was vacuuming that side of the store. Hurray! She looked to be about my age. I wish I had seen her pick it up, because that would’ve been cool. In case you missed the tally, so far one person has come forward to claim a crane out of all the ones I’ve left. You can see her message on The Crane Project page by clicking the link at the top.

That’s it about cranes for today.

Boston from a Bird’s-eye View

• Location: Skyway Observatory atop the Prudential center
• Date: March 22, 2008
• Description: Yellow crane with a pretty design and the word “peace” on the wings

On Saturday, my friends Patti, Cheryl, Seth and I went into Boston to hang out at the top of the Prudential center. If you’ve never been, the view is amazing. It was a clear day, and we could see for miles. The Skyway Observatory has loads of information about immigrants and how they shaped Boston through the ages. It also has lots of interesting tidbits of information. In addition to learning about The Great Molasses Flood, we learned that the Back Bay is home to the richie-rich, and we saw Fenway Park. If you look carefully, you can make out the baseball field in today’s photo, just to the left of the highway. I’m don’t consider myself a big baseball fan, but even I got excited when I saw Fenway.

Funnily enough, we didn’t walk around Boston. We spent a few hours at the top of the Prudential center, and then had lunch, walked around the mall a little and left. And we were exhausted (at least, I was). But now we have a plan: go to the North End, visit the old North church, see where Paul Revere lived, eat some great Italian food, and poke around the Isabella Gardner museum. You’re welcome to join us.