Bosch

Seeing that Packard yesterday inspired me to install some parts on my own humble Yaris, beginning with new windshield wipers. According to one source I consulted, you should replace your wipers after 50 hours of service. But since that can be a pretty hard figure to calculate exactly, I prefer my method, which is to replace them whenever I feel like or when they begin to squeak or chatter. 

Which wipers to buy? Well, I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference, since we should be replacing them more often than we do. Still, I've had a fairly good experience these last two go arounds with Bosch wipers. This time I bought the more expensive Envision wipers only because they came with a 10% discount AND a free gallon of windshield wiper fluid. (Not sure what I'm going to with that since I already have most of a gallon left. But . . . it seemed like a  good deal, so I went with it.) Here's what they looked like still in the box. BTW, I had to order the rear wiper blade myself through Amazon, since the attendant said her store didn't carry them. Not sure what THAT was about! I think she just didn't look very carefully at her inventory list.

Wishing you all clearer vision of the road ahead. :-)

Packard

 

Seeing this was like stepping into a movie set in the 1930s.

Berlin

 

 

 

You may have noticed that I've recently been gradually uploading photographs from my 2014 visit to Berlin. This was my second visit. The first came in 1973, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. So when I spotted this book by Sinclair McKay at my local library, I simply had to bring it home and start reading. 

It's been excellent and a great companion as I sort through my photos. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

Bricks

 

'Tis the Season

Construction Zone

 

The Greensprings architects (aka beavers) have been re-imagining the swamp. You can see their most recent handiwork in the dam to the left. Their HQ, if you will, is in the background to the right. 

They've been at this job all winter, chopping down trees, hauling them to the construction site, putting them in place, all with the seeming blessings of our local authorities who evicted them from their original work site after their endeavors apparently threatened the integrity of a popular foot bridge. 

Viola Swamp

 

When I saw this photo I took of Greensprings again this morning, I couldn't help but think of a character out of a series of children's books I used to read to my children. Miss Nelson (aka Viola Swamp) was a substitute teacher. Viola Swamp was a strict substitute teacher who always instilled order in a class full of rambunctious kids whenever Miss Nelson, the class' regular teacher, was away. So much so that the children always looked forward to Miss Nelson's return.

I personally can't ever remember a substitute teacher like "the Swamp". For me, it was always the other way around. It was the regular teacher who brought order out of the chaos the substitute teacher left behind. As an older adult, I now have a deeper appreciation for all that teachers, regular and substitute, have to go through to educate our children. As they say, if you can read this blog, thank a teacher! :-)