farewell Lydia; be sure to wear your seatbelt

Today was my last adventure with Lydia before she moseys south to join her sibs in Georgia and we had to do it up BIG style.

Big Crash Test Dummy style, that is.

Searching for giant objects to collect for my 101 (4 down, 6 to go - 394 days to finish) I saw a post about a giant crash test dummy in Maryland.
In Glen Burnie.
At the main MVA.
Like, less than 20 minutes away.
How is that even possible? 
   I was sure i had every cool/strange/odd thing of a gigantic nature in the metro area.
Turns out "Lamont" was installed in 2012
 to remind drivers to wear their seatbelts,
which is the same year i stopped traveling for work.

And i, like all rational individuals,
avoid the main MVA like the plague.

No wonder i missed it.

wee little Lyds - he's 5 times normal sized

But by jiminy, i was determined that Lydia was not going to miss it before she traded steamed crabs for peaches.

So we parked in the sketchiest, vaguely abandoned parking lot we could find by MVA and walked over to meet him.

Here we are in front of two large signs about the history of the seatbelt. 

No, really. 

A comprehensive history of seatbelts. 

On well-written, actually interesting plaques.

You kinda have to see it to believe it.

Good luck, friend and remember to always buckle up and avoid the peltzman effect. 

Lamont would want it that way.

was that 6 or 7 or 6?

Yesterday while i was waiting for the optometrist my eyes were dilated to aye-aye level so i had to keep them closed to prevent the fluorescent light from piercing my brain.

credit: Philadelphia zoo

Sitting in a room full of people with my eyes closed naturally makes me think of meditation,
which made me think of missing my meditation group,
which made me think of the blog post earlier this week,

which made me think of the original picture i 

used of day lilies that Cassie and Mike brought me after my dad died,

which made me think of my dad,

which made me sad for a moment, but then concerned because dad had an issue with his eyes that i was being tested for that very day,

which made me nervous,

which circled me back around to meditation,

which made me consider my meditation haiku,

which gave me pause, did the mid line actually have 7 syllables or only 6?

Hmmmmmmmm...

Yep, that haiku is syllable deficient. 

How in the world did that happen?

Haikus are not rocket science, people. There are only 17 syllables total. That is the whole point.

I think it was because i was toying with both meditate and meditation during the writing process. 

bah

I also realized that i spelled meditate wrong. sheesh.

double bah

So here is the revised edition. 

zazen

I have enjoyed a meditation group on Monday nights, but we are on a summer break.
sigh... i miss it
Meditating on my own has gotten easier, but it is still way better at the group.
So a pensive haiku instead:

Fun in the Summertime card

Today is the August Card Hop, going live at 8 pm on the NikCo FB page.
Here's a l'il taste: