We are at the bar, and we have “enjoyed” two sunny days although the temperatures hit 92°f (33°c) yesterday) before the rain returned. We’re going to have a cold adult beverage as we solve the world’s problems and try to handle Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt,
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “least-favorite word.” Use your least-favorite word in your post. If you can’t decide on one, use a word that just really bugs you. Enjoy!
So many choices, this will be difficult, but we shall endeavor to enjoy – that seems to be required.
“Hi Cheryl. I guess David is late.”
“I haven’t seen the old man, Dan. Do you want a Corona?”
“I do. Set him up with a John Howell’s Special, he’ll be here soon and it’s my week to pay.”
“Yay – cha-ching!”
“Cheryl, I know I tip better than David, but I’m not sure it’s ‘cha-ching’ worthy.”
“A girl can hope.”
“David. Where have you been?”
“I was here on time, but ‘Roundabout’ was on the radio. You know, the song by Yes.”
“I know the song. It’s a good song, but I hate that word.”
“You hate ‘roundabout?’ Why?”
“Because the idiots in charge of traffic engineering around here are infatuated with them.”
“Here you go guys, one cold Corona, one John Howell’s bourbon, a snifter of seltzer and a glass of ice.”
“Thanks Cheryl. Cheers Dan.”
“Cheers David.”
“The traffic circles you speak of, do you mean the ones on Hayden Station Road? They are annoying, but I think they were added for speed control.”
“No, those two are annoying, but they’re small, they work reasonably well and that road doesn’t have much traffic. I’m talking about the ones on Rainbow Road, the ones they’re building at the airport and the one they’re going to build in our town.”
“You may not like them, Dan but they are efficient. By the away, around here, we call them traffic circles.”
“Have you been through the airport lately?”
“No, why?”
“When you exit the airport, or the airport parking garage, the roundabout is NOT a circle. It’s more like a kidney with finger stuck in it.”
“It’s not round?”
“No, and if you want to go from the airport back into Windsor Locks, instead of Route Twenty, you have to jog around the kidney shape and enter a different section of the roundabout. It’s crazy.”
“No offense, Dan, but maybe it’s you.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that, well, you didn’t grow up in New England. You’re not familiar with traffic circles.”
“If you ask me, most of the people who grew up in New England aren’t familiar with them either. No one acts as if they know what they’re doing once they get in there, and they certainly don’t understand what ‘yield’ means.”
“Dan, I think you’re being a little harsh.”
“David, people in this town act like ‘yield’ is French for, go like hell, or that guy will get ahead of you.”
“Perhaps, but they aren’t any better at intersections controlled by traffic lights. What would you have us do, put a cop at every intersection?”
“David, do you realize that they are planning to replace all the traffic lights on the road to the airport with roundabouts?”
“All of them?”
“All of them. NASCAR after NASCAR from one end to the other.”
“Are you two ready for another ro…, I’m sorry, I don’t want to use that word. Would you like more bourbon? More beer?”
“It’s OK, Cheryl. You needn’t be afraid. We would like another round. Just not another roundabout.”
“Yeah, I got that, Dan. If you ask me, you seem a little agitated over it. It’s not like they’re putting one outside the bar.”
“Cheryl, in the past ten years, they’ve added five traffic circles within a five-mile radius, and they’re planning to add four more.”
“So, ♫call it morning driving thru the sound and even in the valley♫…is that what you’re saying?”
“You sing that better than I ever could Cheryl. It describes pretty well how I feel driving through the airport now.”
“I suggest you add some wings to that beer. You know, ♫spend the day your way♫.”
“Hahaha – Ok, Cheryl. Set up a round of twenty wings. Blue Cheese for the old man and Parm Pep for me.”
“♫You’ll be the round about?”
“I will.”
Special announcement – Next week, David and I will be entertaining a special guest. Teagan R. Geneviene will be joining us to discuss her current projects.
PS – Below the gallery is the 45-version of “Roundabout” This version runs about 4 minutes less than the album version.
PPS – As we recently discovered, if you want to read the captions in the slide show, you need to click on the ‘i’ in the little circle – Ⓘ symbol. Thanks WordPress.
No Facilities 
Those are some lovely reflective puddles!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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I am glad you like them. I love seeing them and the sky reflected.
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Maine has a few roundabouts and they’re all nightmares. No be enters or exits them properly and personally I’d much rather have traffic lights. Less danger of death that way.
Nice bunny today!
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There are several major ones in Springfield, MA, and they are disasters waiting to happen. One is even at a highway exit – good thinking there.
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Thank you for starting my day with a guffaw. A kidney with a finger? That hit my funny bone hard. But the roundabouts aren’t so funny, and a good rant about them is therapeutic; they have invaded the roadways here and made driving like some suicidal version of bumper cars. A roundabout near an airport? I don’t even want to imagine. On the better side of life, there are your morning photos. I love that first one, with the heavy morning shade over the puddle. And the portrait of the rabbit in the wet grass is really good, too — and for me to like any picture of a rabbit is remarkable.
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I know the bunnies have been getting on your bad side this year. These guys say they’re sorry for the behavior of their cousins. So far, ours are only eating grass and weeds. Traffic circles are the worst. The idea to put them at the airport, where the highway dead-ends, is crazy in my book, but no one asked my permission. At least you got a laugh. I like it when I can do that.
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I can go east or west and run into a roundabout in a few minutes. One works smoothly while the other one involves saying a prayer you make it out. Forget the Portsmouth circle and the folks who don’t want to be in line so they sit in between the two lanes waiting to cut in front of someone. They’re like a four-way stop on steroids with no stop required. :-) I mentioned to a younger generation person that someone has passed me on a two-lane road in a no passing zone. He asked how fast I was going, and I said I was doing four miles over the speed limit. He told me the accepted average was 15 over the speed limit. Hmm. I was reminded I’m a dinosaur. :-)
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15 miles per hour over the limit is not acceptable in my book, but what do I know? The roundabout by the airport seems so dangerous. In addition to being the exit from the airport and accepting traffic from the four lane road by the airport, The highway spur to Interstate 91 starts and ends there. So one feed to the roundabout is people coming off the highway. It’s just crazy.
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Quite a variety today, Dan. From The decanter photo to drinking it in the story, roundabouts and our proud flag!!
(It sounds like 3 more suggestions for Teagan! lol)
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That’s the bottle John’s Bourbon comes in, GP. The label has been altered in honor of our bourbon boy. We walked early, and the sun was behind the flag, so I decided to see if I could capture that without staring into the sun.
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You did a great job, Dan!
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🙂
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Haha! Those actually are great things, GP. I think I’ll add them to my list. :) Thanks for the mention. Hugs on the wing!
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Haha – you can never go wrong with bourbon.
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There oughta be a law against roundabouts! ‘Nuff said.
Hahaha! MuMu has become a standup comedian! Bunnies, puddle reflections, Old Glory forever proud, a squirrel, plus a bee in the Rose of Sharon, and Maddie photobombing another one of your shots. You made my day Dan.
Have a nice weekend. More rain on the way. Guess you can never have enough!
Ginger
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Maddie and I started our walk in the rain today. I told her we could go, then it started raining. It let up a little so we went.
MuMu thinks that the only think I should be doing when she’s on that shelf is brushing her. She got a little annoyed when I tried to get a picture.
I hope you have a good weekend, Ginger. Stay dry and give Murphy a scritch from all of us.
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Oh boy, you could be living in Wisconsin, Dan. Roundabouts have been the new thing around here for the past 10 years or so. More and more are popping up and while there are a couple in the area I hate, they sometimes serve a good purpose. When they rebuilt College Ave last year, they put in roundabouts at two crossroads that were causing traffic issues and accidents, plus they put in a bike trail. They make merging out into College and crossing on a bicycle so much easier now. We have one traffic “diamond” in the city, which looks weird, but it’s kind of fun in that I get to drive on the wrong side of the road for half a block. I feel like a citizen of the UK for a few seconds. :-)
Happy Saturday, Dan, and I’ll try to send some cooler, less humid air your way.
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I had to look up “traffic diamond” – that sounds interesting. Maybe after we master the circle, we’ll be ready for that. I think it would all be better if people learned how to drive. Towns around here are adding bike lanes to new construction and wider roads, but they end with a sign that says “Bike may use full lane” which I think should come with an animated sign of the cross. If I am able to ride my bike again, I am sticking to off-road trails.
I hope you have a nice weekend, Mary.
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I know what you mean about bike lanes on busy city streets. Count me out! I’ve been on a couple on side streets or for very short distances to get to the trails, but that is all.
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You have a sense of adventure, Mary J! I want to hide under the bed just thinking about that traffic diamond. LOL Hugs.
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Teagan, the roundabouts are scarier than the traffic diamond, which I find to be fun. Driving on the left side of the road is safer than driving into a circle with too many other people who don’t know how to navigate it.
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Thanks for the song from one of my favorite bands and for the tip on clicking the i for the caption which reminds me of going through a roundabout. They should just put the caption under the photo. I don’t like traffic circles either. What I dislike more are the flashing yellow lights on left turns. I don’t know how long they’re going to stay yellow. But I do like your photos.
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Thanks JoAnna. I’m glad you like the song. I loved “Fragile” I don’t know why they removed the captions and mad you press that button.
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‘Roundabout’ takes me back to my navy days way back in the early 70’s. The guys that ran the ships radio station were huge ‘Yes’ fans so it was played frequently as was the whole ‘Yessongs’ album. Just found a live version on YouTube so time for a nostalgia trip I think!
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I’m glad I could inspire that 🙂
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You make puddles and leaves look like fashion models! Thanks for the music, too. :)
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My pleasure. Thanks!
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Solution – definition : a means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation. If it does not solve the problem it is not the right solution. So if drivers cannot follow the courtesies, rules, or safely navigate the course it is not a solution. Dan the traffic kidney with an off ramp from the freeway sounds like and no doubt is the wrong solution. No doubt something or several somethings were skipped when this design was chosen. Not my monkeys… Now back to the bunnies. Happy Saturday. ps – we will not get into the discussion of why monkeys ends in ‘ys’ and bunnies is ‘ies’. English would appear to have its own ‘circles.’
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Haha. Thanks John. As always, you bring a bit of wisdom and whimsy to the field. I appreciate that.
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Hi Dan. Huge thanks for the mention. I’m looking forward to visiting with you and the crew next week. I’ll be sharing that post on my blog, in advance of starting the new “pantser” serial the week after that.
I always enjoy your photo captions, but what is it with WordPress? They must be getting paid by the click.
Thanks for the song! I love that one, but haven’t thought about it in years. Although a traffic roundabout is enough to give me nightmares. LOL. Hugs on the wing!
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As you see, Teagan. When you master the circle, it’s time to step up to the diamond. I suggest letting Mary drive.
We’re looking forward to your visit. As for WordPress and the captions, I can only guess they forgot that bloggers like to write things people can read – like captions!
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I am not a fan of roundabout’s. Specially if I have to share. I hate sharing the road! Love the puddles.
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Around here, you have to share, Pam. Unless you’re from Massachusetts. Those drivers are not known for sharing. I’m glad you like the puddles.
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Such a great song–thanks for that, Dan! Oh, MuMu–you are hilarious! The raindrops on the tips of the blades of grass are so pretty. Nice leaf, but those raindrops…!! Ya know, in Jersey, they were always called circles. Then I moved down here and they call them roundabouts…weird. We have one roundabout in town, that I know of. The big thing in my town now is ‘flyovers.’ Oh, yes, they are reconstructing the exit from one of our bridges and building a flyover. Up further on the interstate–a flyover. I guess traffic has gotten so ungodly the flyover helps alleviate it, but the DOT seems a bit flyover happy lately. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, Dan.
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But Jersey had Jug Handles, right? No screwing up a left turn in that state.
We went flyover happy in the 90s. One of our senators wants to bury I-91 and I-84 through Hartford and put a huge traffic circle intersection under ground! Yeah, we elected him to the Senate – what were we thinking? That circle would be permanently clogged with accidents. Cars would be piling up like in The Blues Brothers.
I’m glad you like the drops on the grass, Lois. That is my favorite part of the picture, too.
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haha! I forgot about jug handles. I’ve been down here way too long. Some things stay with you, and others are fun reminders. Traffic circle intersection underground?! Holy cow. I picture David spitting out his bourbon if you were to bring up that. I don’t wanna see cherries and ice flying all over the bar!! 😂
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My first time in Jersey, I missed the turn for a job interview because I was in the left lane to turn left. I missed three turns before I drove over the median and made a u-turn. I got the job, and finally figured out jug handles.
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Ha! My first encounter with true traffic circles occurred when we lived in Florida, Dan. Yeah…no, not a fan. And here in Lincoln, they are a staple traffic installation. If it is any comfort, no one here really abides by the obvious yield rules anymore than they actually stop at signs before ‘rolling through’ or yielding to yellow signals. It’s that people factor again. 🤭
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It is people, Cheryl. I guess that’s the one state-to-state constant. I noticed they were building traffic circles in Iowa the last time I visited my brother.
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It seems more and more we are being coerced into ‘duking it out’ on our own. 😏
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It’s true.
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Great use of the prompt, Dan. You know the captions are there if you look at them without clicking on them. Just sayin’ What happened to David’s cherries? Did the red dye #4 finally get to him? Looking forward to Teagan’s visit.
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Oh my goodness, John. I forgot David’s cherries.
The captions show if you hover over on them but only a portion of the caption. I tend to be long winded – I know, you’re shocked – people were complaining that they couldn’t see the whole caption.
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Looks like MuMu indulged a bit too much in the John Howell’s! I’d have to go with a second choice when writing a post for my least favorite word because mine is short and starts with an F. :-) As for those round things, I’m very familiar with them from Europe and they’re getting more of them in some places in Arizona, although not anywhere near us. My dad hates them but he doesn’t really have to deal with any normally thankfully. :-)
janet
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Ha! I can understand why you’re going with door number two. Are you guys ok with the storms? We’ve been reading a lot of bad things.
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We’re fine, thanks for asking, just happily getting rain finally. Up on Flagstaff , there have been mudslides where there were fires so when the rains came, there was nothing to hold the soil.
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I think we first encountered traffic circles while traveling in a different state. Although I wasn’t a fan (I found them a bit confusing and sometimes stressful), my husband HATED them. Now, the powers that be are putting them in here and there around our city. I understand the concept but they just seem like traffic accidents waiting to happen.
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I do not like them. I agree, accidents waiting to happen.
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We have exactly one round-about in town and that’s one too many! They’re especially troublesome at airports with so many folks unsure which way to go! Sounds like summertime weather out there!
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It is hard to figure out, and it’s going to get worse. They are moving all the rental cars to the airport. I don’t think it bodes well.
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I’m not a fan of roundabouts either. It’s not common is these parts but back when I traveled to Phoenix for work, I was always anxious about driving there. Those roundabouts were an accident waiting to happen.
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For your sake, I hope they aren’t contagious.
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Hey, Dan, roundabouts are being pushed here too. What’s up with that? People are so agitated they actually have signs on their lawns saying NO to roundabouts. I don’t like them on account too many people don’t know the rules …. the cars in the roundabout have the right of way.
We’ve had tons of rain here with the forecast for this coming week dry and sunny. Huh. Not putting money on it. I feel so bad for our neighbors who depend on the hay that is ready for harvesting now for Karma, the horse. I have no idea what they are going to do this year. You cannot cut it until it’s dry or it will mold. It’s so bad here, Dan, the air itself smells moldy between the humidity, heat and rain. It’s tropical here.
Great gallery by the way. Your Rose of Sharons are ahead of mine. When it stops raining hubby and I have to go out and stake both our big Rose of Sharons that have leaned over so far due to how wet our ground is. We get any more heavy downpours those “trees” may become uprooted. Hope your weekend is a good one so far!!
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“Right of way” ? That seems to be a foreign concept around here, Amy. People seem to ignore all the rules, at least around here.
I hope things dry out, at least long enough to get the hay in. I know how important that is.
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I also hate roundabouts, Dan. No one here knows how to use them either and it causes chaos. The only nation in the world who can use roundabouts are the British because they are so stuck on doing things the same way they always have and they are to polite to push in front of people.
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That’s why they work in England – they’re polite 😊
When I traveled to London, I got in trouble at a roundabout. I was walking to a train station to get a train to Bletchley Park. My directions included what exit to leave the roundabout at. Of course, I forgot that we drive on the other side, so we enter roundabouts in the other direction. I counted, I exited, I got nicely lost for about a mile.
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Oh, Dan, that is so unlucky and so funny at the same time. We have also been lost in the UK with all the exits. Terence always drives because I have no sense of direction at all.
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My friend in Ipswich always drove when he came over here, but I wouldn’t want to drive there, especially not in London.
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Speaking of Yes: I read that a version of the band, with one or two original members, will tour this year. Jon Anderson won’t be part of the group.
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Wow.
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Now I have “Roundabout” playing in my head — which is a good thing, because I’m a long-time Yes fan! I’ve even seen them in concert a few times. Raising a glass to you, Dan …
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Thanks Paul. They were a great band. I saw them once in concert.
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I love the sound the record player makes when you first set the needle on it! And this line you shared made me chuckle: David, people in this town act like ‘yield’ is French for, go like hell, or that guy will get ahead of you.” I see that all the time. And, I’ve done it as well – I got lost in one of those kidney-shaped roundabouts in Green Bay, Oy…I had to pull over and call my Mr. for directions on how to get back on track. I’m with you on the simple-shaped ones that work best on not-so-busy roads!
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Seeing the 45 playing was a treat. A special joy younger people can’t understand. I’ve had to go around more than once on a highway roundabout in MA. The exit I need it almost immediate, but I enter into what becomes the inside lane, as another entrance creates a new lane. I have to cross that traffic. Even though I have the right of way, they never yield.
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Yes, the 45 is great. I was super surprised when my youngest wanted a record player, and all of Mr’s old albums. She even goes to collector stores to buy them. The love of albums is still alive.
I still have nightmares about that roundabout in Green Bay. Thankfully ours aren’t as big and complicated as you describe. More power to you for being able to make it through them! Confused drivers may just be as obnoxious as rude ones. Talking from experience that is. ;-)
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Our daughter loves albums. The worry I have about the airport is it’s the first bit of road people in a rental car will see once they finish our transportation center.
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It’s fun when we share historical items with our kids and they embrace them! Oh, yeah, rental cars and newbies to roundabouts. When I was at the Minneapolis airport in April, I wonder if one would’ve been more helpful than the 4 lanes of cars parked there to pick up passengers. Traffic flow is a challenge that hasn’t quite been mastered yet.
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I fly into MSP when I visit my brother. That pick up area always looks to be a challenge. It’s like walking through a minefield pulling a suitcase.
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Bingo!!! That’s a great description!
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The puddle reflections are great!
We’ve got 3 roundabouts that I use. For the most part people know how to use them, but there are some that don’t merge well…but then maybe they don’t merge well on and off-ramps getting on and off the freeway either? 😀🤷♀️
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Thanks Deborah. I do think these bring out the worst in drivers.
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😀
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This was really fun! I’m with David. Of course I didn’t grow up in New England either.
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No room for roundabouts in West Virginia, Jennie – they would have to also include a hill ;-)
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Hahaha! They would. 🙂
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