Metle Detector

Writer, artist, painter, sculptor, poet, seamstress... constant creator. All in one morning. Thankful for snow days because as Lucy says, "School just takes up too much of my creative time." [ M ]

As soon as she wakes up she will go straight to her little area in our apartment and start making something new or finish a project that didn't get done the night before. It's amazing to see her drive. It's inspiring and sometimes a little overwhelming. Lucy's creative needs are like an empty pit that we are perpetually trying to fill. She is so obviously talented that Marci and I are desperate to keep her interested in making stuff. In a way, both Marci and I are trying to give Lucy all the space and material that we wish we might've had at her age.

Marci captured this photo of Lucy in her natural habitat perched on top of a little table surrounded by crayons, markers, pens and endless amounts of paper. Our apartment in Wexford is small but Marci is exceptionally gifted at space management and has set aside this dedicated creative area which Lucy lovingly refers to as her "art space." On this particular January day it was only 8° outside and the girls' school had been cancelled. Lucy is once again busy in her space making another drawing about her latest obsession; Robots. 

Lucy's drawing of a robot she named "Metle Detector." January 6, 2018

Marci and I cannot figure out where or why Lucy became interested in them but lately she has taken to drawing sketches of different robots and machines. She seems particularly interested in the mechanics of them and how they might be built to perform different tasks. She has been asking for building materials so she can construct the robots from her drawings. 

Today she made Metle Detector and when I asked her about her newest robot she gave me the following instructions. 

“First, twist the little knob there.” she said and pointed to the first rounded lever of her robot. "Then, you go to this cog and it will go to, like, that spinny-thing that's full of yarn." Lucy excitedly pointed to other various details in her schematic and continued the explanation. "Then, if you hit the other cog, it will hit the bell. The bell will make a fun noise. If you spin the spinny-thing full of yarn it will go up to a hook and hold onto a magnet that will find all the metal.”

Lucy has made dozens of these drawings already. There is a whole armada of Lucy made robots ready to spin and whirl and buzz and make fun noises. I can't wait to see what she makes tomorrow!

OLD SOUL

     Before Ruby was ever born we somehow already knew her. We had her name picked out, we seemed to know her personality and we had this painting. This painting was spooky and beautiful and it showed us our daughter long before she became a reality. Marci and I would look at this painting and could imagine our future. When Ruby was born, when she became a real little girl, this painting would become even more spooky and beautiful because it looked so much like her! The little cheeks, the pursed little lips, the chubby belly and even the way the little girl curved her toes. This was a painting of Ruby! 

Painting of a little girl that Marci and I had long before Ruby was born. 

     Then, just the other day, we were at Marci's parent's house for a belated Christmas celebration. Their house is a giant old farmhouse that they have filled with amazing painting and photographs. Each time we visit I feel like I see a dozen new pieces hanging on the walls and this last time I saw a new photograph. In the picture, which seemed to be from the 1920s maybe, was a mother sitting with her little girl. There she was again! That's Ruby! The same cheeks, the same smile and the same little toes. Even the little girl's expression is exactly the same as Ruby's.

Photograph of a Mother and a little girl who looks just like Ruby.

     It's uncanny that these images look so much like my little girl. Does Ruby just have one of those faces? The kind that seem familiar to everyone? Perhaps, because I'm her Dad and think that she couldn't possibly be more unique, I can't see how common her features are. Or maybe, because I've never loved a face so much, I see it everywhere. Maybe Ruby is just an old soul. The perfect kind of soul that is filled with so much kindness and love that it has to exist constantly throughout time. Either way, being her Dad and knowing her is something that I couldn't be more thankful for. 

     As this year comes to an end I find myself thankful for both my girls. Being a Dad is something no one can be prepared for. It is impossibly rewarding and filled with endless love and dedication. Ruby and Lucy are simply the best things I've ever been a part of and I could never have known what real love is without them. A new year with them in it is the best thing I could hope for. 

Ruby Lynn Beighley in our apartment in Wexford, PA., New Year's Eve 2017

Maybe Try Harder

Ruby Lynn Beighley Laughing #1, photo by Marci Beighley. December, 2107

Ruby Lynn Beighley Laughing #2, photo by Marci Beighley. December, 2107

Ruby Lynn Beighley Laughing #3, photo by Marci Beighley. December, 2107

Lucy Marie Beighley in Natural Light, photo by Marci Beighley. December, 2107

     Maybe I could try harder. It's close to the end of the year and of course I'm feeling the need to make a list of all the things I want to change about myself. Resolutions. Do they ever work? Could I stick to them this time around? 

     Marci took these photos of the girls. She is an amazing photographer with the innate ability to capture those precious moments that we all take for granted. I'm so jealous of these photos. I should be doing more with a camera. I should be trying harder. 

     I give myself so many projects. Too many perhaps. I have an embarrassing amount of started and unfilled journals. I have a dauntingly expansive folder of images that I want to edit. I have so many books that I want to make... so many. 

     So this new year that's about to start, this millennia of MMXVIII, maybe my resolutions won't be forgotten by the second week. Here's to hope. 

HONOR GIRLS

Ruby Lynn Beighley, age 9. 3rd Grade Honor Roll Graduate. May 25th, 2017.

   Yesterday Marci, Lucy and I attended an Honors Ceremony for Ruby. She and the other 3rd graders who achieved Honor Roll status were celebrated at a special event at the school. The stage at Pugliese West Elementary was decorated with large numerical balloons and name badges for all the kids on stage. (For some reason that we can't figure out, the color scheme seemed to be black and gold instead of the normal black and red school colors. Go Pens?)

   Like all events at that school we all showed up very early so that we could get a seat as close to the front as possible. Honestly, you've never encountered anything like the seat situation at the school. I've had less difficulty trying to get close to the front of Pearl Jam concert! 

   The kiddos all got to come down and shake hands with their teachers, who gave them certificates of achievement and graduation. Ruby had told us earlier that this would be the "most boring ceremony" that they had done at school yet, but for us it was fun to see Ruby all dressed up on stage! 

Ruby on stage next to her friend Anna during the Honor Roll ceremony.

   While this particular celebration was for Ruby's 3rd grade class, she is not the only Beighley girl who made the Honor Roll this year. Lucy also was in the top of her class, and like her big sister before her, made it into the Enrichment classes. Marci and I are so very proud of these kiddos. They work so hard every day! They come home from a long day and then sit right down to work on their homework. They study hard for all their spelling and math tests, and try their best on all sorts of reports and projects. 

GREAT JOB GIRLS! YOU ARE AWESOME!

Ruby Lynn and Lucy Marie Beighley hugging. Both are Honor Roll Students! 

NOVEMBER

Looking East passed the receiving yard, Willard, OH. sometime or another in 2016.

This year is spinning down to a close faster than I expected. Turkey day will be in a minute or two and then ol' Saint Nick does his thing. The snow will come soon. The cold will come along with it, and the ice, and the darkness too. Seems like it's always dark this time of year. It's dark for a long time and then it's time to do taxes. Not my favorite time. Used to like it when I was a kid. But grown up winters suck!

Oh, Lucy...

Lucy Marie finds another frog friend.

You are such an incredible little person. At one moment you are so quiet and small and your whole world swirls in your own mind. You are content with yourself and the stories you make. Then, the next moment, everything needs to stop and hear what you have to say. And if the world doesn't stop when you demand it? Oh, wow...

I love you so much!

Meta Data

Lucy and Ruby swim in Tappan Lake, OH.,  June 17th @ 06:20pm. Photo taken with Marci's Apple iPhone 5s; back camera, 4.15mm lens, ISO 32, the F-Stop was 2.2, and was a 1/1208th second exposure. No filter added post. 

Here is a perfect example of how technology will let us all down. Now, when I plugged the ol' iPhone into the laptop it dumped all the pictures into whatever the iCloud is... BUT then I tried to copy all those photos onto an external hard drive. The images saved just fine. They are there. Like so many prints in the bottom of an old shoe box, with no captions. Flip them over and you won't see any information scribbled there in a faded pencil. Perhaps that is the power of images. They are both perfect memories and vague remembrances. The images are sharp but the detail are fuzzy. 

What Ever to do With This?

Ruby Lynn is a frustrated 8 year old as she spends her first day trying to ride a bike without training wheels. Within an hour, she's got it down and couldn't be more excited!

It's so strange to me that you might be able to look back at your whole lives through the strange filter of this World Wide Web. But, you might. As long as you can recall this Blog's name, it's address, then you will be able to look back as far as I've posted. You could see photos of you with your mother when she was just a girl. You can read words that your father wrote when he was as young as you are now. You can see the shapes of days that you can't even remember. You surely have the feelings. Ruby, you might remember the colors and emotions of the day that you first learned to ride a bike. But here! Look! That's you on that day! Look further back and see another day. See your history. Lucy, your first days are here. That's you in a bath.
For me, or for your mom, the images of our youth is lost to us. There might be one or two old Kodachromes in some old dusty box somewhere, but you've got full color digital vividness!

How strange. How wonderful.

Today was a day. One of "those" days. A good day. A hard day. A day full of tears and laughter and crying and yelling and cheering and then more crying. Today was the day that Grandma died, but it was also the day that we went over to the trail together. We spent the day as a family. The railroad didn't call. Nickelodeon didn't send work. There was no school. We were together. The four of us. Our little family. We spent the day together learning to ride bikes without training wheels. What a day. What a perfect day.

CREW CHANGE

An early spring crew change near Crestline, OH., 2016 photo by B.A. Beighley

Another winter on the railroad has come and gone, and with its final cool gusts I am reminded of my previous winters spent hunkered down in the front of my truck, trying to catch some sleep in the parking lot of the Connelsville Yard. That was years ago now, and for many winters after, the railroad had enjoyed unusually busy winter seasons. There were periods where things slowed down quite a bit, but most guys were able to hang on to the extra boards or hideout on some almost forgotten switchman's board. However, this past season was a brutal reminder that our jobs depend entirely on both National and Global economics. 

I've been told by the 'old heads' that when it comes to the ups and downs of the economy, the railroads are the first to feel the effects and the last to recover from them. Now that I've been through two really nasty recessions I can tell you from personal experience, that they were right. Back in '07 I had to chase my job as far east as Maryland, and even then I was only hanging on to one spot on the last extra board in that terminal. I spent months away from my family, and spent many lonely nights wondering if I had perhaps made the wrong choice in becoming a railroader. The next three winters were just as bad, but by the winter season of 2010, things had seemed to stabilize and I was able to hold jobs in my home terminal all the way through to spring. That was the same story all the way until this past winter. 

The coal is gone. Regardless of your feelings on fossil fuel consumption, and for reasons that people like me will probably never know, the east coast railroads have lost their biggest money maker and it is not coming back. Entire subdivisions are being abandoned, terminals are being closed, a lynchpin commodity is lost, and a part of railroad culture has forever changed. The end story here is this; railroading is changing, and railroaders themselves are likely to go the way of coal before I can make it to retirement age. 

I do not know how many more spring crew changes I will get to see. There should be plenty to at least see my kids off to college, and I may even make it to an age that could force to company to offer me a "buy-out" but I'm no longer certain that this is a job that I retire from.

COTTON TAIL SHOWED UP

The girls woke up to find all of The Easter Bunny's hidden eggs! Yay! Ruby and Lucy are both feeling better from the flu, but Marci and I are so sick we can barely stand... it's so nice outside and all we want to do is go play.