Christmas color

It's Christmas day and I am wishing all (like there are millions) of those who might be reading or looking at my blog,  Merry Christmas to you and yours.  I hope that your day and the season is what you wish it to be.

Today was a quiet day.  I went for a drive today, and looked hard for color in my world.  I mentioned this in an earlier post that unexpected color could some times make your day.  I did not find today an exception to that rule.  It is difficult sometimes to celebrate a holiday alone, even after some significant experience doing just that.  I am not sure why that is.  But no matter.  Soon it won't be the holiday.

My wish to the friends and family who do read this is that you all find the unexpected color in your worlds and celebrate it.  Merry Christmas, and enjoy your day.

Trees

Today it snowed again, a wet, sticky snow that while pretty, was also a mess to shovel and to drive in.  My drive was pretty lonesome--here, in both cases, I just stopped the car in the middle of the road, and took several photos.  It wasn't like I needed to dodge traffic.  I have no doubt that people were sharing the day with their families, and not driving about.  It was fun to take some photos in black and white--the world has seemed to be in black and white lately with all of the snow.  

There is a photographer from Prague named Josef Sudak who mostly made his career from photos that he took either in his house, out of his window, or within a mile or two of his house.  Sometimes I feel that I am following this lead--you all have seen a lot of photos from my world that have been taken within a few minutes walk or drive from my house.  This is is my neighbor's "gate to no particular place."  Fairly Zen-like with all the snow.

Trees

I have mentioned the trees and their coating of snow, and had to add this photo. This is from my deck, and it captures the trees that tower over the houses below mine. I will post a happy Christmas blog, but this should do for a happy Christmas Eve blog.

morning vision...

So most mornings this is my first real vision, other than me in the way too big mirror after the shower. We won't go there... Of course, in the Midwest, we would be lucky to say that we have a "local" neighborhood Starbucks. In Bellingham, people ask "where the heck do you live?" if you DON'T have a local Starbucks. Thankfully, I have one, and this is mine...on a cold, snowy, slushy, winter morning, it is a nice site (thing?) to see, especially compared to the one I just saw in the mirror!

More snow...

There was more snow today, and even more in what they call around here "the County," which is every where else but the city of Bellingham. Here are two shots of the campus. Alas, the ball fountain is hardly a fountain but merely a place to pile on more snow.

decks

Last night we received another 2-3 inches of snow, and we are "enjoying" our third snow day with the school closed.  You can see from the photo on the left how much snow we have had, and remember the one snowplow in town.  It is pretty and there are no decorated Christmas trees that I have ever seen that can match a 75 foot tall stand of trees that were decorated by snow.  Of course, I took these basically through windows--I am not going out in all of that!  I will, though, and may even take a photo beyond a "drive-by" shot.  You know, an intentional, planned photo.

Color

So sometimes you drive around and then you see something that makes you stop.  It was almost a monochrome day today, with gray sky and lots of white snow.  On my way to my favorite used book store, I noticed this wall, an unexpected burst of yellow orange.  Nothing significant, and really not a great photo.  But the color struck me and made the day considerably warmer.

People have asked what I am doing for Christmas, and the answer is not much.  I am finding this Christmas season to be considerably harder than I suspected it might be.   I am still thinking about why that might be.  A bit lonesome, I am sure.  I miss my Dad--very certainly I was far from a perfect son, but I am also pretty certain that there not many years in the past 15 that I would not have been planning, no matter where I was, a way to see him in Eau Claire.  I miss him, is all, and while that will ease, it still hurts today.  I am uncertain about this season.  So I think that I will be wandering around, and maybe looking for that occasional blotch of color.  I am sure that it is there.

Winter...

I am certain that if anyone is looking at this blog from the Midwest, they are laughing at this photo.  And making fun of me whining about the snow.  I know, it was -22 today, etc etc.  But put this in a NW perspective.  The other day, I was at Village Books, a great bookstore in Fairhaven.  The owner is a trustee at Whatcom and a really good guy.  He pointed out that his home town in central Illinois has 3,000 citizens, and he reminded me that his little town back east has more snow removal equipment than Whatcom County has.   Honestly, it has a few snow plows and a few sand trucks.  That is it.  My street has not been plowed nor will it be plowed.  Any street smaller than say, Main Street in Findlay, or Bracket Ave. in Eau Claire is not plowed.  That means that roads remain snow covered and slippery way longer than any decent Midwesterner would stand for.

A water photo

I have been here what, four months or more and I have spent very little time near the water.  On Thanksgiving day, I wandered through the harbors, and found this scene.  I was amazed by the boats--Bellingham is home port to a significant fishing fleet, and these boats fish from from Puget Sound to far away Alaska, for salmon, halibut, and crab.  Alas, it is mostly mothballed for much of the year--seasons for different catches are sometimes measured in hours and days.  I have no idea of the economic model of this industry, other than it must be a tough way to make a living.

me

OK, how vain is this that I post a photo of me, hat head, chubby self and all.  Still, as that famous philosopher, Pop-Eye, said, "I yam what I yam."  And, I am afraid,  that I do look like this.  

sunset #2

Despite the snow, we have had amazing sunsets (good for that perspective thing).  It also points out why I love where I live...this was taken when I stepped out of my car the other night, and I promise that this is an almost untouched photo--no photoshop.

Sunset

I know, no more sunsets.  What can I say.  This was taken at one of the local parks on Friday afternoon.  It is such a different thing to have an ocean as a visual component of photos.

It has been a difficult time at work these past few weeks.  We are planning for a major budget cut, and my job is changing in a direction that not only do I not like, but in a way that is very different from what I signed on for.  I don't know what to think about that at all.  I am trying to work through this--I like so much of my job and many of the people that I work with and I love the area.  But I want to do what I was hired to do or thought I was hired to do.  It has been difficult, as I have found out that I am very emotional about this, and it has made for some interesting meetings--as I have said to others, it is personal, and my personality is part of the larger discussion. It has made me think about what I have been upset about, and it really is that I am angry about the change in responsibility, not in the diminishment of authority.  Career wise, if this goes the way it is being described right now, I will be a director, basically reporting to or at least on an org chart below a chair.  Much more difficult to lead from that level.  Not impossible, but certainly more difficult.

So I get frustrated by that, but then I simply run across a scene like the above photo.  Perspective is a funny thing, eh?  Especially when it comes up and smacks you in the head...

it is winter...

It is winter here--it came with a roar and with snow this past week, and while expected, it still came as somewhat as a surprise to me.  I remember it snowing once when I lived here before, and it was a huge snowstorm, with several feet of snow.  Oddly, for me as a Wisconsinite, was that it was gone in a few days.  I do not think we are that lucky this time--its cold, and this photo, taken a day after the first snow last weekend, is just indicative of what we have experienced.  Here, the Spinks' hand-carry their tree home, as roads were all but impassible, even with only a few inches of snow.  Ahh, you have to love Norman Rockwell...

It's been a while...

My single task for tonight is to update my blog--its been far too long and it seems as if a great deal has changed.  I look at the last photo that I posted and laugh--if only there were just falling leaves...more soon!

One thing that you have to check out is my sister Janet's blog--it is thoughtful and well written and she has a good perspective on life and "things."  Here is the link, but I will add it to the menu bar as well.  http://ponderings-limbj.blogspot.com

OK, I have fought this but it is over.  Yes, this golden fall is over...I took this photo on Sunday, on what was a beautiful fall day.  Weather was in the 60s and it was so nice.  I was working, and simply shut my computer off and walked out.  I should have done that without the weather, but what an incentive.  

Tonight when I left work, it was 43 degrees, raining, and the wind was blowing in 40+mph gusts.  These last leaves from a few days ago are no doubt long gone, and so is what was a great fall.  

OK, I promise that this is the last photo of this little waterfall.  This falls is on the end of a very nice, scenic little road that I love to drive.  It is a Zen-like road, and it is impossible to hold unto tension, or to think about things that you cannot change.  If any such thoughts linger, then standing on front of this waterfall sweeps those thoughts away.  It looks different based on the time of the day, and with the snowmelt or rainfall.  And, it looks completely different (as does the whole drive) without leaves.  I love the little falls in the middle of the much larger falls.

The Nooksack stormed down the valley, and while not at flood stage, it was considerably higher than I have seen it this fall.  It was higher yesterday, and it must have been something.  In one place I could see that the river channel had moved more than 50 feet from where it was the last time that was up there.  Trees were uprooted, and rocks rearranged.  Note the clouds.

This storm system is the tail end of what locals call a "Pineapple Express."  Warm air from the Pacific blows into the area, with rain and 30+ MPH winds.  Clouds stream across the sky at speed, and the sun peeks out and then disappears, sometimes within a few moments.  I caught this view of the sun this afternoon.

We have had rain here, which should come as no surprise to anyone.  I have told people how low the clouds can go, but I have not been able to show it in a picture.  I took a drive today and saw this house, almost surrounded by clouds.  It wasn't like this house was in the mountains, either!

Review of the review....

I have heard several good comments about my blog on the recent election. The best comments came from my older sister, whose perceptive comments made me think even more about this.  I do believe that she was basically agreeing with me, but she "localized" the comments.  I pointed out that the country has changed a great deal, and made significant progress to be able to elect Obama.

What she pointed out is that our family has changed a great deal in three generations as well, and in some ways our progress probably is indicative of the changes the country managed.  Certainly my grandparents had less than enlightened views of race.  My parents sometimes reflected their upbringing with unenlightened views that were shocking with our generation's (hopefully) more enlightened historical presentism.  Why this growth?  I would argue it probably happened because of increased opportunities, more education, and other opportunities to open our minds and hearts.  

I seldom quote my former father-in-law, for many reasons.  I often was on the other side of arguments with him, and we often disagreed.  One thing he said to his daughter, Lisa, was that each generation of the Foat family was a little less weird (his words!) than the previous generation.  He was right.  But time and distance has allowed me to realize that he often was right, and more than not, he often did what he did and thought like he did with good intentions and certainly not maliciously.

So each generation, thankfully, is a little "less weird" and more open-minded and more kind and more educated and and and...  Interestingly enough, it was the generations which preceded us, whose faults and shortcomings and closed minds we sometimes notice, who sacrificed so that we could grow and become a nation who could elect Obama.  

The week in review...

I have been thinking a lot about this past week, this historic week.  I do think that we have met the goal promised (threatened?) by the Chinese philosopher  who hoped that we lived in interesting times.  How can it be that a country that won't let gay people get married, still has two or three "different" America's based on class and or color, elect a Black person as president?  Maybe I should rephrase that...thank a higher deity of unknown gender or race that we do live in a country that can do this.  It is indicative of how much progress that this country has made in its 233 years.  It is also indicative of how little progress this country has made that it has taken this long. That we continue to describe our new president elect not by his accomplishments, like Harvard Law school graduate or US senator, but by his race only confirms how far we still have to go.

To continue on a theme I heard on one of the endless hours of commentary, I have to say that I did not vote for Obama, or at least I don't believe that I voted just for Obama.  I think that instead I voted for the millions of people who preceded Obama and made it possible for him to be elected.  I think I voted for all of the people who marched or sat at lunch counters and drank at fountains marked "colored."  I think I voted for the people who went to schools where they weren't welcomed, and for all of the people who have been arrested for DWB.  I voted for all of those who have faced discrimination of any kind.  The election of Obama was a victory for this very intelligent accomplished man, but it was also a victory for the millions who paved the way, and I voted for them just as much as I voted for Obama.

This election will not heal rifts that are historic and real between the races.  But I can't help but think and hope that this is a step in the direction towards healing.  But what a mountain that Obama, the country, and yes, everyone of us faces.  We need to address economic straights that are perhaps as dire as those the country faced in decade beginning in 1929.  We have two wars going on, with 155,000 troops in harms way, and we are spending billions and billions a day fighting these wars, most of which we are borrowing.   Millions still do not have access to decent health care, much less insurance for that health care.  Millions of others, young and old don't even have enough to eat everyday.  And this list could go on.

So why would I feel optimistic about our country at this time?  We have succeeded in transferring power from one president to another, and doing so peacefully, for the 45th time, a string that goes back to 1784.  And we have just done this by electing a first-term senator, a Harvard law grad who is younger than I am.  Oh, and he is Black.  Certainly 13% of the population has to feel empowered, but all of us, black, white, red, brown and the million shades in-between, should feel that way, too.  If we can as a country can make this step towards equality and even more importantly towards equity, then we might, just might, make some steps towards solving all of the other challenges that we face.

Absolutely we live in interesting times.  Thank God.

So what is this, the third photo of a boat, and the fifth sunset?  A bit unusual for me but the range of light and tone make them all interesting

The river drains a basin that is dominated by two mountains, Baker and Shuksan.  The two mountains are entirely different--Baker is a volcano, a real active volcano.  Shuksan is a geologic formation entirely different.  I have always collected rocks and it is interesting to see "cool" rocks.  On the river bed you can find evidence in the rocks of the diversity of their heritage.

Aspens flank the river, and I have made the 80 mile round-trip three times to try and catch the trees in their fall colors.  I haven't succeeded yet, but I will make one more trip to try and do so.

As impressive is the sheer scale of the scenery.  This vertical shot shows the photo that I can't wait to take.  It shows the really the four layers of texture and color that will make this photo...the stone, the small aspen, larger aspen and maple, and then a vertical slope of conifers.  Hopefully soon...I can't help but imagine this in color, printed as a 16X20 or larger.

While I have talked about the Nooksack River, I am going to post a few photos of the river and the area around the banks of the river.  It is a beautiful river and by far the most wild river I have ever seen.  The banks are littered with boulders and shattered trees...in fact, it is littered with shattered boulders as well.  The force of the river in flood season must be incredible, magnificent, and more than a little scary.  Yet because of all of the moisture and because the area is in the shade for most of the day, moss grows on the rocks along the river.  The river bed itself looks almost like a moon scape, yet 75 feet away moss-covered boulders frame an almost idyllic scene.

Once again, I prove that I am a sucker for bright colored trees.  These were just east of town.

And it is always nice to end the day with a great sunset.  This is off of my deck.

Rarely can you find such massive blocks of color.  I suppose I should have wondered out of town and towards the mountain, but I had to work today, too, and these were taken during a break in my day.  It is nice to know that parks like this exist in town.  This is about a 45 minute walk from my house, and the "trailhead," if you can call it that, is just few yards away from my favorite Starbucks.  The hike is about a two hour round trip, and it is a perfect break.

Another shot of one of the falls in the park.  Again, it was an absolutely perfect fall day.

I am not sure what tree shed these leaves, but you should be able to get some scale to their size by looking at my foot in the lower right.  Hey, everything is bigger in the NW...

This is further down stream, and shows the great color and the ripples in the creek.

It was a wonderful fall day...

It was beautiful fall day here, and I took a walk to Whatcom Falls park, and here are a few of the photos that came my way.  This is just below Denby Pond.

Ahhhh, mortality. Recognizing and feeling that you might be getting a bit older always makes you pause, and I have felt this several times this past week. And it is the unexpected that make me feel the creeping years.

I don't think that anyone who is my age has not worried about the financial mess that seems to appear, with increasing calls for panic, in each day's news. I have weathered downturns before, like 1987, 1992, the end of the dot.com bubble, and 9/11. But now, with less than two decades between income and retirement, losing a third of your net worth does seem more of a point to worry about. Maybe not. A third of not very much still is not very much, and it will over time rebound...sorry, I had force on these rose-colored glasses for that one. But it makes it easier to say that at least I have Social Security to count on!

That is the financial aspect of getting old. There is a physical aspect of getting old that also creeps up and then smacks you in the head. On Tuesday I slipped on some wet leaves getting out of my car so I could get my Starbucks. I felt something twist or pop in my back, but there were no immediate shooting pains, and I just stumbled in for my legal drugs. But after four hours of sitting in chairs for meetings I could hardly walk. By the time I taught that night, I was pretty seriously hurting--it really only hurt when I stood, sat, or moved around. My class noted that I was hobbling around and I explained that while I was diving in front of a bus to save a three year old and her puppy, I hurt my back. No, I told them the truth. So I was already feeling old, then one wit in class pointed out that I had to be careful, because at my age I could break a hip, and that would be bad. He doesn't know it, but he immediately flunked the class...ouch!

So today, when I stopped at Walgreen's to buy some ibuprofen for my still nagging back, I shopped for deals. I figured that I would/will need at least 100 caplets, and then I saw the store brand deal where you buy one, and get one free. Score!!!. This purchase, though, apparently triggered the store's computer that an old person was checking out on aisle three. The cash register quickly zipped out an application for the AARP. I guess that only old(er) people buy ibuprofen by the gross!

And so it goes. I honestly don't feel old, but I am sore. I see and hear about people my age who really are old, and I know that I am not one of them. But changing society's view that being closer to 50 then you are to 40 makes you old is very difficult. It is why I get ads for AARP, ads for drugs for old people, and spam 30 times a week for Viagra. Sigh...maybe I am getting up there, but I still am young at heart. That is a pretty good defense for the onslaught and the things that creep up on you.

Nega Files and other boxes: A recipe of our lives...

I love wooden boxes and have since I was way younger than I am now. There are probably lots of reasons--certainly I have been accused of compartmentalizing my life, but boxes also help organize, hold, preserve, and even hide parts of our lives. Lately I have been collecting wooden boxes and one company has partially inspired me. Nega File boxes are just that, boxes for negatives. They are beautiful boxes, dove-tailed and constructed of beautiful woods. E-Bay, the great democratizer of collectors, has allowed me to buy several, to share and to use.

In my quest, I have also bought several other wood boxes and among them were a few recipe boxes. I have always looked for and bought recipe boxes when I could and have for years bought them and often shared them with important people in my life. I love them--recipe boxes can be the history and soul of a family, and certainly can tell a great deal about what the family thinks is important. I have found whole recipe boxes filled with nothing but dessert recipes, and ones that are dominated by soup or casserole recipes. What does that say about the family that contributed all those recipes? Which family would I like to live with? Hmmm...

I recently found two recipe boxes that have intrigued me and made think about life and family, and how these boxes of artifacts share a great deal about what life is like for all of us. The one before me tonight is from the heartland, Minnesota, and it reminds me so much of where and how I grew up. The box is mostly filled with recipes that were hand-0uts from companies and newspapers. Provided monthly in gas bills by Minnegasco, they tell a great deal about the times. According to the little tiny date they spanned the 1960s and it was the era of the internationalism of our dinners. The Minnegasco recipes encourage Minnesota Norwegians to try more than Lutefisk and lefse. Tetrazzini and lasagne and tuna Mediterranean casserole and even pizza burger recipes spiced up these Minnesotans' lives.

This was also when Asian food was introduced to much of the Midwest and the box references to this, albeit with a twist. It includes recipes for turkey chop suey, Oriental port chops, sukiyaki, and beachcomber Cantonese spareribs. What is so interesting is the scope of the world that is covered in this box. There is a recipe for Hungarian sauerkraut, and beef Bourguignon, which promises to make a delicacy of beef stew. If that doesn't work for you and you are hankering for French cooking, there are directions for beef en casserole Parisienne style. In case the former owners forgot their heritage, there is even a recipe for Swedish Meat Balls! For those more adventuresome, there is Svickiva Pecene--don't ask, unless you like beets and a cut of beef that I have never heard of before.

Some simply defy explanation. Why would a box like this include recipes for ham loaf, veal loaf, liver loaf, two different meat loafs, tamale pie made with corn flakes, and corned beaf and cabbage? There are three recipes for stuffed things, turnips, onions AND peppers. And two recipes that include tongues of some sort as the main ingredient. Who knew that there was a difference between ox and beef tongue, and that you could buy smoked and un-smoked ones? There were five recipes that include hot-dogs, included a tasty barbecue feast and the inevitable pig (s?) in a blanket recipe. Lastly, if any one is possibly looking for one, I do have a recipe for broiled sweetbreads and mushrooms. Just let me know, and I will send it out right away.

But the recipes can teach you more than how many cans of Cambell's mushroom soup are involved in the "busy day oven bake." (there are two, but the recipe does note that it is easily doubled for a large family What I found most interesting could be found in the authorship of the recipes. For example, can you imagine today saving recipes sent out in our utility bill, or the ones you get from Exxon Mobil when you bought gas? Something else really popped out, a contradiction that I don't fully know how to explain. In amongst the commercial recipes, Mrs. Edwin Johnson hand-wrote her " Famous Lemon Bars" recipe and in the same moment creates and then denies her identity. They are her creation, but it is not her name but rather her husband's name which gets the credit. Who was this woman who loved lemon bars enough to make them famous? A small point, perhaps, and one certainly influenced by presentism but why didn't she write HER name?

I suppose that in Mrs Edwin Johnson's world, it wasn't herself that was most important. More important were the consumers of her bars, her family, and her friends who she trusted enough to share her famous recipe. My mom, in her life, signed her life with Mrs. Kenneth R. Tetzloff, and I can somewhat see why women who were married in the 1950s did that, though presentism makes me cringe to see the sublimation of a person in someone else's identiy. Can you imagine that today?

But you can't help but to see the love that it takes to construct and then save a box full of recipes, especially one that contains and then shares the knowledge of how to make Mrs. Edwin Johnson's famous lemon bars.

I certainly would like to take that from this recipe box, and skip the sweet bread recipe.

OK, this place probably does not have the best coffee in this town of coffee extremists, but you have to love its style.  And Freud would probably have at least one or two things about this...

It has been awhile...

So this may be my "better get used to it!" moment.  Today was a gross, gray, very wet day.  I am sure that I have messed with reality by posting so many photos that have been of sunny blue skies and stunning views.  We have been blessed with a wonderful fall, but I have been assured that fall is more like this picture.  People now walk around with appendages of different colors and shield themselves with rain coats.    But only for the next 5 months or so.

It has been a very busy few weeks around here, and it has gone fast. I am surprized to realize that it has been two weeks since I had posted.  I am trying to think that what I have done in that time period that would be "postable" but I am struggling to think of much.  I was gone for three days to Yakima, and almost by definition going to Yakima is not memorable.  I have been assigned more duties at work, which was inevitable, but my days are increasingly filled with meetings, leaving little time for reflection or actual work--my days have gotten longer.  Still, that is more my fault.  Teaching probably was not a good idea for this semester.  Taking out 10-12 hours a week for the drive down, class, the drive back, and then preparing for class is taking its toll.    It is still worth it, and I wouldn't trade it.

One interesting thing that I have been assigned is the Interest Based Bargaining Team for negotiating the next union contract with the faculty.  While I have been intimately familiar with faculty contracts for years, negotiating one is a step into a different world, one not always tied to reality.  There are countless stories to this, and probably more to come.  It is also five more hours gone from my week.  Another irony that is funny--because I am a teacher at Everett, I am a member of their faculty union.  I am not sure that it is a conflict, but it is kind of funny.

I have taken only a few photos.  In part it is because of time, but I am really waiting for the aspen to turn colors.  It will happen soon, though with all of the rain we may just skip fall.  I need a project, but I am still struggling with what that might be.  I have thought about several things, but I am not set on which one.  I need to take some people pictures, though.  I love the scenery and the outdoors, but I like taking pictures of people.

This post is less than some others but it is more to let you know that I am alive and well.  More soon...

This is too funny, too accurate...

Check this out for a chuckle or two, as the liberal media once again bashes Gov. Palin, who shows in the interview how qualified she really is.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

I am pretty sure that the imaging limits of this blog limit the quality, but this is a nice picture with the wires and the light. Again, taken today on the way to work.

Again, we have been having amazing weather with great light. I took this today as I went to my car to drive to work.

OK, I love these flowers and their coloring, and they seem to represent late summer/early fall. I probably posted this to show how sharp that little camera is. See, size doesn't matter...

Baker and the Glacier, from down the road from where I was yesterday. These photos are from my little $100 Nikon, not my "real camera." There are differences but sometimes they work to my advantage.

Why I want a dog

How cute is this? These two were waiting for their owner (and a treat) at Starbucks

Fall morning, North Fork of the Nooksack River

Though not as early as I had hoped to be, I was still on the road by 6:45. The reward for this was this stand of aspen along the North Fork of the Nooksack River. As I have said once or twice in my life, "nice light!" There are lots of opportunities to shoot along the Nooksack, and I want to take advantage of them. One challenge is that the river is not this nice meandering river that flows gently in its wooded, smooth banks. The Nooksack exists by thundering down the mountain, and it carries silt, boulders, 150 foot trees, etc. It makes a new river bed several times a year. Still, it is a wild, beautiful river, and supposedly one of the best and most important salmon rivers in the Pacific Northwest. It will yield a few photos before the season is gone, too.

In the midst of the hike up there, a hiker comes across countless waterfalls--here are two of them, and believe me when I say that they were the little ones. Though that means nothing, as they are really variable size waterfalls--as the sun moves around the water, it melts the glacier in different spots. In the morning, the falls can be just a trickle, but in the afternoon, it can be a torrent.