Mary's pix

A Rainy Day

2010-01-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 25, 2010

11 more months until Christmas.....

It is raining so hard out. The cable has been off and on probably 15 times. I really am not complaining as I am thinking about California and what a nightmare that is. And Haiti. We have just so messed with our environment. We didn't know 50 years ago what we were doing. I watched a Season 2 episode of "Mad Men" recently where they went on a picnic and afterwards just stood up and shook out the blanket, leaving all the garbage on the ground where it fell. Watching "12 Angry Men" today I was struck by one of the men just balling up a sheet of paper and tossing it out the window. I often think about when I was first a nursing supervisor and would walk onto the oncology unit and the nurses would be mising their own chemo. No ventilator hoods, no nothing. They would draw it up in a syringe and push the plunger in to expel the air and inevitably some of whatever was in the syringe would spray a microscopic amount into the air. But still...like I said, we didn't know what we were doing.

The knitting needles have been flying. The blue is a blanket that was knitted for BBB. I don't think I have had to rip back so much knitting on any project I have every worked on before in my life. But it did turn out lovely and reports are that mom doesn't really use it with the baby as it is "too pretty" and the whole thing about not putting blankets on babies. There was a skein of the blue yarn left so I knit some fingerless gloves for Liz but the yarn is so soft that it stretched quite a bit and I had to remake the gloves, cutting out an entire cable. Still pretty stretchy and soft but certainly OK to use sitting around doing nothing.

I am actually now knitting a tunic kind of thing for myself. A tunic with a hood on the back. OK. I guess where else would a hood be? I like the yarn. I like working with the yarn. I like the pattern. This is probably the first time I have ever actually used the exact yarn that the pattern called for. Should end up being perfect, right? We will see.

Knitting.....reading. Did finish "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive" from the Alex McCall Smith series"No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency." I enjoy the read immensely. It is simple, the story is simple. The look into the culture of Botswana is delightful. It was a short TV series a couple of years ago and it was probably the only time I have seen a TV show being true to a book that I have read/seen. I think there are two more books in the series currently but I haven't bought any books for a while. Well, not very many. I am not any further into "The Pentagon's New Map" but it is still on the coffee table waiting for that absolutely boring day that I will pick it up again. My current read is "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy. It is a fascinating look into life in Charleston for a couple of generations, the very deep south and the rigid, old money and culture that existed in those beautiful homes. Pat Conroy wrote "Prince of Tides" which I didn't read. His writing is kind of wordy, the story is interesting but the visualization of that life style is quite excellent.

Knitting ....reading.....movies. Today I watched another of Liz's DVDs...."12 Angry Men". Such an excellent movie. I have seen it as a play in community theater once but did find the movie quite riveting.

Ah, retirement!

Lists

2010-01-16T08:51:00.001-08:00

Saturday, January 16, 2009

One of the side effects of travel anywhere is coming back with renewed enthusiasm for my everyday life with this past trip being no exception. After putting 1777 miles on the car, ending up in a snow bank in a cemetary for two hours, being stopped in traffic on I8O West in PA and traveling 55 miles in 40 hours, and driving 150 miles through the mountains in a snowstorm, I arrived home pretty tired this time. I learned a lot about patience. In any one of the situations it took about three minutes to realize that I could do nothing about it so I just needed to chill and go with the flow. It happened that I had my iPhone with me, OnStar working, food, books, knitting, heat, XM radio...all of which helped to pass the time.

So I get home and it really took a few days to get rested and unpack, get the laundry done. I still have newspapers to read and TV shows in the DVR to watch. I had told Liz to leave all the Christmas stuff up as this is the year that I am cleaning through it and throwing out anything that doesn't mean anything to us. This year's additions to the Christmas tree are "Hounds on the Sound" magnet and am looking for something that says "World Series 2009" to add to the ornaments. The last of the tree ornaments and the tree will be down today and Christmas will be cleaned out. MLK Day is the new Three Kings Day, right?

Now....the overwhelming thought is to get my life into some kind of order. I need to really crank up my lists of things to do. I need to get everything straightened financially. I need to get my photographs into smugmug.com and get them tagged. I needed to read more books, watch more movies. I need to get my email and computer cleaned out. This is the year I need to buy a new computer, new luggage, and a macro lens for my camera. For what? A macro lens? To take yet more pictures, of course, that need to be put into smugmug and tagged. I need to really work at going through this house room by room and throw out stuff, take pictures of anything valuable for insurance reasons and so that the kids will understand what some of this stuff is some day.

I need to......I need to......I need to......I need to... wait......I am retired. I need to take a nap.

It's Genetic

2009-12-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2009

Liz has DVDs like I have books. She has a Netflix account and I am on it. Every time I order something from Netflix she tells me, "I have that DVD." Iit is time to start watching Liz's DVDs.

They are actually in alphabetical order on the shelves. Here is how the weekend went...

ET Boxed set. Didn't watch it as I have seen it and didn't really want to see it again.

8 MILE. Didn't watch it. No interest in watching Eminem.

THE 10TH KINGDOM. Didn't watch it. Looks terribly boring.

12 ANGRY MEN. Saw the play. Skipped over this but am thinking I want to watch it now.

12 MONKEYS. Watched this (had to take it out of the wrapper). It really was not good at all but I am definitely not a fan of Bruce Willis, never have been.

40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. Watched it. (Had to take it out of the wrapper.) Actually pretty funny.

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, ADVENTURES of BUCKEROO BONZOI, AIRHEADS, ALADDIN..jumped right over these.

Alfred Hitchcock. She has two DVDs. The first one had three episodes on it, each one 90 minutes long. Longest 90 minutes of my life. Turns out these were from when he was very young. 1930 silent black and white movie. Dreadful. The one I watched was called "The Manxman". Three to four minutes of people talking, laughing, crying, talking, talking, talking. Then the subtitle says something like, "But I want to." The other two went unwatched.

The second DVD was actually four episodes from TV--The Case of Mr. Pelham, The Banquo Chair, and Lamb to the Salughter. There was a fourth one that for some reason I didn't watch. Will do that in the next couple of days. "Lamb to the Slaughter". Wife hits her husband in the back of his head with a frozen leg of lamb. Puts it in the oven and feeds the police who are at the house investigating the murder, thus getting rid of the evidence. It was really pretty good. The others were OK.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND-skipped this one.

ALL ABOUT EVE-such a classic. Marilyn Monroe has a very small bit part. She looks about 18, amazing. It was good although predictable. I am not sure what all the fuss about Bette Davis is about although she is a good actress.

I also watched JULIE AND JULIA this weekend as well as SEVEN POUNDS. Both of them were really pretty good. I am definitely a fan of Meryl Streep and also saw IT'S COMPLICATED in a movie theater this weekend.

I feel pretty movie-ed out.

Siblings

2009-12-24T12:48:00.001-08:00

December 24, 3009

I have saved this for a long time, always struck by the last paragraph. A lot of it is pretty dramatic but that last paragraph seemed to stick.

I am glad that Karen is feeling better. Now I can hit her.

Siblings-A Sense of Connection

Anna Quindlen

I don't understand how people learn to live in the world if they haven't had siblings. Everything I learned about negotiation, territoriality, coexistence, dislike, inbred differences and love despite knowledge I learned from my four younger siblings: Bob, Mike, Kevin and Theresa.

In some essential way, they were my universe, even more than my parents. For while we costume ourselves for our mothers and fathers, pretend to be what they want or strike a pose as that which they most abhor, we let down our guard for our siblings day after day, year after year, without thinking about it much. We share with them real life.

"They're all you'll have some day," my mother used to say when we would bicker, fight or strike one another, as we did with some frequency. I always thought there was something pathetic about the way she'd say that, as though our siblings would be the sad leftovers on the plate of life, scraps of fat, puddles of congealed gravy.

But as I say to my own three children now-and I do, I do, almost despite myself-I realize that she meant something quite different. And I remember what I felt deep in my bones when I was pregnant with my third child, that she was an extraordinarily lucky person, not because she would have my husband and me as parents but because we had had the foresight to provide her with these two brothers, who, in the natural order of things, would still be part of her life after we were gone.

How difficult it is to fathom, to describe, to deconstruct all this, the common place bonds of blood. There is a sense of connection as powerful as a rope-those chains around the ankles that convicts wear when they're shuttled to and from prison. Lifelong, irreversible, accidental connection is like that. They are me. I am them. I say that now, knowing that some of us have almost nothing to say to one another that doesn't start with the word "remember". I say that knowing that sometimes we have been estranged, angry, uncaring.

"Flesh of my flesh," they say sometimes in the marriage ceremony, but it's just not true. It is not even true of our children who are part us, part someone dear to us, loved by us but not made of what we are made of. But our brothers and sisters: Well, it is all the same clay. That is why we can hit them. That is why we can hate them. That is why we can never really lose them or we have lost our history, our past, a part of ourselves that we cannot do without.

Going to try to keep this going.....

2009-12-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 21, 2009

Books! Books! Books! I have an addictive relationship with books. I think my "to read" pile (s) is down to about 59 now. It is a very provocative time of year with all of the "Top 10 of 2009" and "Top 100 of 2009" coming out. I am practicing great restraint at the moment, being quite responsible about the lists and simply saving them.

I made sort of a resolution about a month ago that I would only buy one book after I have read five from the pile. It is feeling pretty harsh at the moment. To be more precise, at the moment I am feeling that if I want to buy books, I don't know a really good reason not to. Except that I have 59 that I "had to have" and haven't read yet. But it isn't like I am going out and beating up old ladies or robbing convenience stores to get the money to buy books. Sticking to my resolution, I would have to read 125 books to buy the ones on the "Top" lists. Ha! I'm an amateur. I only have 59!

I have a sponsor in my Book Buyers Anonymous group, a group of two. Actually, she is my good friend and neighbor and she understands this addiction very well. In fact, she gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Hanukkah and, double in fact, as I write this she is out shopping at the aforementioned Barnes & Noble. So I think I am flying solo at the moment. Actually, if all truth be told, she is shopping with the gift card that I happened to also get for her for Hanukkah.

Reading the weekly New York Times Book Review section is painful. But they don't even have to be new books. Yard sales are another temptation. Everyone is selling books at yard sales. I have a public library two blocks from my house that I never go to. Usually when I want a book, I don't want to go on a waiting list for it. And I definitely can't put it on my pile and expect to return it in two weeks. There is an aspect to all of this that I fortunately am not afflicted with. One of my friends' elderly aunt would only read new books as "you never know but someone might have been reading it in their bathroom." She's right. You just never know.

Oh, actually there is one missing in the pictures. Actually there are three missing from the pictures. I am breaking my usual resolve and reading two at a time.

That's right, Nick. Nick gave this to me about two years ago to read and I am just starting it. I am actually finding it interesting although, like I said, I am just starting it. It is basically about how the Pentagon was in no way prepared to deal with or look at a world after the Cold War. All of a sudden the Cold War was over and now what? It is about how our country had to learn a new way to deal with the rest of the word. As it was written in 2004 it is somewhat dated but still interesting....so far. As a reader of pretty much only fiction, it is impressive to me that it is holding my interest. On top of it all, I think I have a friend who is involved in just what this analyst is writing about.

I read Stieg Larsson's first book....."The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and really enjoyed it. Then when I read that he had written three books, this one being the second of the three, submitted them to his publisher and then, at the age of 32 commited suicide, I was intrigued enough to want to read the last two books. So this is the second book I am reading at the time.

"Under the Dome" is in Liz's room but it is stuck in my mind. My friend (sponsor) read it and couldn't put it down. I became disinterested in Stephen King a long time ago when it seemed he just got too weird but I am definitely interested in this. The dust jacket is intriguing in itself, no writing whatsoever on the back or the inside flaps. No synopsis of the story, nothing. Blank.

I don't understand people who don't read.

October/Yankees and the Magic Bean

2009-09-30T05:38:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The end of September. The summer has passed so quickly as does all time any more. Is it the same for everyone.....a part of our culture now? Fast moving, rapidly changing? Or is it part of getting older and the sense you are on a speeding train? Whatever it is, it feels like October today. Time to take out the air conditioners, close up the windows, change to the winter bedding, reverse the ceiling fans, change out the summer clothes for winter clothes......and it won't be long before we put away baseball for another season. But hopefully we still have some exciting times ahead of us in Yankee Stadium. We will be at the last regular home game tonight and here's hoping that we will see most of the regulars playing. We're just waiting on the Tigers now so the Yankees can decide on the playoff schedule.

Tthree months ago Janet brought me her bean plant that needed some help, probably more light. The vines were all wound around a stick and needed more space to grow. There had been a few blossoms on it. I put it in full sun and unwound the vines as carefully as I could but lost most of them as they were so fragile. The few that were left were wrapped around a trellis behind the plant and the plant was well tended to for the rest of the summer but I watched it struggle and finally fade too far to come back. Finally I gave up and pulled it all out of the dirt only to find one bean....one very big bean....hidden in the vines. I left it on the porch to dry out and then opened the pod and there were five magic seeds. Let's see what next year brings.

Technology

2009-09-29T14:14:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This has been so very frustrating. I am trying my best to link this blog to my FaceBook page. I want to write the blog here, publish it and have it appear on my wall. Apparently it is appearing on the walls of the three people who are following me but it is not appearing on mine. I want it to just look like an entry when it is posted on FB.

It is that very frustrating feeling that you know that it is a matter of one little click, just one, a nanosecond, so close you can feel it but you simply can't find it. My computer savy niece and I spent an hour on the phone today trying to find that needle in the haystack with no luck.

A few days ago I was able to link FB to Twitter but now I have to remember to put my status in the Twitter box and send it.

How much information is too much information? How many places is too many to put our latest thoughts, ideas, rants? Does anyone really care? What is this all about anyway?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2009-09-29T10:24:00.001-07:00

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Could it be?

2009-09-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

I think I got it! I don't know if I can replicate it. I think I will give up if it doesn't work.

Another test

2009-09-29T05:18:00.001-07:00

Yes, yet another test.

Suspicions

2009-09-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 28, 2009

Where is the line between just interesting and suspicious? I walk my dog just ab0ut every morning across the City Island bridge. For at least a year in 2001 every morning there was a man in the small park just before the bridge. He was either sitting on a park bench or leaning against his car. I knew it was his car because he sat in it if the weather was bad. He had a cup of coffee and often was smoking a cigarette. A nice looking guy, in his early 50s, dressed nicely. Every morning he was there watching the skyline of Manhattan. I don't think he ever missed a day. I don't remember if he was there on September 11 but he was gone on September 12 and has not been there since. I wonder every morning what he was doing there and why he never came back.

It was a different time. I never thought much of it, just a guy having a morning cup of coffee, looking out over the water.

For three mornings now, I have seen what looks like a hired car drop off two guys with backpacks. They are getting out of the car on the other side of the City Island bridge where there is nothing but woods, nothing. They have the option to walk back to City Island but why not have the driver take them to CI? Going the other direction, Orchard Beach is about one mile away and there is not another thing for another four or five miles any direction.

Like I said, it is a different time.

Trying Again

2009-09-27T16:18:00.001-07:00

2009-09-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 27, 2009

They did it. Division championship. Home field advantage. 100 wins. Once in a while I stop and wonder what it is about the Yankees that I love, that I find so exciting, that I am willing to spend sooo much money to see. This season it has definitely been about watching the team work, every one of them having moments of brilliance as well as moments of "Oh, please. What are you thinking?" Derek Jeter has exemplified what it all means, the good guy who plays smart baseball year after year, no big splash. He is so smart about the game. His personal life seems to be above reproach. I like to think of the Yankees for the most part as being professional. People love to hate George Steinbrenner and a lot of it is merited when it falls in the arena of how to treat a team, especially if it is not winning. But he always knew how to handle the business end of it. He continued to build a dynasty. He didn't tolerate sloppiness--even if it was about facial hair or long hair. He spent big money when it wasn't popular. But the bottom line is that if you want to bring in the fans, you give them something to see and that costs a lot of money any more.

I always hesitate to be critical of other teams as I know how quickly the whole thing can change. Slumps, injuries, etc. certainly can make or break a game, a season. Booing, being obnoxious,etc. will always kick you in the butt at some point.

All of that being said, "Go, Yankees!"

Trying Again

2009-09-27T08:31:00.001-07:00

We'll get it. Patience is a virtue.

Testing

2009-09-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

Here I go annoying everyone again. Just a test.

Look's who has something to say

2009-09-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Have not been here is soooo long. I guess I just haven't had anything to say. Impossible. Seems like life is so full of things to do any more and so little time. Am going to find a way to link this to FB. Thanks for the idea, Margaret. Will get back up to speed over the next couple of days.

Can't see the forest for the trees.......

2009-08-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 7, 2009

I have been whiny about how the yard is summer ho-hum, not much new, just hanging in there. Yesterday I was weeding and my neighbor told me that some people had been taking a lot of pictures of the yard because it just looks so beautiful. So I stepped back and, sure enough, it really did look nice. The phlox are spreading everywhere and some of them are almost as tall as I am. And the dinner plate dahlia is exquisite.

So they were in North Korea illegally? Really? So we spent all that time and money to bring them back after they actually were where they weren't supposed to be? Really? Isn't that special now? Is a thanks enough? Really?

Yesterday it was off to the laundromat for about the third time in my entire life. I remember when we were looking for apartments or a house to live in my only requirement was that I could have a washer and dryer. Yesterday I took two very full baskets of clean but wet (and very heavy) clothes to the laundromat and actually used the wash-dry-fold service. You can't pick and choose what part of that service you want, have to pay for all three no matter what you have them do. When I went back to pick up the clothes I was so so impressed with how neatly they were folded. Felt like I was looking at clothes on the shelves in a nice clothes store. I couldn't bring myself to take them out of the basket. So I separated mine from Liz's this morning but they are all still folded so nicely. Do I really want to hang them up now? Now if I could find someone to take them to the laundromat and pick them up, that is a total luxury.

I was at Yankee Stadium for the first time in over a month last night and it felt good. Mostly it felt good to be with the kids but it didn't hurt that the boys did me real proud.

"Stuff"

2009-08-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 6, 2009

I just entered my 189th book on my "life List" since I have retired. That is very close to one book/week. Retirement is sweet.

I have been very, very involved in putting together a dog walk with the shelter. We are waiting for our website to go live in the next couple of days and then we will feel like we are officially launched. It has been a complex project to get this going which I naively volunteered to do a couple of months ago. So I just took a breath and plunged in one step at a time. Very complex. The most difficult part was all of the "suggestions" by the people who just did not know what they were talking about or how the process goes. But, then, that is always the case. So so stressful.

Tonight is my first Yankees' game in over a month. The dreaded Red Sox are in town. My boys haven't beaten them once this season so it is way past time. They are on a roll and Boston is kind of floundering so we'll see.

The yard is sort of on its summer hiatus, really only requiring weeding, actually more weeding than I want to do. The dahlias are the only new and fresh blooms on a regular basis. The few annuals are now pretty boring. Tomatoes did not do well again this year and I don't have a lot of hope that they will catch up if the rain lets up a little.

On my way to the laundromat to pick up my dried, folded clothes. Laundromat? Tomorrow the serviceman comes to see if he can fix my million year old clothes dryer. Still wants to tumble and do all that it should but has no heat.

Theory is wrong

2009-08-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. So much for that theory. I decided to give it one more try and voila! it worked.

2009-08-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 2, 2009.

I have so much trouble trying to blog and I think I have finlly figured out that it is because I have to run Internet Explorer with no add-ons so I can't add any pictures. That, in turn, makes blogging pretty boring to me. That, in turn, makes me not care if I blog. All sounds very negative although I don't mean to be. Just the way it is for now.

I can report that I am making progress on eating bananas with black spots. Doing much better. I was somewhat put to shame when Isaac told me that he likes bananas best when they only have a few yellow spots on them.

I think I just lost a pretty good friend of about 20 years because I asked her to not send me any of her political email any more. I think I was so basically disappointed in her that it ended up being disturbing. The last thing I got was a carciature of Obama in native African garb with a bone through his nose. I have been simply deleting her email for a long time but for some reason looked at this one. It was upsetting enough to me that I asked her to take me off of her mass email list which she responded to by telling me that she never sends me any political email that is not true. Can someone really get to my age and believe that?

On the Road

2009-07-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2009

Am at the Holiday Inn in Tonawanda, NY, right by Niagara Falls. This is actually the town where Al's mother was born 89 years ago. Left City Island at about 7:30A this morning and was here about 4PM. It really was a nice drive, not a lot of traffic until I got very close to here and the weather was beautiful.

A Holiday Inn is a Holiday Inn but all I am doing is sleeping and will be on my way in the morning.

Wireless internet access is great but I just can never figure out how to send email out. I can get it but I cannot send it out. I am sure it has something to do with some setting buried somewhere.

I also can't get images/pictures into this blog. Can download them and all but then it just shuts down.

Travel

2009-07-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Leaving for Michigan tomorrow. Staying in Niagara Falls one night and then off to my sister's for one night. Up to Paradise, MI for two nights, Mackinaw City for one night. Back to my sister's to stay at her friends and take care of their dog for four nights and then back to my sister's for two nights, off to Syracuse for one night and back home. Who dreamt up this crazy trip? I called my brother-in-law today to try to figure out in my head about clothes. What was I thinking? I was asking someone who wears shorts outside in January to feed the deer?

One of these times when I go through Niagara Falls I may actually stop and look at the falls. I think the last time I saw them was when I got married in 1968 and we were driving through from Saginaw to Syracuse NY. Actually I may have been there once since then.

2009-07-07T11:01:00.001-07:00

July 7, 2009

So many conflicting emotions about this man. Yet I sit here riveted to the TV watching the memorial service. Right now I would be happier if there was more music and fewer long winded speakers. This story is sooo far from over and we are only going to hear sadder and sadder things about all of it. Financial issues, court cases, his children, his family. I think we will see a lot of his final rehearsals for his comeback tour. So many pictures of him. Has anyone ever been so photographed as he has? Has anyone else ever had so very many different looks?

When I was a kid my family spent the week of the Fourth of July on Crooked Lake in Michigan where my grandparents had a summer home. Every year since then I find myself spending so much time thinking about those days. It was an idyllic time. We swam, ate outside, boated, watched fireworks. I don't remember a single bad thing about any of it except that I was afraid to go into the woods behind the house on the other side of the road. Sometimes I would be a big girl and walk about three feet into the scary woods.

Such a good, good book. Three more chapters. Just learned yesterday that this was Stieg Larsson's first book and that there are two more books written by him, may or may not be the same main characters, etc. This young man commited suicide after the third book was finished.

2009-07-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

July 4, 2009

What a beautiful day! The weather was perfect and there were so many reminders of what a wonderful thing it is to be an American. Tonight there was a knock on my door and one of the neighbors invited me over for a barbecue. Another one of our neighbors joined us and we ate skirt steaks, broccoli and potato salad. Drank a lot of wine and had cake for desert. It was one of those evenings that just happened. Then about 9PM we started seeing fireworks going off all around us in the sky. It was amazing. I have never seen that many serious fireworks going off right here in the neighborhood.

Still a good book but I am only about half way through it. Have too many other things going on to read much.

I have wanted to knit or crochet a shawl for quite a while and I finally found a very pretty pattern and someone to make it for. I am thrilled so I bought yarn yesterday and started it today. It is going to be sooo pretty.

Two months and more....

2009-06-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

One gets easily caught up in Twitter, Facebook, etc. and two people have asked me in the last few days what has happened to my blogging? Almost everyday I have had it on my list of "things to do today" and then it has been moved to the next day. That is what has happened to it, exactly.

It seems like there is a lot going on.

We had a visit from Uncle Nick. He was on his way to his summer "home" up on Cape Cod, passing through NY. It was good to have him here for five days and we managed to do quite a bit with him. Will see him again in October when he is on his way back to Florida.

Liz was in Utah for a week at the Best Friends Sanctuary volunteering to take care of the cats and dogs there. I admire her a lot for giving up her vacation time to do something like this. So many animals there and so very many with sad, sad stories. But now they are living in a wonderful place and it almost seems being adopted is a step back. Well, not really.

My yard is in good shape this summer. The hydrangeas

are particularly impressive right now. I was worried they were not going to make it, that I had perhaps pruned them too much but they are looking better than ever.

Let's see. Yankees vs. the Mariners tonight at the Stadium. Weather forecast calling for thunderstorms, hail, high winds. Hail? Hale? Why doesn't that seem right?

A good book. Started reading it and it was going slowly the first couple of chapters. Was going to quit--life's too short. But it definitely picked up after that and now I am enjoying it.

Have been spending hours and hours and hours writing a newsletter for the Shelter and a lot of people got a really bad email this time around so I am getting pretty beaten up for it. So little of it was my fault. Hey! What part of V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R don't you get?

Nick's friends

2009-04-19T10:26:00.001-07:00

Sunday, April 19,2009

OMG! Going for another world title? Most runs scored against in the history of MLB? the world? Same old story. They don't get paid enough.

Time to put away the Easter finery....

and get some yard work done....

Ooops!

2009-04-18T12:43:00.001-07:00

April 18, 2009

About four or five years ago, my beautiful lilac tree had a serious mold/mildw problem-whichever it is that they get. So I pruned the hell out of it to let in more air and more light, etc, etc, etc. It totally took care of that problem. What I did notice was that since then it produce in inordinate amount of suckers. I religiously cut away the suckers, preferring to save the growing energy for the blooms, etc. and filling the bottom of the trees with lots more bushes. So this morning I was cutting away the suckers and it seemed that there were more than ever. So many more. I just kept cutting and cutting and cutting them away. I was about 2/3 done and I thought-gee.....where are the lilies of the valley? I guess I won't be seeing them this year.

Spring

2009-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

April 17,2009

The windows are open a little. The sun is bright. The lilac leaves are about half way out. But most of all ---the birds are tweetering in the lilac tree at the window.

Ah, spring.

Yeah!

2009-04-16T07:15:00.001-07:00

Thursday, April 16, 2009

What a gorgeous day in the Bronx. Perfect for Opening Day. This is the first game in "our" seats. Haven't had the experience before of having the same seats for every day. This is going to be great fun. It will be even more fun if the Yankees win.

Sometimes I sit back and really just think about all of the wonderful opportunities I have had in my life, many of them just being in the right place at the right time. I have been very blessed.

Block Watch

2009-04-15T05:17:00.000-07:00

April 15, 2009

Our block has changed significantly in the past few years, dramatically in the last few months. After my kids grew up there were not any little kids on the block for a very long time, a very quiet block for sure. Then Jeff and Reiko brought us Umi and a young family moved in down the block. It still wasn't really a very lively "kid" block.

The Paradisos moved out and Cathy's father moved into their house. Both of the Bellochios passed away and their young granddaughter and her boyfriend moved into the house. The mom, who grew up in this house, now lives down the block. One of the women across the street has developed dementia. Alice Payne passed away at the age of 94. Her daughter now lives in her house. Vinnie has a boarder. The Peraglias moved in. The 50 year old nurse was let go of her job because she has early onset dementia. Mrs. Lake passed away and they are redoing her house to sell it. Cathy Duffy permanently moved into her mother's house. Mrs. Scotto was hospitalized and is not back home but her daughter has moved into the house permanently to care for her. Bill Mitchell lives most of the time with his friend. This has all pretty much happened in the last couple of years.

What I think about most is the older women on the block.

#1 lives all alone in her house with a picture of her husband in the living room. She is constantly asking her daughter who that man in the picture is. A couple of days ago I noticed that she had Christmas decorations in her yard. On Easter her daughter pulled up and got out of the car, "Ma! It's Easter, not Christmas!" I think about her cooking. She still walks to the market to grocery shop. I found her wandering one day and when I asked her if she wanted to walk home with me she got very upset and said that she didn't know me, why would she go with me?

#2 is probably only in her 70s and has just moved in permanently into her mother's home. Neighbors who knew her years ago describe her as "eccentric". I suspect there is an alcohol problem and a couple of near misses with cars on the block have pretty much confirmed it. That's fine if she stays in the house but please stop driving those two cars you have.

#3 lives next door but I don't have to worry about her so much any more as her daughter has moved in.

#4 I met one the avenue a couple days ago, crying. I walked home with her. She is 52 years old, also lives alone and was recently worked up for early onset dementia. She was let go from her job. Her brother and sister stop by frequently to see if she is OK.

Very sad to watch all of this going on although I know it is very natural, just the way life is.

Things are looking up--

2009-04-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 11, 2009

Justice served.

It is raining, raining, raining today. A great day to "catch up" on all the busy stuff that has piled up over the last few weeks that I have been gone, etc.

Finally got to do my taxes. Finally got to do some work in the yard. Finally watched a lot of TV shows in the DVR. Finally read some of the back newspapers.

The knitting....or not....ladies met Thursday night. What a good time we had. We all think it is not often enough so we are going to figure out something else to add to our month.

Have read some good books lately....

Thought this was really good. It is about a 50 year old woman who is a professor of linguistics at Harvard. She develops early onset Alzheimer's. Although fiction, it is so well written.

I have just started the Esme book and am finding it quite interesting. A government-run psych hospital is closing in Scotland and there is a woman who has been in it for 61 years and now is deemed able to go back into society. They contact her great niece who doesn't even know she exists.

Blonde is the story of Marilyn Monroe. What a very sad, very ,very pathetic woman. John Kennedy and his family would have never made it to the pedestal in today's age of "transparency".

Well, most of them have been good. This is downright creepy. Probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you have read every book you ever wanted to read in your life already.

Jury Duty

2009-04-07T17:20:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Back to the Court House tomorrow-hopefully for the last day. I need to do my taxes. I need to get the yard cleaned up. I need to......I need to.....I need to.

Snow Day

2009-04-07T05:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Option #1: Monday--go home now (12 noon). Tuesday--

day off. Wednesday--serve on a one day case. Jury selection,

hear case, decide case all in one day. 18 people to be

empanelled for questioning for a seven person jury. The

other 11 go back into the jury pool for the rest of the day,

from about 11A to 3:30PM, and take your chances of being

called for another case. This is a holiday week and the

case load is very light.

Option #2: Don't go on this panel, go back in the jury pool for the rest of Monday, all day Tuesday, and all day Wednesday. Take your chances of getting put on a case.

The choice seemed simple to me so today feels like a snow day. What am I going to do with it? Spend the day with Turbo Tax.

I feel badly. Such a poor start. I know. I know.

It was only the first game. I feel even worse for
MSU. What little I saw was so painful to watch.

Another Sunday

2009-04-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Tomorrow I have the privilege of serving justice, the American way. I have been called for jury duty probably four times now and although I have been questioned for many cases, I have never actually served on a jury. So with a lot of reading material and some food I am off to the Bronx Court House tomorrow. This is the first time I have actually hoped that I don't get selected for a case. Opening Day is April 16.

This afternoon was spent at

the New York Botanical Gardens

Orchid Show. Breathtaking!

Back Again

2009-04-04T10:10:00.001-07:00

April 4, 2009

Back from Michigan and ready to get my life, my finances, my house, my yard, my everything all cleaned out and organized. While I was gone Nick wiped my computer clean and reinstalled the OS. Now I am going to go through every file and picture and delete, clean up, do whatever has to be done. It is way past time.

We had a great, great night last night. We were fortunate enough to get great seats and be at the first baseball game played in the new Yankee Stadium. We remember leaving the old stadium last fall, all sad, nothing could replace it, so sad. Last night? What old stadium? What a beautiful place. It was so spacious going in it felt like walking through an airport. The interesting part was that the field is so very much like the old one that you feel the same watching the game. Well, except for the nice padded seats with significantly more room all around you. Well, I guess the prices also remind you of where you are. But there is such a big food selection. Fresh fruit stands! Sushi! EEEEEW! There is also a pretty fine dining restaurant that you see as you walk along the concourse. We really haven't explored it much yet.

We took time to go over and look at our seats for the season. Sweet. Never in the sun. Never ever in the rain. Very sweet. Nice and padded also. Field level, have to show your ticket to get into the section. No vendors hawking food. You place an order from the menu and the runner is there in about five minutes with your food. But the sweetest part is that we can just get out of our seats and walk right behind our section and get our own food also.

Now we just have to figure out what tickets we are going to sell and what games we want to see.

As always, the very best part of the experience was being there with Nick and Liz.

Just for you, Nick

2009-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

There it is. I thought maybe I had taken a picture of it already. This is from March 10th. It is right below the kitchen window right by the concrete. The garlic in the front yard is over towards Mrs. Scotto's driveway.

And.........I knew you would love this picture......

Spring!

2009-03-15T10:35:00.001-07:00

March 15, 2009

Spring is ready to burst open! The left is the hydrangea bush and the right is the lilac tree. I am on my way to Michigan for two weeks and when I get back these will all be green leaves. I hate to miss it but I will get to see buds coming out in Michigan, hopefully, as I think they are a little behind.

At last

2009-03-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

March 10, 2009

I don't hate winter. Arguably, I don't live in a place where we have terrible winters. I am retired so the pressure of getting to work, mandating nurses to stay at work for 24 hours, trying to figure out what to do after that, is all gone. I have found Vinnie, the snow man, who will shovel all that I need shoveled for a reasonable cost. And I really don't have to go anywhere that I can't change to another time. So what is to hate about winter? Sometimes the brown, gray, drabby landscape gets depressing. That's about it.

But today--today I was very excited to get out in the yard and get a jump start to yard work.

Daffodils, garlic, chrysanthemums and hyacinths have all broken through!

Erratic

2009-02-01T11:29:00.001-08:00

February 1, 2009

There are a few blogs that I read that people write every single day. I am amazed at how they can write every day without fail. It doesn't seem that their lives are especially more exciting than mine but they write about it in a more interesting manner. Well, Martha's days are jam-packed with exciting everything. Hers were so full that I stopped reading them because it is a little hard to relate to someone who always is up to amazing things, even if there are 45 people arranging everything for her.

Sylvia is enjoying her sweater keeping her very warm and cozy out in the cold, in addition to looking very chic.

Asa was born last night. Asa is the son of Liz's friend, Kelli. She was texting Liz in the morning while she was having contrctions and then we heard nothing until about 11PM last night telling us that Asa made his entry around 10PM. That is all that we know at this point. His sweater has been waiting for him for a couple of weeks.

Janet sent me a picture of a hat she wanted about a month ago. I got as close as I could. Not too bad.

I looked at my book list yesterday and figured out that I have read exactly 175 books since I retired in July of 2005. That is almost exactly one/week. It is nice.

"Eclipse", number three of the Stephenie Meyers' series. It was pretty good, as good as the first two. Am going to wait to read the last one. Well, the last one for now since the author seems to be pouting now about the next book.

This book, oh, this book. One of my neighbors gave this to me a week ago to read and it is fascinating. It is the story of the author's experience with bipolar disease. She is so so sick, so sick. There is a lot of discussion in the field of psychiatry about whether or not kids can really be bipolar but she definitely was. By the time she was nine years old she was bulimic. Pure madness in her brain all the time. I find myself having to stop reading it because it is so exhausting. When working in psych I always thought about how awful it must be to live with the demons that some of these people live with. This book absolutely demonstrates that. I can only think that she will eventually manage it as she was able to write this book as well as a book about her bulimia.

So cold

2009-01-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Oh, goodness. It is all anyone is talking about but it is soooo cold. Just so cold.

And then this story. I just was so cold even thinking about the experience. I just couldn't imagine...... Sometimes when I get on a plane and I look at the pilot I think that maybe I would be more comfortable with a younger pilot. It is a stupid thought but it happens. I don't think it I will ever have that thought again.

Bagels

2009-01-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

I was at the IGA down the street this morning and got my two Bell & Evans chickens and was very good--no candy, no chips, no pastries, no nothing. Then I got up to the check-out and there were the bagels. They just looked so good. OK. One bagel. I actually took it to the deli guy and asked him to lightly butter it (which I have never done before). 50 cent bagels at the market. Always a good deal.

I got home and looked at the receipt. $1.25. What? Are you kidding me? This is nuts. What? I should have told him to go heavy on the butter for that price. 75 cents for the butter???? So much for stupid impulse buying. Well, until the next time but it won't be a buttered bagel. I have six bagels in the freezer and lots of the spray on, no fat, yellow chemicals.

The cold it is a comin'

2009-01-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dentist this morning. I just can't get past the anxiety that an appointment with the dentist always triggers. This morning was particularly anxiety ridden as I was going for a filling in my front tooth and I knew that meant the injection up into the roof of my mouth. I have to admit she was pretty good and it all went pretty well. Not fun, mind you, but OK.

-37 degrees in the midwest??? Without the chill factor??? I have been complaining that the high on Friday is only supposed to be 14 degrees. But all the critters are ready.

Yesterday morning I woke up about 5:30 or so and I realized that I was once again laying in the yellow light but the demon lamp wasn't on. I looked out the window and the moon was full and huge. I read in the paper that yesterday's full moon was supposed to be the biggest full moon for all of 2009. I am guessing that the moon is probably always the same size but it would appear the largest that it would in all of 2009.

Here we go. Book #3.

Sad

2009-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 12, 2009

A couple of days ago I wrote about my neighbor who has some dementia going on. This morning I met the two daughters of another neighbor out in front of the house. Their 94 year old mother lives alone in her home also (happens to be right next door to the woman I wrote about the other day). A couple of days ago one of our neighbors saw her standing out in front and when asked she said that she was waiting for a ride although she didn't know from whom. The daughters were contacted and she ended up spending the greater part of a 24 hour day in an ER. She was given IV antibiotics for a urinary tract infection and the daughters were given the assurance that once the infection cleared, mom would be back to "normal". I think the daughters got the short end of the good advice stick on this one.

I can't get these women out of my mind. They are all alone in their homes. I am in no way making any judgment about this but rather am concerned. We are starting a small initiative to see if we can get some support for these daughters and their moms if necessary. We think we will be successful if we can get two of them to talk to each other and understand they are not alone in this situation. The biggest problem with this island is what I call the Irish curtains--oh no, everything is fine in my house.

We'll see. We are coming up with a date for a meeting with one of the ministers on the island, a social worker, myself, a woman on the island who works for the NYC Department of the Aging and a friend of mine who took care of her mother with Alzheimers for seven years. There has to be some way to give these people some support.

It is worrisome to think about these women and I definitely do know that I am thinking about myself also. I remember how much my mother worried and worried about losing her mental faculties and I understand that worry more every day.

Books, books, books

2009-01-12T13:44:00.001-08:00

Monday, January 12, 2009

Cold, cold, cold. Definitely not as cold as Michigan but cold enough for me. It actually got warm enough today to melt icicles, except on these guys. Let me tell you how much sympathy they got today. I sent the picture to three people and three people answered me--we need to make them scarves, or you need to make them scarves. Sounds like a project for tonight since I think it would only take a couple of hours.

I finished reading "The Zookeeper's Wife." Good book. It is so amazing what people do when they see a need to do good.

Read James Patterson's "Double Cross" this weekend. I think he is probably one of my three favorite authors. I keep telling myself it is not because his chapters are only two or three pages long so the book just flies by. That does help make a 389 page book a two day read with lots of time to do other things. This is a two year old book but definitely not a disappointment.

Time for the next Twilight book.

All things yarn

2009-01-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 9, 2009

The great Christmas hoax. What do you think, Liz? Janet wears scarves. Maybe I will make her one for Christmas. Which one do you think she would like? That one? OK. Oh, you like that other one, too? I don't know. Which one do you like? OK. For a couple of weeks I worked on both scarves right in front of Liz's face. Granted the yarn was the same yarn but the patterns were very different with Janet's being a twisted cable throughout and Liz's being a Celtic pattern. Liz was totally surprised to open a scarf Christmas.

Sylvia also got a home knit gift. A turtle neck ribbed sweater. I still have to weave in the ends and am waiting for the buttons to come. I actually had to order buttons on line because I could not find a place that sold buttons! Michael's does not. ???? That seems weird to me. There is no Joanne's close. Nice picture overseeing the project there.

Last night the ladies who knit....or crochet....or don't met. We started working on projects for the Visiting Nurses Association. I have seen this as a wonderful opportunity to get rid of some of my stash. So this is how it worked. Vicki brought her own yarn. Mary Ellen took a skein out of the trunk. I put the yarn from under my bed into the trunk so now it is all in one place. Doesn't look any emptier to me although I know I did give up one whole skein.

When we cleaned out Mom's apartment, I took these two afghans that she was working on and had not finished. The multicolored one only needs a solid border and it is a nice size for a lap afghan. The solid ecru colored one just needs to be bigger and it will also be a nice lap afghan. I think Mom would be happy to know what is going to happen to her unfinished projects.

Congrats!

2009-01-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Congrats, Lizzie!

Ah, the lamp story

2009-01-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Sure enough, I found a new touch lamp on eBay, exactly the one I wanted, and ordered and it was delivered and everything is wonderful about it. Except, the one that was coming on repeatedly at 5A stopped doing it. So the new one is sitting in a box in the basement, waiting for the present one to start acting foolishly again. I don't have the box for the present one or I would put that one away as I much prefer the white one. However .........I woke up this morning and what? is that sunshine? my room is yellow? Ha! The light was on. The first time in a very long time. I didn't even bother to turn it off, just went back to sleep. But I have been trying to find a place to put it in some other room all day and still haven't come up with a place for it. It was easier when every room in the house was white.

Book #2 of the Twilight Series. Excellent read. I have the next one but I am waiting to read it. Sort of want to savor the experience.

Besides, I am reading our chat book now. It seems like I have read more about World War II in the last year than ever in my life. I still have to ask.....how did the rest of the world sit back and let it happen? It is impossible for me to believe that they didn't know it was going on. I probably never will understand it.

The daughter of one of my neighbors across the street stopped at the house today. Her mother has mild dementia secondary to Alzheimers but still lives alone in her house. Today when her daughter got there she was quite beside herself as her money is gone. They cannot find it anywhere in the house. The mother remembers that a man she knows stopped at the house last night, took her out to dinner, took all of her money and then brought her back home. Possible? Probably. Likely? Probably not. Real in the mother's mind? Absolutely. So very sad.

Red truck

2009-01-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The story goes that when I was about five or six years old and my friend was a year older, his teacher asked his class to bring their favorite Christmas present to school to show the rest of the class. On the way home from school, as the story goes, I went up to him and asked him where he got that dumb red truck from and pushed it out of his hands onto the ground. Now, I have heard this story about four or five times in the last year and a half so I am thinking it had quite a traumatic effect on the now almost 65 year old man. But, what I am really thinking is that, surely, he is not quite clear on this story this many years later and that he has most certainly gotten me mixed up with my younger sister.

Anyway, I found this old red truck on eBay and am going to clean it up and try to make amends for my family the next time I see him.

The Christmas tree is history for last year now. It always seems like such a big project to put it up---but it really isn't. It always seems like such a big project to take it down---but it really isn't. It is always fun to look at all the ornaments and remember where/whom they came from---all filled with so many memories. This year my brand new daughter-in-law gave me a "photo family tree" for Christmas and she had printed a little piece of paper that said "Family" on it. I put it on cardboard, covered it with heavy clear tape and it is the ornament we have added to the tree this year....to recognize that we have expanded by one. I have a picture of it but it is in RAW format by mistake and the ornament is already in a box upstairs.

Beware!

2008-12-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Another night of light on....tap, tap, tap......light off....for about two hours this morning ending with me just leaving it on and reading at 6AM. Crazy. I suppose I will have to cave in and get rid of it but I definitely want another one and they are really hard to find. There are a lot of them out there but most of them are tacky sports lamps, birds, animals, etc. I just want a plain white one and I didn't even find that this time. They seem to be a lot of money, especially if I have to replace it in less than a year.

One of the worst games ever, unless you are a read SNL nut.

Good, really good.

Christmas is coming....

2008-12-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 19, 2008

Here she is, big as life in the Daily News-over to the left of the guy with his hand in the air. This is a picture from the "town meeting" Monday night. A 40 year old woman (that isn't her in the picture) fell off a dock at 4AM yesterday morning on City Island. Our firehouse was fully staffed and they got her out of the very cold water within a few minutes. Not sure if waiting for firemen to come from Co-op City would have had as good an outcome. But then, I am guessing she was probably pretty well preserved with alcohol to pull a stunt like that.

Is this really what we are meant to do? Put trees inside our houses? Every year I can hear my father saying, "What do you want me to bring an old dead tree inside the house for anyway?" A friend of mine who grew up with us says that whenever he thinks of Christmas he thinks of the McIntyre's Christmas tree, all covered with angel hair. Funny, the things we remember, isn't it?

A few hours later it looked like this. Still has no decorations. Many would say that the easy part is done. I think it is a toss-up.

The Three Kings are hanging out on the other side of the room just like they used to on S. Warren. They figured they would hang there with Marguerite since she has the bottle of beer.
That is why they are sometimes called The Three Wise Men.

Speaking of S. Warren, I went to Stop & Shop Monday and looked for the Christmas cookies that Charlies loves. I did find lots of Archway cookies but not those particular ones. However, I did find Windmills! I really don't think I have seen any of these since I lived on S. Warren.

It started snowing this morning and it has been pretty much snowing all day. We are supposed to get about six inches and a little north of here they are supposed to get 6-12 inches. We had tickets to go see Josh dance tonight but that didn't happen. Our cars are pretty much frozen in place out there, it is still snowing and there have been no plows out into our part of the world. So we got tickets for next Friday instead.

It is always fun to take Sylvia out for the first snowfall of the season. She knows she just used the ladies' room out here a few hours ago but she can't find it now.

Small things

2008-12-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday December 18, 2008

As you get older, it is amazing the little things that make you happy. One of the things that I love in my life is the lamp at the side of my bed. It is one of the ones that you touch to turn it on and off, make it brighter, etc. Just touch it. No switch. This is the second one that I have had and it is great. I read every night when I go to bed and when the book falls on my face and wakes me up, I turn over, touch the lamp and that is the end of the day.

This morning at 5:40A, the light went on. Touch, touch, touch---off. 5:48A. On. Touch, touch, touch---off. 5:57A. On. Touch, touch, touch---off. 6:08A On. Unplugged. Wonderful.

"Twilight" came into my awareness a couple of months ago, seems like it was a book that teenagers were reading. More and more and more talk about it. Liz read it and I am reading it now. Liz is now reading the second book. I have to admit it is good. You just keep reading it to see what is going to happen. I keep thinking of Harry Potter, really written for kids. This in no way is comparable to Harry Potter, no way. But it is a good, fast read and, like I said, I just want to see what happens. I don't want to see the movie. Well, not now anyway.

Little Bits

2008-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Josh! The tall redhead. We are seeing him in "Swan Lake" Friday night.

Thanks, Tony. My contractor has a friend who has been working on the new Yankee Stadium and who has "borrowed" a few bricks from the site. He has then turned them into this. It is pretty cool, and very heavy.

'tis the season

2008-12-16T12:36:00.001-08:00

Tuesday, December 15, 2008

First and foremost, has anyone ever seen a cuter face than this?

Well, these guys look pretty cute in the yard and it is fun to see people laugh when they walk by but definitely not even close to as cute as Ms. Sylvia.

I think I did 100% of my Christmas shopping on line this year. I finally got around to putting up the Christmas decorations today and the tree will come later in the week. I did throw away a lot of decorations last year, ones that really have no sentimental value but for some reason I had them. The Ikea-project-from-hell has an advantage because it has a lot of shelves and I can put all the stuff there without having to put away all the pictures on top.

Last night we went to a "town meeting" on the island as the NYFD has proposed removing our ladder truck at night. The numbers they based the decision on are pretty convincing that it is pretty low risk. But really, one fire is all it takes.

What was more interesting to me was watching the group dynamics. Jimmy Vacca, our city councilman, became a regular little spitfire up there. Excellent at revving up the crowd. We heard from the old timers, current active firefighters, residents, etc. Unfortunately, we lost some of our effectiveness, I feel, when people just kept getting up and talking about losing boats and yachts. What about lives?

I enjoyed remembering being somewhat of a political activist when we were trying to pass the ERA, protesting the war in Viet Nam, booing down Spiro Agnew, burning bras. Goodness. It has been a quiet life for many , many years.

Catch-up

2008-12-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Last week I heard someone refer to "the acceleration of time compression". Interesting term and definitely true.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was great. It is probably the first year I was not stressed about it and I think I owe that 100% to Maria, my cleaning lady. Although I was never a spectacular housecleaner, I did stress so much about it, especially if someone was coming to visit-let alone 30 people.

I think every person I know who makes stuffing feels like theirs is definitely the best and only tolerates others'. I have made the same dressing for years and years with very little changes to it and any changes I did make were not permanent. I am not sure why but I have definitely been disappointed in mine the last two years. This year Janet brought a huge pan of stuffing and she definitely gets the honors for hers-much better than mine. Excellent.

We had just the right amount of food-although the death-by-chocolate seemed to get wiped out in about 30 seconds leaving me not even a taste of it this year.

The crowd was great. It is always a nice mix but everything just seemed to flow this year.

That seems to be the end of the good news. Everything else is so bleak. The auto companies certainly have everyone worried. It is such a hard issue. We are all certainly entitled to be angry with their very poor management, arrogance and future planning over the years but, at the same time, we cannot afford, as a country, to let it collapse. One of the most consistent numbers I see is that one in ten jobs in the United States is dependent on the auto industry. Having been in a union myself for 20 years, I understand their role and the stand that the union leaders take. But sometimes, just sometimes, a cut in wages is better than no jobs. There are a lot of people out there who would like to go back to their jobs--even with a cut in wages. The question then becomes, if they get the money, if they get the big three up and running again, who wants to buy a car now? I am not sure that I would want to buy a car from a company that may fail anyway in a few months. A difficult time for sure.

Everyone feels the pinch, everyone. Last Monday morning, Liz and her co-workers at the March of Dimes were very surprised by layoffs. Although everyone has the shared anxiety about the economy in general, they were not expecting this. Especially out of the blue at 10A on a Monday morning. When it becomes personal and very good friends are giving you the things they are clearing out of their office, it becomes scary.

Cuts in the budget are responsible for the proposed closing of the ladder company of NYFD on City Island. What it means is that we will still have fire men but not enough to man the ladder truck at night. It has the potential for being very scary although most of the buildings on CI are only two stories high. The exception? Pilot Cover-senior apartments. Could it be any worse than that? One of the fireman from CI decided to try to impress the higher-ups that this was not a great idea and started pulling false alarms on the island. Not the brightest move in the world as he was arrested this week. Let's throw into the mix that he was raised on CI and still lives here. Pretty stupid move over all.

The City Island Theater Group held its annual meeting last week. It has had a successful year and is now making plans and commitments for 2009, its ten year anniversary. Yours truly had the good fortune to be elected to its board.

Finally finished "The Kennedy Women". It was a pretty sad look into this very male-oriented family. I do understand that it was all very cultural-the male-centric Irish culture and all-but it was definitely sad to read to what extreme it was manifested. With the emergency of Caroline Kennedy as a person of interest for the US Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, it makes the book even more interesting.

Our chat book that we are going to discuss tomorrow night. Although it is fiction, it is still pretty overwhelming to think of the impact that one or two foolish hours has on the lives of so so many people. It just seems like more and more people make such foolish decisions any more. This one could be attributed to youth, anger, alcohol. But then anger and alcohol probably are on the top of the list pretty often. It does seem like there are some older people making some pretty foolish decisions lately also-the governor of Illinois. Do they really think no one will find out about any of their stupid decisions?

I thought about that a lot when I was reading the Kennedy book. How Jack and Bobby were such heros of their times and how they would have never survived the public scrutiny that public figures face today.

When my nephew and his wife were here this summer, they told me that Harlan Coben is one of their favorite authors so I am giving him a try. I think this is his first book in this series and I am enjoying it quite a bit. It is definitely moving very quickly.

Last Thursday was the third meeting of the "Ladies Who Knit....Or Crochet....Or Don't". It is such an enjoyable and comfortable night. Vicki, who works for "The Wine Enthusiast" brings one bottle of white wine and one bottle of red wine each time. If we were going to have officers, she would definitely be president. We decided that it is time for us to be more productive so I am going to contact the Visiting Nurses Association of the Bronx which is looking for knitters and crocheters to make things for their patients. They provide yarn and patterns. Like I would need more yarn. This seemed like the best choice to us because they know their patients and they know what they use and it will be distributed locally.

Am pretty much ready for Christmas as far as shopping is concerned. Just have to get moving on the decorating. Have cut back considerably on the baking but still will do the favorites.

The day after....or....the day before

2008-11-28T07:16:00.001-08:00

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2008

Everyone is stuffed and sitting around and not wanting to eat one more thing today. Or there are the few brave souls who are out Black Fridaying it, with the hardiest of them actually back home by now taking a nap. And then there are those very few souls who are just getting started on their Thanksgiving festivities.

Here goes.....

2008-11-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving......

Today it is Chinese food and a glass of wine. Two of the many, many things I am very grateful for. Way down the list from my family but still on the list.

Preparations are well under way for the 35 people we are expecting on Saturday. Didn't even get out of our pajamas today, watched lots and lots of TV.

The last grocery shopping trip is tomorrow and the upstairs freezer has been emptied out in preparation.

The refrigerator is filling.

The table is filling.

Things are thawing.

And Liz is bagging her jewelry.

Knitting

2008-11-23T13:09:00.001-08:00

Sunday, Nov 23, 2008

It seems so cold out so early this year. Maybe it is not but it seems like I have been out working in the yard much longer than this in the fall. I still have a lot to do so I guess I am just going to have to brave it and go out there one of these days.

The book is coming along OK. It continues to be very sad to read about this tortured family. Besides being victims of so many tragedies, the family dynamics are really sad all the way around.

We are getting ready for our big Thanksgiving bash next Saturday. The 16th year. Amazing. By this time I am usually vowing it will be the last as the stress piles up. I feel numb to it this year and that worries me just as much. I am organized, have a lot of the groceries, etc. but just seem pretty calm about all of it. I think a lot of that is because Maria is coming to clean the house on Tuesday. That was always so time consuming.

There are three bags of yarn sitting in the living room-three ongoing projects. #1 is my life sweater. It doesn't look like much of a project at the moment but it is always very much in my mind. #2 is for Christmas and #3 is Asa's sweater which is on hold until the Christmas project is done. So I would guess that the life sweater is also on hold until the Christmas project and Asa's sweater is done. I have to admit that I got my first issue of a knitting magazine this week and it has a sweater in it that would also look great out of the life sweater yarn. Oh, no.

Knitting

2008-11-16T09:27:00.001-08:00

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2008

Knitting, my favorite past-time. I think I actually filled our survey the other day and said that. Oh yeah, it was a graduate student who was doing her doctoral dissertation on knitting and had asked for people to fill out a questionnaire.

This is yet another picture of my life sweater. This is the second time around. It is the turtle neck collar and the first shoulder saddle. Even though I used the exact same needles as I used on the first one, the turtle neck was just too big. It was perfect the first time but when I tried this one on, it was just too big and I couldn't live with it.

The second picture is my life sweater now. I am pretty determined to make this sweater and it will be perfect so I will be writing about it for a very long time.

After a couple of false starts and a consultation with Karen, I have started a sweater for yet-to-be-born Asa, who is due in February. It is a size one but looks big. Have the arms done and will start working on the body today. It is a cute sweater and seems to go quickly because you use double yarn. I know it looks like the life sweater yarn but it definitely isn't.

Ladies

2008-11-14T12:28:00.001-08:00

Friday, November 14, 2008

All day today I have been thinking that it is Friday, the 13th. Nothing bad has happened, not even close. Hmmmmm. Wonder if it could be that it is all just a hoax or could it be that it is really Friday, the 14th?

Last night four of the women who live on my block were here for a Lady Knitters' Night, A Ladies' Knit, a Whatever Night.

This is the second time we have met. Last month it was pretty nonproductive as we just pretty much sat and chatted. Understand that most of us don't know each other very well at all, talking in the backyards, meeting on the street, etc. I had read a book a few years ago about a woman who owned a yarn shop and every Friday night the women met and knit and enjoyed the company. They always were working on a "community blanket", everyone working on it at some point during the night and when it was done they gave it to a woman who was battling breast cancer. This summer I heard about a woman who lives around the corner from all of us, whom none of us know, who is around our age, and who has been battling ovarian cancer for a year and a half with no family, no one around her, just alone. That seemed so sad. I kind of connected the two ideas and came up with this group. We have met twice now and I am thinking it is time to start the blanket at our next meeting. We will talk about it and everyone bring yarn and we will figure out a pattern and how to proceed from there.

I am probably about a third into this book and it is basically so sad. A family with so much money, so much talent, so much personality, so much everything and so dysfunctional. Rose Kennedy was totally wrapped up in her religion and her children but felt that you only touched a child to bathe them, never to show affection because that would make them weak. When her second oldest daughter, Kathleen, married her long love in a quick civil ceremoney during the war, Rose sent her a letter telling her that she was condemned to hell because she was not married in the Catholic Church. I don't know if they ever make amends but they haven't at this point in the book.

Joe Kennedy was extremely proud of his oldest son and was pretty close to the other kids but definitely more so the sons. He was a terrible womanizer but Rose and the daughters ignored it while the sons thought it was great and saw it as an example of how to live their lives.

Probably the most tragic part so far is the story of Rosemary, the mentally challenged daughter. She was born at a time when doctors absolutely demanded that the baby wait for them to deliver it and often that meant the nurse holding the woman's legs together until the doctor arrived. That is what happened in Rosemary's case. This results usually in the umbilical cord being compressed and little or no oxygen getting to the baby's brain for periods of time, resulting in all kinds of damage. The Kennedys chose to not recognize that Rosemary was challenged, putting her into regular schools, etc. Eventually she was privately tutored but as she got older she apparently had a more and more difficult time controlling her emotions, especially her temper. Joe Kennedy unilaterally decided that she was to have a lobotomy to the absolute disagreement of his wife and all of his children. Rosemary was left with no emotion, nothing, no personality, nothing. The family placed her in a home with nuns and were never allowed to speak of her again.

The same thing happened when Joe Jr. was shot down during WWII. Once they were initially told of it, the siblings and parents never spoke of it again and never cried, except in private.

2008-11-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008

There is a place when you are driving northwest towards Niagara Falls on Route 17, that you pass through PA for short distance. Just before you come to that point you come upon a beautiful valley that opens up in front of you-suddenly, out of nowhere. It was exquisite this trip with all of the foliage in their autumn finery. You are only at a place where you can see it for about two minutes or so but it is breathtaking for those two minutes. I drove through there on a return trip from MI a few years ago and it was early morning. It was just as breathtaking as it was early morning, the sun was coming up and there was fog in a lot of the nooks and crannies of the mosaic in front of me.

It is one of those views that you know you just cannot capture with a camera. Although you can take wonderful pictures with wide angles, etc. there are just some scenes that you cannot capture-- the ahhhhhh moment. I felt that way in Death Valley and I feel that way in this spot in northwestern New York.

What is with this anyway? Cross the Canadian border and the speed limit becomes 100. Of course is it kph as opposed to mph and the conversion is simple-miles =6/10 of kilometers, hence 100 kph = 60 mph. But then you wake up in the morning and it is 11 degrees. And you get silly $1 nd $2 coins. Why can’t it all be the same? I don’t even care what it is, just make it all the same.

Speaking of crossing into Canada, I was all prepared for the usual long, long wait. But there I was at the Niagara Falls crossing, the only car at any of the booths. It was so empty. Border Person: Where do you live? MM: Bronx, NY. BP: Where are you going? MM: Mayville, MI. BP: Do you have anything in the car that you shouldn’t have? MM: No. BP: OK, go ahead. Crossing from Canada into MI: BP: Where are you going? MM: Mayville, MI. Where do you live? MM: Bronx, NY. BP: Did you stay in Canada last night? MM: Yes, in St.Catharine’s. BP: Show me some ID. MM handed over passport. BP looked at it, handed it back and said, “OK. Enjoy your day.” Wow. Homeland Security at its finest.

Amazing

2008-11-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 10, 2008

Talk about a pivotal moment. Much has been made about Americans electing their first non-white president. Many say that we can be proud because we did not vote based on race. but that probably isn't entirely true. I am sure that Barack got votes and did not get votes-a significant number in each category-based on race. I think we are kidding ourselves if we think that this settles the race issues that so divide this country. Actually, the world. Was it the president of Italy who said that our president-elect looks "well tanned"?????

It did not take very long for the likes of Rush Limbaugh to write even more hateful things than they wrote during the campaign.

I, for one, am delighted to have a young man and his young family in the White House. An intelligent man, a calm man, a man who seems to surround himself with even more intelligent and more experienced men and women. The only negative I can see is that I don't understand why any person would be crazy enough to want this job at this time.

A friend of mine from Canada who is very well read about American politics, says that he reads often how Barack is usually the smartest person in the room. I would imagine that is true as long as Michelle isn't in the same room. Then it would be a toss-up.

Off I Go

2008-10-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I guess it might be easier to pack to fly because all you have to do is keep saying, "No, no room." Driving, I just keep adding things because there is room. But it is OK because I figure I am going to leave half of it at Karen's anyway.

Making progress

2008-10-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

October 21, 2008

The IKEA project from hell is moving right along now. The cabinet pieces are together and Liz started to put the glass doors on last night but I did hear some pretty strong mutterings, well, actually not mutterings, statements about .....never again, NEVER again, NEVER, NEVER again. Once all of the DVDs, photos, etc. are returned to their places and I get back from MI the next project will start-buying the TV.

Over the weekend I went to see the CITG's production of "The Dining Room" which Liz stage managed. I found it to be almost endearing, bringing back many memories of my childhood home as well as my home when the kids were young. The entire focus of the play was the dining room and all of the activities of many different people who had lived in the old house. The direction was wonderful and all of the actors were excellent. Some scenes were very touching (when Mother just didn't know where she was at Thanksgiving dinner and wanted to go home) and some were very funny (the children's birthday party that Mother was trying very hard to control every second while also trying to have a conversation with her lover whose wife has found out about their relationship). There were six actors in this play and I think something like 27 roles. I expected it to be confusing but once it started, it didn't matter who the character was or who was playing him or her. It was the sentiment that was making the play flow and provocative in its own way. After the play Liz took me backstage. It is a little surprising to me that with the involvement I have had with this group, I have actually never been backstage. It served to only increase my admiration for what they do about a hundredfold. The space is small and all of the costume changes take place there. The props are all there and there are sheets about different peoples' roles, the props list, etc., etc. It is amazing that the plays go as smoothly as they do. Kudos to all of those stage managers who make it seem effortless.

Way to go, Tampa Bay. Amazing. I would be delighted to see them go all the way. Sorry, Boston. Cannot feel an iota of sympathy for you. You are all of those things that everyone says about the Yankees and then some---dirty, unkempt, sloppy. You do have a lot of talent. Wish I could have a little more respect for you but it is difficult although Francona is an excellent manager.

Tomorrow I am leaving for MI, driving, actually. Am going to drive through Canada on the way there, staying overnight at St. Catharine's, ON on the way there and in Clarion, PA on the way back. For years I have heard about my brother and sister in-law's Halloween party and have never been there. For four years I have heard about my nephew and niece's pumpkin launch and have never been there. Well, this year I will be there for both. And in between will visit my sister and brother-in-law in the Lansing area. Also expect to meet up with a couple friends from high school for dinner one night. I am actually going to be there for over two weeks and Karen and Charlie will be putting up with me staying with them all of that time. Since I am driving I am taking lots of things to do-knitting, reading, crossword puzzles. It will be a good time.

Andrew

2008-10-18T13:44:00.001-07:00

October 18, 2008

Looks so little compared to Big Daddy Dave until you really look and see how he fills the bassinet.

I think he will be walking out to the car from the hospital.

Finally finished the "Hmmmm" book. Am taking this one with me on my journey. It is big and fat and has very few pictures. Maybe it will last me the whole trip. Should I take another one, just in case? I am asking myself a million similar questions. When you fly, the answer is always-no, not enough room.

Timing is Everything

2008-10-18T06:35:00.001-07:00

Saturday, October 18, 2008

I finished the baby blanket on Thursday night and Dave called yesterday to say that the baby was born. I am thinking that now I am going to dive into my "life" sweater again. There are a number of different cable patterns in the sweater and you are supposed to knit a test swatch of each pattern to figure out the needle size and gauge. I just went with what the designer used to make hers and I think it was OK but since I am redoing this I am going to see if I have the patience to do it "by the book".

The IKEA hell has eased. While I was gone Liz worked on it and when she looked at all of the pieces she realized that they had sent two of the main cabinet boxes. Fortunately they also sent two of the side cabinets like they were supposed to. It is together and in place except for the second side piece which hopefully will go up soon. Then the boxes can be unpacked and we'll see if we have a place for everything.

Time to buy the TV. Keeping the economy strong.

Misc

2008-10-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 17, 2008

Liz received tickets to see Daniel Radcliffe in "Equus" as a birthday gift so we saw it last night. I had seen it with Al in about 1975 when Anthony Perkins was the lead role. I was either naive then or I have forgotten a lot about this play. At the end of the performance I was drained. It is such an intense drama that it is very exhausting. You could tell that the two main actors were also totally depleted and it makes you wonder how they can do this day after day after day. I think when I first saw it, it was the first Broadway play I had ever seen. I told Liz last night that it is probably in my top five favorites now and that is saying something at this point.

Am pretty close to finishing this book and I still say--"Hmmmmmmm".

Dave Kong called me to tell me that his wife Ji had given birth to a 9 lb 6 oz. baby boy this evening. Dave was Nick's roommate in college and has been around us for 16 years now. I had been chatting with him6on line yesterday so I knew it would be soon. But 9 lb. 6oz! My goodness-so big. Dave is a big guy but Ji is a pretty little lady and she ended up having a C-section as she was laboring and not making any progress.

My real point in sharing this is that it is wonderful to watch all these guys grow up, get grown up jobs, get married and now they are having babies. It is so amazing to me. I know, I know, that is the way the world works but when you see your kids and their friends doing it, it is pretty amazing.

The weather has turned cold here so it is time to start tucking in for the winter. The leaves haven't really changed yet. I am driving to Michigan and maybe I will see pretty foliage as I drive went and then north over towards Syracuse.

Nick called yesterday from Tokyo. It sounds like he and Janet are having a great time on their trip. He has taken over 1000 pictures so far and they are not even 1/3 into this trip. I am thrilled that he is enjoying his new camera so much.

Out of here

2008-10-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 11, 2008

I am waiting for Liz to get home from taking Nick and Janet to JFK and then getting her haircut. If I had my way I would be gone before she got here but she used my car to go to the airport and doesn't have enough time to come home in between. You can not imagine the hair cut situation. OK. I will give her this. When she went to get it cut six or seven weeks ago, she went from below her shoulders up to her ears. It was a radical change and we all know how we all do with change. The tears, the misery, the cursing, the drama. Went on for days but in the mean time everyone who saw her loved it. I think she got used to it because she made an appointment to get it cut again today, the picture looks like it may be even a little shorter. Oh, dear.

In the meantime, Liz has figured out that the drawers on the entertainment center will close if you take the front off of them. As soon as the front goes back on you are out of luck. This is how I am leaving it but I have all the faith in the world in Liz on this one.

IKEA hell

2008-10-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 10, 2008

It has been a long, long time since I have written and although it feels like a lot is going on nothing much seems to be happening. We are in the middle of the two step process of buying a new HD-TV. Of course, that means we need to get a bigger entertainment center first to put it in. I ordered it from IKEA a month ago or so and after a screw-up with the delivery it finally arrived today. We had to finish dismantling the old one and put it outside. Liz and Susan have been working with the hundreds of screws, dowels, etc, etc, etc. for about three hours now and it is looking like a piece of furniture but it is easy to tell that the enthusiasm has taken a hike. But they are definitely persevering although it seems that it is time to call it a day. BUT THE DRAWERS WON'T CLOSE!!!!! Nick can be ever so glad that he is flying off on his honeymoon for three weeks tomorrow. But in my heart of hearts, I know Liz will keep at this like a dog with a bone.

In the meantime, I am sitting with Ms. Kelli on the couch and trying very hard to teach a left handed person how to crochet. The mirrors don't work, sitting across from her doesn't work. But she is getting it and I think now all she has to do is practice, practice, practice. The baby is not due until the beginning of February so I think she will get a receiving blanket out of this, especially since she went and bought the yarn today.

My life sweater? I absolutely know that I am the only person in the world who would ever have noticed that there is a mistake in a cable on the back of it but I saw it every time I picked it up. So I didn't pick it up all summer to see how I felt about it. No different. Ripped it out I did.

Even reading has been pretty weak lately. I just finished Nora Robert's "Irish Born". It was long and predictable from the very first page. I am guessing that she is probably classified as a romance writer and that usually isn't my style. What I did realize and the reason I probably kept reading it is that it did make me want to go back to Ireland again.

Book chat book. Hmmmm.

Last night was the first meeting of five of us from the neighborhood to knit/crochet or whatever. We didn't accomplish much last night but did a lot of talking, drinking wine and tea and eating. We are hoping to meet every month at my house and Vicki, who works at "The Wine Enthusiast" will bring the wine. Next month Rosa is bringing cheese and crackers. The hope is to keep it simple. We all had such a good time last night so hopefully that will continue and we will be more productive.

I was in Albany to meet my brother and his wife for dinner the beginning of the week. Stayed overnight, had breakfast with them and drove back home. It was a nice time. I had looked forward to the drive thinking the leaves would be beautiful but probably only about 30% of them had changed. Tomorrow I am headed for DC for five days and then I will be home to rest up for the drive to MI and the Halloween parties.

Be safe and enjoy your next three weeks, Nick and Janet.

Bananas

2008-09-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 6, 2008

After 63 years of not wanting to eat bananas with spots I finally bit the bullet and ate the banana on the left a couple of days ago. I was throwing out way too many bananas after their black and squishy days, not having time to bake bread. I still don't know the deal on mashing and freezing them, using them later in bread or something. Can someone enlighten me on that? So I ate it. Not great. Think I am still going to stick with the "no spots". I did cut out the dark spots on the inside. Baby steps.

We are waiting for Hanna to appear this evening. It started raining a while ago and every once in a while gets very windy but nothing horrific yet. Everything tells us that it will be around midnight or so that it will get bad for a few hours. Everyone has everything moved and tied down or put way, taking the forecasts pretty seriously.

OK. I have started on a new project in my life. I realize that I use about 20% of everything's potential. Computer, camera, iTouch, computer programs, everything like that. I started with financial and am pretty determined to get that under control. I have started inputting a lot of data into Quicken. I chose finances because for some reason I love to do number stuff. I think I was a CPA in a previous life. When Al and I lived in Syracuse I was able to take one class a semester free at the university because he was teaching. I think I took two, maybe three, accounting classes. There is something very satisfying about balancing the sheets at the end of the assignment and working so hard to make them balance.

Nick brought over pictures today that he and Janet had ordered to give to me. This many weeks later it is still fun to look at them and remember what a great day it was. And I still get teary-eyed. Their thank you also arrived today. Beautiful. Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Paldino.

Summer lull

2008-08-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 17, 2008

Back home from Michigan. It is always nice to go back and spend time with the family. It was especially nice this time since my sister and brother-in-law from Nevada surprised us by showing up. Currently from Nevada but soon to be living in Michigan again. Families are pretty interesting. We all have our thoughts and feelings about each other-good, bad and indifferent-but it is nice to all be together for a while. I was happy to spend an evening with my brother and sisters last week which was the first time we have been together since my mom's funeral. Then I was also lucky enough to be with my sister's entire family for a day.

Have been getting back to normal life, whatever that is. It is that lull. I could hardly call it the dog days of summer as I always think of dog days as very, very hot and just laying around on the concrete. Have to admit I haven't laid around on the concrete much lately. The yard is under control but sort of boring. All the rush of the spring blooms is gone and the summer flowers are doing fine but starting to look like they are going to fade. It will be a while before the autumn ones are ready to burst on the scene.

Knitting, reading, catching up on the newspapers, magazines, Olympics, Yankees. Life is pretty calm at the moment, in this little corner of the world. But sadly, not in a lot of the world.

World Without End

2008-08-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Have you ever read a book that really was just too good to put down? I don't say that very often. Oh, they can be good or they can be OK or they can even be really good. But too good to put down? It would be a stretch to say that I would be able to say that about 20 books I have read in my life and I am sure the number of books I have read is well into the 2000s, maybe pushing into 3000 by now.

This book ---my eyes burn and burn. I keep reading. It is over one thousand pages long so it is a heavy hardcover. I am flying to Michigan for a week on Wednesday and I have to leave it all behind. I really hate doing that. Pausing midbook. I will take some light reading with me but I know I will be happy to return to it in a week.

Remiss

2008-07-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2008

I have been so remiss in writing this even though I think about it all the time.

I kept wanting to write about "Cinderella Wore Combat Boots". Liz directed this wonderful little play in the beginning of the month. They had one production and it was outside and it was free. It was just a delight. A great execution of a great idea. There was a great turnout on a very, very hot afternoon and everyone seemed to love everything about it. Immediately there was talk about making this an annual event-sort of an adjunct to the usual production schedule. The backdrop was two sheets, one on top of the other, pinned to a clothesline and the narrator simply flipped back and forth as the scenes changed. Perhaps "The Clothesline Players" has been born. Bravo, Liz!

On July 14 Nick and I went to the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium. What an amazing night. We watched Josh Hamilton hit 28 HRs in the first round of the derby. It is hard to understand how these guys' arms can have such power. Those balls were flying through the air. No ball has ever been hit out of Yankee Stadium but we watched a lot of them come as close as any probably ever have.

Before the HR Derby they held All Star warmup on the field for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun to see the all stars out there tossing the ball around, batting. A number of them had their kids with them hanging around on the field. Then when the derby started, the kids plus kids from The Boys and Girls Clubs of America all chased the balls in the outfield. It was a great night and one that I am really happy we attended.

I have been to two movies this week, "Mamma Mia" and "X Files". MM was definitely the ultimate "feel good" movie but I will go see any movie with Meryl Streep in it. It was pretty much a celebration of the mature woman and woman friendships. I don't think I have heard Meryl Streep sing before but she certainly sang through this whole movie. I enjoyed if but do know that it is not one of the great movies of all time. I enjoyed the company so it was a good time.

This morning Nick and Liz and I went to see "X Files-I Want to Believe". I actually thought it was pretty good. Also another movie that will not be one of the great movies of all time but I enjoyed it anyway. It was like a good extended TV episode when they weren't all weird. Again it was great company so it was another good time.

It is doldrum time in the garden. I have to find some good midsummer flowers. There are a lot of blooms on the dahlias now so that will have to hold me until the mums in the fall. The bottlebrushes were really pretty but they're gone and the hostas were also pretty but they are done now also. The five tomato plants are dead. They never got really strong and hardy looking although they have tomatoes. When I finally looked closely the leaves are yellow spotted. I am guessing some kind of fungus.

The baby blanket has been on hold for a while but I decided last week to whip up these fingerless mittens for Susan who was celebrating her 30th birthday this weekend. The problem was that Susan just showed up at the house on Friday when I really needed to get them finished so I could bring them to her party on Saturday. They did get finished and they are pink and she is happy with them. They're actually kind of pretty but it was very easy to make mistakes.

Books

2008-07-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 11, 2008

Finished reading Janet Evanovich's "Fearless Fourteen" today. She is such a talented writer. I love her characters and all of their antics. She writes so well that you can pictures everything that is going on so clearly in your mind and it is all quite amusing.

Am ready to start Ken Follett's "World Without End". I am sure it is going to be an amazing book but it is so hard for me to start such a long book when there are so many others sitting on the shelf waiting to be read.

I still have five plays to read also but some of the members of the committee are dragging their butts on this. But it seems copies of the plays miraculously appeared on our buffet last night so I will probably knock a couple of those out this weekend.

Tomorrow is the theater group's production of "Cinderella Wore Combat Boots"-Liz's directing debut. There were a couple of rough days this week but it all seems in pretty good shape tonight. It is going to be fun as long as the kids turn out. It seems the "flyer fairy" was hanging flyers all over the island last night and the public school gave it a push just before school let out so hopefully there will be lots of kids there.

Books

2008-07-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I finished reading "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. It was pretty good but definitely exposes the culinary world as a pretty harsh, nasty arena. It doesn't make you want to not eat the food because there are rat droppings in it or the kitchen staff spits in it or any of those wonderful things. It is just a very tough career pockmarked with lots of drugs and alcohol and tobacco. You practically feel your coronary arteries flapping closed just reading about all the food. There is no concept of healthy eats at all except there is an awful lot about pretty disgusting seafood. I would guess that I did not know probably 60% of what they were talking about when they were talking about menus, sauces, etc.

I started Janet Evanovich's next book today. It seems like it is about a two day read because I had to do yard work and get the shelter's newsletter out today. Otherwise, it would be a one day read. She is so good. No great literature here but very entertaining.

I keep thinking about knitting. Just haven't pulled it out yet. I am thinking that I am going to tear out my life sweater and start over. I still know that there is a mistake in it that most people would never ever see. Besides that, the directions are so complicated that you really need to keep in the flow to know where you're at. It will take me as long to figure out where I am in all of the patterns as it will to start over and do it perfectly.

Sylvia

2008-07-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2008

Actually, Sylvia deserves her very own blog today. Super dog that she is.

Last night Liz and Susan went to a friend's house to watch the fireworks. Their friend was out of town but offered her yard to them for the evening. Her "yard" is the yard of her beautiful waterfront property on the side of the island facing Manhattan. After a while they called and invited me to come over with Sylvia to watch the fireworks that were bursting into the sky seemingly everywhere. Off we trotted, entered the big steel gate and walked out across this really large grassy front yard to join Liz and Susan sitting in the gazebo. I turned around to look at the house and it was beautiful. Barbara's (their friend) house used for the setting of "Long Day's Journey into Night" starring Katherine Hepburn and Jason Robards in 1962. Looking back towards the water, the sights were beautiful. Hundreds of sail-less sailboats resting, rocking gently in the water with the fireworks erupting in the sky behind them. At some point Liz took Sylvia out into the grass where she did her crazy greyhound running circles and then Liz headed to the dock, Sylvia following. The dock sits five to six feet above the beach with a beautiful large stone/concrete breakwall separating the beach and the lawn, five to five and a half feet high. Sylvia was too skittish to walk onto the wood dock although it is one of the biggest strongest docks I have ever seen. So Liz carried her and down the steps they went to the beach. Sylvia had a great time, running and skiding all over the place. At one point she quite by mistake found herself in the water and starting drinking. My other dogs have also gone to the beach, tasted the salt water and stopped drinking it immediately. Not Sylvia. She just kept drinking it. And to seal the deal, when she was done drinking she also returned her contribution of liquid to the ocean. Good girl. The world's largest toilet for sure. Aesthetically, it was nice that it was not in the reverse order. Ready to come back to the gazebo, Liz called Sylvia over to the steps up to the dock but with one bolt up and forward, Sylvia jumped up into the air, flying right over the top of the five foot concrete wall. Like some kind of super-hero with one leap scaling that thing. Amazing. Sylvia got the blue ribbon for the night.

This will give you an idea of what I am talking about when I say we were watching the fireworks through the sailboats. The island on the left is City Island. All of those little dots in the water are sailboats. The land on the right is Rodman's Neck where the NYPD firing range is and where they ignite all of the confiscated fireworks they pick up in the city, as well as detonate any bombs they also retrieve. Needless to say there have been some rather large explosions the last few days and some pretty big "mushroom" clouds over there. Looking at this picture we were sitting on the right side of the island about half way down.

Liz and Susan spent part of the day painting sheets to make the backdrops for "Cinderella Wore Combat Boots" which Liz is directing next weekend. They painted the sheets until the rain came and then......more pictures to follow.

I've finished reading our chat book "Covert" by Bob Delaney.Am also reading "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain which is about what really goes on in the culinary world, from his perspective. It is pretty interesting. It seems the same with all gifted, talented, artsy people-so much opportunity and acceptance of out of control behavior and easy availability of all the elements necessary to support the lifestyle.

I became a part of the City Island Theater Group Play Reading Committee this summer. There are nine of us who have met once, each bringing a play that we would like to consider for next year's productions for the theater group. Liz developed a "circle" as the way we would pass the plays on to each other after we read them and write the pros and cons for each play. I feel like I have a summer reading list. We will meet again in six to eight weeks to talk about them and make out recommendations to the board. To date I have read "Virginia Wolf", "Fuddy Meers" and "Rainmaker". I am currently reading "Bleacher Bums" which although it is a great idea for a play, it is a tedious read. I am enjoying this and I do find myself developing the set in my mind, costumes, lighting, props. What am I doing?

"Virginia Wolf"

2008-07-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

July 3, 2008

Oh, how she would have loved that wedding. I think she would have been 87 years old today. Hard to believe.

A-Rod--Madonna---A-Rod---Madonna. Who really cares? If A-Rod hits a homerun tonight we will see him tie Mickey Mantle on the home run list.

Hydrangeas and a Rose

2008-07-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Two weeks ago two of my nieces and I went to the Botanical Gardens. As we figured that the roses were the only flowers blooming we headed for the Rose Garden only to find out that we were probably a week late. The scent was still amazing and we were still impressed with the size of the garden and the many varieties of roses. Will have to get there a little earlier next year to see them at their prime.

I hate to throw this in my family's face but today I had to cut back my hydrangeas as they were suffocating the picnic table. I cut the front back and had enough for big bouquets for my cleaning lady, three of my neighbors and myself. My neighbor across the street sounded like she was from Michigan talking about how her hydrangea only has three blooms on it in her backyard.

This is the "after" picture.

Here is the entire row of them.

How pretty is this?

The Wedding

2008-06-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 28, 2008

It is two weeks later and I still don't know how to put into words the wedding experience. I can very simply say it was the classiest wedding I have ever been to. I can also very simply say that it was probably one of the most moving days of my life. But none of that even comes near what I feel about all of it.

First and foremost, I have to say that the bride and groom worked so hard to pull off a first class event and it all paid off. Everything was amazing. The location was awesome. The girls' dresses were gorgeous. I don't know what word describes more than beautiful but whatever it is, that is what Janet was. Her gown was so gorgeous and her change dress was awesome. The food was amazing. The music was great. Everything from start to finish was perfect. Besides being so classy, I think what made it perfect was that everyone had so much fun. Nick gives all the credit to Janet and her attention to detail which gave so much polish to the day. I can't wait to see the pictures as I have heard about a lot of things I missed. Food/ice carvings? OK, not to be left out, Inki, the best man, added his own very distinctive touch to the day. Actually, his speech can be seen on You-tube.

I spent a lot of time listening to music, trying to find

"the perfect song" to dance to with Nick. I finally settled

on "Forever Young" by Rod Steward. The words were perfect. I don't know who cried the most, Nick or I. But they cut the song short, leaving out some of the best words--"whatever road you choose, I right behind you win or lose....forever young.....forever young". Whatever--it was still such a heartfelt moment, one not soon to be forgotten.

It was the first time so many of my family have been in NY all at the same time. I think it was also the first time so many of us have been together in a long time for something besides a funeral. I am so thankful to everyone who made the effort to share the day with us as it mattered so much to all of us. It was a good time hanging around the pool for a couple of nights and the day after in my home. We never really have the opportunity to share our home with family so that made it even nicer.

Uncle Nick also came all the way from Florida and had piled up 1438 miles by the time he got to the hotel. (But who's counting, right?) His presence made Liz and Nick and I even more aware that their dad was floating around there somewhere, hopefully being very happy watching what was going on. He was certainly in all of our thoughts during all the happenings in the last couple of weeks, particularly at the wedding.

Once we have the opportunity to see the photographers' photos, I will be posting more here. I know they will be excellent but they will still fail to capture all the emotions whirling around that day.

Nick and Janet, I could not have been prouder. Thank you for so many things.

Now, I have a very long list of things to do/take care of "ATW"--after the wedding. But as Nick so kindly pointed out to me a couple of days ago-everything is ATW now.

They are "in that basement"

2008-06-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 11. 2008

"If anyone wonders about the future of live theater and wonders where the audience is, they are "under that tent"-NY Times article referring to the Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel, NY. Boscobel is a restored mansion that sits on acres and acres and acres of beautiful property sitting on the Hudson River. For about 12 years we have been enjoying the festival, going to at least one of the plays which are performed "under that tent" during the summer. Last night was opening night for the 2008 season and we were there to enjoy "Cymbeline" despite forecasts of severe thunder storms passing through the area. It was very hot and very, very humid during the first act and intermission. Just as the second act was unfolding it became very breezy and quickly progressed to very windy, blowing the sand and sawdust into everyone's eyes-especially the actors. It is pretty much a theater in the round and the floor is the earth and straw and sawdust. It is a beautiful venue as they use the backdrop, a expansive lawn dropping down to the Hudson River and the entire backdrop is the river. All of us were sort of pretending that the lightning that had now been flashing for about half an hour was not making us anxious. We were in a very large tent, with steel poles holding it up. No worry. They came out and announced that they were suspending the performance until the sand stopped blowing into the actors' mouths. Within a few minutes the wind became even stronger, the lightning even closer and the rain started coming down. What should we do? The parking lot is a good distance from the tent. In a matter of only another minute or so one of the staff came out and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very serious storm. We are asking that all of you leave the tent in an orderly manner through this exit where staff will direct you to the basement of the mansion until we can resume the play." What? Definitely a scary storm. Evacuating? So off we all go in an "orderly manner" into the basement of the mansion. We ended up in the boiler room with metal doors and lots of metal "stuff" all around us. And overhead some very heavy metal, huge "things" that if they came crashing down-well, they didn't. We were there for only about 15 minutes and then returned to our seats in an "orderly manner" for the completion of the play. "The show must go on."

These pictures are obviously not from last night but rather from 2007 but they give you the idea of the tent, the mansion, the backdrop.

One more week

2008-06-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Can't wait. Am so excited. It is going to be nice. I keep looking at the weather and I'm not sure why because there is nothing I can do about it. Sort of like death and taxes. The end of last week they were predicting thunderstorms for five days in a row the weekend of the wedding. Then all of a sudden-like a miracle-there wasn't a drop of rain in sight all the way out as far as they were predicting. Then this morning "possibility of thunderstorms-20%" popped up for Saturday only. Like I said, I don't know why I keep looking at it.

Yesterday Liz and I went to Madison Square Park after meeting up with the wedding party for a "rehearsal dinner". Madison Square Park is where the old Madison Square Garden used to me, so Nick informed me yesterday. Anyway, they were holding the New York City Barbecue Fest there this weekend. Nick and Janet had gone last year, had a great time and a lot of people expressed an interest in going this year so there we were.

The papers Friday were predicting 1,000,000 people and I expect that those expectations were met. It was street to street people and then some. Amazing how many people can fit into an area. There were tables and tables and tents and tents of food-all barbecue fare. I had my first pulled pork sandwich ever and it was delicious. Also had some good ribs and some great coleslaw. There was a beer tent, a dessert area.

The down side of it was that it was something like 97 degrees in the shade and the humidity was very, very high. I heard the "real feel" was 104 degrees. I do believe it. Again, something no one could do anything about anyway.

It was nice to see the guys whom I haven't seen in a while and it was very nice to meet Janet's bridesmaids. We are all going to be looking a little different the next time we see each other. Hopefully the buckets of sweat won't be pouring off of us.

Let's see---how do you spell STRESS? All you have to do is look at Nick's face.

More flowers that won't be blooming for the wedding. Probably what Nick is stressed about.

Flowers That Won't Be Blooming For The Wedding

2008-06-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 1, 2008

These are the flowers in my yard that are really beautiful at the moment but will be only memories in two weeks. But Umi will still be here----

The House

2008-06-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 1, 2008

It has been a long time but it seems like there is a lot going on.

First and foremost, the wedding. Everything seems to flow from that. I am getting more and more excited as the time gets nearer and nearer. Two more weeks and it will be a done deal. I am equally excited that so many people from my family are coming for it. It is going to be fun.

Uncle Nick is leaving on Wednesday (this Wednesday) and taking a week to get here with a few stops along the way. Mary and Dave and John and Dianne are leaving next Thursday as are Karen and Charlie. People are flying, driving. It is all going to be fun and some will be around for a few days, a week, anything in between.

I don't remember being this excited about my own wedding although I probably was. I actually hardly remember anything about my own wedding. Most of the scenes that come to mind are from pictures in the wedding album. That was 40 years ago. A whole different life.

The house. After about seven years, all of the major updates, cleaning up, etc. are done except for the basement and that won't be for a couple of years. I looked up the papers the other day and the lot itself is drawn out and measured on a survey in 1902. Reville St. was known as Queen's Place then but the lot was defined. There is a certificate of occupancy for John and Katherine Loughman issued in 1930. They built the house and that is whom we bought it from in 1977. We moved in in 1978, 30 years ago, also a whole different life.

Because we had no money in 1977, after we had stolen, begged and borrowed to get the $49,000 mortgage, we did almost no work in updating it except we did have the electrician come in and completely rewire it before we even moved in. Every single room in the house had one electrical outlet and one ceiling light. That was it. Even the kitchen.

The walls were covered with the original wallpaper with no sizing. In 1983 Al's mother passed away and there was some money available to us then so we had all of the walls torn down everywhere in the house, insulation installed (there was none except for a few newspapers!) and the news walls were painted an offwhite to go with the offwhite carpet that we laid throughout the entire house except for the kids' rooms where we had color.

In 1985 we redid the kitchen and added a front porch but that was it for a long time.

In 1998 Al withdrew pension and as our divorce decree said that I would get half of it and he realized he would not be able to spend what he did have, he started giving that money to me and I used it to redo the house. New roof, windows, concerete, paint outside were all done before Al passed away and I was happy that he could see what was being done and appreciate it.

Eventually I had every room inside repainted, new curtains, carpet, going from off white in every room to robin's egg blue, lavender, sunshine, lemon, grass, avocado, adobe, etc.

It is amazing to look at all that has been done and realize to do this right, it won't be many years before the rooms should be repainted again. What?

So the house is ready. I guess it is ready for the wedding as well as the rest of my life.

Blanket & Books & Ms. Sylvia

2008-05-14T15:28:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The baby blanket is coming along nicely. I'm doing the cross-stitching now and it is starting to look cute. I need to get back to the life sweater. It just sits there nagging me to do some more work on it. I keep finding more patterns that I want to try. That and the yarn. Overwhelming.

I finished reading "Strong in the Broken Places" by Richard Cohen. I had read his first book which was about his experience with multiple sclerosis and colon cancer. This one is about five people who have chronic disease, two of whom have terminal chronic diseases. When I was working I was always interested in patients and their families who lived their entire lives with chronic diseases. This is an excellent book for any caregiver, actually for everyone. It helps you recognize that these are people and you have to look past the disease.

I think this is the second book of this series, the books that the TV show "Bones" is based on. I love Bones.

Sylvia is a pretty skiddish dog. She is friendly, nonaggressive, cute as a button but is easily scared. She has a very hard time with the planes that fly over our house and as City Island is in the flight pattern to LaGuardia Airport that is a pretty frequent occurance. Sometimes they come as often as every two minutes. As the weather gets warmer and the windows are opened more, Ms. S. is often found with her head under the couch. Sometimes when the planes are coming in one after another her anxiety becomes so pathetic and she is trembling and trying to find a place to hide. When I took her to the vet for her regular check-up we discussed it and decided to put her on a very low dose of Prozac hoping the anti-anxiety effect would help her. She had been on it for ten days Sunday. Monday morning about 4A she had an "incident". I woke up to her crying and moving all over the bed, something definitely wrong. She either flipped or fell off the bed, I don't know which. By then I got the light on and realzied that she couldn't stand. She simply couldn't get up and she kept trying and falling and trying and falling. You could tell that she was so scared. After about five minutes, she was back to normal. Off to the vet in the morning and we decided the first logical thing to do was to discontinue the Prozac so we'll see what happens. We are thinking that she probably had a focal seizure brought on by the Prozac lowering her seizure threshold. She has been fine ever since. Now we will have to figure out how to handle the planes when it is warm enough to open the windows again.

Flowers and other "stuff"

2008-05-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The flowers are bursting open one after another leaving none to be open when everyone is here for the wedding. This is the first of the azaleas and as they get the sun as it comes over the house they open in order from front to back. Eventually they will all be open and then start fading in the same order. Everyone on the other side of the street has had theirs open for about a week now.

I think there are nine bushes so there is still a little ways to go.

This is across the street from my house and they have looked like this for about a week now. Sun all day long.

Then I have the mutant hostas. Last summer I bought a couple new hostas as a couple of the ones I have had for a long time died for some reason. I decided to get different ones and eventually have a lot of different kinds. So I bought three of the same kind (but different from what I had) and put two next to each other and the third one about three feet away from those two. I think I have some kind of mutant hosta. I put the little pot of petunias in front of both of them so you could see the difference in size. What is that about? It feels like "Little Shop of Horrors" and I am wondering what the end of the summer will bring.

In the meantime the columbine are open and looking beautiful. I think these are the ones that Karen gave to me that just didn't seem to come up for a couple of years and now are looking wonderful. I don't remember buying any so I don't know where else they would come from. It doesn't matter as they are really pretty.

For all of you who have never understood why we have never locked our door, you don't have to worry any more. After 20 years of living in the big bad Bronx and not locking my front door because the lock wouldn't work, I have brand spanking new locks and keys. Now we have to remember to bring our keys with us when we go out.

Gas. What else are we all talking about? I drove to Virginia a week ago. Regular gas at the Sunoco station around the corner from my house was $3.93/gallon. It seems like I was just choking because it had gone over $3/gallon. On the Jersey Turpike all the way down it was $3.43/gallon and in VA it was $3.63/gallon. Lots of very long lines on the turnpike at the gas stations. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking ---when it costs over $50 to fill my tank I'm going to----what? Stop driving? I doubt it.

Gas prices. Another choke is going to the grocery store. Then you pick up and read the papers about Myanmar and China. It is a crazy, crazy world we are living in.

Dreary Sunday

2008-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 4, 1008

A very rainy, dreary day in the Bronx. It looks like
May showers for about 10 days now. Bummer.

I finished reading this book this morning and have to say I really liked it. Although fiction, like I said before, it is probably pretty close to what goes on in politics. You get lost in all the manipulating and maneuvering of the delegates. No where in the entire book do you get any sense that any of the delegates are truly dedicated to nominating the candidate that won the vote in their state. A little disheartening for sure. But the end was a surprise to me. A good read.

From Richard North Patterson to Alexander McCall Smith. A change of pace for sure. AMS's books are fun. He has a way with words, making the unfamiliar quite familiar as he develops the characters and describes the area and customs in this part of Africa.
I have read all of the previous books of this series (Number One Ladies Detective Agency) and look forward to this one.

Catch-up

2008-05-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2008

Happy May Day! Happy Spring! There is no doubt it is spring even if it doesn't feel much like it. So many trees in bloom and the daffodils are already fading. The pansies went into the ground last week. Well, half of them did. I am hoping that as the coreopsis grows between the pansies and the sun, the life of the pansies will be longer.

It seems like blogging and keeping up to date on forums is a winter time activity. I have started working in the yard a couple of days a week, sneaking it in between the rainy days. Every day I say things like -I need to catch up on the blogging, I need to go look at the forum. I don't know where the time goes. I used to really think all those old crazy people were exaggerating when they said things like that.

There are lots of flower pictures in this blog but I just can't resist. Tis the season! This is one of the two pink lavender bushes I put in this year. I have never have had much luck with lavender but I will keep trying.

Ms. Sylvia has had a hard start to the spring and summer season. She is a kind of high strung dog to start with but when I open the windows when the weather is nice, she has a very hard time. We live in the flight path to LaGuardia airport and sometimes the planes fly over very frequently and sometimes very low. We are pretty used to it and don't even notice it until Ms. Sylvia is plastered to my leg or my lap, trembling like a leaf. It usually goes on for a couple of hours and is really sad to watch. It is the same thing during thunderstorms but that is very common in dogs and since thunderstorms are pretty time limited there is little to do about it. But the planes start at about 6A some days and are pretty intense for a couple of hours in the morning and then pick up again for about four hours in the afternoon/evening. Every day of the week. I talked to the vet about it this week and we are going to try her on a very low dose of Prozac for the summer. Yep, Prozac. We'll see how that goes. The idea is to take the edge off enough that although she hears them, they don't bother her and hopefully she will get used to that idea and we can just take her off the Prozac for good in the fall.

Nick and Janet's wedding plans seem to be moving right along. They are very organized and on top of it all. I am actually pretty excited about all of this because a lot family is coming for that week. It is going to be a nice wedding and I think a fun week for the people who are around. Nick is currently in Las Vegas for three nights with his six groomsmen for his bachelor party.

Dahlias. Probably my all time favorite flower. I have bought four this year and will probably get a couple more. Too bad they can't just stay in the ground and come back year after year. Every fall the tubers need to come out and be left to dry over the winter and be replanted. Most of the time I lose the tubers and have to buy new ones but sometimes one or two of them will survive.

The Yankees are rolling over and playing close to dead at the moment. They lost two games to the Tigers this week at the Stadium. We were there the first night and it was probably the coldest night I have ever been in the Stadium. It was a good time but it is always more fun when we win. I talked to a couple in front of us who were there with Zak, their seven month old son. Although it always seems like a crazy thing to bring kids, especially little, little kids, to a baseball game, he was as cute as he could be, playful, just watching everything going on around him or sleeping. Never a peep out of him. I assumed he was with his grandparents in their Michigan sweatshirts and Tiger baseball caps. Talk about Michigan (they're from Grand Rapids but live in Jersey now) was the conversation opener and I said something about how cute their grandson is. Like I'm not old enough to know never to say something that stupid. The father (who definitely is at least five years older than I am) looked shocked and introduced me to his wife. She was 45 if she was a year. Anyway, the baby was gorgeous.

Speaking of which, babies and all, I have made some progress on the baby blanket. Dave sent me the sonogram the other day. Ji is in the beginning of her second trimester and they are getting used to the idea now. It is amazing to see the guys slowly getting married and now starting a family although this is only the first baby in the group. So much fun. For those of you who can't tell, that is a baby chick. The life sweater has taken a serious back seat to this.

Have been reading "The Race" by Richard North Patterson. It is fiction and really a pretty good book. I am quite fascinated at how much an author can write as "fiction" without apparently crossing the line. It is about a presidential campaign. The main character in the story was a pilot in the Gulf War, crashed his plane and was held by the enemy and tortured. The only thing missing is that they are not calling him John McCain. There are two other men running from his party at this point. One an extremely conservative religious zealot. But the main character happens to be divorced and is now involved with a black movie actress. He has all the issues of the current campaign personalities in the book. It is pretty interesting, although fiction, and very scary how some of the things are done. I think what is scary is that most of it is probably true, how the process still works.

It was my hope that a lot of my flowers would be in bloom when everyone was here for the wedding. But it won't be the lilacs that are about half open now nor the lilies of the valley which will be open and gone before too long. But the yard does smell intoxicating at the moment between the two of them. The weather forecast is for about seven days of rain so I am guessing today is the last day to enjoy them in the yard.

Yesterday would have been this lady's 92nd birthday. A year later it is hard to believe how much I still miss her.

Fired!

2008-04-14T15:19:00.001-07:00

Monday, April 14, 2008

Her first and only job and Ms. Sylvie has failed. All she had to do was carry her bags in the little container on her collar. You could tell it annoyed her when she first started as she would try to shake it off but she got used to it very quickly. Then this morning I took her to the ball field where she loves to run. It is fun to watch her run free around and around in circles. Well, the bags stopped her. She just wouldn't run with it attached to her collar so I took it off because what is the point if she is not going to enjoy her walk/run in the morning. I guess she isn't really fired. Perhaps she needs to go on disability for her mental fragility.

Taking Responsibility

2008-04-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 12, 2008

Probably the most awesome animals in the world are service dogs. I guess there are service cats but I would wonder what they do. Anyway, the dogs function in so many roles and provide so much stability to their owners as well as enable them to do things that their particular situations would not otherwise allow them to do.

I look at Sylvia often and wonder why she doesn't have a job besides being my companion and always making me smile. Baby steps. Today she took the responsibility for carrying her own bags on our walks. I found a neat little container that has a roll of 30 bags in it that hooks right to her leash. She found it quite annoying at first but got used to it and has become the responsible canine that I always knew she was. Baby steps. Thanks, Rich, for a great idea.

Happy birthday a day early, Kathie. Will talk to you tomorrow.

Spring!

2008-04-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Today was one of those beautiful spring days, one of those beautiful first springs days when it felt like everything was going to burst open at any minute. It seemed that I looked at the hostas that had just broken through the ground a few days ago and when I looked two hours later today they already were a couple inches higher. It was one of those days when you just didn't want to come indoors but it got dark and quite a bit cooler and you know all good things come to an end. Now it is supposed to start raining in a couple of hours and rain for days and days and days.

I have gotten a lot of work done in the my postage-stamp-sized yard this week, feeling like I have a real head start. I pruned the heck out of my forsythias, hydrangeas and lilacs. I don't know if prune is the right word as I know this is definitely not the time of year to prune flowering shrubs as you will lose all the flowers. What I actually did was cut out probably half of all of their branches down to the ground. They all were way overdue and now they are much lighter and will get a lot more light down at their base and everything that is there will still bloom.

I also made my first visit to the nursery last week, the nursery being the most dangerous place for me to go to shop. I always, always bring home far more than I intend to buy and then have to find a place to dig and plant whatever I bought. The annuals aren't in yet and only the large shrubs are really for sale. Oh, there were lots and lots of pansies but that was about it. So I got my nine bags of mulch which will probably only be enough for most of the back yard and came home.

Today I started working in the front yard and that will be more mulch and dahlias added to the shopping list. I started digging up the coreopsis and splitting it up, putting some in the back yard.

I could go on and on but what I love about the garden is that it is a work in progress, a job that will never be finished so we are meant to enjoy the trip.

I got a surprise package this week and was thrilled to open it and find rhubarb plants. Whenever I go to my sister's home in Michigan, Karen fixes rhubarb sauce for me. It is the only time and place I ever eat it. I did some rhubarb stalks in a grocery store here for a very brief time last year and it was very costly. We grew up eating rhubarb from our yard and my Aunt Eileen made the best rhubarb pie. But then she made the best blueberry pie also. I think it didn't matter what the fruit was because it was always the best because there was about an inch of pure sugar in the bottom of the pie.

Chives and parsley and oregano and garlic and hens and chicks are also ready to go into the ground as soon as the monsoon is over next week.

All of this means that the knitting and crocheting has slowed down. I actually have three things going on at the same time which I hardly ever do. The life sweater has ground to a screeching halt while I work on the baby blanket which is coming along nicely. In the meantime I have started a "community project". I have been making squares, actually rectangles, with leftover yarn for a while that will eventually be put together into an afghan and donated somewhere. Now I have a "community" project laying on the table for anyone to pick up and work on when they feel like doing something with their hands for a few minutes. Liz has become quite the crocheter so these should get done faster than they have been.

"Pardonable Lies" by Jacqueline Winspear takes place in London and France in 1930 and I am finding it pretty enjoyable. It is the book chosen for our book chat group this time around.

At the same time I am reading "Second Glance" by Jodi Picoult. Jodi always takes her readers into a controversial area, making them think a little more, wonder a little more, always raising issues with two or more sides to them. This one is about paranormal activity, the presence of those who have passed away and are caught in our arena, not quite having crossed all the way over to the next life as of yet. At least that is the impression I have of the book although I have only just started it. It is something that I have thought about often and don't really know the answer to or what I really think. I often feel that someone is "around" although we have buried them. But then on the other hand I get incredibly sad when I think that Nick's father isn't going to be at his wedding. Like I said, I don't understand it all nor do I know what I believe either.

Seat Belts

2008-04-07T14:09:00.001-07:00

Monday, April 7, 2008

I cannot believe that people still don't wear seatbelts. Can anyone give me one good reason, just one, not to wear it? I don't want to hear about you might get stuck in your car and it is on fire or it goes off a bridge and you can't get out. What are the chances? The guy who runs the neighborhood market and drives from PA to City island every morning of his life was killed driving to work Friday morning. No seat belt. He was a very macho guy, very Italian and all. Well, just wonderful. Now he is very macho dead. Sounds harsh I know but I cannot understand that there are still actually people out there who don't wear seat belts.

Catching Up

2008-04-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I had the opportunity to visit the Unites States Holocaust Memorial on Monday. It was a beautiful day in DC, chilly but nice. I left my camera at the apartment because I knew there was a good chance that photos would not be allowed and even if they were it just wouldn't be the right place to take pictures. When I got to the museum, there was a significant line. I had no idea how significant until I had walked through to the next street and then down the entire block to get to the end of it. But it moved pretty quickly so I should have figured out what was going on. The line was only to get a timed ticket when you got to the front of it. Let's see. It was half an hour on line so now it was 10:45A. I figured if I spent two hours in the museum I would still be back by 3:30 when we were going to drive to Annapolis. My ticket time was 3:15P. By then I figured out that this was Easter vacation week and I think every yellow bus in the United States was there. I was able to enter and visit "The Story of Danny" exhibit which was wonderful. It was a diary written by Danny whose family first moved to the ghetto and then the concentration camps. I guess I will have to go back when it is not Easter week.

It was emotional and disturbing but very very disturbing on another level. There was a class going through the same time I was and there were two young girls walking through talking on their phones, obviously to friends not on the trip but who were shopping instead. They were loud and seemed even louder because it was all so rude. What is going on any more? The teachers were more than aware of the phone conversations and didn't address it either. I don't get it at all.

It was disturbing also because I had a very strong sense that all of these kids piling through the museum really had no concept of what they were seeing. There certainly was little interest but I don't know, maybe it was the teacher's fault because they hadn't introduced the topic to the students.

The baby blanket is coming along. This is the boring part so I don't pick it up quite so quickly to work on it. Can't wait to get to the fun part.

Opening Day. The last Opening Day in the House That Ruth Built. We got there in plenty of time and Nick came from work. It was raining and cold so we moved to the top part of the stadium to keep dry. Afte an hour and a half, they postponed the game until Tuesday night. So all 56,000 of us left the stadium at the same time trying to pile into a couple trains. You can all imagine how well that worked. So we were back Tuesday night for a great night. Good picture but what's the deal with the face on that old lady in the middle?

Yeserday I went to The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Gardens. I think I took close to 150 pictures. The orchids were exquisite and the displays were even more so.

Complaining

2008-03-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Six more days.

Every morning when I walk I meet a man who walks quite a distance, at least five miles every single day. I see him out there when it is raining, snowing, it doesn't matter. Never, ever misses a day. Sometimes I meet him face on, sometimes I pass him but we always greet each other. He always comments on the weather and it is never negative. "We need the rain." "The snow is so beautiful." "It is such a beautiful day, isn't it?" What is remarkable about it is that I know he always means what he says. It is never just an automated statement. The truly remarkable thing about him is that he is walking with a cane, a Canadian crutch. A Canadian crutch is a cane with the three prongs on the base of it. He has clearly had a stroke, sort of drags one foot and one arm just hangs at his side. His pace is very slow but he is always cheerful and appears strong despite his disabilities.

I called a remarkable friend of mine this morning. Bill is my age and I have know him since our sons started kindergarten together in 1979. At one point he and his wife and Al and I were very good friends, spending a lot of time together in each other's homes and the neighborhood beaches. Then life got in the way, his wife, Netta, and I both found jobs and everyone's life changed. We would still see each other occasionally on the street but never spent time together intentionally any more.

I saw Bill about six years ago and he had just been diagnosed with colon cancer and I have stayed in touch with him since. Chemo and radiation. More chemo and radiation. Then lung cancer. Chemo and radiation. Then liver cancer. Chemo and radiation. Except for possibly one or two weeks in the past six years, Bill has been receiving chemotherapy. He has had innumerable surgeries and procedures. Just to add to the insult of all of it, he had a heart attack and open heart surgery in the middle of all of this. Oh, he did stop chemo temporarily at that time and was very upset as he felt the cancer would gain on him. I cannot even begin to capture with words what this man has endured over time. Yet, he never, ever even came close to giving up. Never. He just wanted to play golf with his son "next summer", wanted to be "around for Janet's (his daughter) wedding" and now, all he wants is to be around for the birth of his first grandchild in June. "There is always something to look forward to, Mary, always."

Two remarkable men, one a total stranger. What could I possibly compain about?

A new baby blanket for a new baby. Just started

this Sunday. This is another reason the sweater is called my "life sweater". Life gets in the way of finishing it. It can wait but this baby is going to join this weary old world in the fall so this blanket won't wait. It is a great pattern and is going to be fun to finish off.

I have been listening to Garrison Keillor and his "News from Lake Woebegone". I don't know if he writes it still or if he has writers but it is all so good. It sucks you in. The episode I listened to the other day was from the beginning of December, I think. He started singing a couple of very old songs and the audience joined in. I didn't even know the songs although I was a little familiar with "Juanita". It struck me when I was listening to him that that is probably something else we are losing as life becomes faster and more high tech. Do our kids stand around a piano and sing"old songs"? All of us McIntyres will always remember Dad playing the piano and Mom singing her heart out, especially if it was "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". And Uncle DC and Aunt Pat singing their own rendition of "Dark Town Strutters' Ball". I am not sure that our kids' music actually lends itself to anything like this but I think not.

And the garage floor is finished and well over half of the stuff headed off to the dump. Pretty sad actually. We had a very old piano in our home for a number of years that just never held a tune, etc, etc. It found its way to the garage at some point and has been there for years keeping Al's mother's sewing company that has been there for 25 years. We pulled them out and really looked at them yesterday. As one would expect, the wood was in very bad shape, all of the metal parts were badly rusted. Seemed an impossible project to restore them. So they are gone. Now, if I could figure out what to do with the pool table that Al just had to buy and store when we bought this house, 30 years ago this week. The slate is in the garage and will never be damaged. The rest of it is in pieces in the attic. I have moved that to the list of things that "the kids will have to deal with some day".

Holy Saturday

2008-03-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

March 22, 2008

Life is really about continual change on every level of our being. Holy Saturday. I think I remember or I remember hearing about Holy Saturday when I was a kid and my parents had a big party at the house to mark the end of Lent as Lent ended at noon on Holy Saturday then. Dad and Mom always gave up drinking for Lent and I think they were probably the only people I know who really gave up something for everyday from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (or Holy Saturday then). They didn't drink on Sundays or on St. Patrick's Day. The rest of the world seemed to need those days of reprieve. I think I remember or, again, remember hearing, about laying tiles on the basement floor Holy Saturday morning so that the party could be in the basement starting at noon. Heating the floor tiles in the oven or on the stove and running them down to Dad.

Nick, my hat's off to you. I know you gave up ice cream for Lent and I am quite sure you didn't eat it on Sundays or St. Patrick's Day. Nor meat on Fridays during Lent. You come from some solid Irish Catholic stock there, boy.

Speaking of Irish stock and St. Patrick's Day-Tara and Lizzie at the Throgg's Neck parade.

It has been a frustrating couple of weeks as the contractors were here replacing the kitchen and downstairs bathroom floors. They were only two years old but were done poorly the first time and needed replacing as the grout was all coming up, etc. So the usual testosterone surge for the first few days and then no one showing up for a few days and then they're back for one, one guy for two days, etc, etc. Now they are done and I am thrilled with the results, never mind it is nice to have a kitchen and bathroom again. The floors look boring but I am really pleased with them.

But the most exciting thing they did was build me shelves for the top of my kitchen cabinets. For years I have been gathering mugs when I travel places and the kids have brought me mugs also. They piled up in boxes in the basement while I half heartedly looked for shelves. I had in my mind I wanted shelves like the ones behind bars that hold the liquor bottles so I asked the contractor if he could build them. Sure, sure. Is there anything they can't do? Well, is there anything they can't do when they are doing the selling? He did build them and I am really happy with them so I spent this morning again gathering mugs and put them on the shelves. I will have Christmas mugs to add when I get the decorations out again and I still have two empty shelves

running the full length. I think the message is that I have to do some more traveling.

So since I really like this everything-being-a-mess-all-the-time thing, they are going to come on Monday and take everything out of my garage (yikes!) and put down a lot of gravel, tamp it down and return only half of the stuff to the garage under my direction. The rest is going to get thrown out. Right. Half. Will let you know how that goes.

I finished reading Richard Cohen's "Blind Sided" last night. It is about his 30 year battle with multiple sclerosis and is an excellent book, pretty depressing in parts but certainly portrays a very determined man. I used to be amazed at the patients and families I knew at work who lived with chronic illness and how they adapted their lives to it, or didn't. They were always people that I admired greatly. I started reading Kathy Reichs' "Deja Dead". It is her first book, thank you, Margaret and Liz. Her main character is a forensic archeologist and her work is what the TV show "Bones" is based on. I enjoy "Bones" a lot, so----

Eight more days until opening day at Yankee Stadium. The last opening day in "The House That Ruth Built". I am really happy to say we have tickets. Nick dropped off our ticket package yesterday so we are all set to go. We got email last week offering seats/suites in the new stadium for next season. I did hear on the radio yesterday that the $500/seat tickets and the $2500/seat tickets for the five seats directly behind home plate were sold out. That is $500/seat and $2500/seat PER GAME! Yes, indeed. Sold out. But there are suites still available for the season. Thank God for that, right? Whew!

And last but not least, Liz and I met Nick and Janet on the island for dinner last night at one of the seafood restaurants. So much food and a good time. Thanks, Nick and Janet.

Spring Equinox

2008-03-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

March 20, 2008

It's coming. Yes, indeed it is coming. Actually had sunshine today although it was pretty cold and windy out. Kept waiting to see Dorothy and Toto fly by. I see that somewhere in Westchester County this morning a man was driving his 8 year old and 4 year old sons in his Mercedes van and a tree was uprooted and blown over on top of their car, killing the father, leaving the boys fine. What a horrible thing for that family. Life is just so fragile, isn't it?

But it is the first day of spring and things are starting to bust out. The down side? Heard on the radio this morning that they expect this to be one of the worst allergy seasons ever.

Crocuses in my back yard today.

St. Paddy's Day

2008-03-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

March 17, 2008

A hard day. It has been 25 years today since Mary Sposito passed away. At the time it happened, I remember thinking

about how she was so vulnerable because she was "older",

perhaps couldn't fight as well, etc. She was exactly the same

age that day as I am today. It doesn't seem possible. I remember when Al died that someone said to me, like people always do when they struggle to make sense of a death, "Now he will be with his mother again." I don't know what I believe about all of that but if it is true, I do know there is no one, besides his kids, that he would rather spend his time with. RIP, Mary Sposito. Another one of those women who just had such a hard, hard life and, unfortunately, a very hard death also.

Last night Liz and I met Josh and Nolan and Josh's mom in the city for dinner. We ate at Shabu Shabu, at Josh's suggestion. For those of you who don't know, Shabu Shabu is a Japanese fondue restaurant. Well, shabu is Japanese fondu and the name of this Japanese fondue restaurant is Shabu Shabu. Josh taught us a lot about the process and it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening for all of us. The food is basically boiled in broth and you do it at your own table, starting with a fondu pot of hot water. The server, much to Josh's chagrin, first put vegetables in the water and it became like a vegetable broth for us to "swish--swish" our beef and chicken through the Japanese word "shabu" translating to "swish" in English. After the meat was done, then we ate the vegetables that had been simmering all this time. It was all excellent and quite healthy, obviously. So, not to get too healthy, we did walk over to Tasti-Delite. Tasti Delite in itself is not too bad but two of us did have to order it in cones which probably added significant fat and calories to the evening. More than anything else, we enjoyed the company. We met Josh almost two years ago when he spent a week in our home, looking for a job, looking for place to stay. It developed into a great friendship and we were thrilled to meet him mom.

The sweater is coming along. It doesn't seem like much but it was a few days of knitting and it has started to look like it may be a sweater some day with the back starting to take shape.

It is very slow going as every stitch has to be looked at, every row. There are two different patterns going on at the same time and one is 26 rows long and one is 16 rows long so I have to really have two separate counters going at the same time. There is so much cabling on it that I hope the mistakes will just get absorbed and only the knitter will know where they are. Someone was looking at it a couple of weeks ago and said that she would never find this relaxing knitting and I had never thought about it that way before. But I do realize that I can only watch mindless TV while I am doing it or the TV has to be off.

Books. Because I didn't have enough I had to order some more on line. There at the bottom is the new Martha Stewart cookie cook book. I keep thinking I want to make a batch of cookies every week and eat a few and freeze the rest. This book has 250 recipes in it. Sounds like a good way to start. Oh, but wait. Let me grow the vanilla beans first and buy the pastry bags to make the Oreos, and the things to roll the Italian cookies on and the Springerle molds, etc, etc, etc. As Liz would say, "Good luck with that, Mom."

I guess someone out there was worried that I didn't have enough books so somehow I got an extra copy of one in the mail today.

I just started reading this one. It is by Richard M. Cohen and it is his story of living with multiple sclerosis. He has a second book, which is the one I was most interested in but decided it was prudent to read the first one first (thanks to Liz and Margaret). The second one is about five people who live with chronic illness. I saw a lot of chronic illness when I was working and I was always amazed how people coped with it when it was an everyday companion. But first books first.

I just finished reading this one. I happened to see it when I

was at Border's last week, had never heard of it before and

thought I would just take a stab at it. I usually don't buy books that I don't know the author's work or someone has not recommended it to me. It was actually a pretty good book, some parts very predictable, but overall enjoyable. Definitely chick lit.

310 songs in my iTouch. I know it is chump change compared to a lot of people's but I am enjoying the heck out of listening to the music and the podcasts also.

More Books

2008-03-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 10, 2008

STEEL MAGNOLIAS. The City Island Theater Group has just finished a two weekend production of "Steel Magnolias". It is probably one of the most successful productions they have done in quite a while. It was nice to go and sit in the crowded audience and enjoy the wonderful work of the cast and director. The timing of the dialogue was so "on" except, of course, for the actress who seems to never be able to know her lines and/or when to say them. Somewhat fortunately for her she always plays a role where the dull look, struggle to say something, etc. just seems like it is part of the show. The audience just thinks it is part of the character. Although I have never spent much time with this particular woman I think it is a case of art imitating life and doing a pretty good job of it.

The rest of the cast was excellent, all strong characters, all excellent in their roles. I do have to take a minute and talk about my daughter, the actress. I have seen her time and time again in all kinds of roles but when she is on, she is on. Everything I know about her involvement in a play always tells me that she is a professional and is very talented when it comes to learning her lines and rescuing the cast when that long pregnant pause occurs because someone has dropped their lines or really screwed up and jumped ahead pages and pages. Kudos to you, Liz.

Literally, more books. I still have books on my "to read" shelf that have been there for three or four years. The news ones just look so much better when it is time to pick a new book to read. And to top it all off, looking for books at Border's today there were two authors I wanted to take a look at. They both had the second and third and fourth, etc. books of the author but not the first. I guess I can read some of the 20 other books I have and look for the firsts on line. What? What am I doing?

I just finished reading the Tami Hoag book-"Guilty as Sin". It is old but it is definitely a good book. I found myself reading the last couple days for hours just to find out what happened. It is hard for me to start another book when I have finished one that I think is really good. But when I add these nine books to the 13 or so that are on the "to read" shelf, I am sure i will find one I think I will want to read.

The knitting has taken a hit because of the time spent reading. I have started the back of the sweater. If you look you can start to see the parts now. The crewneck collar and the shoulder cables going from the crewneck out to the arms. Now I am working on the cables on the back. The stitches are picked up along the shoulders and the back of the crewneck. Tomorrow night we are having a "Crochet/Knit night" at our house. Tara is talking about making a baby blanket so I will see if I can find a good pattern tomorrow for her to use. Maybe I will have a chance to give away some yarn-to a good cause.

I don't get the Eliot Spitzer thing. I do get it but I just cannot understand what he is thinking. He has three teenage daughters. I can't rush to judgment about his marriage, what it means, what it is about but three teenage daughters? What is he thinking? How can he be such a jerk to not get what the impact on them will be?

I am starting to get the hang of the iTouch. Well, a little anyway. I have music in it now and listen to it when I am walking Ms. S. in the morning. It makes the beginning of the day much brighter. There is a lot more to learn. I asked Nick to program it so that Garrison Keillor was uploaded every week and sure enough, there it is. I noticed I had about four weeks of programs in it now and decided to listen to one this morning. What I didn't have was "The Prairie Home Companion" or something like that which is what I was really looking for, not what I got. I'll figure it out. Well, Nick will. Well, I am sure that Nick already knows and can't wait to share this with his mother.

Liz and I got invitations to Nick and Janet's rehearsal dinner before their wedding in June. Will hear the details probably when the date is closer.

Photos

2008-03-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, March 5, 2009

Pictures, pictures everywhere. Last November I was pretty determined to finally, once and for all, get all of my pictures organized. I piled them all in the spare bedroom, thinking that if they were all in one place this would go easier. I have made almost no dent in that pile although there was always a small pile sitting on my kitchen table for me to go through when I had nothing else to do. That pile has now moved to the work table in my dining room and it is still the same size.
Slides, movies, photos of every kind you can imagine.

But, and a huge but this is, I have finally organized, labeled and dated all of the photos in my computer. There are 2092 photos. I probably deleted that many or more. Now I will just download my camera every month and sort through them, label them and be done with it. Sounds like a plan. Let's see how long it lasts.

I do wonder what will happen to all of this, why I find it so important to have them dated and labeled. I don't think I have ever sat down and just looked at them although I love being able to show them to people who are interested. But what happens to them when I'm gone? I guess one of the kids will save them for a while but then what? It probably is really all about our own mortality questions.

Strange. The only blog without a picture in it is the blog about photos.

Reading

2008-03-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 1

I am not sure at what point in my life I became an avid

reader. I vaguely remember Dad and Mom reading but not very much. I know when they were older they did read more but I don't remember them sitting and reading a book at all when I was growing up. My siblings all read, quite a bit I think, so we must have gotten it from somewhere. Or, a favorite saying in psych, "we didn't lick it up from the floor"-it came from somewhere. And I am happy that both of my kids read as much as they do.

I hesitated to use the word "avid" as I know there are people who read far more than I do but I also know there are many more who read far less and I practically cry when I see or read anything about illiteracy. I think I probably read books between one and two hours a day but there are newspapers and magazine in between and so much to read on the internet.

I finished the Janet Evanovich book yesterday and went to my book shelf (above) to look for something new to read. When I retired I decided that I was going to read everything I had before I bought any new books. That didn't work at all but I have managed to keep it under much better control and only have about 17 books waiting. Some of them have been there a long time but I have weeded a number of them out and passed them along to my sister and niece. Going into a book store is comparable to going into a yarn store for me. I always end up buying great things that I just don't need.

In the meantime, newspapers pile up also. I have read the Daily News everyday for years but when I travel I always look for a New York Times. I have subscribed, unsubscribed, resubscribed to it so many times I can't tell you how many. It isn't that I don't love to read it, it is just that it piles higher and higher when it gets delivered everyday and, like any newspaper, I won't throw it out until I have read it. So now I just get it on the weekend and I buy it on Tuesday for the Science Times. Certainly seems manageable, as you can probably tell from this pile on the kitchen table.

Then in the basement there is this pile of magazines and catalogues waiting for me to read them while I am on the treadmill.

I feel sorry for people who don't read. It is such a great look outside of ourselves as well as a great escape. I have a very dear friend who has books piled all over his living room and bedroom, not a work of fiction in sight. "Why would anyone read a book that you are not going to learn something new from?" When I last saw his stash, there was a copy of "Kite Runner" laying on one of the piles. One of his friends gave it to him, encouraging him to take a walk on the wild side. He says he will, someday when he has time. All of the other books? I can only describe them as tomes. I know a tome is a large book but somehow in my mind it is also factual, small print, no pictures, no fun.

Nick comes close to that category although he does throw in fiction and cooking and baseball books once in a while. But...The Mystery of Megabytes......Programming for the K738H Generation.......Advanced OS-well, you get the idea.

In the end it is all just amazing. It is a huge, huge world out there and so much to learn and enjoy. To each his own.

My new book? A very old Tami Hoag. I think it is from 1996 but it is from the shelf. Only 17 more to go. I have read a couple of her books in the past and enjoyed them. I am not sure why this was on my shelf but it doesn't really matter. Another interesting reader quirk? Margaret reads her books in the order they were written. If she would decide to read Tami Hoag, she would start with the first one the author wrote and go on from there. If I like an author I will look for other books they have written and will try to read them in order but it isn't always a necessity, unless, of course, it is a set.

Nick and Janet and I saw Liz in "Steel Magnolias" last night. It was a good night for all and Liz, you were excellent-a hair doing, born again Christian. Good job.

Leap Year Day

2008-02-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

February 29, 2008

In the English speaking world, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap year day. (Incidentally, years that are not leap years are called "common" years.) It has been suggested that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or St. Brigid in the 5th century but the tradition did not really start before the 19th century so that is doubtful. There is a law on the books from 1288 that Queen Margaret of Scotland (who was then five?) required that a fine be paid if the man refused a proposal of marriage from a woman and it spelled out what the fines were including money, gowns, a kiss. Since this made the men feel very vulnerable the tradition was changed to being activated only on Leap Year Day.

"Steel Magnolias" opens tonight, a production by the City

Island Theater Group. A play with strong women roles

and I think Liz has probably found another excellent role

for herself. I hear that she disappears and Annelle takes

over which says a lot about Liz's talent. My role? Cutting out 448 tickets.

As far as the eye can see----

Monday was a beautiful day at Arlington Cemetery. It is such a sad but moving place. I started out at the National Museum of Women in the Military and found myself not wanting to leave. Sorry-I am not sure if that is the correct title of the women's memorial but you get the idea. They have a number of videos there and the one I was most fascinated by was the one done by the nurses from Viet Nam.

As I was leaving the JFK gravesite I noticed this small cross behind the memorial. Curious, I went back and checked it out. The gravesite of RFK. What a surprise. No markings, no nothing. Just sitting there below Lee Mansion. It has been that long since I was at Arlington.

The gardeners' forum that I agreed to be a moderator for went live this week. It has fun to be in this from the beginning with some input and watching it develop. If you are interested, check it out. You can get to it from Doug Green's garden website.

Progress on the "life sweater" is coming along. I started working on the back of it this week. So now the crewneck is done and the shoulders from the neckline to the tops of the arms. I have picked up stitches along the shoulder saddles and the collarline and am starting to knit down the back. I am incorporating three patterns with different numbers of rows into each line. It really is a pattern that has to be watched every single stitch. What is a "life sweater"? Just my own term for a sweater that I think it is going to take me my whole life to knit. Sorry it isn't anything more interesting than that, no great knitters' secret code.

I finished the book for our book chat. It ended up

not being as horrendous as it seemed to me in the

beginning. And Liz brought home a Janet Evanovich

book for me to read-a "between the numbers" book,

all the same crazy characters but not one of the more popular number series she writes. It is about a one or

two day read so I am almost finished with it.

I have come screaming into the 21st century with a new iTouch. i Touch, iPhone, iPod, MP3 players, what do I know? Well, now I know a little more. One thing I know for sure is that it sure is nice to just tap this screen and read my email. No more waiting for the computer to come on. I am anxious to learn how to transfer pictures and music to it and hopefully will get to all of that this week. Nick was kind enough to transfer my mail, calendar, etc. to it and get it up and

running. Thanks, Nick.

Another leap forward-a Christmas present. Talk about a a toy. There is also a definite learning curve with this Vac 'n Seal. Two bagels last week ended up about 1 inch thick. I have to learn what you vacuum, what you seal and what you get to vacuum and seal.

I'm learning so much this week. Vera Wang actually has a cut flower collection.

Break a leg, Liz!

And last, but not least, Sylvia in her own personal Vera Wang bridal veil.

Catching Up

2008-02-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

February 22, 2008

Thanks for the invite, Nick and Janet. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I finished "Love in the Time of Cholera". What an excellent book. The story

itself is intriguing and additionally he is an excellent, excellent author. I love how he uses words. There are so many words in the book that I have never

even seen before but he uses them so that the reader definitely knows what the word means.

Having finished "Cholera" I could now start "Water for Elephants." It was my turn to select a book for the book chat. Normally I would choose a book that I had already read but this time I threw caution to the wind. Not too sure that was such a good idea. It is pretty rough and lewd but I am sure that the circus world is a pretty rough and lewd world.

Happy, happy first birthday, Meghan and Elizabeth. Hope you enjoy your new sweaters.

The life sweater is coming along also. Actually quite a bit more than this is done but I haven't taken a picture lately. Both of the shoulder "saddles" are finished. The saddles extend from the bottom of the crew neck colloar to the top of the arm. With both saddles done it now gets more complicated as I have to pick up stitches along the sides of the saddles and then start the front and back of the sweater.

Today I was able to spit out a tissue box "cozy" that the City Island Theater Group will use as a

prop for their production of "Steel Magnolias" which opens next Friday night.

I have also made a few more squares for the afghan

that I am making out of odds and ends of yarn. If I used all of the odds and ends that are in this house, this pile would be to the ceiling. What is it about yarn anyway? I think it grows at night, when no one is looking. There always just seems to be more and more in this house.

Yesterday was my birthday. I found myself wearing cranky pants as it got closer and closer. Normally I don't think much about age, it is just a number, blah, blah, blah. But I guess when it is right in your face it is a little more daunting. But as the day progressed and I talked to people I was in an excellent mood by the time I went out to dinner with Nick and Liz. It was just such a nice night and it was all about being with them. So much fun. We introduced Nick to the casino in Yonkers and it was pretty funny to watch him win. A good time was had by all. Thanks, Liz, for the beautiful flowers.

I have so many pictures of these flowers because the color is so deep and beautiful. A wonderful contrast to outdoors today where everything seems to be shades of black and white.