Nick's friends

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!

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

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!

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

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--

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

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

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

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

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.