Summer lull

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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.