9/10/11

Diary of a perfect birthday day:
Breakfast at Waffle Frolic

followed by hanging out at the lake and the Ithaca Farmer's Market and then camera shopping.

Beautiful flowers and festive balloons from my mom,


and an entire day off with my sweetie.


Topped off by dinner out on the patio


with my sis

and some sweet friends.

It was my sweetest birthday ever.

Today is 9/11. I will never be able to think of the events of that day without hearing the music of Shostakovich. We were in rehearsal when we received word that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I had visited there only a few months before. Had walked the neighborhood extensively and had especially enjoyed the sweet little church located just a block or two from the Twin Towers. I've never been back to the site and don't know if I ever will. No words I'll ever write can even come close to describing the horror and devastation I felt on that day. I tacked a note on my studio door and went home. It read "Pray for peace". Guess we're still working on that.

Rain, Rain

Our friends and neighbors thirty miles to the south of us are under water this morning. Thousands have been evacuated. Here it's damp and foggy and the roof is leaking in our bedroom, but what a small inconvenience compared to the loss of a family home and its entire contents. Today is a day to be grateful.

Our roofers arrived cheerfully and promptly yesterday after my somewhat frantic call and immediately located the source of the problem. The clapboard sheathing on our fireplace chimney is completely rotted inside and out and no amount of flashing and caulking will fix it this time. We're talking complete demo and rebuild, but they're experts and quick workers and it'll be a good as new in about two weeks.

While they were up on the roof I entertained them with a demonstration of what to do if one suddenly finds oneself standing in quicksand. When I walked out to meet them I accidentally stepped on the ground above our newly dug french drain. I've walked on it before but never after such rain. I knew the ground was soft, but who would've expected I would sink in the mud up to my thighs (no exaggeration). I thought the guys would pee their pants laughing and after two seconds of being scared I joined right in. I mean really. It must've been quite a sight. I managed to extricate myself fairly quickly but not without getting covered nose to toes in slimy clay mud. Good thing I have a sense of humor and a good washer. So what did you do on your rain day yesterday?

All Washed Up

The public schools are closed today due to rain. Now that's something I've never heard before. We're pretty lucky here in our neighborhood. We've got a few washed out roads and a lot of flooded basements, at least that's what I hear. I'm not venturing down there...no how, no way...not unless I absolutely have to.

This year critters ate all (and I do mean all) of my beautiful lettuce and then they helped themselves to the parsley, the beans and the strawberries for dessert. Thank heavens they weren't interested in the asparagus. They even got many of my potted tomatoes but thankfully the top few were out of their reach.

From the sound of things out my window this morning it appears the rain may have stopped. I can hear the crickets again. Please summer won't you consider staying on just a bit longer or at least until the rest of the tomatoes are ripe?

Just after I clicked to publish this post I got a phone call telling me that classes at the College are canceled until noon today due to widespread flooding. I've never had a "rain day" before.

This Very Minute

September...ahhh.

Cool nights, early days and a bevvy of birthdays including my own. Fleece sheets, down blankets, wearing socks to bed.

Apple picking, stew cooking, port drinking. Sweaters, hats, scarves. Traffic snarls, tricky parking, so many new faces.

Question after question after question and many are my own.

Suddenly summer's starting to fade from view and I really feel it now.

Hanging on...

Stormin' the Castle

Here's to dear friends,

good food, good wine, a comfy couch

and "The Princess Bride" on dvd.

Thank you Terry and Diane for thinking of a way to get us to slow down, take a deep breath and laugh out loud.

Labor Day Proclamation

Being a child of the 70's, born and bred in the south (south Florida that is) and the product of a regular church going family, I saw my share of proper church fashion. My favorite of all time remains the polyester, pastel, double knit leisure suit, especially if it's worn with pair of sparkling white patent leather loafers. I don't know where or why or who it was that impressed this on me, but some how I grew up thinking that wearing white after Labor Day was a cardinal sin tantamount to going around the entire day with your zipper open or your bra strap hanging out. Today in honor of Labor Day and my upcoming birthday, I thought it worth announcing here and now for all to see that I intend to wear white when and where I please all season long because after all, you're not the boss of me, at least not any more... There, I said it! Happy Labor day.

This and That

We made a good go of the onsite auction yesterday, sticking it out for four or five hours before packing it in. Had we come to buy this

or this

we might've declared the sale a huge success.

What we found instead was a rag tag auction crew with a primitive analog auction system and a pile of stuff that gave a whole new meaning to the word craptastic.

Still all in all, it was nice to spend the day together taking in the sights and sounds of rural upstate NY and we did manage to come home with a few nice treasures.