May 27 2012

It's Brian's birthday! Today is the actual date, and here's Brian at 70 with a table full of lovely plants sent by family and flowers from our garden to cheer his day. The big birthday party was last week, to get a head start on the holiday weekend, and as you can see from these photos (and I won't put ALL of them up!!) we had a wonderful time. The weather cooperated after five or six days of rain, then the sun came out for the weekend and the sky was as bright blue as Brian's eyes.

Lots of lively conversation,
















lots of delicious food,




















lots of shared laughter. And the shot showing Brian with several men include men who were boys at Brian's 7th birthday party. Pretty amazing to have kept in touch all these decades later.
































Hyla and Ayro had the most fun down at the frog pond, where the hunt is always on. Lisa actually did catch a frog in the net, but of course it leapt right back out to continue it's froggy life in the murky depths. But it's fun for the girls, and a real pleasure to watch them watching the frogs.

















































My favorite shot, though, was the two of them running along the upper terracing "grandchildren's path", looking just like little wood sprites.














At the party's end, happy but rather tired, I took this last shot of the table after everyone left and most of the stuff was stowed (please note the cake with colorful sprinkles, Hyla and Ayro made it for grandpa with I suspect a little help from their parents). Everyone including Sadie had such a nice time, we are so appreciative of all the folks who made the effort to help us celebrate, from Rochester, New York City, Connecticut, and elsewhere. Thanks to all!!! Now I just have to get used to the idea that I'm married to someone who's 70!!!

May 2 2012

Just to let you know what's going on, ahead of Brian's big 70th birthday party later this month:

First, Mom is home again and doing better than we feared. She is going to have PT and OT at the apartment for a while, and is always very good at keeping up with the exercises she's been given, so I'm hopeful the improvments she's made will persist. And, of course, thanks to all who were so supportive and concerned during this latest crisis. Your prayers were very welcome!


In garden news, after a very warm (VERY WARM) March, April was much cooler (except for our single 100 degree day) and now that May's begun, we've had lots of much-needed rain. The plants continue to confound.
My carefully planted bleeding hearts in the lower terraces either didn't survive at all, or are just a few inches high as you can see.

While the self-seeded ones, in cracks of the stone walls, jammed in to other planting beds, and everywhere else they don't have a visible toe-hold (root-hold?) are thriving. Go figure...



The lily of the valley plants are tumbling open everywhere. I wish I could send the scent along, it's one of my favorites and I love being able to make tiny arrangements with them that scent the rooms as I walk by. Too bad there's no "smellovision"!



















The very first of the bearded iris opened up too, little dwarves with lovely edging.













Also for your viewing pleasure, a shot of our hostas BEFORE the deer come and munch them down to the ground. Some years are better than others, but we're always grateful for whatever plantings the critters leave behind for us.








I put out a half dozen tomato plants weeks ago, and then had to cover them up with cartons three nights running to protect them from the frost. Finally we are predicted to have nights above freezing, so yesterday my chilies (for rellenos) got put in the ground, joining the arugula, lettuce, and garlic that wintered over. Still to get: basil, chard, eggplant, zucchini (remember when a single zucchini plant produced more than could be given away? it's now a delicacy costing about as much per pound as mushrooms!)

We've cleared away all of last winter's dead weeds on the lower terracing, just in time for this year's to make their appearance. Wish I could teach the deer to eat weeds. And Brian's built some new bridges to get the wheelbarrow over, as the old ones were rotting. The new ones are much prettier, too.

In the dog news, I was part of the team that found little Taylor her "forever" home. Her new family decided to change her name to Honey, and are transitioning by calling her "Taylor Honey", which, as these are Texans all, sounds about right to me.

















That's the wrap-up for now. Hope all goes well with all of you - send us your news!

April 11 2012

Update April 11: Before I could post the riveting news below, I was called back to my mother's side on March 28, when she fell and was taken to Highland Park Hospital. I stayed with her until April 3, when she was well enough so that I was able to fly back home (but of course not without concerns). By then, Mom had been moved to Whitehall, a rehabilitation center she's been at before with very good results. As of now, Mom's been taken off oxygen (finally!), is getting PT twice a day and OT once, and making good progress. My sister and brother-in-law got back from California the night before I left, and the grandchildren have been truly wonderful about visiting, calling, and giving Mom the love and support she needs. I'm still not sure when she will be able to go back home, but hope it will be soon. Thanks to everyone who has been saying prayers for her - keep it up! And now, the pre-emergency news as it was then:

March 27 2012: I'm just recently back from spending a week with my remarkable mother at her assisted living center, where I'm still the youngest, and the fastest walker. However, more folks every trip are asking me when I moved in, so if I needed any proof that my grey hairs are proliferating, I now have it. Mom's spirit remains the same, and her mind is just as sharp as always. But unfortunately her body is not keeping pace. Just today she began P.T., and for the first time in months was somewhat encouraged, as the therapist thinks he can really help her mobility, if not the pain. And something's better than nothing. I did get to see my niece Kim and her son Cameron, my nephew Kevin and his twins Julia and Phoebe, and my sister and brother-in-law, so had a good dose of family.

I took an afternoon to visit my father's grave. Standing there approaching in my sixty-sixth year on the planet, I could recall so clearly the salesperson who came to our house when I was just sixteen, and how my sister and I could barely suppress our giggles as he talked about the "view" from this grave site. But I have to admit, all these decades later, that on that particular afternoon, with the sun shinning, the temperature an unbelievable 85 degrees, and birds singing in the nearby tree, the view was a comfort to me. Less comforting is looking at the empty places next to Dad, waiting for Mom, Brian, and I. It's a bit strange looking at the place I know I'll be buried in. But this is better than the fallback plan Brian and I made years ago, involving a rental truck, drive to the ocean, and illegal dumping. You don't need to know more...


Here at home, while we weren't as hot as the Chicago suburbs, it was also unseasonably warm for most of March. We had our own little mini-summer, nice but confusing to me and the plants as well. Right now we have jonquils and daffodils blooming,(the only thing that's close to on time) irises a good twelve inches out of the ground, and day lilies also up WAY too early. In the back terraces, the allium are up, the crocuses already bloomed and dying back, the peonies just poking through, ecchinacea as well, and the bergamot well on their way to taking over every terrace they are planted in. I wonder, though, as I see less blooms on the bulb plantings, whether the other flowering plants will also have less blooms. I know peonies in particular need cold weather to flourish, and we didn't have that at all this winter (and this is NOT a complaint, just an observation). Several of our evergreen ground cover and shrubs also look pretty pathetic, and I'm not sure if it's caused by lack of cold, lack of moisture (no snowpack to melt) or just general malaise. Time will tell, and then I'll tell you.












As for the dog news, in March I was part of only one successful adoption, but one is enough to keep me going. Lucky Carlin found his forever home with a man who can't wait to finish his training and go out into the great outdoors with his new best friend.







And sweet Sadie, now approaching her eleventh birthday, gave me a very Brittany greeting when I returned, lots of doggie singing and generously brought over each of her three toys to me, just to show me how glad she was that I was back. What a great girl, we are so lucky to have her!


And speaking of "lucky to have", here's Grandpa Brian having a really good time with his adorable granddaughters Hyla and Ayro. A very photogenic family!

My calligraphy students have just completed their second year, and this week we'll have our traditional calligraphers' pizza party. They stoically pursued Italic, our sixth alphabet, in deference to Rose Ellen who's waited over a year and a half (Italic was the reason she enrolled in the first class) while I insisted they do other, easier alphabets.




We were delayed almost every other week either because of weather, car problems, work conflicts, road work or trips, but finally we've covered lower case, caps and numbers. I'm continually impressed by their persistence, hard work, and delightful dispositions. They are wonderful students and women well worth knowing. And I think most of us (including me!) will be glad to go on to the next alphabet, a version of Rotunda that I'm far more comfortable teaching.

February 7 2012

Now that the hoopla over the Big Event, PUPPY BOWL EIGHT, is finally over, we can move on to other things. As you can see, Sadie and I were wildly unexcited over the football stuff, though Brian really seemed to enjoy it


While we really are enjoying our fairly snowless winter (so far!), for those of you who yearn for the snow (and those are generally you who live where it is not) I'm including a shot of the one snowfall we've had since October, so you won't think it's a completely unwhite season. I'm just relieved that I have not had to do any shovelling thus far, and with Brian 90% healed from his knee surgery, it's a good bet I won't have to do much. It's pretty to look at, I agree, but not so much fun to live with.



And while on the general subject of Brian's knee surgery, I am happy and somewhat astonished to report that in yesterday's mail, right after last Friday's fifth boilerplate letter from FEMA informing us once again that the damage to our house (never claimed, wasn't any) did not, upon FEMA inspection (never happened) warrant any help, we got a check - no letter, no explanation, just a very welcome check. I'd love to take all the credit for my great advocacy skills, but after I had refuted all their ridiculous reasons for declining to help (not at all limited to our non-claim on the house, but ending in their stating they couldn't get in touch with Brian's doctor, whose name, address, cell phone, office phone and fax number were of course prominently on display in every bill we forwarded)I knew I needed more muscle. So we got in touch with the one state senator in our eight years here who did more than send us a generic email (shame on you, Chuck Schumer! and THANK YOU Senator Larkin) and put us in touch with someone in his herarchy that handled Federal matters. Two weeks later, voila! A check! Sometimes government works - if you complain long enough, loud enough, and have a friend...






In other news, I have succeeded in dieting off almost all the extra pounds put on by the December (and beyond) extravagances. Though I do really well on my own slurping down anything chocolate, I was helped by our generous and wonderful friends who sent very many cookies, fudge, avocados and other treats, all very much appreciated, and all eaten far too quickly. At least Brian got a few pieces of everything. Here's a few mouth-watering shots - are you hungry yet?























And we had a nice surprise this past weekend, when Lisa and Josh, and Josh's mother Laura (who is wonderful just like her son) with Hyla and Ayro, paid us a visit.

That's most the news here. Self-serving insert: I'll just take a moment to encourage all my young readers (I think there may be two or three under forty) to use that internet, twitter, facebook power to support my unofficial but very sincere run for the presidency. In light of the current slate of Republican candidates, since clearly no one is too preposterous to aspire to the presidency, I am moved to offer a genuinely independent alternative: ME! I will not be collecting any direct donations, will not be campaigning, and will not create a superpac run by my relatives. But I can balance a budget, owe no political favors (with the possible exception of the previously mentioned Senator Larkin), have way less baggage than Newt and like almost everyone else, way less money than Mitt (whose name, as Jon Stewart mentioned months ago, means "with Romney" - yiddishist all laugh now). When Newt is the moral arbiter, and Mitt represents the unemployed (and I'd be just delighted to be an unemployed person who somehow gets over $20 mil a year, and I'm betting you would too), I think I have a pretty good chance of being elected by folks with a few fuctioning brain cells and some residual memory. And wouldn't Brian be a great First Man?

Last and probably best, these are dogs adopted recently by the team at ABR that I work with:

Leah,


Mia,


RJ

January 11 2012

It's been about a year since I last posted (and I'll bet all 3 of my readers were puzzled) so this is a condensed version of life in the foothills of the Catskills. This winter is the opposite of last, so far, as we've had only one freaky snowstorm in October, right on Halloween, that was surprising but too depressing to photograph. Halloween? That's the time for light jackets, warm days and trick or treating on a mild night. Not so much in 2011, as most Halloween stuff on the East Coast got cancelled. What a sad day for the kids..

We had our annual Brian's Birthday Party in May, but this time I had to ask all my dog buddies to leave their kids at home, as Sadie just doesn't seem to like her own kind - and shows it, unfortunately. It's odd because she's so very gentle with the grandkids, and pretty laid back these days with most folks.
Oh well, I guess she's picked up some of my bad habits in this year and a half she's lived back with us.














Less pleasant news item by far for us was Hurricane Irene, which was well covered by the national news but left out our item: Brian injured himself very badly in the cleanup afterward, and wound up needing knee surgery in mid-October. We were without power for 5 long days, relying only on the generator (my very favorite appliance ever) - tolerable but not much fun. The house, thankfully, was not damaged, though we had a small leak in the basement that kept me busy mopping up and wringing out dog towels. Compared to so many folks who either lost their houses or almost did, we were lucky.
BUT (yes, there's always a "but") a rather impressive tree came down in the storm, pushed our fence back and then dangled in the utility wires until Sept. 1, when the crew finally came to untangle, cut and remove it.
They did a great job, but of course when they left there were still lots of small tree-sized branches scattered over the private road, so Brian and I suited up and began dragging them off the road.
That's when Brian went one round too long, tore out his meniscus on both sides of the knee, and then waited for several weeks for it to get better. It didn't - hence the surgery, rehab, etc. Poor Brian really suffered until the surgery was done and he began to heal; for me the 5 days he spent in the knee immobilizer and on crutches, unable to do very much at all including make his every two hours feeding schedule, were pretty grueling. But we all got through it, and once Brian was on the mend, it was Sadie's turn. I knew this was coming, but explained to Dr. Kate that I was not prepared to have two patients in stitches (insert your own joke here) and Sadie would have to wait till Brian was de-stitched and at least able to drive himself to rehab.

She had her surgery in November, and came out of the removal of several "bumps" and "lumps" like a champ, but looking like a Frankenpup. Three of her four legs were shaved for various inserts and tests, and she had three shaved spots, one on each side, and one on the back of her neck, with neat but to me nauseating stitches laced up tight. How to keep her from chewing? First I tried one of my shirts, which being such a good girl she let me put on. Nice fit, but the scoop neck was so scooped she could walk right out of it. Next, another shirt, another style, and this one worked for the entire time we waited for the stitch removal.

As for the garden, alas, the entire lower terracing was overgrown by 3-4 foot weeds even before Brian got hurt. It was a very wet season, and by the time I could even think about the gardens, I couldn't see them! I'm just hoping that the plants will be as forgiving as they have in the past, and we can slowly reclaim the plantings. I actually thought it had snowed the other night, as the moon was full, and the long piles of weeds still waiting for something else to happen looked white and silver in the moonlight. I had to go outside to prove to myself it wasn't so!

I'm still teaching my loyal students, now down to 3, as we approach the end of our second year of instruction, and they are still a joy. We all hope that the 4th woman, badly injured in an accident right after Brian's birthday, will recover and rejoin us soon. And Brian had two grants last year, one to teach another art class in Pine Bush, and the other to create a mural for the local high school. Both projects went well, and he's waiting to hear about another class this year.

So, that's enough for now. I hope to be better at posting this year than last - I could hardly be worse, as this post alone has equalled all of last year's! Here's hoping most sincerely for a better 2012 for everyone!

January 31 2011

I barely finished taking pictures of the icicles already hung from every eave on the house before we began getting the media blitz about the NEXT storm, coming a few hours from now. Our eighth since Christmas, each successive one has been billed as the worst - but this one, covering over twenty states and theoretically affecting millions, even looks scary on the maps. So once again we check the generator fuel levels, put extra wood on the porch for the woodstove, make a large pot of soup, and wait. My planned trip to visit Mom, which was supposed to begin tomorrow, has been set back a week as all the airlines agree this is no time to be charging for travel changes, and are encouraging anyone (like me) who doesn't absolutely have to be somewhere to just stay home. I'm disappointed at the delay, but Mother Nature will always trump any plans I make if She's determined enough. Snowmageddon is coming!



As you can see from these photos, it's not as if we need any more snow hereabouts. But it's coming anyway, perhaps another foot, and with the promise of three or four inches of ice by Wednesday, I thought I'd take advantage of the late night calm (before the storm!) to post this. It may be that, if the ice actually is as bad as predicted, we'll be on generator power for a while, and unfortunately that does not include the computer.


Unlike me, Sadie loves the snow, whether to bounce around in, or eat - and she eats snow like I go through a box of chocolates! She continues to be such a joy in the house, nuzzling us for pets, waiting patiently until I'm ready in the morning to let her out, and being generally adorable. It's been five months since we broke her out of doggie jail, and I've yet to have a serious inquiry about adopting her. I'm surprised, as this is the longest I've ever had a foster dog - good thing she is so undemanding, with the winter as brutal as this one has been, even standing in the glassed in porch waiting for her to come in from the dog run is bone-chilling. And having fallen on my fortunately padded derriere last week on my way to the mailbox, I am increasingly leery of ice and consistently weary of snow! Spring will be extra welcome this year, surely.

I did manage to get in all four January classes for my band of hearty calligraphers. In fact, one of them took this photo of me and Sadie, as she now happily bounds down the formerly scary stairway to get her after class petting and socialization.
We were all pretty surprised that although most of the month was cold and terrible for travel, our Thursday nights were clear and everyone got here and back home with no problem. We are now on our third alphabet, Sixteenth Century Tudor, and the women are just as enthusiastic and dedicated as when we began to work together last March. What luck for me to find four other people who will trek through feet of snow for the joys of calligraphy! No photos yet, but when I get back from my trip and we reconvene, I should have some interesting things to share. I'm insisting that they all try to do a circular layout this time, and it is much more challenging than the others they've done. But isn't that what good teaching is about, challenging the students? We all long for warmer weather when we can treat ourselves to well-deserved ice cream at the Pine Bush local place after class. Surely spring will come eventually - even in this deep freeze I can still see the hopeful buds on the trees and shrubs. I just wish I shared their optimism - and faith!

No other news of note here, weather obsession, calligraphy and dogdom pretty much covers it for me. More when the season changes!