Six Word Saturday - Summer/Fall

I know summer is over when...

I put away my light yellow flower sprigged robe and start using the soft pink fluffy warm one.

I have to wear slippers in the house, instead of bare feet.

I start to wear socks again

My feet get SO cold at night

Sleeping by an open window is delightfully cool and refreshing

The down comforter comes back in use

The green lawn is dappled with dropped leaves, green hiding underneath red, gold, yellow and brown

The school buses are on the road again

The evening light fades differently in the fall

I want to make soups and stews and provisions for the winter

We service the furnace

I stop watering my outdoor plants

We move from the sunroom to the warm living room for evening talks

I start thinking about taking classes

We start making plans for the holidays - who goes where and when

The rain sounds and smells different in the fall

You can smell the apples and the concord grapes in the air


How do you know that summer is over and fall has begun?

9/11

About this time on 9/11/2001 I was boarding a plane in Providence, RI. I remember the red haired security gal who was barely paying attention to her job, not really watching the camera. I actually remember thinking "she's thinking about her date last night and not paying attention to the security at all".

I remember walking thru the Chicago airport and wondering why all the TV's were off.

I remember waiting impatiently on the next plane; wondering why we weren't taking off on our flight to San Jose, CA.

I remember people trickling onto the plane, muttering about a plane and the WTC and thinking it must have been some small plane pilot who lost power, poor souls.

I remember the shock of hearing the overall gist of the story, seeing the Flight Attendants crying, listening to the pilot telling us that there was a "problem" and that we wouldn't be taking off soon.

I remember calling my husband and listening to him cry, thinking that my plane to Chicago was possibly one of horror-planes, maybe getting ready to hit the Sears Tower. I'd never heard him cry like that before.

I remember driving, driving, driving home - spending the night in Sandusky Ohio - and at 11:00 pm that night, seeing for the first time, the awful, horrible videos of the planes hitting the WTC...in my home town...where we had Dad's birthday party the year before...where my brother had been staying the week before. I couldn't grasp it all.

I remember needing to see my loved ones, to hug my husband, to hug my nephews. I remember another day of driving home - and just going, going and going. It seemed like a week until I could get home.

I remember thinking "we will never be the same again". I remember crying for the loss, for everyone's loss, for NYC's loss.

I will always remember that day. Every detail is etched in my mind. I don't obsess about it, but I will never forget it.

Never....

Animal Wednesday - a little forest animal and a bike trail story

This little forest animal was scampering around near our car when we got back from an epic bike ride on Sunday. I watched him in a daze, but did get a chance to get a picture of him and his cozy looking tree home.

He kept running inside this tree house, and I wondered how many other chipmunks were living inside...but was too exhausted to move one inch to see if I could see any of his relatives.

We went out to a place called Tully Lake on Sunday - which is gorgeous and a wonderful place to kayak. We did do a bike ride there last year but since I was a novice, I walked about 90% of the trail and had a lovely time on a beautiful day. That was last year.

This year I wanted to see if I could ride the trail - seeing as how I'm SO much more experienced than I was last year ( do you hear the sarcasm?). I wanted to DO this trail. I wanted to conquer it. I was pumped up!
Well...I didn't walk 90% of it this year, but I'd say 60 - 70%. The trail is impossible, very technical, filled with stubborn rocks and bridges and ledges.

Do you call this a trail? I can't even see where the trail might be, but it follows those orange blazes thru the forest. So yes...this is a trail.

I walked this section...and the next...and the next after that.

Finally took a break.

While I was riding/walking/falling I swore a million times that I would never darken this trail again. I hated it with a passion. It is a mean trail. It is for testosterone laden 20 year old boys, not for mature confident don't-need-to-prove-anything women.

Now that I am three days out from trying to ride this monster...I want to go back and try it in sections. Practice. Wear more body armour and don't worry about falling.

I wonder if I am stubborn or just stupid.


Happy Animal Wednesday everyone!!!

Wedding Anniversary

30 "official" years. 35 living together years. Known each other for about 38.

wow.

Six Word Saturday - Art as a way to work thru fear

Not a True Story - Lucky Me

This hasn't happened to me yet, but has to so many friends - it worries me. Drawing is a way to work through the fear and find a way to the other side

My Old Brooklyn Home

As I've mentioned a million times, I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My brother recently went to our old neighborhood for a visit and brought me these pictures. The funny thing to us, was the reaction of his beach - bum California kids to our building and play area - they were astounded that we managed to have fun. Someday they'll know that kids can usually have fun anywhere, and if loved and safe - are happy in most surroundings.

Anyway....
Here is our building. There are 72 apartments in this building, and when I was growing up at least 5 or 6 of them contained relatives - cousins, grandma, aunts etc. I loved Halloween in this building and felt sorry for the kids who had to go outside to trick or treat. We NEVER had to wear coats over our costumes, just went from door to door collecting loot. A few years ago someone mentioned to me how they felt sorry for the kids who lived in buildings who didn't get to go outside on Halloween night. Nothing like a child's' view of her world - I thought it was close to perfect.

We lived on the 4th floor and had a lovely fire escape which could be used as a patio in really hot weather. We'd sit out there on blankets and sip cool water and watch the world go by. Actually, until I got glasses at 11, I would watch the blur go by - but I enjoyed the fuzzy world and my comfy perch. Jon and I shared a room until I was 15 - then I got my own room for a year until I went to college.


Our building was very fancy - note the expanse of grass. Not that we were allowed to play on it, but we all thought it was practically a country estate.


This is the front lobby. Note how fancy it is, with pictures on the walls and a complete art deco look. I always loved it, there were two sides to the building and you could easily slide from the bottom of one set of stairs to the other side.


To get to the back"yard" we had to go thru this strange corridor which went from the front street to the back. Even in those days, it was rather creepy and closed in. I must admit, I never liked this tunnel.


We felt sorry for the apartments that didn't have front fire escapes; they only had ones that opened onto the alley. I felt that they lived in inferior apartments because they couldn't see the front street - and I was probably right.


This is a view of the main courtyard that we played in. We always thought it was cozy, and a great place to play. It was so easy to bounce a ball here, and we had none of that nasty grass that ruined a good stoop ball game.

We never listened to this sign. It's been there since day one.
More Backyard. We didn't have the razor wire when we lived there but the fence was up - it kept out the other building riff-raff. This looks so long and narrow now, when I was a kid it was HUGE.

This is a view from the roof to another courtyard that we played in. Our mom could call down from our window for us to come in to dinner or whatever, and it echoed so well that we could hear her in the actual backyard. Our immediate answer to mom's call was a plea for "5 minutes more!"

It all looks so dingy now and I wonder if it was as dirty and nasty looking when we lived there, or if it was as clean and nice as I remember it. I loved growing up in a nice safe building, with family around, always someone outside to play with, and no nasty grass to ruin our games. I thought this was the perfect place to grow up and didn't have one minute of envy for the kids who had houses with real backyards...or kids who lived at the beach. (Actually, I have never envied anyone or thing now that I think of it, but that's another story)

Here I sit in my big suburban house, with 2 acres of land - and silly suburban isolation. I really think I'd rather raise a family in an apartment with family close by - it was easier on my mom. She never had to worry about driving us somewhere or what we would do if she wasn't home after school (Auntie was next door, no big deal) She could hear us playing outside with tons of cousins. We weren't allowed out of the perimeter of the building and we stuck to that rule (unspoken Brooklyn building perimeter rule)

Enough reminiscing. Time for today's life and work.

Have a good weekend everyone

Animal Wednesday - animal sketches and rambling notes.

I am working my way thru a book called "Drawing and Painting Animals" and am still in the early portions of the book and am not even close to the "painting" section. I got myself a brown paper sketchbook and am going to keep my animal sketches in that book as much as I can.

What I have learned, over and over again I might add, is that practice helps. It's a little bit hard because there are so many animals to draw, but this book tries to bring you back to basic shapes and drawing animals from those circles, triangles etc. Once you start to get ease with drawing those shapes, and taking it to the basic animal look - I guess you start on some more complex drawings - like two animals together. But I do know from my experience over the past two years that the hand is learning to draw while the eye is learning to see - and when you get these two senses working together with confidence, drawings flow better and everything works easier.

I think the top cat has the mumps - doesn't he look a bit swollen about the jaw area? Ah well - practice will help.

On other notes, work has been so busy that I haven't had time to post, or comment or much of anything. Yesterday was a 12 hour day, but I am over the hump now and can go back to regular hours. My tooth is bothering me again so I am going to make an appointment to have it taken out finally.

All of a sudden, the weather has changed to fall like temps, a very abrupt change from hot summer weather. This is the time of year that you wonder if you should get out the sweaters and put away the sleeveless shirts. I usually make the wrong choice and end up broiling in fall clothes on what seems like a hot summer day. Sitting outside before dinner now requires a light sweatshirt, whereas two weeks ago I felt like I wanted to sit in a pool of cool water. I love fall weather - there is a tiny little tang in the air that is conducive to biking, hiking, and in general - being outside. I'm not so happy doing loads of activity in the heat, and seriously hate doing outside stuff in freezing cold weather - but give me that fall crispness and I'm happy. Apple weather; pies and the like call out to be made...or bought.

My printer/scanner is doing odd things. Big streaks in the scanning - so much so that I can't even think about posting the latest in the adventures of Miss Em. I've cleaned it, and fussed, and am beginning to think that it's unfixable! It doesn't show up as much on this brown paper but on white - yucko! Any advice?

HAW everyone - enjoy your animals today!