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Random & the rain

Two dreary days we’ve had here – and the house is so quiet. Everyone is off to college or back to school and I am not enjoying the silence. But there is something about the rain, cleansing. Certainly a new season has arrived.. early!…. When Irene blew out of here, it seems as if she sucked the summer right out of the trees. They’re all turning already, or at least dropping leaves. So be it.

Can you believe the difference a year makes? Yesterday…

Last year…

One more dose of randomness….

I love Marthas Vineyard. When I step off the ferry into that other world

I get the distinct feeling I am home.

This year we did not get a chance to visit,

and so, feeling just a little sorry for myself,

I ordred the Black Dog’s 40th anniversary cookbook.

I love their menu, their casual retaurant –

and their recipes are delicious and easy.

It came today in the rain and I am doing that silly happy dance.

You know the one.

Seems like yesterday

Maah preshus baybeee started his sophmore year in HS today.

Holy crap. How can that be.

What does Steve Perry have to do with it?

Well, here’s how it went.

The rising son came home with a list of stuff he needed from Staples,

like.. TODAY.

So I hopped in my faithful mom mobile and off I went for said supplies.

In the car, alone, I like to find a good song and sing my heart out.

If I did this with people nearby they’d run for cover.

A few channel hops and Steve Perry and Oh, Sherry came blasting out,

immediately transporting me back in time.

Funny how a song can do that….

make you feel for a few moments almost exactly as you did

way back then…

Your first car, (pinto) a boyfriend who might or might not be the one (wasn’t)

the windows rolled down and your long hair flowing..

the whole world your oyster, possibilities endless.

….TIME seemed endless.

I caught a piece of that today, on my way to Staples, I did.

Thanks, Steve Perry, once again.

I don’t know if I ever really got over that crush.

The Paris Wife

This book surprised me. I thought I knew all I really wanted to know about Ernest Hemingway, but author Paula Mclain has written an intriquing, heartbreakingly honest, beautifully written take on his deeply complex relationship and early Paris life (another world entirely!) with first wife Hadley Richardson.

What I noticed immediately was that Mr. Hemingways’ artistic genius and cerebral torment were evident early on. The story is told through Hadley, a truly remarkable woman who stoicly supported the man and his madness through the lean years as he struggled to make a name for himself. Ernest’s first novel – The Sun Also Rises – was based on their experiences together during those years, although Hadley was left out of the book entirely.

Great read –

A Sunday of nothing much

Him: What are you taking pictures of?….. again.

Me: Just stuff.

Him: When do you run out of things to take pictures of?

Me: (speechless… maybe a raised eyebrow and inaudible sigh. No, scratch that. My sighs are never inaudible.)

Happiness is….

A co-ed bonfire among a dozen or so 15 year olds, where….

They cooked their own food.

They were responsible stewards of the field surrounding the fire pit,

which they built all by themselves the day before.

They cleaned up after themselves!

The party broke up at midnight, when it was supposed to.

No complaints from the neighbors.

The teen years.. mood swings? Check.

Trials and tribulations? Check.

The exhiliration and pain in the move toward maturity? Check.

Last night, there were no thorns on the rose.

I’ll take that.

You didn’t think they were gonna let me go up there and take pictures, did ya?

Irene – take two

We’ve got power tonight! And internet!

And the kids are having a bon fire party up on the hill behind the house.

I could use a stiff drink. Just sayin.

Highlights from the storm…

She wasn’t kidding

Irene came and went… taking about 30 homes on the shoreline with her. She also knocked down many powerlines and trees, washed out roads and left, I think, half of Connecticut without power, water, groceries, gas. There are crews from Michigan and Arizona on my sister’s street alone, trying to restore services. This is where I sit now… at her computer. She has a generator and internet when it’s running.

This Old House lost four trees and alot of branches, but no major damage. We also have a generator that was installed just two weeks ago (LUCK!). So life for us is pretty OK compared to many others in our town. There is a water truck that delivers to the town center every day, where people line up to fill their containers. Groceries and gas are bought in the next town over. Not all THEIR power is up yet either, but atleast some are selling provisions. The shoreline was hit the hardest along the coast. I walked among the houses with my camera, and then realized how rude that probably was, as people were desperately trying to clean up the mess that was left. The expressions on faces down there were raw, shocked.

They say we should have power, cable, internet back next Tuesday if all goes well. Let’s hope that storm brewing out in the Atlantic doesn’t decide to take up where Irene left off. We’ve had enough.

Until Tuesday, then –

A Day for the Dogs

What a day. One of the Top Ten on my list. Just awesome! Despite Irene’s impending threat, many volunteers and people looking to adopt dogs in need came out to support it. I am humbled by all the help we got setting up the site, running the event and by the amount of people who came out to meet the dogs and give them new and loving homes.

47 dogs out of 54 are now with their new owners.

I have never seen so many happy faces in one place.

Goosebumps, I tell ya.

Remember Vanna? She got a forever home.

Once the dogs are adopted, their orange bandanas are changed to Rainbows

and a large bell is rung …

This is my Aunt Pattie, below.

We promised ourselves we would not let each other take a dog home.

Because we have dogs already, you see.

But she only has one. And this guy was so sweet.

Buster’s owners had to relinquish him

when they moved into an assisted living facility where he wasn’t allowed.

Guess who went home with Aunt Pattie.

And is getting long with her dog Rosie beautifully tonight.

I’m sure my Uncle thinks I didn’t hold up my end of the deal.

🙂

This is a local family, good friends of mine who volunteered

for the event.

Orange T-shirts are worn by volunteers so we know who’s who in the crowd.

They took Jade home, a five month old terrier girl

who had been dumped in the streets.

There was a blessing of the animals at the start of the day…

And here’s one soggy crew at the end of a loooooong day.

Hey, it’s a really bad hair day. Irene, ya know?

Calm before the Storm?

What can I say, Irene…. you’re not welcome here.

Weathermen are often wrong, we all know it’s true. A line from a young boy to his mother….

“Mom, when I grow up I want to be a meteorologist! You get paid to be wrong half the time, how cool is that!”.

I do get a kick out of the excited frenzy of weathermen when they have something big to talk about. Their energy is palpable! And they say the same thing… over…and over again, just to keep the excitement going. It only adds to the giddyness when they are filmed standing outside in the storm in their rain gear, wind and rain whipping in their face. Why do they do that, exactly, anyway? Because we won’t believe them if they’re not right out in it?

We’ve got Dog Days this weekend… hard to make the call on what we should have done… call it off? Try to get Saturday out of it and nix Sunday? The rescues were given the option to make the call, because they are, after all, traveling with their dogs to our site. Most decided…. LET’S DO IT.

And so we will.

If you’re the praying type (most often I’m not…. hypocrit that I am )…. send a few prayers our way.. that we find homes for all 80 or so of the dogs coming to our event on SATURDAY, since we have now abandoned hope for Sunday…. and that these selfless rescue crews arrive and return home safely. Those who are not local will be put up in area homes Saturday night and will ride out whatever part of Irene shows up here, returning to their regions after the storm.

Last night we had almost 80 volunteers sign up from our area, all for the love of the dogs. I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it.

This old house looks so serene this morning. While the guys are putting all the outside furniture and fly-away objects in the cellar and the garden has been picked of anything that might be edible in the next week of window ripening, I grabbed the camera to capture the light.

Onward…