Crowded neighborhood
This is the time of summer when the neighborhood (and hence my social life) is jam-packed full. Linda and Erdvilas are here, which means I have a watering hole to stop at nearly every night. My friends Jim and Judy (he's a glassblower, she's a nurse) were here for the month, my friends Bobbie and Paul are here from California (he's published about 6 books and is working on a manuscript as we speak), my friends Barb and Steve just left (he's a judge, she's retired), the Holts are coming for Labor Day (we all know them--the Congressman and Doctor). And so it goes.
Last week was busy, at work (Robert Louis Stevenson Collection--just how many books are in that collection, anyway?) and even more at home. Weds. I had dinner with Jim and Judy but made the mistake of stopping at Linda's first. I ended up having too much to drink and felt really crummy on Thursday--bad night's sleep and alcohol poisoning (OK, not actually poisoned, but my body objected). Thursday night Linda had her annual campfire gathering blow-out, which involved a whole lot of people. There are these 2 families with young girls who always rent the Holt's camp now, and the girls like to put on a show at this fete. Each year the show seems to get longer and longer. This year they made up their own skit, last year it was scenes from Oliver! complete with songs. One of the highlights of the evening was a pretty female yellow Lab named Sugar. The golden retriever named Athena played "run very, very fast" with Chances. Anyway, once again I drank too much (bourbon is poison to my body) so felt even crummier on Friday. Plus I couldn't stay awake. Nothing worse than working in a library and being sleepy. I was the only one in the building from 4-5 and I fell asleep at my desk at 4:45 and slept until 5:30. If I had any dignity I'd be embarrassed. I have increased the dosage of one of my meds and don't know if this has anything to do with any of this. Of course I'm not supposed to drink much at all.
I've felt slightly ill since Friday but it comes and goes. Haven't had much to drink, pretending to have learned my lesson. Well, actually I DID learn my lesson.
Saturday was Road Clean-Up with the Conservationists (shoreowners' assoc.) but I had to bow out because poor Tess' allergy was so bad she had scratched the fur off of her front legs. I rushed to Westport (50 min. away) to pick up some Prednisone for her, jammed it down her throat in the parking lot at the vets'. They told me that last year I was there on the 18th of August, and the year before on the 27th of August, so I was right on time with her allergies. Nice to have a predictable dog, no?
After the clean-up (to which ONE person showed up, besides Linda, who is President) there was a cookout at Linda's. There were only about 6 of us there, but it was women I really like and we had a nice time. The meeting started at 2 and a handful more people showed up. We met outside, which was nice but the meeting went on a bit too long and I got really, really cold. Since I'm Secretary I have to be polite and stay until the bitter end. I went home right after the meeting and a short visit with Ken. At 5:30 Jim and Judy came over for wine and a tour of the house (why are people so interested in seeing my house?). We had a great time, I really enjoy their company. They left at 8:30, I collapsed and went to bed early. They flushed twice and the well didn't run dry--TRIUMPH!
Sunday was rainy, good for the well. I got up early, had a great conversation with my sister and another good one with my mother. Went to dinner at Linda's, just Ken, L., E. and me. Ken was in a hurry so dinner didn't last long but I hung around until 3, doing our usual communal effort on the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. Home to watch the pre-Emmy show and doze, then back to Linda's at 8 to watch Emmys with them and do my laundry at her house (got to laundromat too late on Friday, it was closed!). We had a good time, all lined up and commenting on gowns, shows, people. Linda said she'd have to get HBO because she'd never heard of lot of the shows. So this is the big reward for my investment in HBO?
Yesterday I felt really punky so I stayed home. Man was that nice. Slept until 11:00, sat on the deck until 2, went to boat house & sat on the porch there, reading & doing crosswords. Quick swim (bath, really) and home. Felt better by the end of the day, lay on the couch watching tv all night. Early to bed and BINGO! today I feel much better. Jim said he'd had a stomach thing too, but his turned into a cold. So far mine was only nausea and seems to have subsided. Tonight I'll see what effect a glass of wine has on my stomach at Paul and Bobbie's.
I printed out some stuff from Wikipedia for Paul for his book and was talking to Rush about Wikipedia. His response was that you really can't trust what's in Wikipedia: the entry for him said that he was having a homosexual affair with another Congressman and they would both be divorcing their wives, announcing the affair later this week. Well, ok, so he has a point. The entry was changed and the person who posted it is banned from posting to W'pedia again. It was someone working for Rush's opponent.
When I went to the boat house I discovered that the furniture on the porch had been rearranged, the door left unlocked, and some of the stuff left in places I know I did not leave it. This means that someone, a cousin probably, used the porch while we were gone. This is not, really not supposed to happen. I stewed over it for a long OCD time and sent an email to the extended family today mentioning it. Probably the offending party(ies) won't get the email. But at least everyone will know that someone crossed over the boundary of "don't use someone's cabin without asking first."
So today I spent most of the day deleting charges for items lost by bookmobile patrons. Overall we've lost $30,000 worth of materials to member libraries and bookmobile patrons so we're clearing all the old stuff out of the data base and implementing our new Lost Items Policy starting August 1. Won't they all be surprised when they systematically receive bills for things they don't return? I expect a huge uprising from bookmobile patrons, who generally feel they are entitled to keep things for as long as they want to, even if it's forever.
Cleaned fish tank last night. No fatalities. Hey! Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this. I scrubbed the gravel, which was a real pain in the neck but made a huge difference. Now all is sparkling and the fish are swimming really fast and are very cheerful.
Water continues to be an issue at my house but I had the pump on for 24 hours straight yesterday and it didn't come on without provocation even once. This is huge, huge progress. I still shut if off this morning, don't want to tempt fate. When will I trust the system? Maybe never, I'll just wear out the breaker switch first.
An on to my next project, which had better last for only 30 minutes. I'm out of here at 4, no exceptions.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
VACATION
Yes, it's been a long time. I had two weeks of a very nice vacation. Spent some time here with my sister, mother and two nieces, then went to Rhode Island and spent more time with my sister and mother. I relaxed and had a good time, worry-free. Weather was good, activity levels were just right, food was delicious. My sister is a great cook and we had lots of really nice Italian food. Here's a record of My Vacation.
Yes, it's been a long time. I had two weeks of a very nice vacation. Spent some time here with my sister, mother and two nieces, then went to Rhode Island and spent more time with my sister and mother. I relaxed and had a good time, worry-free. Weather was good, activity levels were just right, food was delicious. My sister is a great cook and we had lots of really nice Italian food. Here's a record of My Vacation.
En masse
Everyone who attended the Rogers Family meeting. This isn't the whole family, just maybe half or so. All five branches were represented, though, and ours was the only one with 100% attendance. The jerks in the back who are holding up their dogs are my ex-husband and his current wife. One of the dogs is named Molly, which my sister took exception to.
Anna
She'll just hate it that I'm posting this, but isn't she just the cutest, most wonderful thing?
Patriarch
This is my grandfather Henry Geer Rogers, who died in 1973 at the age of 97. Members of my generation act as though he died last year but everyone else in the family barely remembers him (if at all). He was a kindly man, unless you disappointed him or made him angry. Then--not so nice. Ken likes to say about him, "He had the smallest hands of anyone I've ever seen." People in the town of AuSable Forks really respected him a whole lot and those who remember him do so fondly.
Rock solid
I stole this one from Molly. My mother is the matriarch of our family, which is composed entirely of women. We spend our time at camp in the boat house, away from the rest of the group. I'm sure they wonder what we do down there, and how we manage to cook without a real stove or running water. My sister is a wonderful cook and takes care of those details.
And now for the Rhode Island portion of my vacation. We went to Rhode Island in the middle of the first week I was off. Molly and Liza left on Weds., I took that day to get my life in order (or something resembling that). I paid bills, straightened up my house, tried to mow my lawn (mower wouldn't start) and visited Ken (took my fish tank to him so he'd have company while I was away). I left Thursday morning. We had a great time in RI together, fell into a very nice, very peaceful routine at my mother's house. Every morning we'd greet each other, have coffee or tea together and discuss what each of us would like to do during the day. Molly's answer was always the same "I'd like to swim in the ocean today." Most days I went with her but I skipped a few days. The dogs were NOT peaceful and presented some real problems. Right when I arrived they ran out in to the road, and traffic on my mother's road travels faster than on my road by a long shot. Fortunately there were only nice people on the road that day and everyone stopped and waited for us to round them up. One guy tried to woo them into his truck but they wouldn't get in ("Heck no, we've been in the car for 6 hours, we just want to say hello"). It was nerve-wracking and awful and sort of set the tone for the visit: they escaped every chance they got. Liza has a dog pen and we tried to limit them to that, but sometimes Tess would dash out the front door when someone opened it. The last night I was there she ran off at midnight and Molly grabbed her, having heard me calling her in the darkness. HONESTLY! Those dogs!
Anyway, Rhode Island was very successful and relaxing. I read a lot of books, which I never seem to find the time or inclination to do.
Anyway, Rhode Island was very successful and relaxing. I read a lot of books, which I never seem to find the time or inclination to do.
Gazebo
Just about the best place in the world to sleep. This is the gazebo in my mother's woods. It's screened in, it's invisible from the house and it's incredibly peaceful. The first night I was there the dogs barked when they heard a deer nearby and the deer snorted indignantly. After that the dogs barked at regular intervals every night, certain there was at the very least a deer, if not big game just outside. I think sometimes it was a mouse running under a leaf on the ground.
Anyway, I love sleeping here and really want something like this on my land.
Anyway, I love sleeping here and really want something like this on my land.
Gazebo view
The view from the gazebo. It's all screen from about waist high to the roof so all you see is woods for 360 degrees. On the side facing the house the trees are up against the screens so you can't see the house. It's so private and wonderful and the temperature in it is always wonderful, even when it's cold out.
Sleeping quarters
This is what it looks like inside the gazebo. I guess Tess is deciding whether to get on the bed or not: if I'm going to take her picture then she'll stay on the floor.
Beach kids
Mark and me at the beach. Molly took this and tactfully included me onlly from the bosom up. The rest of me doesn't look too great in a bathing suit. We had some really good beach visits and some wonderful swimming. Most of the time the water was really clear, which is what I require in order to consider a swim "wonderful." No big breakers, either. I don't like them, I never learned how to deal with them so I usually just get knocked down.
Mark and Liza
This is Mark and Liza. Mark is pretty much a member of the family and our vacations wouldn't be complete without him. He's really busy these days, working 3 jobs, but we got to spend a lot of time with him in spite of that. He lives in the upstairs of my mother's house.
Jim's Dock
A breakfast outing. Every summer we try to have breakfast at this place, called Jim's Dock. It's right on the water, leading out to the docks. The food isn't great but it's so wonderful to eat outside and look out at the water and the boats. We had a wonderful day for breakfast this year and the food was actually pretty good.
Betsy
My sister took this picture. It's one of the few pictures in which I look natural, happy and not too fat. That's Galilee in the background, home to the fishing fleet, the Block Island ferry and Champlin's fish market and restaurant.
Mother and Sister
That's my mother Liza and my sister Molly. After breakfast we walk along the tiny beach next to Jim's, as well as on the docks.
Pleasure craft
The docks you walk on from Jim's Dock. A gagillion dollars worth of boats, mostly for fishing with some for cruising. Where do people get the money for these boats? It was a beautiful morning for a stroll down the docks.
Fishing fleet
Just a couple of the fishing boats that are based in Galilee. There's a whole fleet and they are amazing.
Champlin's
The famous Champlin's, site of many incredibly delicious and happy meals. This is taken from Jim's Dock, looking across the harbor. When we eat at Champlin's we sit outside, looking across at Jim's Dock, and down, at the fishing fleet. Plus we watch the Block Island ferry go by, with people waving frantically like (I think) refugees. This year Molly, Liza and I had lunch at Champlin's. Fried clam strips and lobster rolls. Delicious, as always. Molly and I started talking about what we would order the day before we went. Down below the restaurant is the fish store, where we almost always buy our fish, clams and lobsters. Fresh off the boats.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Amazing group
We are all together now, the Spaulding Rogers Women. We assembled last night. Liza, Molly, Jenica, Anna and me. It's so cool that we're all together. We had dinner on the boat house porch (Molly is an great cook and makes us dinner, very kind and generous of her--delicious Italian meals) and I looked around at us all in wonder. We are an amazing group of women and I am so fortunate to have this family.
Other members of the Rogers family (we make the distinction between the Spaulding Rogers family and the Rogers family: the extended family is by far a less desirable group) were in camp last night. What was the first thing they asked me? "Did you register the boat yet?" Granted, I was supposed to do that weeks ago, but PEOPLE, COME ON! It drives me crazy that they want everything done and ready for their arrival--who do they expect will do all of this? We have lives too. Just because we live here doesn't mean we have more time in our daily lives than they do at home. I never spend a lot of time on vacation at camp the way they all do--it's rare that I have a whole week off to spend in camp. I'll be on vacation and there from Sat. through Tues. now, maybe Weds. if I decide to stay an extra day (but I'll need to spend hours at home getting that place ready for habitation when I return from RI).
The Masses arrive tonight for the annual gathering of the clan tomorrow. In recent years we've had about 40-50 people (closer to 50) but this year we won't have that many because people were just here in July for the 50th anniversary thing. Still, we'll have 30 or so. It's our Annual Meeting. No, we don't have a reunion, we have a meeting. With officers. Jenica is the Vice President right now, up from Secretary last year. Yesterday she was polishing off the notes from last year's meeting. We all serve a term as secretary, pres. etc., except for the treasurer. That's sort of like the Supreme Court, you can't be excused from that no matter how badly you screw it up. Like this year the treas. didn't pay the phone bill and the phone was cut off, but still no one will want him to stop doing it. Even though he's desperate to stop. Tough on him.
Today is my last day at work for 2 weeks. I've been working hard all week, finishing up projects, cleaning my desk (amazing transformation), doing a big book order (getting ready for the fall publishing blitz), filling in with interlibrary loan stuff (oh those inmates are entertaining--yesterday I spent an hour Googling "African American skin care" and came up with lots of stuff on exfoliating skin. Think that's relevant to someone who's incarcerated?). Today I have to do what I've been putting off: write goals, results and measures for the portions of the 5 year plan that relate to my department. Coordinated collection development. Interlibrary loan (how can we do much with that without any more money?). Reference (they want something about Virtual Reference: again, what to do with no increase in funding?). Time to be creative. I've been trying to think of things all week, or maybe just putting it off.
Yesterday I took some time to look for a book for our book group's next book. That was fun. The next meeting is the Sunday I'm due to get back from vacation and I'm thinking of coming back on Sat. so I can go to the meeting. I missed the last one. This month we read Anderson Cooper's book and I liked it (but when will he get over the death of his father?). Mostly I miss the women, my good friends, and would like to talk to them. I got to see Mary Lou for a minute on Saturday when Fred and I were on our lily pilgrimage. That was really nice. She's always smiling.
And now it's on to the work portion of my day. I'll be blogging while I'm on vacation, but not all the time and probably not until we get to Rhode Island next week. Today the other women in my family are enjoying a perfect dock day while I'm here doing authority work, meeting with the director and other consultants, trying to be creative, then watching the clock until it's time to go home. I have a long, long list of errands to run before I get home. Not the least of which is registering the boat.
We are all together now, the Spaulding Rogers Women. We assembled last night. Liza, Molly, Jenica, Anna and me. It's so cool that we're all together. We had dinner on the boat house porch (Molly is an great cook and makes us dinner, very kind and generous of her--delicious Italian meals) and I looked around at us all in wonder. We are an amazing group of women and I am so fortunate to have this family.
Other members of the Rogers family (we make the distinction between the Spaulding Rogers family and the Rogers family: the extended family is by far a less desirable group) were in camp last night. What was the first thing they asked me? "Did you register the boat yet?" Granted, I was supposed to do that weeks ago, but PEOPLE, COME ON! It drives me crazy that they want everything done and ready for their arrival--who do they expect will do all of this? We have lives too. Just because we live here doesn't mean we have more time in our daily lives than they do at home. I never spend a lot of time on vacation at camp the way they all do--it's rare that I have a whole week off to spend in camp. I'll be on vacation and there from Sat. through Tues. now, maybe Weds. if I decide to stay an extra day (but I'll need to spend hours at home getting that place ready for habitation when I return from RI).
The Masses arrive tonight for the annual gathering of the clan tomorrow. In recent years we've had about 40-50 people (closer to 50) but this year we won't have that many because people were just here in July for the 50th anniversary thing. Still, we'll have 30 or so. It's our Annual Meeting. No, we don't have a reunion, we have a meeting. With officers. Jenica is the Vice President right now, up from Secretary last year. Yesterday she was polishing off the notes from last year's meeting. We all serve a term as secretary, pres. etc., except for the treasurer. That's sort of like the Supreme Court, you can't be excused from that no matter how badly you screw it up. Like this year the treas. didn't pay the phone bill and the phone was cut off, but still no one will want him to stop doing it. Even though he's desperate to stop. Tough on him.
Today is my last day at work for 2 weeks. I've been working hard all week, finishing up projects, cleaning my desk (amazing transformation), doing a big book order (getting ready for the fall publishing blitz), filling in with interlibrary loan stuff (oh those inmates are entertaining--yesterday I spent an hour Googling "African American skin care" and came up with lots of stuff on exfoliating skin. Think that's relevant to someone who's incarcerated?). Today I have to do what I've been putting off: write goals, results and measures for the portions of the 5 year plan that relate to my department. Coordinated collection development. Interlibrary loan (how can we do much with that without any more money?). Reference (they want something about Virtual Reference: again, what to do with no increase in funding?). Time to be creative. I've been trying to think of things all week, or maybe just putting it off.
Yesterday I took some time to look for a book for our book group's next book. That was fun. The next meeting is the Sunday I'm due to get back from vacation and I'm thinking of coming back on Sat. so I can go to the meeting. I missed the last one. This month we read Anderson Cooper's book and I liked it (but when will he get over the death of his father?). Mostly I miss the women, my good friends, and would like to talk to them. I got to see Mary Lou for a minute on Saturday when Fred and I were on our lily pilgrimage. That was really nice. She's always smiling.
And now it's on to the work portion of my day. I'll be blogging while I'm on vacation, but not all the time and probably not until we get to Rhode Island next week. Today the other women in my family are enjoying a perfect dock day while I'm here doing authority work, meeting with the director and other consultants, trying to be creative, then watching the clock until it's time to go home. I have a long, long list of errands to run before I get home. Not the least of which is registering the boat.
Night Molly
Molly being watched. Whenever she's with my dogs she lets them know that she's in control. She can make them do things I never can get them to do: last night she got Tess to lie down on command (well, almost, anyway).
Night Anna
Tihs is a blurry picture, but it's sweet Anna. She arrived yesterday from Milwaukee, tired, hot, but wonderful. We're all really happy to be with her. She's off to Scotland to college in Sept. and we all agree we can't believe she's going to Scotland! Very exciting.
Jenica the Knitter
Poor Jenica was trying to count stitches through it all. She discovered that you can't socialize and count at the same time. I told her that I can only count stitches while I'm sitting on the couch, and I can't even pay attention to the TV while I'm doing it. Tess wanted to be sure she was in the picture, too, even if it was only her butthole.
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