Getting ready for the holiday

Well I can't claim I've been "getting ready" for the past several days/weeks...

It's been a busy time for me, nothing unusual really but some social events (my birthday dinner, holiday gatherings).  It got cold, -11 day before yesterday, -3 yesterday and today but due to warm up.  Just in time for my travels.  I'm heading to RI this morning (why did I pick today to travel? I think there will be 8 million people on the Mass Pike), will be there for nearly a week.  I have to pack my clothes then the car but it's 6:45 in the morning and I'm in good shape for that.  I hate packing in the dark though so I'm just watching the news and having coffee.  Time to function: have to bring in firewood, pack pack pack, close up the house.

I've been going to the gym with friends--one friend comes from DC often and loves to go to the gym in the morning so we did that every day for a week.  I also started going to an aqua-robics class in Plattsburgh at the Y, it's a class for seniors and I'm probably the youngest person in the pool.  It's an hour of constant activity, very good for me but the shallow end of the pool is full FULL of old people all trying to avoid hitting each other with the floating barbells and kicks.  I'll probably keep going once in a while but I don't relish a drive to Plattsburgh very often.

I'll have a good week with my mother, we do enjoy each other's company.  I'll visit with a friend who lives in Jamestown, perhaps see a cousin who says he's going to visit, eat lobsters, read read read and have a nice vacation-type visit.

I didn't put up a Christmas tree this year, it just seemed like a lot of work.  It IS a lot of work when you do it by yourself but I do like having the lights and I like seeing my collection of very nice ornaments.  Maybe next year.

From zero to twenty-eight

Cold morning today, temp was 0 when I got up.  Can it be that I'm getting used to this weather?  It didn't feel too cold when I went out early in the day.  Really?  How good that would be, getting used to weather like that, but of course it was still, not windy.  I do not like cold, windy days but a cold day with some sunshine on bright white snow can be very pleasant.

I worked at the thrift store yesterday, it started out pretty slow with not many shoppers but all of a sudden we got hammered.  I didn't work in receiving, I was a packer.  I like doing that, it's fun to see what people buy and it's very VERY entertaining to see them buy the stuff you price and put out.  What??? Someone is buying that?  I got tired, standing on the cement floor for 3 1/2 hours but the time went by.  I had to leave before the store closed (I always do) and this time I felt bad because it was busy but I had to meet friends for lunch.  We had a nice visit--this is a couple who live in Albany and have a camp down the road from my house.  She works in the State Archives and we always have good archival conversations.  I'm impressed by what she does and by the collection they have (duh, it IS the STATE Archives, after all).

I have to decide whether to put up a Christmas tree.  A friend found a place selling smaller trees--at this point in my life I only do table-top trees but I usually have to buy big trees and cut off the bottom couple of feet.  Maybe I could be convinced to buy one if it were already small enough.  I might check it out tomorrow, it's going to be a Plattsburgh day.  Haircut.  Bank.  Errands.  I went grocery shopping yesterday on my way to the thrift store so at least I don't have to do that.  I should visit the people who used to live down the road and are now living with their son in Plattsburgh.  But maybe not.

Good dog-Bad dog--SUPER Bad dog

I always swear I can't/don't let both dogs out together but of course there are exceptions.  Friends came for coffee yesterday morning, friends who are much loved by my dogs so I let the dogs out to greet them.  They barely acknowledged the people, then ran down the driveway and disappeared.  For FIVE HOURS.  Wow what a bad pair.  I tracked them down to camp (they tried to get in the back door) and along the shoreline for a short way but the woods got too thick so I gave up.  Drove to Plattsburgh to meet a friend (yes, I felt bad but I also thought they deserved to come home to an empty house).  Came home 2 hours later and there were no dogs at my house.  Man oh man.  They finally did come home, 5 hours after leaving.  Treasure could barely walk, sore shoulder but Bear was just fine.  Yes, they did sleep.  for hours.  And they skipped lunch and barely noticed that.

So I had a quiet afternoon watching them sleep and listening to them snore.  Oh they are bad dogs indeed.

It snowed most of the day but it wasn't a convincing snow, only got a few inches.  There's ice on the lake, snow on the ice.  I doubt the ice is more than an inch or so thick.

Today is a thrift store day, then lunch with friends.  I have to decide if I want to put up a tree this Christmas.  I'm feeling slightly (or more) lazy about that.  I have always had a tree, I like the lights and I really like my collection of ornaments but this year it just seems like a lot of work.  We'll see.

Post-Thanksgiving catch-up

I was lucky with my Thanksgiving traveling, avoiding heavy snow and heavy traffic.  I did have to stay an extra day but that's always a nice "have to do" thing.

I drove to RI on Tuesday (skipping work) without incident but with lots of company on the roads.  I went through Worcester, which turned out to be a bad idea because a lot of other people had the same idea.  Oh well, I got there in good time and all was well with my mother in her house.

I did some shopping on Wednesday but pretty much all the food shopping had been done.  We had a nice Thanksgiving day, our celebratory breakfast of lox & bagels then lots of prep for the dinner, which we had at 4.  Boy do we have a lot of food for Thanksgiving.  I made my usual pumpkin pie, using my Martha Stewart recipe of many years.  It was good, as expected.  Secret ingredient=1/4 tsp of chili powder.

We took the dogs to the beach in the morning, poor Treasure on a leash the entire time while Bear got to romp in the water (only a little, he is always surprised to discover that it's SALT water).  We saw juvenile loons but they didn't reveal their original location.  I think our Silver Lake loons winter in New Jersey and Long Island Sound, if I remember correctly.

Friday was a good shopping day, we just went to a couple of places and had a grand time spending money.  It was all good.

We had restful days on Saturday and Sunday, lots of visiting and reading.  I read a few books while I was there, that's always a treat.  We don't watch much television so I read read read.  Very nice.

I had planned to come home on Monday but the snow storm in the Northeast convinced me to stay an extra day.  Tuesday morning it snowed in RI, about 3 inches or so--that's very dramatic for southern New England, especially along the coast.  My trip home was just fine, roads were clear and empty.  My house survived my absence and all was just fine.

The lake froze over during my absence, that was quite a shock.  It was chilly, down to single digits at night.

Now I'm back into my routines, I worked at the thrift store yesterday.  It was busy but not hectic, just the right pace of shoppers and drop-offs with the right number of volunteers.  Today I worked in the Archives, we have many projects to get started on after our Needs Assessment in November.  That was a great experience and I'm really looking forward to the report that will result--we've been promised a 40-page report.  Yikes.

It's been snowing today and we picked up maybe 2 more inches with more expected tomorrow.  Oh it's winter all right.

Warmer but snowing

It's been snowing all afternoon.  I don't think we'll end up with more than a couple of inches but it sure has snowed a lot today.

I went to the gym alone this morning, proudly did some time on the treadmill (after figuring out how to turn on the television, no small accomplishment).  I went to the thrift store, was the bagger for 3 hours because it wasn't too busy and there were 3 people in receiving.  I like bagging and I'm VERY good at wrapping and bagging things.  or so I've been told.

So far this week has been pretty unremarkable.  Monday was a day off.  That felt really grand.  I cleaned the kitchen, went to the dump and binge-watched some shows I had recorded.  What would I do without television???

Tuesday was a fine day at work, a little slow in terms of people visiting the library but I got a lot of editing done.  We've done just about 6000 photos; scanned and edited them so now they're searchable on the hard drive.  Next step is to get them online.

Tomorrow is a big day in the Archives, we're having a Needs Assessment done by a consultant from Philadelphia.  We applied for this grant and YAY! we were awarded with a day-long visit and assessment.  Although it will be a long day I'm looking forward to hearing what the consultant has to say about what we're doing and how we're doing it.  I'll be tired by the end of the day I'm sure but I'll feel good and happy.

Friday is a Plattsburgh day, I have to have work done on my car (brakes) and I have a few errands to take care.  I'll be heading to RI on Tuesday and I want to get some of the groceries we'll need for Thanksgiving before I head out.  I do like Thanksgiving, it's sure straight-forward and uncomplicated.

Yes, winter in November

It's 4 this morning with a blazing orange sunrise.  Very pretty.

I've been busy but not TOO busy.  Work on Thursday was good, we scanned and processed photos, I like that although some of them sure were boring.  They can't all be gems.

Yesterday I went to Plattsburgh, had an appointment at last to have snow tires put on.  Went for coffee with a friend while they worked on the car.  When I picked it up oh boy they told me the car needs brake work but of course they couldn't do it yesterday.  Back to Plattsburgh I go next Friday.  I wanted to make sure to have the work done before heading to RI next week.  Wow, Thanksgiving is next week!  I'm heading to RI on Tuesday.  Looking forward to being with my mother and Mark, we have good visits.

I over-stoked the stove last night so it was in the 70's in the living room when I got up at midnight.  Whew! That's too warm.  Now I have a respectable fire going, not too hot but hot enough.  The weather these days is fine--for January.  Temps are supposed to be in the 40's but today's high is supposed to be barely 20.  Yesterday was good, temps in the 30's, boy didn't that feel nice.

I'm hosting book group on Sunday, we're reading a mystery that takes place in France so it's full of lots of French words, some just describing food, some more important to the story.  I'll have to dig up something for us to read next.  We don't usually meet in December, life is just too complicated, so maybe we'll have until January.  By then I'll either have a Christmas tree up or I won't do one this year.  I face this decision every year.  It's a lot of work but I do like seeing my ornaments and I like the lights on the tree.  Life is good, if that's my big decision.

Winter in November, no kidding

We had a storm, oh yes we did.  We did NOT have 12 inches of snow, as predicted.  Instead we had 7 inches of snow, with a temperature of zero this morning.  It can't be winter, we didn't dip below zero.

It was very windy and wintry last night--I had to go to my mailbox to get the UPS items that the driver called me (now how do they get our phone numbers?) to report that he was leaving packages there.  No, he's not supposed to do that but I told him he wouldn't have to drive to my driveway or my house in winter months.  The hardtop is plowed often and well, my road (OHR) is not.  It was plowed once, at 5 a.m. yesterday but not again until today.  Oh well.  I managed to get out yesterday before my driveway was plowed, that was a relief.  I won't have my snow tires on until Friday and boy what an education this has been!   Driving AWD without snow tires is NOT the same as driving AWD WITH snow tires.  duh.  OK, I know this is common knowledge, and that's why we have snow tires, blah blah blah but it was really obvious to me yesterday and again today when the roads were slick.

OK, enough about driving, snow, winter, cold, wind, etc.  Today I volunteered at the thrift store.  It wasn't terribly busy so we were able to get a lot done and that was nice.  I came home, stoked the stove, cut up a bunch of big cardboard boxes (some of which I retrieved from my mailbox last night), packed up the garbage and went to the dump.  Now I'm watching Impeachment TV, mostly because there's not much else on.  Bear the dog is staring at me--intently because he thinks it surely must be time for DINNER.  not.  They're lucky they get to eat at 4:00, let's not push it Bear.

Bear and I walked partway down the road yesterday afternoon.  It was cold but also lovely.  I do like a decent snowfall, in the beginning at least.  I don't know how much of this snow will melt but it's supposed to warm up soon (before it gets cold and snows some more).  I've always maintained that I like November.  Maybe this year will be the exception.

To share or not to share

I've neglected this blog for a month now--I'm not sure why but it does make me question the future of it.  I write in a journal every night, I email several people daily (some more than once daily) so I feel my existence is well-documented.  When I started this blog, many years ago I think I felt a need to try something new and also to reach out to people I didn't communicate with regularly or often.  Now I've got my communication patterns well established and lately those patterns don't include posting to a blog.  So what does that mean?  Oh hell, I'll keep posting and I'll try to do it regularly.  Or I'll leave this blog hanging in the air.  No, I'll post.

My life has been good during the past month, as it seems to pretty much always be.  I have no astonishing or fascinating news to report.  We had a huge wind storm and lots of trees came down, it rained hard and lots of rivers rose.  My sump pump has been busy.  A section of the boardwalk in the bog was upended in a most dramatic way:

Talk about dramatic!   The Nature Conservancy's steward came right out and fixed it so all is well now, though it's been icy there so I haven't walked it lately.

The dogs have been traveling (BAD dogs)--they ran off one morning and ended up on the other side of the lake at a friend's house, nearly 5 miles away.  I got a phone call an hour after they disappeared--my friend said "Are you missing something?"  Boy am I lucky to have good, responsible and caring friends who keep better track of my dogs than I do.

I'm still an archivist.  I'm still a thrift store volunteer.  Both activities are still enjoyable and worth doing.  In the Archives we've scanned and labeled more than 5700 photos in our collection and only have a few hundred left that haven't been processed.  The routine for those images is to decide whether we keep them or "deaccession" them (they've been donated, apparently deemed precious and having redeeming value by the donors).  Some are really good, many are pictures of scenes or people unidentified and unremarkable.  So we look at each image, sometimes we giggle, sometimes we are impressed (in a good way) and we get them ready to be processed.  The keepers will be numbered, scanned and described presumably for future use by someone some time in the future.  We keep in mind images we've been asked for in the past, using that as a yardstick.  Oh the poor images we don't keep!  Like the seedlings I can't bear to pull to thin the pots in the spring...  not

We had good weather for the rest of October but then things got ugly.  We have about three inches of snow on the ground now.  It's 29 in the middle of Saturday night, up from 15 Saturday morning.  Sunday is supposed to be a warmer day but later this week temps will drop into single digits at night and refuse to rise above freezing during the days.  In November?  Really?  This has made me reconsider my oft-uttered statement of "Oh, I like November, it's a month with no extremes in weather, it's just cold but not bad."  The woods are naked so I have a barest of glimpses of water from my living room (you have to use your imagination to know it's water).  I closed the boat house at long last but forgot to shut off the power at camp so need to get down there to do that.  There's a threat of six more inches of snow in a couple of days so wouldn't I be wise to do that NOW?

The thrift store was incredibly busy this week.  Apparently it's a Canadian holiday Monday, another version of Veterans Day, and apparently the way many Canadians celebrate is by shopping in secondhand stores.  Wow there was a lot of French flying around.  I still enjoy being there--I like the people, I enjoy the work but I get tired after a couple of hours and the store is open for 5 hours.  I've yet to be there more than 3 1/2 hours at a stretch.  I admire the other volunteers, they work hard and for long hours there.

The dogs are doing well.  Bear's splenectomy became a non-issue once the incision healed.  He's a great dog (but a BAD dog) and Treasure seems to appreciate him more without a spleen because they now play with each other.  Treasure was never interested in chewing on him or gamboling around (good word, huh, gambol) but lately they do a little companionable gnawing on each other.  Treasure is 10 now but doing very well, she's slower than Bear but that's always pretty much been true.  Except when they run off, then she seems capable of a faster gait.

I'll go to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving, which will be here soon.  One thing I am amazed by is how quickly time passes.  On a Wednesday I'll say (to myself, thankfully) "How can it be Wednesday, it was just Monday!"  I don't like getting older.  This morning my mother said to me "So you're 69, right?"  Well NO, I'm not, Mother dear, I'm 66 for another month.  She's 93 so is excused for many things.  We laughed and for the next few days she'll remember how old I am.  She writes things down now and has many pieces of paper and notes in her living room and by the telephone.  Whether she refers to these notes I don't know but it's a very sweet thing.  She is in good shape and has a greater thirst for knowledge than I do.  She was curious about impeached presidents so I had a good reference book on the presidents shipped to her.  She was thrilled!  "It even has information about their wives!"  She says she likes to learn things, which I guess we all do, but I'm impressed with her ability to read and remember facts.

Life is good and so am I.  I have my winter social life--different from my summer social life but satisfying and lovely.  There are 2 couples nearby who like to get together--both around 5 miles away, and both have been visited by my dogs without being transported by me.  I guess the dogs make the rounds of summer camps, discover there's no one in residence so keep going until they hit an occupied house.  Oh dear.

This week I have an appointment to have snow tires put on the car.  Apparently I'm not the only person with that thought, I've had to wait a week for the appointment.  I get to Plattsburgh about once a week, have coffee with a good friend (well let's be honest, I don't have any BAD friends, just BAD dogs) and run errands in the Big City.  It's very pretty where I live.  I have good firewood for my good stove although yesterday I finally did turn on the electric heat in two rooms.  rats, I've been putting it off.  There aren't many birds at my feeder, just a couple of chickadees and a blue jay.  What's up with that?  Pass the word, birdies, there's good food at 58OHR.

Peak is peaked

Although the woods are gorgeous these days, we're not having the brilliant color we usually have.  Colors are a bit muted this year, that leads to a lot of complaints from locals and leaf peepers but I just enjoy the colors.

The last of my summer friends left yesterday, back to Michigan they went.  Now the 'hood is quiet--there's just one of my Plattsburgh friends who summers here, though other friends are here.  They come throughout the year and since both are retired they're spending much more time here.  We go to the gym together most mornings, now that it's too dark to walk the bog early in the day.

It's a rainy day today but nice and warm, temp is now 58.  Since it was 29 the other morning I'm just wallowing in the the warmth.  I'm up now because Bear said he needed, NEEDED to go out then have a snack when he came in.  Treasure is amenable to any time spent outside and especially any time there's food in her bowl.

No big plans for the week, today is dump day and I have a big load to take.  Wednesday I take Bear to Plattsburgh to have his staples removed and I promised a friend I would at last have my shingles shot while I'm in town.  I need to have my pneumonia shot and flu shots as well but that will come later.  Just fill me full of holes.

Next weekend is Columbus Day, the final celebration.  There will be plenty of people here and the weather looks pretty good, not too cold and even some sunshine.  There will be color left for visitors.

Life is good.  Thrift store, Archives, gym, friends, dogs, good weather.

Honest autumn

OK, so I took a month off...

We're having an honest autumn here now, the trees are coloring up nicely and the air has that autumnal feel to it.  The weather has been wonderful but next week, late in the week we're supposed to have highs in the 50's.  I think I won't like that much but then it will give me a chance to wear jackets I haven't worn in a long time and that's always entertaining (briefly).

I had a good month, some very nice fall dock time with my friend--it's our tradition to sit on her dock in the September sunshine then get in the icy water and squeal a lot.  The last time we did this the water was lovely, this was last week (my journal tells me).  I do love September.

I spent almost a week in the Midwest and it was even better than I anticipated, what wonderful people my Rockford friends are.  I think only 1 or 2 of the 15 of us still lives in Rockford, but many are still in the Midwest.  I flew to Minneapolis, spent a night in Chippewa Falls (Wisc.) with friends then drove pretty much the length of Wisconsin to Lake Geneva where we met up with the rest of the women.  I have been going to these gatherings for many years now, and first felt more like an outsider but kept going anyway (why?).  Now I feel very much a part of this group and feel embraced by them.  They are kind, loving, bright and funny.  It was a really nice experience and I look forward to our next gathering--we pretty much get together every 2 years.  It costs a lot of money for me to go but as I say, it's a group I like being part of.

I boarded the dogs while I was away ($400, thank you very much) and they were fine.  Treasure was happy and relieved to see me but Bear never likes to let me know how much he really likes me.  Yes, he wagged his tail but mostly he explored the dog sledding equipment stored in the room where I was having a long dog talk with the kennel owner (about Bear's behavior on a leash).

Bear was suddenly quite ill this week so I rushed him to the vet in Plattsburgh (the BIG vet) where they xrayed and blooded him, discovering a mass in his abdomen.  Boy did my heart drop at that news.  They operated on him that night (Tuesday), removed the mass and his spleen and I retrieved him the following day.  He is recovering incredibly well, the huge incision is good and he is almost as bouncy and energetic as ever.  He must be walked on a leash but he is so very good at peeing and pooping when leash-bound.

One night this week I went out with friends to a restaurant for a library benefit and it turned out to be Trivia Night.  I am NOT a group gameplayer but we formed a team and had a lot of fun playing.  Our team came in 3rd (out of how many? is the most important thing--about a dozen), did quite well I think.  I knew that Elvis died in 1977 but didn't know that Greenland was the largest island in the world.

Now it's 1:30 and I'm a few days behind in my journaling (unforgivable!).  Friends are leaving soon, some Tuesday, some soon after that.  Other friends will arrive for Columbus Day and that will be that.  The color this year looks to be very very bright and lovely.  I will find out whether Bear's abdominal mass was malignant.  That's scary but he's my Bear.  He's a Dog.  He's a Bear Dog.

Autumnal nights

We're having a bit of autumn here, chilly nights and clear cool days.  It's absolutely lovely.   Some of the maple trees are starting to turn but mostly it's still quite green (with a bit of yellow here and there).

I did go to RI after all, went last week for a few days to see my mother.  She wasn't keen on having me come but we ended up doing well together, as usual.  I was helpful to her, did grocery shopping for her and bought extras of things so she wouldn't have to go for a while.  She seems to be reaching a point where she doesn't really want to go to the store again.  An hour after I left to come home she fell from her chair and landed on the rug.  She wasn't hurt but it was upsetting (for me and for her).  She couldn't get herself up, couldn't reach Mark so she pushed her magic button on her wristband and the EMTs and police came and helped her up.  All was fine but I found this to be terribly TERRIBLY sad.  I think I need to get used to this sort of thing, as much as I'm able.

Other than the trip I haven't been doing much but seem to keep busy enough.  Work is going well, we're still scanning photos, have about 1000 left to do before we process the bunches we have that have yet to be added to the collection.  Those are a problem because mostly they don't have any information or identification of people or places, they're just photos people have donated in recent years.

Summer friends are still in residence, some will be until Columbus Day then we'll switch to winter mode socially.  I'm going to the Midwest next weekend, spending a week with friends I've known since childhood.  There are about 16 or 18 of us, we'll stay in a house we've rented in Lake Geneva.  We get together fairly often, every few years.  It's all women, friends of mine from my ancient past in Rockford, Brownies, junior high school, high school.  I'm the only one who's single and only 3 of us are childless--most of the rest now have granchildren, yikes.

The dogs have not been very good recently, they ran off the other day and showed up in a friend's kitchen.  She called me, I went to retrieve them but they'd moved on by then, on to some other friends' camp.  Back they went to the first place, she called me again, again I missed them but that time they were on their way home.  The other morning they ran off at 6:00 while I was waiting for my friend to walk with me.  We walked the bog doglessly and the dogs met us as we were coming out of the bog.  BAD DOGS.  Now they're snoring on the couch beside me, dreaming no doubt of their freedom.  I have to board them while I'm in Wisconsin.  I have a good kennel, the people raise Siberian huskies and my dogs have been there before and done well so I'm not worried.  It's expensive but they're well cared for there.

My sister has been scanning photos from our childhood.  Here's what my sister and I looked like in the early 50's when we lived in Turkey (that's my brother in the background)--that's me on the right.

Oh it's busy all right

August is busier than July was, both for me and for the Adks in general.  Traffic is way different, so many more cars!

I've been having good times visiting with friends, walking every morning with the dogs and a friend or two.  Bear didn't think that was good enough one day, he went to a friend's camp at 7 (the dogs ran off while I was getting dressed--well EXCUSE ME for wanting to get dressed in my bedroom instead of the living room.  He showed up at my friend's (she doesn't get up until 9:00), banged on the their door and barked a lot, a LOT.  OK, so he got let in, I was called and while he was waiting for me to get him he got 6 treats.  Oh that will keep him from doing that again, for sure.  Treasure came home, grinning and saying "Bear's in big trouble."  Of course he didn't get in trouble, he got treats.

I still haven't been back to the thrift store, I guess I'm taking the summer off.  It's great to have all this free time but right now I'm wondering what I should do next.  Deadhead the flowers?   Cut some tall grass with the weedeater?  Read the library book I checked out (yes, I actually checked out a book)?  Vacuum dog hair in the living room and bedroom?  Replant the geraniums?  No need to pick cucumbers, Bear has eaten them all, even though they were infants only 2 inches long. 

I'm not going to RI this month, those plans were changed.  I may go in October, I would like to see my mother--but then I'll be going in November and December so why go in October too? September is out, it's busy and beautiful here.

Weather has been good, some gorgeous August days.  You can tell autumn is coming, there's something in the air and the nights are cool.  One day my friend and I swam in very cold water, yesterday I swam in water that was just the right temperature, boy was it great.  I'm sure the water in the lake doesn't change temperature that much but the difference was notable.

A gorgeous and bright moon last night--someone said it was called the sturgeon moon.  I should look that up.

No big plans coming up, breakfast with friends yesterday, perhaps a trip to Plattsburgh tomorrow, a trip to a farm stand this afternoon.  Work is good.  Home is good.  Dogs are, well, they are good.  Mostly.

Rain. Sun. Clouds.

We've had some great rains, my deck plants are well watered now.  Yesterday was cold--OK,not COLD but chilly.  I was with friends for coffee in the morning, came home chilled so built a fire.  I'd say it was the first of the season but the season hasn't started yet.

I've been walking every morning still--Bear now expects to see the bog at 7 each morning, he sits by the door waiting.  Today I went to the farmers market that's on Sunday mornings--went with friends and bought not too much stuff but enough.  I bought some sheeps milk yogurt to try it out.  Boy I'm strange.

Dinner with friends tonight, a quiet day tomorrow with maybe a dump run.  Dinner with friends Tuesday night then a whole lot of empty squares on my calendar.  Whew!

I've been reading the book group book, The book woman of Troublesome Creek, which is more than slightly depressing but also sort of interesting.  It's about Kentucky in the 1930's, full of poor people and about some blue-skinned people, one of whom is a library person who rides her mule around delivering books and magazines to people in the hills.  Do I want to be reminded of bookmobile-style service?   Not a bit.  I looked up the blue-skinned people and they really did exist.  So did the mule-riding library service providers.  I'm halfway through the book and not terribly interested in finishing it because I know, just KNOW that bad things are going to happen.  I just checked with a friend who's read it, though and she told me the mule does not die so at least I can stop worrying about that.

The dogs are fine, they sure do like their morning walks.  They eat dropped apples along the road.  There's one tree that's loaded with apples but they're still small and very tart.  My apple trees aren't offering much fruit this year.

Life is good, as always.

Change of plans

Oh I love having other people made decisions for me (not).  My trip to RI has been postponed until Labor Day weekend.  I was set to go this weekend, whatever scheduling I had to do was done but Mark's plans changed so--mine change too.  Oh well.  I'll have dinner with friends tomorrow night, stay away from camp mostly for the next week or so while my ex-husband and his friends are occupying it.  I can still use the boat house but why would I want to?  I do need to get down there and do some cleaning.  Many empty wine bottles...

I've been busy, busy enough without being overwhelmed.  Visits with friends, a shoreowners' assoc. meeting and social hour that was quite nice.  Work.  Dump runs.  Walking every morning, which has really pleased Bear.  My friend's Gordon setter Milo is here for a few weeks and Bear just ADORES Milo.  Milo does not feel the same way about Bear but he is tolerant.

I took my car to the dealer to have brake work done while it's still under warranty but that was a waste of time and a fruitless expedition.  Brakes not bad enough yet.  Drat.  I went back to the dealer another day, gave a friend a ride home after she dropped off her car.  Long live the Subies!  It's a popular car.

It's supposed to rain hard today but so far all we've seen is a light sprinkle.  I'm tired of watering my deck plans so they're looking quite ratty and are very thirsty.  I haven't mowed my lawn and it looks bad, very bad.  I vacuumed some of the living room and kitchen this afternoon but then of course the battery died so now I wait.  I could do boat house dishes while I wait.  or I could do a crossword puzzle while watching music videos.  Yes, I think I'll do that for a while at least.

Almost August

Hard to believe we're saying goodbye to July but tomorrow will be August, wow.  I'm having a good summer, maybe a little too busy but full of people I enjoy being with and things I enjoy doing.  My friends from DC were here for a while and we walked every morning--Bear felt that's the way life should be lived, Treasure was less interested in a daily walk but she went along.

I slept in the boat house earlier this week and it was very hot so I slept poorly--VERY poorly.  Finally got up at 5:30 and came home.  Yes, it's nice to be there but it sure is more fun when my sister is there with me.  Lately I've been spending a couple of hours on the porch there, relaxing in the cool breeze, reading and doing crosswords.  I did have friends come for dinner the night before they left for home in Minn., that was nice.  Yesterday I drove them to the airport in Burlington and treated myself to a trip to Trader Joe's on my way home.  Oh my I can always find things to buy there!  There was a big storm on my way to the ferry but the ticket seller said they got nothing like that at the ferry landing.  That was a relief, I envisioned a bouncy, wet ride on the boat.

I made my plane reservations for my September trip to the Homeland, maybe I already posted that.  Anyway I'll fly to Minneapolis on Sunday, Sept. 8 and will return on Saturday the 15th.  Meanwhile I board the dogs for a long time, will drop them off on Saturday and pick them up on Sunday.  They'll be fine, this is the kennel they always stay at but it's been a long time since I've boarded them.  I don't worry about them, I just feel bad that they're not sleeping on my bed every night.  And it's expensive.  Oh well.

I'm watching a Cream concert, their last concert I think, a reunion from 2005.  They all look and sound wonderful.  Man that Ginger Baker can tap the drums! 

What will August bring?   My trip to RI next weekend, a nice visit with my mother.  Some friends' birthdays.  I don't have anything big planned for the month, my calendar looks forlorn and empty.  Friday I take my car to the dealer in Plattsburgh, hoping they'll replace the front brakes under warranty (car now has 35,400 miles on it).  Saturday night is dinner with friends, Sunday is a shoreowners' association social at the bar/restaurant at the foot of the lake.  Those evenings are nice, it's good to see everyone.

Work has been fine but a little dull--we're not scanning the most interesting images lately, and many are repetitive.  Ice storm.  Forest fire.  Where are the photos from the early 1900's?  Those are the most fun to do.  Well hell maybe we've done them.  We've scanned 5000 of the 6000 in the collection.  More projects are coming up so we have job security for the rest of our lives I think.

I still haven't returned to the thrift store.  Do I feel guilty?  Slightly but mostly I'm enjoying the time not spent there.  Today I have no obligations and have paid bills, done laundry, done dishes and will soon go to camp to collect more dirty dishes and a huge number of beer bottles I promised to make disappear.  Cousins galore arrive tomorrow, will stay until Tuesday I think.  These are the "youngsters," in their 20's or so, the newest generation.  Good to have them interested in using camp.

I may go for a swim with a friend this afternoon, if it doesn't rain.  I do need to take stuff to the dump (always) so may take a run there too.  or instead.  or not.

Hey, where did she go?

OK, so it's been a month--a very busy month.  My sister arrived in Montreal on June 22, I met her at the airport and we spent 3 1/2 weeks together.  It was a wonderful, wonderful time.  We were here for a couple of days then went to my mother's in RI for 9 days.  That, too was wonderful.  We had some of the best beaching we've ever had there, bright sunshine with clear clear ocean water and small surf that was easy to get through.  My mother is fine and was happy to have her daughters visit so it was all good.  We came back here and spent the rest of our time at the boat house with a few nights here at my house.  I got to see my great-niece quite a bit and that was a treat, she is a very nice and special young person.  I saw both of my nieces--my sister's daughter was in RI for a conference and it was a rare treat to spend days with her plus she had a good visit with my mother.  That meant a lot to both of them.

Now I'm home and almost settled into my summer fervor of a life.  I went back to work last week, scanned more images and dealt with an application for an archival assessment project.  I haven't been back to the thrift store in more than a month, oh dear will they recognize me?  Yes they will but they've been well-staffed I hear.  I don't enjoy being there in the summer as much, it's too busy and gets hot and hectic.

Many summer friends are here and around, I've visited with a few of them but haven't spent as much time socializing as I usually do.  That's OK, it's still July, but oh my! it's nearly August! 

I had to have my water heater replaced (and trained myself to call it a "water heater" instead of a "hot water heater"--what other kind of water heater would one have?).  That was high drama after it leaked half an inch of water in the laundry room and hallway.

I need to take my mower to be fixed, it's missing a vital part that holds the top on the engine and when I try mowing with it it sprays oil all over the place.

I took my car in for its almost-final-under-warranty work.  It's fine.

The dogs are well but Bear has a lump I need to have the vet look at (OK, not look at, but rather feel and palpate).

I had my wood for next winter delivered, only bought 4 cords this year because I still have 2 cords left from last year.  I used to burn 8 cords a winter but now it's more like 6 cords.  I love my stove.

Life is good.  Weather is not.  It's been hot here but I can't really complain because hot is a relative term and I live in the woods and near a lake so I have access to cooler places.

Summer arrives, pretty much

We're finally having summer-like weather.  And the pine pollen has been bad but may be abating.  I've been busy but not tooooo busy.  I've dined with friends a couple of times, hosting one friend one night.  I've been walking in the mornings with friends, followed by coffee, often at the boat house.  The other morning the lake was like glass and the air was still, totally still.  Wow what a treat. 

I was going to sleep in the boat house last night but a sighting of my ex-husband deterred me.  Oh well, my loss, I missed a nice night on the water.

I went to the doctor yesterday and discovered (big surprise) that ice cream is good for bad LDL cholesterol and good for gaining weight.  I have a friend who likes to go to AuSable for ice cream in the evenings, as we did last night.  OK, per the doctor I can have sherbet or sorbet but not ice cream.  Drat.

Work has been good, we had a grand unveiling of the grant project we've been including images from the Archives for.  Wow we have some great and amazing photos.  Today I'll be in the Archives finishing an application for an assessment--I hope, really hope we "win" a visit from a consultant from the Documentary Heritage Program.  Why?   It's not that I'm at all insecure about our collection or accommodations but I would like guidance on what to do next and where we should be heading.  I'm not really an archivist but I pretend to be one every Tuesday and Thursday, and sometimes in between.

It's supposed to rain today.  That would be nice, my deck plants are very thirsty and I'm not being conscientious about watering them.

Life is good.  My sister arrives in America on Saturday, I pick her up in Montreal and we'll spend a couple of days in the boat house before heading to Rhode Island for a long visit there.  Her daughter, one of my favorite nieces (I have but two) will be there and we'll get to be together with her.  That's always a source of joy for me.

Then it's back to Hawkeye for the annual Rogers Family Meeting.  It makes me nervous just thinking about it though I'm not really sure why.  Those people stress me out.  Too many cousins, but I always say it's nice to have family.  It is?

A taste of near-summer

The weather has been nice, temps in the 70's and even up to 80 recently.  Today was gorgeous but started chilly (44 this morning when I walked the bog).  I got to spend some time on my deck relaxing and doing NOTHING.  Loved it.  I was at the thrift store this morning but knew it was time for me to leave when my knees ached and I was getting short with the shoppers.  Cannot do that!   We have a shortage of volunteers so it gets hectic and unpleasant when we have too much coming in to be processed in receiving.  Which has happened for the last 2 weeks.  I'm not going there on Saturday, have to do work work with the Archives.

Bear took himself for an extended walk/swim this afternoon, the ratpig.  I was under the WRONG impression that he wouldn't wander if he were out alone and not cabled.  I got a call from a summer neighbor--she ratted him out, he was at her camp so I went to get him.  Oh he was happy to see me but happier to play with the tennis ball there.  I repeat, ratpig.

I've been busy--have got my planting mostly done, just have small zinnias that need to grow up a bit more plus some nasturtiums left to plant.  My deck has a lot, no really, a LOT of pots with flowers on it.  A few are for a friend who is coming in 2 weeks but there are more that are mine.  One will go to the boat house--I've taken one down there already, along with a very heavily-used hummingbird feeder.  I've started cleaning there, have brought home laundry and dishes, not I have to finish up and take everything back down there.  The bed is made, my sister's bedding is ready--she arrives next Saturday, late at night to Montreal.  We'll be staying in the boat house for a few days before heading to RI.  She'll be in America for 3 weeks and we'll be here and there, returning for the family meeting on July 13th, then she returns to Italy on the 15th.  I'm looking forward to being with her, we do enjoy each other's company.

Work in the Archives has been fine, a big push to get ready for a grant project, the reception is Saturday afternoon and I'll probably go.  This is a busy week, tomorrow I go to work, have lunch with a friend and eventually end up in Plattsburgh at the airport to meet a friend who's flying in from DC.  Friday I spend in Burlington with a friend, waiting for the front seat upholstery to be replaced.  Thank you Bear for ripping it, at least it's covered under warranty.

Busy busy busy, and it's not quite summer yet.  Dinners, lunches, coffees, ice cream runs. 

We might see the sun!

It's a rainy (sort of) morning but is supposed to clear and be warm and sunny for the next few days.  WOW!   My plants aren't thriving because they long to see the sun--sort of like me.  I planted geraniums in the cemetery yesterday, that was a task I've been putting off for a long time.  The black flies weren't bad but they were there all right.  I came home and did some planting here and the flies were worse than at the cemetery but they still weren't as bad as they've been.  Maybe, just maybe the season is ending.

I went to the thrift store yesterday, did a couple of hours there.  There's still a big backlog of stuff that people have dropped off--piles and boxes of things that need to be processed and priced.  I did that for a while then worked with the 3 huge, overflowing bins of books that people "donated."  Fly-specked, dusty, water-damaged cruddy books.  I threw out at least half of them.  I'm ruthless when I go through books, lots of people can't bear to throw books away but having worked with books for most of my life I have no problem chucking them.

Today is a work day.  I'll have to put my computer back together, they were to lay the new carpet, they got started on Tuesday and hopefully finished by yesterday.  There's a grant project requiring some of our images and I haven't been able to get to them  so the pressure's on to get that taken care of.

Short walk with the dogs this morning, we usually walk for 20-30 minutes but my friend couldn't take that much time because she has a morning appointment.  She said we should just take the dogs for a short walk to make them think they got a walk and that worked!  They're both (the dogs, not my friend) sound asleep as if they'd walked 10 miles.

I've got almost all of my planting done--that feels great.  I still have some nasturtiums and zinnias to put in the ground but it's been so cloudy and wet that they're not growing fast enough, plus the ground has been too cold. 

Life continues to be good, very good.  The apple trees are in bloom, the leaves in the forest are so very very green.

Weather, still

It refuses to warm up much outside.  This is getting tiresome but man oh man is it ever green out there.  Lots of rain and cool weather has resulted in obscenely bright greens in the woods.  Very, very pretty.  BUT...I would like to see the sun for more than just a few minutes at a time.  Rumor is that will happen later this week, maybe, perhaps, possibly.  The black flies are liking this weather--they don't like sunny warm days.

I've been busy planting my deck containers and I'm pretty happy with the results.  Now I need to plan the seedlings I have, in the ground, and mow the lawn.  Yes, my grass likes damp cool weather and all of a sudden it has grown at an alarming rate.  drat.

Things at the thrift store are out of control--people are bringing in more stuff than we could possibly process so there's a huge backlog.  I get frustrated, tired and hysterical when it's like that so don't enjoy being there as much.  I only worked a couple of hours on Wednesday and again on Saturday.  I feel bad leaving when it's so busy.  Not bad enough to stay though.  Bad me.

I hosted book group last night, we were going to be on the boat house porch but it was cool and rainy so we ended up in my living room.  That was fine.  I made stuffed shells, which sure are not worth the amount of work (at least the way I made them).  Tasty but I think I'll stick with lasagna for a mix of ricotta, etc.  We had a good time anyway.

Summer people are slow to arrive, not many have shown up yet.  I've been going out for ice cream with a friend, WW be damned.  Must get back to counting points and weighing in.

Car is fine, weather is not

It's been a busy week.  I did get my car cleaned, then got the brakes fixed--now she sparkles inside and out (for a while at least).

I spent most of last week cleaning, resting and getting ready for a visit from a good good friend, someone I worked with in Providence in the late 70's and early 80's.  Yikes, we've been friends for 40 years.  She now lives in Pittsburgh and was able to fly into Plattsburgh on Friday.  It was so very very nice to see her and spend days with her.  We had a grand time--walked up the bluffs, bushwhacked our way down.  Dinner with friends.  Walked up Silver Lake Mtn. but didn't quite make it to the top.  Walked around Mirror Lake in Lake Placid and had a nice lunch there.  Went out for breakfast.  Lost power.  Lost phone for 3 days.  Spent hours on the boat house porch, reading.  Laughed a lot.  No, really, a LOT.  We are good friends.  We went to Stewart's for ice cream--she was surprised to find out that, after much discussion about "Let's go to Stewart's for ice cream" was followed by a trip to a gas station.  OK, I corrected her, it's NOT a gas station, it's a convenience store.  She thought Stewart's was an ice cream parlor.  Close, but not close.

The dogs were wonderful with her but were terrible at staying home.  Both dogs disappeared one day.  Bear disappeared another day.  BAD BAD DOGS.  Is it because it's spring?  It can't be hormonal, neither dog has any hormones.

Flight from Plattsburgh this morning was cancelled so we went to Burlington.  That was a relief and a nice treat for me--we shopped at Gardeners Supply, I got a few things I absolutely needed.  I dropped her at the airport then went to Trader Joes and spent some more money on groceries and wine.  A fine time was had by all.

Sun, yes, car? not so much

We have had some very nice weather, some good sunshine along with thunder and rain.  Good spring weather.  My car, not so nice.  On Thursday while I was at work Bear threw up all over the front and back seats (after moving the seat cover out of the way).  I couldn't get it clean so ended up having it cleaned all day Saturday.  That was fine, I got a ride home from the place in Jay, had a day with no car that was uneventful, got a ride to pick it up that evening.  OK, all was fine.  Yesterday I went plant shopping with a friend in my deliciously clean car and the brakes started grinding and growling.  HONESTLY!   Will it never end?   We had a good time and got some good plants (though I now have maybe more plants than containers to put them in) but I freaked out about the noises.  This morning I called lots of repair places, all of whom convinced me the rotors were damaged (most likely) and would be covered under warranty so they didn't want to fix the car.  I took it in to AuSable, where the nice and helpful people took the wheels off to show me the damage to the rotors and need for pads in the front.  OH NO.  I'm not driving the car until that is fixed, so I had another day at home.

I finally found a solution and will take the car to the dealer in Plattsburgh tomorrow, though they can't guarantee they will get to it.  It can spend the night and all day Wednesday there.  Service maven says I have an 80-90 percent chance of getting it fixed.  Please, please please help me.  I have good friends, one will meet me there in the morning, bring me home (inconvenient) and pick me up Wednesday afternoon (again, inconvenient) to retrieve the car.  I need the car this weekend, my friend is coming and I have to pick her up Friday and take her to the airport on Tuesday, plus wouldn't it be nice if we could actually GO somewhere while she's here?  I don't think she'll want to watch distraction television.

I did get some plants in containers, that is always nice.  The black flies are out and boy are they hungry and thriving.  Bloodsucking little creeps.

What's that? It's raining?

I don't remember when we last saw the sun but I think it was last week.  It snowed this morning, just a dusting for the effect.  I can remember 6" of snow in May other years so it's not really that unusual.  May and October have snow just for the hell of it, it doesn't usually amount to much and seldom lasts long on the ground. 

I've been walking with friends in the morning, chilly times but nice.  Bear sure appreciates it but Treasure gets rooked towards the end of our walks because she's on a leash.  Although it seems counter-intuitive based on behavior patterns, Treasure is the ring leader when they go for their "long walks" to places far away.  She'll start to run off, stop and look back at Bear--you'd swear she was winking at him.  He'll join her and I won't see them for hours some days.  Bad dogs.  I can prevent it just by putting her on a leash.   Why does Treasure get punished?  Because she's GOOD on a leash and Bear is so NOT good on a leash, he pulls and suffers mightily.

Work has been fine, we're still scanning images and laughing a lot.  At what?  At the costumes from the 1800's, at the poor quality of photographs, at our inside jokes.  It's enjoyable and nice.

It's been busy at the thrift store, enough shoppers but lots of people dropping off as well.  The weather hasn't been conducive to thrift-storing but people have their agendas so they come in the rain to drop and to shop.  We've been a little short-handed and that will continue but we're not in crisis mode yet.

We still don't have leaves on trees in Hawkeye though there is a hint of green on the poplars.  The shad and cherry haven't bloomed yet, it seems late for them.  I suppose the cool weather is responsible for the delay.  My daffodils are a little confused but most of them are in bloom right now--there's usually a gradual bunch of blooming but not this year: most of the varieties are blooming at the same time.

Hard to believe next weekend is Memorial Day!   My friend is coming from Pittsburgh and I have much to do to prepare.  I've been concentrating on getting the house ready but tonight it occurred to me that I should be getting the boat house and Dockside cabin ready in case we decide to sleep there.  I had planned to open the boat house this week but then I forgot about it.  oops.  I'll get some double bed sheets for the cabin at the thrift store (I hope).

Life continues rolling along in a good way--a very good way.

And rain

Hard to believe we had a sunny day this week but I guess we did.  I remember sitting on my deck reading the newspaper in the sun.  Just a vague memory now.  Boy did it rain today, heavy rain mixed with showers.  Last night's rain was loud on my metal roof.  On it goes.

I went to Plattsburgh today, switched over my car tires (as if I had another kind of tire) and ran a couple of errands.  Best errand by far was plant shopping but I showed remarkable restraint, mostly because I didn't use a cart and couldn't carry more than half a dozen pots.  I've made plans to go plant shopping with a friend on Sunday but tonight I feel more like going tomorrow--suppose all the good plants are gone by Sunday?   Hah.  As if.  Anyway I should work at the thrift store tomorrow because I suspect they'll be short-handed and it might be busy.  If the sun comes out.  That's a big if.

This weather is tiring and discouraging.  I've planted several varieties of flowers in peat pots indoors and they're all germinating nicely.  That's optimism, something I'm not always known for.  My co-worker in the Archives says I always see the good in people (little does she know...) and that I always assume the best.  I don't feel that way about myself, maybe that's good, to convince others that I'm an optimist who looks for good things.  I grew up with people who did NOT see the good in things but had pretty dismal outlooks so maybe I AM cheerful as a reaction to that.  Anyway, the weather has not helped me be an optimist.  We had thunder and lightning last night.

My bird feeder is the hottest place in Hawkeye these days--bright yellow goldfinches, purple purple finches, white-crowned sparrows, chipmunks, blue jays, juncos.  In the woods I hear white-throated sparrows, ovenbirds, drumming grouse and I've seen flickers so spring is here.  I have a friend who can identify warblers and reported seeing some this week at his camp.  I can only recognize one warbler's call, the black-throated blue warbler, which nests around my house every summer.

Life is good.  No, really, it is.

SUNSHINE

Although it's a tad cool at 54, the sun is warm and bright and there are no clouds.  Wow, what a gorgeous day.  There are just the tiniest of leaves on the poplars now, hinting at a green tinge in the hills.  Very pretty.

My hummingbirds are back.  Goldfinches are brilliant yellow.  Purple finches brilliant purple.  Rose-breasted grosbeak hanging around.  White-throated sparrow singing away.  I heard peepers outside a restaurant in Wilmington the other night, that was a treat.

I've been doing the things I do.  Went to Plattsburgh on Monday, my final visit with one of my doctors (he's retiring) after 24 years of being treated.  It was nice to say farewell, we talked about how well we have worked together.  blah blah blah.  Next up is a visit to the vet with the dogs (there goes $500).  No, wait, next is taking the car to Plattsburgh for tire switching and oil change, that happens on Friday.

Yesterday was a work day, I went to the gym first and spent 25 minutes on the treadmill.  Not a lot but not bad.  I've been walking outside with friends most mornings,which the dogs appreciate but it's never really enough for Bear.  MORE!  He needs MORE!

I've planted lots of seeds indoors, that entertains me.  Morning glories are up, nasturtiums just starting to come up, zinnias are slow to appear but there's slight "movement" in the soil.  I should be outside today cleaning up the yard, getting the mower out, uncovering the hostas (buried under ashes dumped from the wood stove this winter).  Should be.  But not.

Yes, it's still raining

It is starting to seem a bit like spring here (the first week of May).  I have some daffodils blooming but not a lot, I don't think it's going to be a good year for them.

I had a good week, yesterday was a nice day for the most part.  Work on Thursday was fine, uneventful.  I have to work 3 days this week (or is it next week?  which is it when it's the one coming up?).  I also have to be in Plattsburgh Monday afternoon and again on Friday.  Monday is a doctor's appointment, Friday is a car appointment (having my snow tires removed!  if that's not a sign of spring, what would be?).

Yesterday was going to be a nice relaxing day with no commitments.  My friends and I walked the dogs to camp, checked on all the cabins and main camp--everything survived the winter.  The dogs, of course took off while we were there, OK, that's stressful but not too bad.  My friends went home--their house is 4 miles away on top of a small mountain.  Of course the dogs showed up there, the second time (we know of) that they've done that.  Oh was I stressed about that!  Bad bad dogs!   I went to get them and ignored them for 2 hours.  Did they notice?  What does a dog notice when it's eyes are closed and it's snoring? 

I went to AuSable, came home and planted some zinnia seeds in peat pots.  That was a nice exercise, it felt good to do something akin to gardening.  There is outdoor work to do but there's no good weather for it.  Now is the time to get things in good order, to deal with the bramble bushes that always want to take over, to spread the ashes I've dumped in one spot all winter, get the mower out to see if it will start and pretend to be a gardener.  But nooooo, it's wet and cool (temp is 46) so I'm not interested.  Instead today I'm meeting a friend at a big yard sale (as if either of us needed more stuff) then I'll work at the thrift store for a couple of hours.

It was lovely to be at camp yesterday, the lake was like glass with a heavy cloud hanging over it, so peaceful and quiet except for the wailing of a loon, who was sitting off the boat house.  Really nice.

So much NOT like spring

It rained, sleeted, snowed and then we had hail today.  There was the most spectacular red sunrise, which I guess I should have heeded (red sky at morning...).  Luckily it was clear for our morning walk at 6:30 with the dogs, that was chilly but pleasant.  So pleasant we're repeating it again tomorrow.

I worked at the thrift store this morning, was asked to work in receiving because there's a huge backlog of stuff to be processed.  I like being a bagger but mostly I just do what's needed, work wherever people need help.  I do like that, doing different jobs there.  A good friend came in to the store and we went to lunch together.  That was a special treat.  During my darker times we used to go to Plattsburgh together every weekend to shop and have lunch and Kahlua Coolattas from Dunkin Donuts.  Those were nice times that got me through some complicated years.  Anyway we both have good lives in retirement now and are happy to be together.

It's almost 10:30 and I can't sleep.  I started reading Wallace Stegner, the print in the book is incredibly small and the prose is dense but wow it's well-written.  I ordered The angle of repose, which won the Pulitzer Prize decades ago, let's see how it compares to this one (Crossing to safety), which is about 2 couples and their long friendship.  Right now they're just getting to know each other in Madison, Wisc., so it's got some good Midwestern stuff in it.

It made me think of reading all the Pulitzer Prize winners as a goal.  But since I'm so NOT goal-oriented I doubt I'll do that, plus I have a zillion other books in my house that need to be read.  I started reading an old Anne Tyler book, one I don't remember ever reading.  I didn't finish it but haven't given up on it yet.  My mother read it while I was with her at Easter and she didn't remember that we read pretty much every Anne Tyler book at one time and I have her collection--she thinks she doesn't remember reading them so I'll send them to her.  It's hard to find the right things for her to read these days.  Her taste has changed a bit, she doesn't so much enjoy the well-written, "deep" books that she even recently liked reading.  She is an avid reader and I have tried keeping her in books but it's getting harder.  I take 10 books to her and she summarily rejects 7 of them, keeping 3 that she "might try to read."  Oh well, I'm happy if I can offer her 3.  She still amazes me.

It's raining hard right now.  I would so much like to have the sun shine and was hoping for a sunny Saturday, supposed to go to a couple of yard sales with a friend but the forecast is a bit vague, seems there might be rain in the morning.  poo.

Early spring late this year?

Is spring on track this year, or are we slow to spring up?  I'm wondering.  The ice went out this week, on the 25th--that was the last day of ice at the foot of the lake.  That's not really late so maybe I'm just looking for spring in the wrong places (like, leaves on trees).  The maple trees are fully budded but leafless.  Lilac leaves are tiny but noticeable, barely.  The alders have small (very) leaves.  The woods are not even close to being green, the pussy willows have gone by and are very yellow.  Maybe that should be considered the North Country's version of forsythia, it's almost that bright.

Anyway life goes on and is good.  I had a meeting with the construction crew and board members who are all working on the alcove to the Archives.  They included me after the plans were made, which didn't offend me but they had no clue as to the importance of the card catalog and were going to treat it pretty much as an afterthought.  I explained that, as archaic as it is, it is the ONLY index to the contents of the collection, so maybe it could be placed prominently in the alcove with easy access for people doing research.  Ahhhh, yes, they got it.  "Thanks for pointing that out, we're glad you were here."  Dodged a bullet on that one.  I laugh at myself for thinking the card catalog is so important, but it is.  Until we figure out a way to digitize it or develop and online index or something, the card catalog is our key and the only way we have access to the contents of the collection, short of pawing through 6000 photos (well, bad example, those are being scanned) and the manuscript collection and the still-valuable vertical file.  There's so much that could be done with that collection--will I live long enough or remain interested in it long enough to accomplish much?   The scanning of the photos is huge, we're closing in on the end of that project, have done more than 4000.  They still need to be mounted on the Web somehow, that's the next part of the project, right now they're still only accessible from within the archives, on the computer there (and of course indexed in the card catalog).  Oh well, these are intense things to ponder at 2 a.m.

Meanwhile there's the weather, rainy and dismal though the temp is 42 so it's not miserable.  We're expecting snow this weekend but that's not a drastic event, it won't be much and it won't last long.  Just a reminder that no, this is not always a friendly environment.  We don't have tornadoes or hurricanes or tsunamis, we're lucky.  I heard a red-winged blackbird in Keene Valley the other day.  The purple finches have shown up and are very purple.  There's at least one loon on the lake, I heard it's wail this week.

Life is good.  Spring is happening.  And I still have 2 cords of firewood left.

Very springy out there

I'm home from RI, got home Monday afternoon to a nearly-all bare ground.  The driveway is almost all dried up, just a couple of wet muddy spots.  I did an amazing job of avoiding rutting it up this year, adding that to my not getting stuck in the snow at all and I think maybe I've learned how to be mature about weather-related driving things.

I had a nice time with my mother, she is in good shape.  We didn't do much, I took her to town one day and the rest of the time we spent at home, mostly reading, dozing and visiting.  And eating.  I skipped the lobsters this visit, it just seemed like too much work.  We had a delicious bagels & lox Easter breakfast, then lamb for Easter dinner.  Those were the food highlights.

It's definitely spring here in Hawkeye.  The woods are absolutely silent except for wildlife noises.  I love this time of year, those pesky leaves make so much noise in the forest once they emerge, it's just a hushed world right now.  I have fewer birds at the feeder but a greater variety.  Wow has the chickadee population declined.  I assume they're getting food elsewhere.  There's a rumor of a loon sighting but the ice isn't out yet.  There's just open water along the shore, it seems really early for a loon to show up here.

The ice is really dark so it's getting ready to go out.  I was surprised to see how much melted while I was gone, I guess it rained a lot and was warm.

My good good good friends were busy at my house while I was away, they finished painting the living room (except for the cathedral ceiling part, we still haven't quite figured that one out).  They painted the ceiling, finished the walls and did the trim.  It looks absolutely wonderful.  They cleaned and cleaned the tile floor and rugs.  Wow am I lucky!  I'm inspired to do cleaning and purging.  I did take down all the artwork before we painted (duh) and didn't put everything back up, it looks worlds better with just a few pieces on the walls.  Now I need to find places for the paintings and prints I didn't put back up in the living room.  Freshly painted walls sure do look better without the clutter of a pack basket, keys and the odds & ends I had put up. 

It's a rainy night.  We tried to walk the bog in the morning but there was too much ice on the boardwalk so we didn't get far.  This morning we're walking at Taylor Pond then I'll go to the thrift store for a few hours.  I felt bad leaving--I think Saturday must have been really busy and they were going to be short-handed.  Now things will settle down a little bit but not for long, nice weather brings out shoppers and droppers, receiving is a busy place when the weather gets nice.  It will be an adjustment after the relatively peaceful pace of winter.

REALLY bare ground

Most of the snow on the ground has melted but it's snowing hard right now.  I think we might get a couple of inches overnight but nothing serious.  I hope.

It's full-blown mud season now, I've been very disciplined about parking at the end of my driveway.  except for today.  I couldn't resist--had to load up for the dump, then drove to the house again for cleaning.  It will freeze tonight, temp is 33 now and due to be in the 20's so at least damage will be minimal in the morning.  I'm going to a workshop/training session in the morning.  Am I really interested and excited?  Vaguely.  It's training for developing a plan for conservation in Archives.  Yawn.  Well I always learn something from these things.
My living room is an exciting place these days.  Friends and I have been painting the walls--2 have been painted and look fantastic.  I chose a very light gray with dark brown trim for the windows and around the door.  Boy does that look great!  Today I cleaned the 4 tall windows in the living room (plus the door).  So much dog snot, Treasure, really!  It looks wonderful.  We still have the ceiling in the dining area to paint and have to develop a plan for the cathedral ceiling in the living room.  The walls look wonderful without artwork on them.  I developed the habit of driving nails into the walls and sticking stuff up to get it off the floor, like the broom, a pack basket I made, a key holder, on and on it goes.  I'll find another place for some of those things, not where I have to stare at them all the time.  I hope.  Of course "finding another place" is a challenge.

Buds on the maple trees are turning a little red!   This is a huge sign of spring.  Of course they're covered with snow right now.  There were chipmunks at the bird feeder this morning.  I don't have many spring birds, but juncos and song sparrows.

The neighborhood is relatively quiet.  It won't be long before life will liven up, summer people will be coming in a month.  I'm going to RI on Thursday for Easter, will come home Monday.  It will be strange to be there and NOT worry about frozen pipes.  We'll get pansies for me to bring home.  We don't make a big fuss about Easter except for food.  Plenty of food.

Bare ground, a little anyway

The ground next to my house is bare and there are daffodils--SURPRISE! coming up.  The rest of the yard is still under 6-8 inches of snow.  And the driveway is still mud mud mud.

It's 63 today with a slight breeze and there was some sun but it's clouded over and I think we're supposed to have a lot of rain tonight.  That will be OK, rain melts snow.  Doesn't help mud  but you can't have everything.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be even warmer.  I'll be at the thrift store in the morning, maybe for a few hours.  I expect it to be busy with shoppers and droppers, and we're short-handed right now because some of the volunteers are away.  YIKES!  Well we do what we can.

I had a good week, not terribly eventful.  Did go to Plattsburgh and get paint for the living room and that was exciting.  Now I have to go back for paint for the trim, the sample I got first wasn't right at all.  I need to get lamb to take to Rhode Island for Easter anyway so a trip to the big city won't be for naught.  And I need to get floor cleaner, I started cleaning the tile floor and man oh man will that be a tough job.  Not that huge an area but dirty, very dirty tile and grout.  Gross.

Life is good, pretty quiet all in all.  Work was fine except someone called wanting information on a woman photographer who spent time in Keene Valley.  WHAT????  Someone wants to use the resources in the Archives?  How dare they!   I found a few tidbits but will sic my assistant on the research while I'm gone.  I leave Thursday for Easter in RI, returning Monday.  I think I'm repeating myself.

Still snowing

We didn't get much during the week but it's snowing again tonight.  Just a little, enough to keep the daffodils from being exposed.  It dawned on me tonight that it will soon (enough) be May.  That's a month when I usually have daffodils in bloom but there's still a ton of snow in my yard.  There are bare patches in the neighborhood but not in my yard.  My driveway, however is a mud pit.  I could host mud wrestling matches.

I'm into a good quiet routine with a big exception: we're painting my living room.  I have a wonderful friend who helps me with projects around my house.  She worked miracles in my mud room and library, now we're getting the living room painted.  I'm really excited, I'm so tired of the color we originally painted the room in 1992.  I'd love to paint pretty much every room but let's start with the walls I stare at most.  I painted my bedroom with my niece's help about 15 years ago, it's a shock to me to realize now that maybe it could stand to be painted again.  NO!   Not yet!  Anyway the pale gray I've chosen for the living room will be wonderful with the dark brown trim around the windows.  Ahhhhh.  Nothing beats a freshly-painted room.

Work is going well but it's mostly monotonous right now.  My co-worker is in Texas visiting her family so I'm editing and labeling the images we scanned before she left.  It sure is quiet in the Archives without her, plus the 40 images of rustic furniture I worked on today are less than exciting to work with.  Sticks and branches.

My volunteer work at the thrift store is good.  I like being a bagger but it's getting busy as the calendar marches toward spring.  More shoppers, more droppers.  It was busy in receiving on Saturday, we have a backlog of stuff and will be short of volunteers this week because some are traveling.  Anything interesting come in?  We had a Magnalite saucepan come in, which I snatched right up for $7.  My mother cooked with Magnalite when I was growing up so I mostly wanted it for sentimental reasons but wow it is really nice to cook with. 

Temperature right now is 28, the highs lately have been in the 40's.  I think it's supposed to warm up next week, just in time for my Easter visit to Rhode Island.  I'm leaving next Thursday, will stay until Monday.  We have nice Easter traditions, including buying pansies for me to bring home.  Pansies?  Really?  Won't they look nice against the snow.

Snowing again...still

It's snowing right now but we're not supposed to get more than a couple of inches.  The weather here has been pretty crappy, the warmest it got was in the high 40s one day this week, now it's cooler.  It was 10 this morning.  At least I saw some turkey vultures, that's a sign of spring for sure.  Also had a sparrow on my deck.  Wow, the birds sure have been fooled.

I had a good week, pretty quiet.  Went to Plattsburgh on Monday, picked up meds and had coffee with a friend.  Someone made a mistake in the prescription on one of my meds--instead of a 90-day supply I'm getting a 9-day supply.  Of course a simple phone call would fix this but I never remember to call during the day, I only think of it at night.  duh.

Work was good this week, scanned a lot on Tuesday then spent my hours on Thursday editing and labeling the scans.  Actually had a phone call (RATS!) from someone who's doing research on her family and will be here in June to see what we have.  She called from Mass. and I was charming and led her to believe we would actually help her.  HAH!   My assistant had better be there in June!  I'm not so great at digging through the Archives to find what people want.  Margaret is fantastic at that.   I'll get better.  maybe.

Boy did I waste time today, I had coffee with a friend, talked to my mother for an hour then went to the gym alone.  That didn't work out well, I only did 15 minutes on the treadmill because it was so boring.  There's a TV there but there wasn't anything worth watching so I stared at the timer on the treadmill until I couldn't stand it.  Came home and took a long nap.  LONG nap.  Boy did that feel good.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my friend at the gym, we'll go for coffee after that then I'll do some work at the thrift store.  It's been busy at the store, people are coming out to drop things off as well as shop.  We couldn't keep up with the drop-offs on Wednesday so there was a lot of stuff to deal with.  Other volunteers work there when the store is closed but I don't have a key (that's OK, thanks anyway) so I only work when the store is open.

I had great visits with friends last weekend, they were at their camp for their annual winter FreezeFest.  Getting to their camp was tricky though because the snow was (and still is) deep and punchy so we had to post-hole our way from the driveway through the woods to the camp.  Not fun.  But great fun once I got there.

It's supposed to rain for the next several days.  My driveway is muddy and will sure be a mess if it does rain but the snow may actually melt.  We're getting into mud season now.  I drive to the house sometimes, if it's going to freeze overnight.  That won't go on much longer, I'll be parking at the end of the driveway.  I bought a big bag of dog food, enough birdseed and lots of groceries this week so at least my hauling up the driveway should be limited.  I hope.

And later on...

Well it's not that I was too busy to keep up, I just was doing other things.  I had to clean my house for book group and we all know that's a BIG project.  I have a new vacuum cleaner, cordless Dyson and it's absolutely magic.  I love love love it.  It sucks, truly sucks dog hair.  And it's so portable!  I even vacuumed the bedroom, which made my friend Lin laugh and laugh.  She knows me perhaps too well.

The weather has not been representative of spring, barely early spring at that.  The sun is high in the sky and very warm but temps remain low.  Right now it's 13 and dark, but then it's not yet 5:30 in the morning.  I slept well and for a long time--straight through the night!--so got up at 4 and have been entertaining myself.  I'll head to the Archives this morning, probably to scan photos and laugh a lot.  I still have to figure out how to get the scanned images online, I was successful at doing that for some images but sort of dropped out of that project.  oops.

I had a good week, nothing out of the ordinary but was feeling pretty good.  I did drag myself to Plattsburgh twice, one too many trips but such is life.  I worked at the thrift store on Wednesday but skipped Saturday.  We were expecting a big storm with more than a foot of snow but ended up with a mere six inches.  I was up early when it snowed hard and fast with big rapidly-accumulating flakes.  We got 4 inches but then it slowed way down and the flakes got smaller.  I didn't think I'd have my driveway plowed for a mere 6 inches but I was wrong about that.  Just put it on my tab please.  Boy will my plow bill be high this year!  He never gets around to sending out bills until May, I'm hoping this year will be no exception.

Friends are coming this week for their annual FreezeFest visit at their camp.  These men remind me of my late brother, their lifelong friendship is so funny and sweet.  I'll spend evenings with them but they're here to hike and have good outdoor time.  Lots of luck, boys, it's supposed to rain later this week.  Oh dear.  Highs have only been in the 20's and 30's but of course while they're here hoping for cold miserable weather it's predicted to be in the 40's and maybe even 50.  Sorry about that but man oh man am I looking forward to those temps!   We still have so very very much snow.

Life continues to be really grand.  I'm a lucky girl.

HOME!

I'm home again home again.  I had a good trip to Rhode Island, went there last Friday and got home Thursday.  I was not pleased that there was SNOW on the ground when I got there, about 4 inches or so.  It melted a lot while I was there but there was still some.  I went there for my mother's 93rd birthday, which was Wednesday.  We spent a lot of time visiting before her birthday so that was good.  The birthday day was busy, lots of phone calls and some visitors.  We used to go out for dinner on birthdays but it's harder for her and not as much fun these days so instead Mark cooked a delicious dinner--scallops cooked to perfection.  My mother actually let me do some of the cooking while I was there, I cooked our seafood night of lobsters, clams and mussels.  Local seafood is delicious in the winter, we're convinced it's because the water is colder.  I cooked a couple of other times and that was nice.  I spent some time alone, went to town a couple of times and did some shopping.  Mark and I went to the beach with the dogs and to the bark one day.  There was a cold wind but the sun was warm so it wasn't bad.  Big surf at the beach, it was really loud.

My travels were fine, easy trip down there and easy trip coming home.  Not much traffic and clear roads.  I have 350 songs on a thumb drive that I listen to in the car--it's a 6 hour trip to RI and I don't make it through the entire list during the trip so that's entertaining.  I only got to the L's on the way down  (songs play in alphabetical order) and almost finished up on the way home.

My house was just fine while I was away--my friend checked on it and brought in my mail.  We had warm weather in my absence and since I got home but now it's cooler, temp is 35 and highs are only supposed to be in the 30's for the next couple of days, then back to the 40's with some thawing.  Almost enough to convince me that spring will come.  I'm not as sick of winter this year, probably because I've been to RI twice, once in January and just now.  That's a nice break for me.

The dogs are happy to be home--they celebrated by disappearing for an hour as soon as I let them out of the car yesterday.  Ratpigs.  Note to self:  NEVER let them both out at the same time.  A lesson I'm sure slow to learn.

Could it be?

There was just the slightest hint that spring might be in our future on Sunday.  The sun is much MUCH warmer now, higher in the sky and available for viewing more hours during the day.  It's in the 20's these days, with little wind and that is nice.

I'm having a good life these days, it's pretty uneventful but lovely.  I worked last week, we scanned images in the Archives, I edited and labeled them--all of that I enjoy doing.  The thrift store was deadly slow on Wednesday but very very busy on Saturday.  It was beautiful sunny day and people are getting shack-wacky so were out and about.  I worked with books, there was a meeting of volunteers on Wednesday and others at the meeting had many (MANY) ideas about how the book department should be organized and run and lots of suggestions for me to pass along to the woman who is in charge of the department.  No, no, no I will not do that.  I will try to ease some changes into the department but won't let Fran know how they ganged up on her in her absence at the meeting.  NO!  I am not spending time at the thrift store to get involved in that sort of thing, I just show up and work where I'm needed.  Fran will not be there this Wednesday so I will make some (not) sweeping changes in the non-fiction area.  Old books there that have been there for a long time, taking up valuable real estate and not selling.  I did work with Fran to move some of the fiction around, and last week I threw out a whole lot of the older fiction that had been there for a while.  She didn't seem to notice or mind so that was a relief.

I am doing these 2 things, the Archives and the thrift store because I enjoy the work I do, I believe in what I'm doing (OK, that may be an exaggeration for the thrift store) and I like the people I've met and work with.  I spent almost 3 years after retiring doing not much of anything except going to Plattsburgh and watching TV, then luckily came across these 2 opportunities.  Timing was perfect and I'm very happy to be involved in these.  A good, productive and stimulating way to spend my time (and I even make money in the Archives).

What will this week bring?  A trip to Plattsburgh (as usual), just a haircut and some shopping.  Prep for my trip to Rhode Island--I leave Friday to celebrate my mother's 93rd birthday on the 13th, spending time visiting and just being there for nearly a week.  Traditionally my March trip to RI offers me a hint or taste of something akin to spring but I'm not sure I'll be that lucky this year--they're supposed to have snow (ugh) today.  This is the time of year I long to set foot on bare ground.  Oh, I have a hankering to touch bare ground.  or at least to SEE bare ground.  Maybe I'll get lucky in RI.

And now it's cold

It's 7 degrees and windy right now (right now is 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday).  We had an extremely windy day Monday with lots of threats of power outages but nothing like that happened in Hawkeye.  Wow were we lucky.  There was a tree down across the hardtop but someone got to it before I did and moved it out of the road.

I spent several hours with my cousin (on my mother's side), who came from his Vermont home for a visit.  He's a very nice, gentle man who's had a complicated life.  His brother died of cancer before he was 30, then John got cancer twice not many years after his brother died.  He's now nearly 60 and worries a lot about his future.  His lungs and heart have been damaged by the radiation treatments he had many years ago but he works hard at staying healthy.  We don't have a lot in common but he likes to keep in touch, my sister, mother and I are the only members of the family he has left (his parents died within the last few years).  He's married and has 2 nice sons so his life is good but he's anxious and I feel for him.  Anyway we had a good visit and he skied down to camp and across the lake and enjoyed that a lot.  I declined the offer of a snowshoe outing with him--I think he probably had more fun taking off on his own.

After he left I went to Plattsburgh for groceries, I needed more than the small store in AuSable has to offer.  Isn't it a wonderful feeling to have enough money to shop for just about anything you want to buy?  Food, glorious food.

I have a cold, this seems grossly unfair because I already had one cold this winter.  It's not a bad cold and I'm not suffering, just all plugged up.  Given the health scares and states of some of my friends and relatives I feel pretty darn lucky.  and healthy.

Where have I been?

Oh nowhere special, just been busy and apparently not in the mood to communicate.  I got behind in my journal, too.  I'm usual very conscientious about writing in my journal every evening but last week I fell behind and had to go back to recreate events of a couple of days.  Oh the shame!

Life goes on at its usual pace in Hawkeye.  I did get to the gym pretty much every day last week, we were on a real streak.  One morning we walked the bog  here but the snow was a little deep for that and we sort of struggled.  The next day my friend brought snowshoes and we went down toward camp.  I wanted to go out on the lake but didn't have my inhaler (duh)(oh I hate being invalid-ish) so we didn't go--the hill coming home would be tough indeed.

This was the weekend of The Burn and that went well.  It was trickier than usual, getting the blaze going but the Miracle Workers managed a good enough fire.  It was, as always good to see people and visit.  I had dinners with friends and that was nice too but I gained a pound this week.  Any connection?  Oh I hate to think so.

Tomorrow may bring a visit from the only surviving relative on my mother's side, my cousin who lives in Vermont.  He's undecided about coming but seems to want to visit.  Maybe we'll go down to the lake, there was a good snowmobile track that would be easy walking.  Except that it rained hard today so I don't know what kind of shape the track is in.

My friend lent me a pair of snowshoes so now I'm enthused about trekking.  Only in the neighborhood for now but I do have a friend who would like to explore other paths.  We'll see.

It's 40 degrees right now, yikes.  It's supposed to get very windy, it's calm right now.  Wind is not my friend, I always worry about trees coming down on the driveway, the car, the road, anything.  And of course my favorite: power outage.  I try hard to live by my motto of not worrying about things I can't control.  I sure can't control the weather.  I've done what I can to keep my house warm but I am dependent on electricity for water and cooking.

My week looks pretty quiet, work Tuesday and Thursday.  Thrift store on Wednesday.  A trip to Burlington on Friday for the dermatologist.  Do I want to go alone or should I be generous and tell my friend who likes to accompany me across the lake so she could go too?  I'm undecided.  But will probably tell her.

Right now I'm watching a video of a Queen concert.  Wasn't Freddy Mercury just amazing though.

Cold, warm, cold, rain, snow

We had a lot of snow this week, got about 8 or so inches on Tuesday night into Wednesday.  Lots of cancellations and travel warnings but everything was fine with me.  I got plowed out Weds. morning around 8, went to the thrift store after that.  Boy was it slow--more workers than shoppers and hardly any droppers.  That was fine but I got bored and left earlier than usual.  Did I make productive use of my time?  Heck no.  I've had a lazy and unproductive week.  Did go to work both Tuesday and Thursday, OK, that was productive.  Went to the gym twice, am planning to go again tomorrow before heading to the thrift store.

Meanwhile I had my annual physical this morning.  No surprises, nothing to report.  I am in good health.  Do have some follow-ups but nothing dramatic.  Boy am I lucky!

Book group is Sunday.  We're reading a book that no one likes.  I'm not totally in the "doesn't like" category but it's not drawing me in.  I'd better find something better to offer for next month!

Friends stopped by this afternoon, they were here to check on their camp.  Their report: big snow and ice on their porch roof, they're nervous about that but can't do anything.

Life is good.  It would be better if I slogged through the snow to feed the birds.  The dogs have made a narrow, very narrow path to the feeder but I punch through the snow when I walk on it.  Poor birds.

First the cold, then the rain, then ICE

We had about a quarter of an inch of ice on everything this morning.  What a mess!   I decided, like a fool to go to work this morning.  The deck and steps were bad enough but I had to crawl on hands & knees to get from the steps to the car.  Car was encased in ice but that was OK because I have a remote starter thank you Mark.  The trip to Keene Valley was fine but I opted to take the interstate because the road in Upper Jay is close to being flooded over due to a huge ice jam.  The roads were just fine but that is a long, long way to get to work.  I came home the regular way, through Keene and Upper Jay--the ice jam is still most impressive and right up to the road.  I heard that it breached the road last night.  Yikes.

I've had a good enough week, not much of interest or excitement.  I skipped the thrift store on Saturday, just went to the dump.  Boy did that feel good.  I spent Monday morning in Plattsburgh, had the car serviced and inspected then got groceries and came home.  Tuesday and Weds. I went to the gym, that felt good.  Quiet days otherwise.  I went to the thrift store yesterday--there were more volunteers working than there were shoppers.  Yikes.  I was a packer because there were enough people in receiving and nothing coming in.  The usual packer wasn't there--she's incredibly possessive about her post so I was lucky.  It's funny how some people there are really really territorial.  I'm totally not, think of myself as a floater, I just work where I'm needed.  Books, receiving, packing.  I refuse to learn the cash register, which would really please them.  NO I do not want responsibility.

I had hours to chat with the cashier and she wanted to hear the story of my life so I spilled my guts.  That certainly entertained both of us.  I talked at length about my poor father's life after being black-listed in the 50's and the impossibility of his getting a job for the many years of our youth.  I realized that, in spite of the awful situation my mother never let us feel the desperation that she and my father felt.  I wasn't really aware of the fact that he couldn't get work, I just knew it was awful that he changed jobs every year and we had to move.  Well it is what it is and I told my mother all of this on the phone this morning and that pleased her.  She doesn't much remember too many details of my childhood, just the facts and that's fine with me.  She gets confused about the chronology but she's usually willing to be corrected, or she asks for details.  She's amazing.

Now I'm home, nestled on the couch with the dogs and in for the night.  I bought an air fryer and will cook some crispy chicken breast (zero points) for dinner.  Last night I cooked zucchini and that turned out well but wasn't exactly inspired.  Lucky thing I live alone.