The Annies after their big city holiday makeover

The Annies got a haircut, new clothes and a lot of attitude when they shed their wholesome gingham for more, um rockin gear.  Here ready to partay. 

And just to show they don't forget who brung em, posing in the rocker with my peasant doll, who was heard to comment that they're still nice Minnesota girls under all that brocade.

Hippo Birdies to Me!

Beautiful flowers appeared at my house, and the whole place is filled with different scents, wonderful at this time of year specially.  Handsome Son will come by this morning to cook and serve us a special birthday lunch. Life is good.

I don't want to seem heartless by failing to note the terrible events of yesterday in Connecticut, but don't want to add to the prying coverage,either, very disrespectful to the people whose lives now fall into before and after.  But I am praying, and I will walk the labyrinth for all of them.

Orphans of the Storm, three little Wooden Annies

Arrived today a group of three wooden cotton reel dolls, explaining that they were refugees from the big storm in Minnesota, all that snow, way over their heads, they figured they could do better, and arranged to move in here courtesy of KH, who had rescued them and provided foster care until they could find a forever home.

 My wooden peasant doll took over and installed them in her rocker,

then the Dollivers accepted them into their rocker, too. 

Since the newcomers are too small to borrow D clothes, they are safe here.  But they need names, if blogistas would be so kind.  They prefer to stay together in a group, so it's okay to have a group name and individual ones, too.

Elton asked if we needed a quick rendition of Good King Wenceslas, what with the snow and all, but was persuaded to hold off till it was more seasonal.

Meanwhile, Marigold and Duncan discovered a little package of excellent nip in the parcel, too, and tried it out, rolling and howling and trying to wash their faces with paws that kept on missing their faces and sort of flying out, causing more than one brisk fight, neither capable of landing a paw on the other, no harm done.

  Happy happy kitties.

Food to combat festive low spirits

This being my least favorite time of year, full of obligatory festive events, just at the season when all I would like to do is hibernate with a good book, and when any suggestion that I don't like Christmas or the season itself leading up to it is greeted with various levels of indignation.  Not  to mention names like Grinch and Scrooge.  Well, I don't spoil other people's enjoyment, just would like to be left alone. I look back with a surge of tiredness on my days as a program director in a large nonprofit org., where one year between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, I had to attend twenty three, count them, official celebrations, all obligatory, all with great food, all too much!

I do put up a ceramic creche with figures, since the cats are  not interested in exploring, unlike other decorations and trees with tinsel, which were banned long ago. And I do make gifts for people.  And send and receive a few cards. It's all very low key.

Today was a good day, cold and sharp, for soup.  Soup is always good for my spirits.

So here comes cream of broccoli, from farmshare yellow squash and broccoli, with garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, plain yogurt added after blending. 

With homebaked bread croutons, tossed in olive oil,salt and pepper and thrown sizzling onto the bowl of soup. 

Dessert is a gala apple, with chopped hazelnuts and a drizzle of good honey.  Good.  Raised my spirits right away.

That and walking, and pushing furniture about at home, will probably help me get through this festive time.

Aha, gotcha, you critter, you!

So the last couple of days have been occupied with household stuff, mainly a leak in the bathroom under my studio, which the HOA maintenance people assured me, after tramping about and cursing for quite a while up on both sides of the inner roof, was not the roof, was probably the vent pipes in the roof leaking, and was certainly not their job.  Sigh.  Meanwhile, drips kept on coming down from the ceiling, removing parts of the ceiling board, so my friend the HandyLady agreed to come and see what it was, since all the HOA people said was what it wasn't.

She climbed into the roof through the entry from the studio -- which was right over the leak, and which the men had assured me would need the wall torn out to find it, but it wasn't their job-- and moved insulation and generally crawled about the confined space, and concluded she couldn't find a leak up there.  So we went back down a floor, and she pulled out a bit more ceilingboard then thrust her hand up into the little hole in the ceiling, and instantly found the trouble: a hole bitten into the PVC piping by some critter, like a squirrel or chipmunk, with which we are infested, causing condensation, instead of traveling along the vent pipe to the exit, to exit quickly down my wall and ceiling.

and here's a closeup, so you can see the toothmarks. Gah!

So we now think a simple application of plumber's putty and duct tape might do it.  It's a small pipe, a tributary to bigger ones, none of which can be accessed from above in the roof, since joists and other pipes intervene, which is why it wasn't visible from above, despite my shining a flashlight through the hole downstairs, light never penetrated,don't ask me who designed this and who ran the phone line like a tripwire over the entrance to the roof.  Meanwhile, since a trip home, three houses down, established that after a lengthy search, she concluded that her son has apparently abstracted the putty, she came back and put up a temp. fix of duct tape so I can observe the patient and see if the problem of dripping stops. 

If so, we'll go to Stage Two, the cutting of the ceiling board back to good board.  Then the Stage Three, the app. of the putty and duct tape, and Stage Three, the replacement of new ceiling board and taping thereof.  Stage Four, repainting, can wait a bit, I think.

Meanwhile, if you want a job properly diagnosed and inventive solutions found, get a woman to do it. Preferably a highly skilled friend who likes to rescue the likes of me from the likes of this problem.

Fifteen seconds before this shot

there was a cheerful crowd of birds noshing at the seeds, courtesy of Heather, and the leftover turkey bits, courtesy of Boud. Then that bigbeaked chickadee gave the warning and they all flew for cover as I opened the door.

Sandy has carried many species way off their normal tracks this year, and I wouldn't be surprised to find a few unusual species showing up on the patio.

Already the juncoes arrived weeks ahead of schedule, probably blown north ahead of their plans, since they landed here two days before Sandy. Many species were trapped behind the storm and needed to set down anywhere to find food after being blown hither and yon in the skies.

 This morning's haul of birds at the feeder, at the seeds, flying off with sunflower seeds and cracking them on the nearest branch, then chucking the shells down for me to sweep up, and nibbling on the leftover turkey net and chunk of fat,great for insulating little birds in this bitter wind with snow in it, anyway today's haul included the following participants:

 Juncoes, several,varying colors and ages
Carolina wren, probably one bred and born on this patio,and I hope they'll nest again next year
Cardinal, Mister only, Missis usually waits to see if he keels over from the food before deciding to try it Chickadees, too hard to count, they move like little rockets, and they're always the first adopters of new food
Mourning dove, one advance scout shuffling around the deck checking the pickings
Tufted titmice, or titmouses, pair arguing as usual
Sparrows, various, including red breasted house finches

This was the breakfast crowd, all jostling at once, even shoving the squirrel out of the line. I wonder if we'll get woodpeckers and nuthatches and tree creepers this year. They have so much Sandy-downed timber to forage in that they might not need to come closer to houses.
They like the insects you find in rotted wood, a good argument for not keeping woodlots too neat and tidy.
However, the tendency of unpruned trees to get top heavy and crash down on your house in autumn gales is a very good argument for spending the money to keep them pruned and open. My little cherry survived because it had windows opened in its foliage ahead of the winds.

Happy Thanksgiving from us all to you!

We had our first Thanksgiving at home since Handsome Partner left us(last year it was too hard, and we went out to a restaurant and enjoyed it, no memories hanging about there) and now we can say we did it.  It was great, and Handsome Son and agreed that from now on we either celebrate at my house or go out, now that we have a choice.  Fine by me, and Christmas will be at a restaurant.

Despite the cut finger, amazing how often you need that exact digit to move things, open things, balance things on, etc. we did fine.  I appeared in usual holiday garb for the cook: 

best cashmere sweater, good pearls, apron! HS provided cheese and cracker hors d'oeuvres, here organizing them

while I fussed about with other food,

He brought the beverage and pie and cream, I provided all the bits in between -- turkey, farmshare squash, corn, broccoli, and, in the stuffing, farmshare red pepper dice, cranberry jelly, gravy, baked potatoes, roast potatoes. 

I managed to remember to serve everything I'd cooked, some of which appears here, a first for me.  Duncan was happy with his official little square of turkey,

Marigold maintained a calm indifference to the whole day, posing briefly

before retiring to her bathing,

and the Dollivers drew up to the candles in the fireplace, claiming they were exhausted after all that work.

A good day was had by all, as the parish bulletins used to say, among other hilarious comments.

Blog not happy!

The previous post unaccountably flooded its banks, must have been watching too much Sandy coverage. Sorry.

Thanksgiving Eve

Up with me: excitement this morning, which it's too bad

 nobody filmed,because it was a Three Stooges morning in the kitchen.

 To wit:

Got up as usual, humming happily, put on kettle, sprayed pan

with olive oil ready to put on homebaked slice to

 fry before breaking egg
over, favorite breakfast, put on burner.

Then while I had the bread out I thought, ah, why don't I slice and
cube it ready for the stuffing tomorrow.  Whip out the breadknife,
eyes probably not fully open,knife slips off the bread and buries
itself into my finger.  Much blood.  Rush to downstairs bathroom to
staunch blood, clean, apply dressing, interrupted by sound of kettle
whistling loudly, joined by smoke alarm on all three floors, it
doesn't mess around.

Run back holding up hand, to realize pan with olive oil is now smoking
merrily.  Whip open window, turn off kettle, put oven fan on high, wave newspaper at
smoke alarm to quieten it down.  Return to bathroom to redo entire
hand and get bandaids in place, then a latex glove over the lot in
order to cook.

continue with breakfast as originally scheduled.  Later, while
organizing turkey, realize poor thing and I have more in common than
usual this year, as I rinsed off the turkey blood from the dish.

The dressing, my own recipe, first time of trying, using homebaked
bread cubes, farmshare red pepper diced, Granny Smith apple diced, big piece
of frozen sage pesto, kosher salt, black pepper, chicken stock
(storebought this one), looks as if it will work out nicely.

I'm hoping for a quieter day from now on. 

A morning well spent at the Honda dealership

So today my Honda, should I name her Rhonda, informed me that I better check into why her check engine light was on. I'd fiddled with the gas cap already,often a cause for this, but it didn't work. Sooooo, in we went to spend the morning waiting. Really it's simpler to stay and wait than mess about getting home and back, and renting or loaning, all that.

Especially now that they've finally finished rebuilding the entire place around them and are no longer operating with open walls to all weather, winds whipping through the waiting area, painters and other workmen moving the clients around all the time to get at the next bit they needed to work in. I can't imagine how the workers there managed. Even the repair area was under siege.

But now they have a new building, complete with good complimentary coffee and bagels and a nice lady to serve them,

and assist with the serious choosing of the bagel and despite the otherwise testosterone rich environment,

a reasonable place to do your email, your needlepoint,

your Freecell,

catch up with the newspaper, do a lot of what you might have been doing anyway at home. As a bonus, I have reached the official age at which all the men treat me like a nice if dotty old grandma, much teasing,great fun.

And today, in the course of doing a bit of catchup on needlepoint, a lady leaned over and asked me about it. And no, she blessedly did NOT say, oh I have no time for that, while waiting just as long as I but doing nothing, she did say she likes embroidery, wanted to know where to buy materials.

So I seized the day, as future President (one of three, it's a big job (!))of my embroiderers' guild chapter, and did a brisk selling job of joining us at our meetings and going on shopping trips with our members. I'm useless at shopping, but her eyes lit up when I mentioned that some of our members are great at finding the right stuff. So who knows, maybe I recruited a new member. Wonder if I'll get a toaster...

The only small downside was that I noticed when I retrieved my car, that the clock had been adjusted to reflect the time change. I was sorry to see this, because the reason I don't change it is that when you do, it loses all my preset radio stations, and it's a lengthy and annoying process to set them all up again. But I think the mechanic thought oh, poor old grandma, she doesn't know how to change the clock, I'll do it for her. Another instance of the boy scout forcing an old lady across the street when she doesn't want to go.

Rhonda the Honda is happy now. She needed a new oxygen sensor, imagine how that must have felt. So, with oil change, new battery, she's all set for the winter. At least that's the plan.

Three great movies to see at home

If you're in search of really good movies, on DVD, all of these were at my local library, my latest moviegoing in the living room has been:

My afternoons with Margueritte (well, I saw this at the movies ages ago, and it's good enough to see again, Gisele Casadesus is worth everything, aside from Gerard Depardieu)

 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Hedgehog (aside from other great actors, Gisele Casadesus is in this one, too, very small part)

 It just happens that they're all French, not planned that way, I just found them and thought I'd give them a try. All subtitled, for them as don't speaka da French,and all perfectly wonderful, well acted, just so worth seeing. So that's my movie review time done.  I don't want to ruin them by explaining the plot, since what happens isn't really the point of any of them.

Freecell and Freecycle

So, what with one thing and another, I decided I needed to do some pointless activity, to recover from last week's trauma, rather than the endless goal oriented activities I usually get enmeshed in. It's all very well getting things done and goals met, but I sometimes forget to just play and do silly stuff.

Freecell has rescued me from this terrible path of achievement. I am probably the last adopter in the free world of this version of solitaire, loaded on my Ipod touch.It will tell you something when I say that I have no games whatever loaded on my netbook, never have. It's strictly about doing and working and not just sitting there. So this is my new fun thing. I have to watch it, though, otherwise I'll start scheduling an hour of Freecelling right after the tapestry in the studio and the stitching in the living room and the drawing and cooking in the kitchen, and the gardening on the patio, and I'll be thinking gosh, everything's work..

One endless source of amusement, though, is our local chapter of Freecycle. I admire the folks who freecycle, I'm one of them, and it's great to pass on good stuff to a new home. But entries do tend to veer toward the comic now and then. Like the bride last summer, looking for items for a garden wedding at home: candles in glass holders, paper goods and -- garden rakes! was it for shoveling out the last of the revelers?

Then today, another nice one: Offering three Barbie dolls (could be knock offs) and a black horse. Loose, no box, decent condition. From early 80s. When responding indicate when you can pickup. I mean, do you need a trailer to pick up Black Beauty or what? do the Barbies gallop off with you on the black horse? See, I can be frivolous, I just have to plan my spontaneity.

Cooking the harvest

Now that eggs are back, in one store, anyway, and the last farmshare is in the kitchen, and yeast was once more obtainable in the store, all these happy events triggered a wild frenzy of cooking. Yesterday it was four loaves of wholewheat bread, one big loaf of squash bread, a pan of roasted french fry sweet potatoes (these can freeze), and today it was curried squash soup.

 I checked the Silver Palate cookbook for a soup recipe (Soup Suppers declined to offer one, why, Arthur, why) and after noting that of the requirements of the SP I did not have: a food processor, apple juice, whole apples, and chicken stock, I concluded I was on my own.

 Just using (farm) onion, chopped, with several teaspoonsful of curry powder and a dash of turmeric, extra to what's in the curry powder anyway, cooked gently for about 25 minutes, then a big butternut squash, chopped, three cups of broccoli water (from the steaming pot when I cooked the b., waste not, want not)added, to the boil, then on low heat, then to cut the rawness of the curry, some plain unsweetened fatfree yogurt, well from all this came out a stop-the-presses good soup. You do need an immersion blender for this kind of soup, so as to get exactly the consistency you like. At least I do, not being trustworthy with pouring hot liquids in and out of blenders.

 And with sizzling croutons from the bread I baked yesterday, in olive oil with plenty of salt and pepper and garlic crushed, just served right on top of the soup, this was really really good. And there are now two containers of it in the freezer.

Reassuring notes on nor'easter

The nor'easter came, dumped six inches of wet snow, no wind, and departed. Some poor people who'd only just got power restored lost it again. They must be thinking longingly of warmer climates. But we were lucky, no further damage done. By the time I looked out, my neighbors had already cleared my car and the snow removal people had shovelled the walkways. I only had to trot out and bang the cherry tree on the patio with a broom to knock off snow so that it wouldn't break after all it's been through, and that was my restoration complete. I had to make a medical appointment, and noticed no further problems between here and there,and got a good medical verdict. So all is well chez Dollivers and Elton, Duncan, Marigold, me, and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Happy Day, the day after the election...

The Dollivers collapsed along with the rest of us, that finally it's over, we know the results.  Which were very very similar to the results last time around, which makes me wonder couldn't we just have pushed the button for copy?

Great relief, that it did not come to a Supreme Court fight,that even the small areas of contest and still uncounted ballots, don't affect the outcome, that we don't have one of those bitter drawn out squabbles that follow contested vital states.  That there's no doubt of the winner.

And huge props to my fellow New Jerseyans who trudged through bitter subfreezing weather from their unheated homes, searching for the new polling places, the old ones either being under water or destroyed, some who could find a place with internet access  figuring out how to vote via fax, new emergency method, many waiting hours to vote in person in freezing unheated tents.  And waiting and waiting for newly printed and rushed in emergency affidavit voting forms and paper ballots to arrive after the polling places repeatedly  ran out.  But still voting. 

Props to state government for once, for rapidly acting to change the voting methods and putting in place in hours print runs that would normally take months to design, execute and deliver, in this normally electronic voting state.  Preserving the franchise.

Elton broke out into song about this, and gave us a charming rendition of Bruce's Born to Run, then America the Beautiful, Louis's What a Wonderful World, and serenaded us out with Mozart's 21st piano concerto, aka the Elvira Madigan theme.

Bringing in the -- squash!

The last of the farmshare today.  Over till next Spring.  We have a sparkling day of sunshine between storms -- a nor'easter due to arrive tomorrow.  But meanwhile, here's the harvest of the day. 

Duncan examines all incoming produce with care, and usually tears into the green leafy stuff, but he can't quite figure out these squash. 

And Dolliver Nation, all organized by the kitchen radio to listen to the election returns, have hedged their bets.  As Call Me Michelle explained "whichever way it goes, il faut cultiver notre jardin."  She's been reading our French blogistas' comments!  so since guarding the crops is the nearest they get to cultivating a garden, this is their best shot.

Wise group.

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home...

This little orphan of the storm arrived in my house on Sunday, ahead of the hurricane, and has hung about since, strolling around the houseplants in search of aphids, which she didn't find, I guess, because now that she's been warm and dry for a few days, she's decided to try to get out of here and she's trying to figure out how to get through this glass window.

 In vain I explained that it's freezing out there, better sleep in here for the winter,she points out that she always winters outdoors, she knows what she's doing. So tomorrow I'll wait till there's a bit of sun and open this patio door she's battering on from the inside, and let her fly away home.

The new normal in NJ

Gradually getting news of friends who are okay but without power and internet connection. This is such a relief.  And I got a work order number from the HOA indicating that my chimney is on the fixit list, a three digit number, though, however, not a huge repair. I can wait till the people without roofs are taken care of.

Meanwhile, at the ATM, I could deposit a check, sorely needed in my account, but could not withdraw cash. The branches are all physically closed, probably their employees can't get there anyway.  So, hurried consultation with other customers in the lobby, and one knowledgeable person told us where there was another branch where she had got cash, but could not make a deposit.  So some people went off there.

Across to the street to the Asian foodstore to see if they had eggs, a scarce commodity right now, to find it locked but with the lights on and the manager on the phone.  Evidently the food inspectors had to check before allowing them to open, and they were not through.  I'll try later.  And the same group as in the bank lobby, now at the Asian foodstore, conferred further about where to get gas at all (literally miles of lines waiting for it), and the need for cash, since the gas station electronics are down and they can't process cards.

I emailed my regional paper to ask them if they would kindly give a shoutout to the carriers who have never failed to bring the newspaper, on time, on the right front path, and without whom it would be a waste of time to do all this great coverage in the paper!  let's see if they listen.  Today we got today's paper plus the Tuesday one which was all set to go when the power failed and I guess they were determined not to waste it!

Very thankful I voted by mail weeks ago!  many of our polling stations are either without power or have been demolished or are under water.  This will be tricky. Military trucks have been commandeered to be at where the polling station was, set up with machines, etc., so people can vote if they can get there.  There are many races aside from the Presidential one (NJ always goes Democrat in Presidential elections, it took a major hurricane for us to get a President here on other than a fundraising trip), and some of them might be close.

And, wait for it, a nor'easter is forecast for Tuesday. Another storm.  This time with snow.

However in my immediate area, we are all endlessly telling each other how lucky we have been.

And I have to give a shout to those wonderful convoys of utilities trucks and crews from as far as Texas and Minnesota, trundling in and getting to work.  And the phone company which restored landlines to this area yesterday, despite being underwater with a lot of their connections.  And everyone I meet, who is resolutely cheerful and doing what's needed and taking care of each other.  Many visitors in this development, taking showers and powering up computers and phones for work, at friends' houses.

But I need to ask people who plan on trying to send helpful items please not to.  The delivery services of all kinds are totally stressed out already, trying to sort and deliver on impassable routes.  Better to donate online to the Red Cross (our local one is very much on the ball), the Salvation Army, Homefront, (NJ org. to help the homeless and unemployed and employed but still homeless), and anyone else you know of who makes good use of donations.  And donating blood wherever you are is helpful, since those donations do travel where they're needed.  And the pictures of the entire east coast of this state is very reminiscent of Aceh after the tsunami.

Handsome Son and I have decided not to look at any more pictures, too traumatic.  Time to start recovering now. So I'm sparing you pix in this post.

On to more cheerful things:

I  have a new toy, Handsome Son's old Ipod Touch, an early version, but quite modern enough for me. He's moved on up to something much newer that I don't understand at all, but I love my Ipod. It took my mind right off the weather while I played with the Doodle app, which I claimed was all about art planning,but was in fact nothing of the sort.  And I set up access to everything on there in pocket form, to carry with me where there's a wifi hotspot.  And discovered that if I accidentally delete an email on the tiny screen, it's also gone on the netbook, ohhhhhh. Oops.

And, back in the studio, I carved a linoleum cut which was not very successful, largely because my lino piece was too old and dried to carve.  Repeated the attempt on a softcut block,and that went better, so I will perhaps get more of that.  Easier to carve than big erasers, which are quite good, though, if a bit small.  I made a carving of that bird I stitched in black on white lawn.  This is part of the pairs series I'm working on.  But I should be banging on about that in my art blog.  In fact I think I will.  Wait a bit till I write and pic it, then take a look at http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com

Sandy in pictures

The Star Ledger, which only published online yesterday, since its offices were moved three times as they were flooded and lost power, came out with a special paper edition today.  I notice that they never credit the newspaper carriers with the heroism of actually delivering the paper today, so I hereby do.

Clearly the writers had a pent up need for dramatic newspaper pictures and prose,nonetheless, they did a good job of showing readers from other parts of the state what they hadn't been able to know about before.  If you lose power, you don't have television, and many people lost phone service, internet access, and cell service, too.  Handsome Son still has no landline phone service, intermittent cell service, but we have been emailing when I had a wireless signal, which was now and then. He's fine, as is the elderly neighbor he kept an eye on.  And, aside from minor damage to a chimney, so am I.

I notice that the newspaper still carried a sales insert, though!  Sandy can't beat Kohl,I guess.  It's ironic that the people in the teeth of the storm had less information that people on the other side of the globe who were able to see maps and information and pix on television and online.

We are warned to conserve water now, since a lot of the pumping stations are running only on generators, which may lose power before mains are restored.  I will do my bit by failing to do my laundry.  Nearby Princeton is pretty much a war zone, 80 per cent of people with no power, many roads closed with fallen trees and wires, almost no traffic lights at intersections, my friends incommunicado, no phones, no power, no way for us to reach each other.  I just pray they're all okay. Sad news in the paper, an acquaintance killed by a falling tree at his home. 

The newspaper pictures included this one, of the street I drive down to the labyrinth.

I've become acquainted with all the emergency communication sites to try to keep up with local conditions, mainly which roads are closed, which is a lot of them. I noticed a lot of cars passing the end of my street on the road which takes you  from one town to another, and discovered that it's practically the only open one, and I wonder how far they can get before they meet barriers.

Today I don't know how I feel.  Relief from great anxiety, sadness over the losses, gratitude for all the friends and acquaintances making sure I'm okay,  great mix of emotions.  HS is coming for dinner tonight, since our restaurant plans, made before the storm, seem less doable now, and he lives close enough that the roads are safe between there and here.  It will be good to have his company.

Sandy aftermath

The people got lucky, no deaths nor injuries that I know of in this area. The trees were not so lucky. These casualties are all around my house. They say that high winds are Nature's broom, sweeping out the weak and dead branches. Well, I hope she feels this is a job well done, oh well. My patio cherry tree survived thanks to the major pruning job.

Apres le deluge.....

First of all thank you so much all the people who emailed and commented and kept on checking through the storm. It was pretty horrific, the shrieking wind and sheets of rain and the house groaning and banging like an old ship, but power only flickered, never lost it, very very lucky. We're a little island of power in a sea of darkness. The emergency notification system of the county worked well -- I got cell calls to tell me the town was in emergency mode,and then at 2 a.m., gawd, a call to let me know the police had lost their phone service! But as of this morning, I see little to no damage,amazing, really, and I think we can exhale. Still windy and a bit of rain, and we have to watch out for local flooding as always. But my son is fine in his neighborhood,and we are in ours. Phew! but do spare a prayer for all the poor folks with terrible damage and no power and no prospect of it any time soon.

Disaster preparedness, a.k.a. Amateur Night at the Bijou

So the confluence of the hurricane and a nor-easter are almost upon us.  State of emergency throughout the state (and the rest of the northeast US), evacuations of coastal towns, local business and library  closings and events postponed.

Our neighborhood has been scurrying about trying to buy batteries, lots of luck there, water (why? why? we have great tap water, I put a gallon of it in the fridge), vital supplies such as a counter top for his mother's house, well, that just got among the neighbor's emergency list, and clear the decks, literally. 

I brought in my summer chairs for the Ds to guard,

tethered the patio table to the fence, removed all the bird feeders, suet thingies, S hooks and other stuff that would not be good blowin' in the wind. 

And pruned the wild cherry on the patio in the desperate hope of saving what's left of it after two previous storms took most of it away. And helped the neighbor, a newcomer to the notion of loppers (secateurs to brits) and my nice little Japanese folding pruning saw.  He was hugely relieved at realizing that 1. there are actual tools for doing what he needed and 2.  I owned them and offered to lend them any time.  They're the neighborhood pruning tools, really, though I own them.

He was torn between his wife insisting he get rid of the entire tree (half of which is mine) and me, begging him not to take off to much because of the birds.  We ended up with a fairly bald tree but with any luck not too much foliage to catch in the wind and tear off the branches. 

She, like a good Indian wife, reminded him pretty steadily that if he had kept up with the pruning and cleanup he wouldn't need to do all this at the last minute...and I kind of put in a word for him when she said he should have got the tree people in, to the effect that he and I saved them about a thousand dollars with a few minutes' work.  She liked that.

Another neighbor and I skated down the block and secured all the furniture for an older friend visiting his wife in the longterm care, and anyway he has a bad back. He'll come home this evening to wonder how his table got upside down, and all his chairs moved back to the fence where they won't fly through his patio window.

Meanwhile, back at my own homestead, I let the water stay in the bathtub from my shower, which yielded a few inches of greywater, fine for flushing with if it comes to that.  The other bathtub I thought I'd put clean drinkable water, just an extra over what I'd put in the fridge, only to find that the plugger wouldn't.  It's a push on it, it pops, type, which stays down sneakily until there are a few inches of water in the tub, then jumps up, haHA!  I tried to remove it entirely, turning and turning uselessly, and gave up on it.

Then  my handyperson friend stopped by to tell me it's her birthday, a big one, she isn't too keen about it, and accepted a cup of Oolong while we both moaned.  After admiring the latest needlework, and listening to my complaints about the bathtub, she said, oh shut up, I'll fix it, come on, show me.  And with one deft twist she yanked the thing out.  I claimed loudly that I'd loosened it up so she could do that...and I tossed it.

Now a replacement stopper I found in the kitchen is evidently holding up.  So this is good.  Neighbors with grills have said cooking is no prob if by chance natural gas goes out (very very rare occurrence), and people with firewood will hand it out if heat goes and we feel cold.  But the temps are in the fifties, so even with high winds it won't get all that cold, and with luck, rain but no ice.

Anyway, if there's sudden radio silence from here, chances are it only means the power is out, and the wireless attached to it, don't ask me how this works, has gone with it. And I'll check in as I can.

Around here the mantra at the end of every storm warning and email is: Stay home.  Stay dry.  Stay safe.

So, everyone, do that.

Yet another last lovely October day.

I wonder, if I keep saying this, will there be more?  each time I think, ah, the last lovely October day, up pops another. But we are in for a spectactular nor'easter in the next few days, the edges of the latest hurricane, so I hope what's left of  my cherry tree doesn't finally bite the dust.  I've moved the glass table into the groundcover, which will hold it pretty well in place.

Meanwhile, back on the walk, lovely trees,

and a noise underfoot told me that late bees are still hard at work harvesting from the wood sorrel,

and there's smartweed still blooming like mad near my gate.

Chickens, good ones, home to roost..

So a couple of days ago I was talking with a friend about the long ago petcare service I had, the one that supported my life in art, and was rudely interrupted, in fact, crushed by the 9.11 attack (my clients were in corporate travel, and the attack finished off all corporate travel for over a year), anyway, first time I'd thought of that in ages. 

Then yesterday I ran into another old friend, hadn't seen her in years, thought she'd moved out West, and she, or rather her cat Cookie, (my notes on her included: favorite toy a bit of string, never ever let it get thrown into the garbage)  happened to have become a petcare client in the course of time.

When I had to close the business, among the few remaining clients there were three who either were or had become my friends, and were distraught about who else they could feel okay about having in their houses in their absence.  All were midlife successful single women with single family homes. 

So I thought for a minute and then suggested to each of them that if I gave them all each other's contact information, they could meet and figure out a sitting exchange -- all had cats, fair exchange -- and to my surprise, it worked out.  Since I knew all of them and vouched readily for how they did things, and how careful they were of privacy, that was better than a reference.

So when I ran into one of them, as I said, yesterday,  cat Cookie long gone, but her replacement Cassie in place, I asked about the others and found to my amazement that eleven years later, the friendship and the petcare exchange was still holding up. In fact one of the other clients was was even as we spoke on her way back from Oregon where she'd gone to escort the third client, with her two cats, one carrier per airline passenger, back to NJ.  Of course they all have different cats now, their lives being shorter than ours.  And typically, I asked about Rani and Rajah, the original cats, before getting the news of C. the owner, and her return to NJ.

You never know what you set in motion when you do an innocent arrangement!  next up will be a reunion to which I'm going to be invited!  more news will follow at that point.