I would be remiss if I made no post to make mention of the 9/11 anniversary. The National Geographic channel has been running a lot of programming, especially one I have mentioned on the blog before”. 9/10- the hours before.” If you have opportunity to catch it. It is extremely bittersweet knowing what we know is going to happen. If you miss it, you can also see it on You Tube. It is definitely worth catching.
Signing off on the eve of the 18th anniversary, thanking God for every day I have two feet on the ground and remembering ALL the poor souls of 9/11, especially those first responders who suffered long after the fact.
…in a galaxy 94 miles away from where I am now, Jim and I said our vows 17 years ago on the 31st of August.
We have gone through ups, downs and bumps, but we are still here. Perhaps the fact that we were late bloomers at 42 and 48, and maybe we assumed that maturity would see us through, but what ever it was, my vote being love, we are still standing at the seventeen year mark. I have often said that it has gotten to the point where I can’t remember life without Jim and Zush, and later Zush and Kasia joining us. I think it’s a good thing.
So happy anniversary to the former bagel baker. I love you and am looking forward to the golden years that we might actually participate in down the road.
Like the giant eye in this sunflower, I have taken the past week or so to take time and watch and listen.
Sometimes I feel as though I take everything in, but when I do, I really don’t THINK about it.
Things happen. My neighbor’s husband died, and I knew him for 10 years. He passed at 98. Ninety eight. Pretty good shelf life, I would say. I made it a point to really listen to his wife, who I consider a good friend, and hear her grief. I tried to comfort her as best as I can and check in on her daily. Another friend fell and broke her ankle and had to have surgery. Again, when I go to see her, I make it a point to really dial in and take in what exactly she is telling me. I am due to go to the dietician today. I know when I go there I will be right with her, trying to work on a healthier life style so my shelf life will be decent. That means a lot to me, as this Saturday it’ll be twenty one years since my Dad passed away. He wanted desperately to see seventy seven. Why? Because his Dad lived to seventy six. Now, I am not setting parameters on my shelf life, but it’s that time of year when Dad’s passing has me so aware of time.
A good friend of mine commented on a Facebook post I made, lamenting the short season for hydrangeas in the heat of summer. He quoted that old song about for everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season…..and it is so true.
I was on the Cape May Ferry this past weekend and in the elevator, a young blond headed girl was there with her sister and her mom. I walked into the elevator and that little face looked up at me, pointed a finger and announced,” I know you; you’re my teacher.” Needless to say the exchange made me feel good, or as Jim would say, I wore a major idiotic grin on my face. Maybe it’s the anticipation of a new school year that added to my recognition of the passage of time. I know poor Kasia will get the short straw when I go back, but thanks to paying better attention to my weight, I will be able to spend more time and walks with her when I get home. I’d like to think that I honor Zush’s memory by giving Kasia all the love she needs and then some.
Most importantly, it’ll be our seventeenth wedding anniversary coming up. It’s to the point where I can’t really remember my life before Jim entered it.
I am always on a hunt to find something on cable to watch. Usually my attempts are futile, and I have better luck finding things on You Tube.
HBO has been running a documentary called “The Newspaperman”. It is the life story of Ben Bradlee, who was a journalist all of his life , and became known nationwide as the editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate era.
Bob Woodward, pictured above, was one of the journalists who spoke about Bradlee during his film. Woodward, of course, was teamed with Carl Bernstein when they wrote about the Watergate break in. The various people interviewed about Ben Bradlee were not only journalists, but also his friends and stars such as Robert Redford, who starred in ” All the President’s Men.”
I never knew that Bradlee was a good friend of the late president John Kennedy, having met him during his years in the senate and often was invited ,with his wife, to spend time with Jack and Jackie. He also spent time in Paris working for Newsweek covering the events in Europe. He truly was a person who had a full life.
If you see “The Newspaperman” on cable, it is definitely worth watching.
I am always amazed at how Kasia is in tune with me. She is quite the sympathetic pup.
When I have to lay low for one reason or another, she looks at me while we are out, we come back in when finished, and then she lays low. She is one smart cookie, my Kasia. She knows that when Mom stops hacking we’ll be back out making the circuit full strength.
I don’t know what I’d do without her! I am blessed to have her in my life.
Having been a native of a metropolitan area on the east coast, I have brought something with me no matter where I go…chronic sinusitis.
There is nothing like trying to keep on with “training”, that is, going out in the mornings with Kasia for our walking. The only thing that really sours the experience? The fact that you are out in heat and 79% humidity feeling like your sinuses are on fire.
I should have realized, in fact, I did, that I felt pretty damn good for two thirds of my summer. Nothing like thinking of something to bring it to the front of your brain. My late mother and my husband, both, would hang this current bout of sinusitis on going into air-conditioning and then out into heat and back again. I don’t know the science of it, but pretty much feel that my body has gotten run down, despite eating better, and just needs to get back up to speed again.
Now, if I can get the humidity down to 60%, I’d be a happy gal.
Anyone who has read this blog with some regularity knows of my fondness for Gerber daisies and hydrangea.
In prior summers, I would often find myself wistfully looking at pots on my back deck that resembled Romaine lettuce, rather than Gerber daisies. Last summer, however, my buddy Bela had her dad fill me in on a secret. Well, at least it was a secret to me.
FERTILIZER!
Since I paid attention to his advice, I have Gerber daisies blooming on my deck. I laugh because sometimes, I see a pot with no actual flower, and think, uh-oh. It actually has turned now that small blossoms are below on the lower leaf line.
Initially, I wondered what was going on because the blossom looked nothing like the flower you would be used to seeing.
I had to tell myself to relax, because they would turn into the flowers that we all know and appreciate as Gerber daisies.
So to all of you who might be having trouble with growing Gerber daisies, keep the faith. I did and it certainly has brightened my deck and my life.
