A Visit from Maggi and Doug...

 Some time ago, I got a Face Book message from  someone asking if I was the Suzi that graduated from Huntington High School in 19 mumble mumble.

Now I ask you, who has a memory that goes back that many years. I cautiously replied yes and thereby became reconnected with Maggi. We went through elementary school school and high school together .

So, we've kept in touch on FB and with an occasional email since. During this summer, she contacted me about a visit. Doug, her husband, and she would be coming to visit with relatives near Lake George in New York state in the beginning of October. We worked on the arrangements and yeah, they were able to spend the night with us Oct. 4th and then leave from here to continue on to JFK Oct. 5th.

We had a wonderful time catching up on family and friends. Maggi remembers everything. It was amazing. She told me about things we did in elementary school, she remembered the nuns' names. She reminded me of couples in high school. She and Doug have gone back to reunions- Gary and I have not. To demonstrate how bad my memory is, I asked where and how she and Doug met. To my surprise- Dough graduated with us.  Oops! And, no, I wasn't into drugs- my long term memory is very short.

So, Maggi and Doug live in San Antonio, TX, a place Gary and I have thought we'd like to visit after I retire, so we may pay them a visit in a few years.

We really had such a good time together, who knew after all these years.

A Grandson Interlude....

 This is the result of handing your camera to your not quite 6 year old grandson. Besides taking many inconsequential shots, he took these close-ups of himself. Good job, Daniel Jon.

Jersey Boys- what a rush....

The Hudson River

Hudson seen from the Metro North train

August Wilson Theater, Broadway, NY

The set of Jersey Boys

Wednesday, Oct. 26th, was just a wonderful day from start to finish. Gary and I had tickets to see Jersey Boys.

We left the house at 8:30 a.m., drove to Beacon, NY in a little drizzle which stopped right away. While we waited for the train, Jeff Doolittle comes by to catch the same train. He works very part time at my library. It was odd to see him there when I seldom see him at work- he works the weekends. He is going for his Doctorate. He will literally be Doctor Doolittle. 

We really enjoyed the Hudson River and fall color views, the train tracks follow the river right down to the City. The train makes New York City so accessible for us.

Got into Grand Central Station and as we are getting off the escalator, a lady rushes up to say hello. It is Wendy White. We knew her from when we worked in Cintichem. Haven't seen her in 18 years or so. She recognized us and wanted to chat. Still talks a million miles an hour. She works right there but it was still quirky that we should see each other after all these years.

We grabbed a taxi and went to the August Wilson Theater to claim our tickets. A lady there suggested that since we had our tickets, we could come back at 1:45 and avoid standing in line for an hour or so to get to our 2 p.m. seats. We liked that idea.

Found a McDonalds about a block away, had a light lunch and read our magazines until show time. Turns out, the theater didn't have an elevator, so Gary climbed the 40 gazillion stairs to get to our seats; his hip was really hurting when we sat down.

The show was so great. I have listened to the original cast recording so many times and our singers were very close to the originals. We both sure knew the songs and I sang along with the stars which was OK because most of the audience was, too. There is quite a story that goes along with the music. The whole show is very entertaining. I could see it again tomorrow.

After the show, we found a TGI Friday's to eat at.  I had suggested several restaurants, but he wanted to eat at a place where he was sure of the food. We both had steaks and they were excellent.

Gary decided that he wanted to walk back to Grand Central????? The temperature was just right, cool enough so we weren't uncomfortable. We walked slowly and stopped many times to let his hip rest.  On the way we looked at lots of store windows and building architecture, I bought a scarf from a vendor, and we talked with some people who just wanted to talk with strangers??? There's that neon sign on our foreheads again that says "We talkt with everyone and take in stray cats."

At Grand Central, I thanked the police officers for being there protecting us (been doing that since the beef-up after 9/11). We had dessert at Junior's, a restaurant famous for its cheesecake- delicious. Our train was open, so we found window spots and waited about a half an hour until departure time. Got to see the water views lit up on the way back up to Beacon.

We got home to Goshen at 10:30. Could not have asked for a better day. We lucked out with the weather. Wednesday was in the low 60's and overcast but no rain in the city. Thursday was 41 degrees and steady rain, and the temperature at night dipped down into the low 30's and gave us our first frost.What a difference. We were so lucky.

Now I can cross another thing off my "Things to do Before I Can't" list.

Where have I been....

Time is a very odd thing. The hour between 4-5 pm (5 being my Time to go home from my Library job) can actually seem to take days to move along. The second hand creeps, the minute hand seems to go backward. No matter how busy I try to make myself, Time does not move forward.

And yet, the time between September 23 (my last post) and today has literally flown past me, leaving me breathless (that just may be the cold that I have, again) and with so much to tell and with pictures I want to post, it is somewhat overwhelming!

Gary and I have had  visitors from Texas, we've taken a short vacation through Connecticut, been to see several plays, worked in the yard... lots of stuff for two people who don't do much of anything usually.

Since I already have something written about our latest adventure, thought I'd start with that.

So stay tuned as I blog back in time to September.

And as always, thank you for visiting.

Why I write poetry- Library

When we need filler in the Library newsletter, BY THE MILLPOND, Ian asks if I can come up with a poem or story. Many of my pieces come from having a deadline and a theme to work toward.

Nature’s Easter Bonnet Parade

The Snowdrops shyly start the march
    Their white hats peeking out,
From under snowdrifts
    Or the leaves that blow about.

The Crocus follow slowly with
    Their caps of purple and gold
Waving gaily in the wind
    What a sight to behold.

Then suddenly the Daffs are up
    Across the town so strong.          
Their brassy trumpets playing
    A familiar Springtime song.


And Tulips slide up next in line,
    Their rainbow bonnets high.
They smile up at the cheering birds
    Who call down from the sky.

Hyacinths bring up the rear,
    Regal in their crown.
The bumblebees come flying by
    And knock them upside down.

Hope you catch this yearly show
    The colorful bulb brigade.
Humans have nothing to compare
    To Nature’s Spring Parade.

As the rain pours down again in the Hudson Valley, New York area...

At the Library where I work, we join other libraries in our area every 2 years or so and hold something called 

THE BIG READ

We celebrate one title, an author or a genre.

Several years ago the featured book was Grapes of Wrath.

Libraryland, (as my best friend who is not my daughter or sister, Carol, calls our working world), had book discussions, films, plays, craft workshops, etc.- all to give the readers a feeling of what it was like to live during that time of American history, the Dustbowl era and resulting abandoning of the plains for greener pastures. I wrote the following as part of a Literary project at that time and with the glut of rain we have had in the last few weeks here in NY and the dearth of rain in Texas, this seemed like a good time to add this poem.

I Dream of Rain

Dried out, parched, barren, broken, stripped of life....

I dream of rain...
A drop, from a cloud, maybe three
Maybe a little more or less or maybe a heavy dew.
A mist building over time, soft on my earth, caressing, coating all in its finely dampened... misting...

A change in the air, a heaviness, thickening...
A charging between the molecules, thunderous crashing in the sky, forked lightening climbing up from the ground, up, up the ground/cloud highway, piercing the cloud, thrusting, forcing.... a gushing of water pouring forth, pouring forth, pouring forth....

The mist, the drenching, the wetness, cooling the dirt, sinking into the dry, reaching through the layers, giving, giving the liquid, the life, feeding the roots, roots drinking the water...

A growing... a small trickle, a small running over the dry, over the dirt, the rocks, a gathering of other drops together...

Washing away the dust, lifting the dirt, moving the dirt, moving the dirt, moving the soil, this pebble, this rock, this leaf, this branch...

Moving all in its path, its path spreading out... spreading, spreading to reach other trickles, other rivulets, other creeks, rivers... pouring, moving, moving the dirt, the layer, the fragile layer of growing soil, the fragile layers, tumbling over the rocks, over the leaves, over the stumps of dead trees, over the land...

Flooding over the ground, one drop, many drops, hundreds, thousands... millions upon millions...

The earth a sponge, a sponge, soaking, soaking in the wetness, overflowing with the wetness, stealing the soil, stealing the layers, flooding, flooding the land... giving, giving and taking my layers, my cover, my skin, my precious life.

I am Mother Earth and before, during and after the drought...

I dream of rain.

                         

Today...

Today is 9/11/11. I hope all of you remembered the day in your own private way. We will never forget and we should shout our loss to the sky every day. I am an American and I am more conservative than the Tea Party. May reason, common sense and the Constitution rule over my country forever.