I just met Sister Mary

I was out front weeding out the flowers and I noticed there was a woman in Tony and Marie's driveway. I immediately knew who it was!

So I went over and introduced myself. It was Sister Mary Fredrick. She grew up in my house! For years Tony and Marie spoke of her, but we never met. She wasn't a chatty type but did manage to say her father was a carpenter who with his brother's help actually built the house! So I shared that my father built the house I had lived in too! Small world.

No wonder why my house was built so well!!!!! It is truly blessed and now more than ever I feel committed to keeping her well!

So, daily journals...

I'm finally making the effort to make my house a home. Seriously, I can live very simply and I have for the 5 years I have been here. Case in point, the "cat room". I never really bothered to do anything with this extra room. Well, until I realized Mervi and Milla were coming. So I really started to convert the upstairs to something livable. I'm pleased with the results.

As I was cleaning up and organizing the "cat room" I decided to revisit the daily journal I kept in 1995 that I keep out in the open on my bookshelf. It was fun to read the thoughts of me at 25. I was all at once so young and all so old. I never realized how much more open minded you can get as you age! I was all like, "the world's morals are in decline!" Now, I don't think that as much. Im more convinced that there are universal truths and that only as we age do we change perspective and think things are so very different than they had been.

Overall, it's a joy that I have that one year chronicled. That was the year I moved to Albany and started grad school. It was a major year of changes for me. So, despite my immaturity that made me seem older than my years, it was still all me.

One fun thing I wrote was that I'd always be a letter writer "even when we have vidphones". That's what I imagined it coming to. "Cept I think folks are too vain to put on the video camera to their computers. We have that technology, but as I sit here writing this, I am sweating like a pig in this humidity and don't long to share that face with others. Likely this is why "vidphones" and their ilk have never really caught on!!!! LOL!

Of course, sitting back in 1995 I never thought about blogs, Facebook, and texting! Who would have know that the future of communication was there?

And let me just say, if that's not how you communicate you might find yourself out of the loop! Sorry, but I rarely call people.

So now I have this public blog in which to tell you all about my day, my thoughts, etc.... I sure hope that when blogger no longer ceases to be all of this is somehow archived?!?!? I guess I should back up, huh?

Au revoir!

More Garden Photos!

Here are a few new shots from this week.

I've been very busy getting the yard to look just so.

They are all taken from my Samsung Eternity phone.

Lowe's had a plant sale!

All these for $ 30! I was really happy! They are pretty. I'd never seen yarrow that dusky apricot color before, got blanket flower, butterfly something, a silver mound and some sedum! YAY! My front bank is so full. These plants should keep the color going into September I hope!

I'm healthy, but car is not

Before vacation I'd been feeling this weird discomfort in my right side, and being paranoid it was a slow moving appendecitis decided to go to the doctor. She assured me it was more in the gall bladder location, but, it wasn't really pain, so I wasn't worried, just releived my appendix wouldn't explode while I was in NC.

After an ultrasound and 4 vials of blood I awaited the results (the ultrasound was cool, I've no idea how anyone makes sense of what they see, definately a technology that needs upgrading)! I called today and there is nothing wrong with me. This is quite cool since the ultrasound looked at my right kidney, my liver, pancreas, abdominal aorta, and gall bladder! The blood work tested all things kidney and liver and even my thyroid! I felt like I had a really good physical. Of course that odd feeling is still there. I have to guess maybe my gall bladder is beginning to be unhappy??? Is it possible to be so attuned to my body that the slightest difference is felt?

Little Girl Car is not ill with anything life threatening, but a trip to Valvoline Instant Oil (those Guilderland guys are the best) and she was to get an AC charge. It didn't work. The guys took a bit of time with her and discerned that her AC clutch is not working. So that'll be a pretty penny to spend, but neccessary. Even though the summer has been cold, there is the trip to NYC in August and all the traveling Mervi and I will be doing. No one wants to spend the time with the windows rolled all the way down! Annoying. So I'll have to suck it up and call tomorrow. Brakes are poorly too, need a tire rotation and the rattling heat shield could be secured.

North Carolina

“What is and never should be” is playing in my ears as I think back to my visit to North Carolina. And how appropriate, as on that last day we found an outdoor concert by the Continuous Blues Band and that was one of the last songs they played!

What Can I say? The trip was brilliant! I was convinced the south was still fighting the war, but I’ve got to say I’m feeling more confident now that people have moved on. Hey yeh 150 years later, but it’s a move.

I loved NC! The people were really really friendly and accommodating. Mostly we kept running across people who had been born in NY.

Probably one of the most accommodating was a Charlotte Police Officer who gave us an escort to the parking spot. How? We pulled up to him as he was riding his segway and asked for directions to the parking garage for the restaurant McCorminck and Schmick’s. He started telling us how to make an illegal left to turn around and then he noticed that there was a spot across the street and he said “follow me”! So yeh, that’s the police escort we received.

Wednesday we visited Latta Plantation and I was fearful at first. How do you represent such a tainted part of our history? Not to fear it was shown in its sterile and historical form by a black tour guide who was a history major who taught SS in Louisiana! (and he was cute to boot). Not much was known about the plantation. The folks who owned it in 1800 had about 30 slaves and raised cotton in an area predominately known for tobacco. Their house was tiny, but more typical to the era. I think “Gone With the Wind” tends to taint our perception of what the antebellum south looked like.

Which reminds me...farms. I’m not sure if I saw one! Seriously, and we drove out west to go to Cherokee. I never saw a filed of cotton or tobacco! I think Charlotte has severe suburban sprawl issues. It was created community after created community separated by shopping centers.

The trip was filled with friendship, laughs, lots of food, too many curvy roads (which added to the laughs) and a touch of serendipity.

Barb and Linda designed an excellent itinerary that made use of our time, but also gave us time to kick back and be with each other. Our first day we met Barb’s cool friends who were very much like our group in NY. The next day was off to the Biltmore, then on to Cherokee to Harrah’s Casino.

The Biltmore was strange in a way. A castle that no one really made a home, but like a museum and pretty to look at. The gardens were spectacular and I never grew tired of trying to imagine what I would put in my own garden back home. After lunch at the Biltmore (we skipped the winery as it has this long snaking line just to buy an over priced bottle), we headed on our GPS guided route to Cherokee. Cherokee is 20 miles from the Tennessee border and wow, yeh, it is in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The route we took brought us down Route 19 through Maggie Valley. Thank god the rented GMC had new brakes cos we were using them all 10 miles down hill….winding and winding…thought we’d never stop. Thought I’d about pee my pants laughing so hard. Sometimes you gotta laugh or you’ll cry. By the time we reached the casino I was weaving when I stepped from the SUV.

The hotel there was nice, big rooms and nice service. The casino was pretty typical reservation sized, not Vegas, but it had plenty of video poker machines to keep me and the other girls occupied.

Tuesday we made our way back to Charlotte via the longest GPS convoluted off road journey possible (look, you do 4 hours in the “way back”). Stopped in sheville, which is a college town and has a feel to it that made me think of Ithaca, NY. Saw Barb’s son’s family at their house, and then ate out at an Italian restaurant called Bravo’s (which was really really good….see there are Italians in NC, even if the place was a chain).

Wednesday found us out shopping at Concord Mills, visiting Latta Plantation, then ending the day at Downtown Charlotte.

Thursday was the last day. We took a cruise on Lake Norman. That was so gorgeous and peaceful. Had a nice lunch at North Harbor Club and then back to the hotel for a little R & R. We ended the night at Boardwalk Billy’s with an outdoor table right across from the band!

Great times!

Favorite Books...no particular order

I am busy trying to write up a publically conscience post for our fantastic cards group trip to North Carolina. While I'm working on it, I made up this book post for Facebook. So I thought I'd re-post it here:

Fifteen Favs:


To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

What's not to love about Atticus Finch, a man who does what is right even when it goes against everyone else.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Utopian societies have always facinated me. I'm also a sucker for characters who have that extra special something.

Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz

I had to include a Vampire book. This is part of a series that is actually not so much about Gossip Girl type vampires, but more about angels and demons and the apcalypse.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingslover

So moving....the story of finding family even when they're not your blood. Beautiful!

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

For adolescents, but with a message of hope that is just amazing. I recommend it all the time. Unfortunately, like the Giver, teachers use this book when the kids are way to young to grasp the layers of the themes.

Nightlife by Rob Thurman

Found by serendipity just this year. Love the narrative by Cal, the half human half monster main character who is loved and cared for by his brother Niko. Love the whole series as they make their way through a life less ordinary and try to do the right thing.

The name of the wind by Pat Rothfuss

Hard to describe, this story of a magician (of sorts) is epic (and long, but u want it not to end)! Someday the author will finish the sequel..we can hope.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Another book so epic and moving it is hard to describe. Arthur's tale told from the point of view of Morgain his sister and the native people who lost their religion and way of life to the Christians. It's epic...sorry, you just have to experience it for yourself (or at least watch the movie)!

The Beginning Place by Ursula LeGuin

This book sticks to me over time. A simple man travels to a magical place. It's a story of self discovery.

Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Robinson

Found by serendipity through a search online for alternative history. What if Europeans were not the colonizers of the world? Would things be different? Better or worse?

Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Magical book about self discovery and coming of age in the Adirondacks about 100 years ago. It's a universal story for all females that asks questions of identity that transcend time.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Futuristic crumbling society and a girl who's an empath. I need to revisit Ms. Butler's works...she has several and they are always intriguing.

Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Again, a futuristic world that is totally dysfunctional. Themes of morality, family, and the individual are throughout. I think I remember it ending hopeful. The movie does not do it justice and you shouldn't watch it as a replacement.

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Not spooky, this is a coming of age story. A different kind of King. The movie does not do it justice and you shouldn't watch it as a replacement.

The Green Mile by Stephen King

If you've seen the movie that's okay. They did a fine job of getting the essence of it down. Things are never what they seem and life sometimes isn't fair. Monsters are sometimes the pretty faces and the good guys are never thanked. When this was released it was serialized. I remember waiting each month for the next installment. Great read.

Does Supernatural the TV show count? Because if it were a book of that quality…it’d be on my list!

The fight against evil is never simple. How do ordinary men come to terms with their place in the cosmic fight between heaven and hell?

Holy Crap! Nearly all my favs are by woman! Odd, given that my taste in books is distinctly not feminine !!! [Can you say post apocalyptic, alternative universes]? Funny thing is that two guys in the list have androgynous names! (Kim and Pat) and the other is Stephen King.