Long Ago, in a Galaxy Far Away ...

Actually, it wasn't THAT long ago that my first daughter was born. And since my sweet niece Kitty asked me to put it here, I'm posting the picture that was taken of me when I was in labor before delivering my darling Emily.



I then owned that little Honda "mo-ped." It wasn't a real moped because it had no pedals, just a little engine that topped out (with a governor) at 25 mph. And I had driven it to work that morning, then my water broke at noon. My husband came and picked me up, then took the bus back to the library and brought the scooter home. By the time this picture was taken I was truly having contractions.

You have to realize that my official due date was actually one month hence. That pic was taken June 3, 1979, and my due date, according to the OB, was July 4. So I'm not as horrible a pre-mom as you might think! But that due date was obviously wrong, as Emily was born at 12:50 a.m. (I'm pretty sure; she'll have to check her baby book) on June 4--NOT July 4. And she weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz., so I'd hardly call her a preemie. What's a little weird here is that Emily's first baby was due on Dec. 20, 2006, and she went into labor on Nov. 20. Her dr. stopped her labor temporarily, so Kaitlyn was actually born on Nov. 22. But she, too, weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. And she had jaundice, just like her mom. And they treated her like a preemie, but a little more relaxed-ly than had been done with Emily--I didn't get to hold her for 12 hrs. while they kept her under what I call the McDonald's french-fry lights.

I just thought people might get a kick out of this. And aren't the glasses a piece of the past? Were they big enough, d'you think?

Long Day

This is one of the last really long days I'll have--I worked 9:30 - 5:00 and then had Oratorio rehearsal 6:45 - 8:45. The Champlain Valley Oratorio Society is trying to change its name (and image) to the Champlain Valley Voices so that we might attract audience members who like more than Handel, Mozart, Faure and Mahler. We're actually doing some OMG American composers: our Spring concerts for the last two years have been Gershwin and then Kern, Berlin and a few others. This coming spring will hear another "chapter" in the Great American Songbook. I'm not sure if I'll be here for the concert but I'll probably attend rehearsals because I love that music so much.

The rehearsal tonight was for Handel's Messiah, which I haven't sung in an unknown number of years. It's really the only oratorio I halfway enjoy; I'm just not that big on classical vocal or choral music. But I'm participating enough to even be a member of the board! So I'm doing my part. And the Messiah should sound spectacular. We have 90 voices plus a hired orchestra and soloists, 2/4 from NY City. The director is just a dynamo--a Wisconsin native and Packer fan. She's very funny ... and a good conductor. She's also a fabulous pianist, doing a number of shows here there and everywhere.

Gotta go catch CSI:Miami with my sweetie. Nye nye.

Random Subject 1

I've set my computer up to go into the My Pictures folder and randomly fun them across my screen as my screensaver. It's having two effects: 1) I'm cleaning up my photos--I appear to have a LOT that are less than interesting--even to me, and 2) I'm going to write about a few of them here. So I'll let my screensaver kick in and see what comes up right now. I just have to sit here patiently...

Okay. Here are tonight's photos. (I decided to do a few because it shows the story better.)





And here's the story: My ex-husband teaches philosophy at PSU. In this job he is now teaching a class on fly-fishing. For credit. It's part of the Expeditionary Studies program (created and run by my former boss's (dean's) husband, a current golden boy on campus). He's been joined before by my husband and my husband's oldest fishing partner, John. So Bruce & John helped Chuck teach his students to tie flies, and then how to fish them. There was a third TU member (that's Trout Unlimited to gill-free readers) who joined them, my friend Hap, who was in my first music group, Happenstance. Plattsburgh is truly a small world, no? Anyway, someone took these photos at the final exam, when each student had to tie flies, three, I think. You can see that the teachers had probably more fun than the students.

Just to identify the photos: Top is Hap, John, & Chuck (L to R); middle is students working on their flies; bottom is Bruce clowning around with John.

I'm not sure what I think of this course. I know that Chuck has taught sport and philosophy for a long time, which is pretty ironic since one of the first jobs he applied for was teaching the philosophy of sport at ... UNC? North Carolina State? Anyway, a school in that area that was pretty much jock heaven. He scoffed then. (That memory just popped into my head right now; I remember the phone interview he had. Wow) And I'm sure that he does teach philosophy and require the students to read and write philosophy as well as tie flies. But ... like I said, I'm not sure. I'll leave the judgments to you, Dear Reader.

Anyway, that's the pic of the day. I wonder what will come up next time.........

Bummer

We went to a women's hockey game tonight. PSU Women won the Division III National championship last year, beating hated Middlebury, and that's who they were up to play because there was a small tournament here: Middlebury, Elmira College, Williams College, and PSU. Yesterday Middlebury beat no.1-ranked Elmira and we beat Williams, so it was Middlebury against us. Again.

The only problem with our going to the game tonight is that it was held this afternoon. True bummer. These tournaments almost always have the games afternoon & evening, afternoon & evening. So we got to the arena at 6:30 or so and there wasn't one car there. We figured we'd blown it but didn't know how. So much for assumptions. Had we checked the schedule that we have magnetted to the fridge we would have seen that, duh, the game WAS this afternoon. So right now I just spent about 15 minutes trying to find the score. So much for the Internet being on top of things. The only place I could get it was on the Middlebury page: 2-2, a tie. I checked the college's women's hockey page, the local radio station, local newspaper and local TV station and no one had an update of the "they're going to play Middlebury tomorrow" stories. Sheesh.

So now I'm going to try to find something ... make that anything on TV and do some cross stitch/bead stitching. Here's what I'm working at:



It is totally beautiful, or will be when I finish it. It's an angel and was given to me by my sister about 5 years ago. No joke. I am determined to finish it. It's a mind-boggling design. (I could give you the title of the piece and have you search it out on the Web, or even give you the link for it, but I don't want you to see it finished until I finish it!) I had someone ask me if my sister gave it to me because she likes me or because she doesn't like me. I thought that was pretty funny. But you notice I'm not answering it.

Tired

Boy, I've apparently gotten very used to being retired. I worked 9:30 - 5:00 M,T,W this week and I'm wiped. And I saw the schedule for next week: M 11 - 7, T, W 9:30 - 5, F 7 - 4. Holey moley that's a regular work week! I may have to rethink this "part-time" job.

That's it for today, I think. At least I'm trying to get myself into the habit of writing daily.

So Much for Good Intentions

So, I posted two days in a row and then missed one. Big surprise. But I wasn't feeling too great last night--my back almost seized at the bookstore and I took 4 ibuprofen at once, something I haven't done in a long time. It sort of plays havoc with my stomach. So I mostly lazed around and didn't do anything last night, even skipped Oratorio rehearsal. (We're doing the Messiah and I haven't sung that for probably 15 years so I thought I'd stay in it this semester.)

Workwas not great today. The idiot boss scheduled me for "lunch" at 3:00 p.m. This is after my starting work at 9:30 a.m. That's 5 1/2 hrs. without a break, which is not only unpleasant, it's illegal. My immediate supervisor came to me and apologized, saying she hadn't set the day's schedule and this would NOT happen again. I've thought from the get-go that the top manager might be not the best person there to have that top slot, but what do I know. The woman who supervises me is probably one of the smartest people there; I hope she climbs the store's ladder.

I sent my sister a little present-for-no-reason today. I love doing that. (I do wish sometimes that people would do it back but that is definitely NOT why I do it.) Anyway, the gift is a little box with a book, iPod for Dummies--and I think a pair of earbuds. I think she'll get a real kick out of it.

I shouldn't be working at a bookstore, especially one that sells all those little cute sort-of-tschotchkes. And pop-up anythings. I'm a total sucker for pop-ups. And animated things. And ..... I should probably get my pay in merchandise because I usually make it only a work day or two without buying something. I'm sure they love me!

Day 2 of My New Regime

So here I am back, two days in a row. For me, that's an attention span that's twice as long as usual! And I do have something to report: I figured out that my darling dog may not be neurotic; I think maybe she has an autism-spectrum disorder. She LOVES patterned behavior; is frightened of loud noises; has almost preternatural hearing and can hear thunder approximately 50 miles away (judging by her immediate exit from wherEVER she is to her hidey-hole in the basement); sometimes exhibits behavior inappropriate to the social situation, e.g., barking and bristling at friends and probably sniffing the crotch of and/or licking bad guys (not that we often encounter those but there's a strong chance this behavior would ensue). HOWEVER, we love her bundles and bunches anyway, and since she's now an upper-middle-aged dog (10) who probably doesn't have all that many years left, we'll forgo therapy. Here's a great photo of Holly.



The other news is that there was a giant fire in Plattsburgh yesterday. After our favorite pre-hockey-game restaurant, Lum's, closed we migrated to the Perkins that opened about a year ago. It burned along with the Comfort Inn hotel it was connected to, along with the Legends Sports Bar that had opened about 6 mos. ago, if that. There was a visiting college basketball team staying there and they lost everything from their laptops to their jerseys. I really feel for them--as college students the loss of their laptops probably means their entire semesters' notes, quizzes, assignments, etc. Yikes. A conference that was in session had people leave, thinking it was a fire drill, and the attendees left purses, laptops and ... car keys! What a nightmare. I cannot imagine what the total bill will be that goes to the hotel's insurance companies. Wow. And my little it's-all-about-me take is that now we'll have to find ANOTHER pre-hockey-game restaurant. (I'll just put in paren's that this is the second of our favorite restaurants to meet its demise through fire. I think we'll just keep that off the Burgh's restaurant radar!)

Here's the local paper's and TV station's takes on the fire: the Press-Republican and WPTZ.

New Approach ... Maybe

I think I'm going to try to be a better blogger, writing a little most days rather than waiting for something momentous to report. Lord knows there's not a lot momentous in my life these days and we're only just heading into winter. At least that's what I'm thinking today. Tomorrow when I remember something I HAVE to get finished I'll change my mind about regular posts but we'll wait till then for that to happen.

Today I did nothing. Nothing. Truly. I made spaghetti sauce because I realized that the way I make it is a no-carb recipe so I can have it--just no spaghetti, whole wheat or not. I only have one more day in the no-carb part so next week I can have leftover spaghetti sauce ON spaghetti! I've been trying to move in the direction of "the Mediterranean diet" for awhile. You know, olive oil and whole grains and more fish, the regular litany. So now I'm going to try harder. We'll see how that works. I figure I'll do a regular Thanksgiving blow-out but try to limit "bad" carbs to only one meal per day. So if I have cereal for breakfast (yes, it'll be high fiber) I won't have a sandwich at lunch, something I've done for a long time anyway. The hard part will be the evening meal, but I've been trying to do sweet potatoes instead of white for awhile, brown rice ditto. I'm just going to try to pay more attention to that.

It's raining and has almost all day, which is why I read literally all day rather than raking. Tonight I think I'll watch "Volver" (via Netflix) while Bruce listens to the away hockey game. And so our exciting life goes on.