Meditative

I'm up late, having had two martinis and a bit of gin with the left over Mountain Dew that I bought for Jenny, and I watched the video Pete made for the grandparents. I just have to put down my feelings about this and the other ideas it engendered.

I am amazed at how beautiful the feelings of grandparenting are. Our best friend John (Bruce's fishing partner/pseudo-brother) became the grandfather of twin boys this morning--adding to his two + 1 step- grandchildren. He called us this morning, as excited as any parent! This, and watching the video (see below) have pushed me into thinking about generations.

I watched the excellent video Pete constructed from home videos. It included visits to the zoo & the beach, and also just regular weekends around the house. I thought about how much this would have been appreciated by MY mom, or MY mom's mom. She was the bold one, the one to leave the family acreage--that was gone when her family moved into Milwaukee from the rural "suburbs" of the '30s. When she & Daddy moved to Marshfield, her sibs thought she'd moved north of north. And while I'm sure she wrote faithfully, her sibs saw her on the annual (?) trips from Marshfield to Milwaukee that I remember. I doubt that it was every summer. I remember a few. And my experience mirrors hers, I realize just now, in that her husband's family came before hers always. Hence my multitudinous trips to Austin/Faribault, MN as compared to the almost non-existent trips to Marshfield, WI.

So I watched the video tonight. I'm so grateful that Pete has this skill! I've been lucky in my ability to "bop down" to Tampa so easily. I've been able to be a part of my granddaughters' development, and will try to continue it. But I know that it'll take effort on my part. My mom is a terrific role model for this: She came whenever I asked her--it wasn't often but when I asked I really needed her. And she didn't agonize over watching my two little ones by herself for 3-4 days. She survived the coldest winter on record in Plattsburgh; her 70th birthday in Plattsburgh while Chuck & I were in England; the H.S. graduations of two girls--she was there for both.

So I'm really looking forward to being "the one" for Kaitlyn and Courtney in September for about 10 days. And their parents can count on me to deal with whatever comes up and to savor every moment, as they'll be savoring theirs. This is the way to grandparent in the 21st century: The grandkids may not be just down the street, but they're only a flight away. I actually can't wait for this opportunity!

Visit

It was terrific to see both of my great daughters and then my two adorable granddaughters in one visit. I'm sure it was hectic for Emily--I remember doing those visits all summer long, schlepping all the STUFF that little kids need. The fact that Jenny was there to help with boarding and exiting the planes must have been a huge positive factor. I'm so glad that worked out for them both.

And the babies? What can I say. I'm sure that everyone who reads this blog has already seen the photos on my Facebook page (but I'll put one or two here anyway :P !) so you all know how really gorgeous those girls are. And if they're pretty to you, just think of how incredibly beautiful a doting Mimi thinks they are! They're as different as day and night, at least so far, much like my two were. And Emily is sick to death of my comparisons to her childhood but the similarities are inescapable for me. Kaitlyn is super-energetic, on the go all the time, and as bright as any smart little two-year-old can possibly be.


Her command of language is great and conversations with her are really fun. She's constantly adding words and expressions to her vocabulary, and her body language, when she imitates her mom especially, is a hoot!

Courtney is just so happy to be alive. She wakes up this way: open eyes, smile.


She's a terrifically engaged baby, intensely interacting with whatever it is that's interested her--the nearest person, her hanging toys, the toy she's working towards when she's on her tummy, whatever. When you talk to her, she's right there. She would be the perfect baby to star in a remake of "Look Who's Talking." You can actually see her thinking up her response ... and sometimes getting frustrated that she can't say the words! But a non-fusser for the most part.

The weather was horrible during their visit: 80s-90 with accompanying humidity, and of course few homes in the North Country have air conditioning, mine or their dad's included. AND to add insult to injury, he filled in his swimming pool last year! Of course it was the adults who were affected; the little kids just took it in stride. We just had to go to the park in the a.m. before the equipment got too hot to play on ... and then had to take a towel on the 2d morning because we had to wipe off the dew. The slides looked like they'd been under sprinklers.

My girls got to see some friends but I'm appreciative of the fact that this visit was more about family than friends. I wish I could have a photo or two of the three of us but that was just lost in the shuffle.



It was so nice, just so nice to have them both here at the same time, given that they're so far apart from each other and from me and Bruce. (And both little girls loved Bruce. He wasn't quite sure how to take that and I bonked him on the head--not really--and said they were his granddaughters too because he's married to me!) I'm not sure we'll have the chance for any more visits of this kind but I'd love to have the girls' spouses with them the next time. Maybe when I'm old and (ALL) gray!

And after everything was returned to the people we borrowed things from, and all the things we're keeping are stored away--tub toys, chalkboard, tiny table & chairs, I walked into my bedroom and saw this forlorn binky on my dresser. So I know they were here......

Downpour

It rained amazingly hard here last evening--looks like we got 2" in about an hour! And I didn't see or hear most of it, including apparently walloppingly loud thunder with lightning (Bruce said there was one where the flash and bang were absolutely simultaneous) because I was reading at the TV station in a studio that is obviously soundproof! The storm knocked the local NBC station off the air, ironically during the weather report. :) Bruce said that our front lawn was under water, something he had never seen in his 43 years in this house. WOW. But our basement stayed dry. I guess there was a small puddle below the take-out door to the chimney/fireplace because the rain had been driven down the chimney, and we have a cap on it to keep out critters! I didn't see any major damage on my walk this morning but there was a helicopter that I think was NYSEG's (NYS Elec. & Gas) checking the power lines for downed trees. I'm thinking our ground is now so totally saturated that any kind of wind will start pushing trees over because their roots are basically in mud. And because it's heating up outside right now, there will probably be thunderstorms later today. (I took this photo today; it's actually clouds across the lake where it's probably raining like crazy somewhere in VT.)

But as I sit here looking out my window, my garden is pretty ... and lush! Probably more greenery than usual but the flowers haven't done too badly, considering that during the months of June & July they were severely sun-deprived. I just wish there would be a few of the really pretty ones in flower next week when my daughters are here. Oh, well, if wishes were horses ....

A Bucket List?

I'm afraid that Bruce has a bucket list in his head, you know, the list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket. We're doing some things that he hasn't done in his 40+ years in New York. (But I really don't believe he's thinking of things that way--he's good for a whole lot more years! Absolutely.)

A year or two ago we went to Parc Safari, a zoo/amusement park just above the border in Canada--about 30 minutes from here. That was a lot of fun. It's a drive-through safari place with large animals wandering free among the traffic (as in automobiles, no pedestrians!).

(I have a close shot of a zebra but you can't tell it was in the road so we'll make do with a "common" elk.) ANYway, we had a great time.

There were lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Really. The day was beastly hot and the carnivorous animals were all just lying and panting, but if it had been nicer there's a chance that the lions and tigers would have been walking over our heads as we walked through a (heavy-duty, I hope) Plexiglas walkway.

This picture was taken through that Plexiglas.

So that was in 2007, I think.

This year we went to Fort Ticonderoga, a fort built before the Revolutionary War, used through that war and then abandoned. It fell into complete ruin. In the early 19th century a wealthy man--Pell--bought it and began to rebuild it. It's now mostly reconstructed and impressive! It's a star-shaped fort --very neat design--and its historical organization has managed to greatly expand Pell's original collections of artifacts, Revolutionary and French & Indian Wars' weaponry, etc.

There was an adorable fife and drum corps (comprised of high school students working it as a summer job) and I took this video. I wanted them to turn about and march a bit but my batteries ran out before I could get they did. Rats.



I apologize for the pounding noise but it was a very windy day. In fact, immediately after the corps marched off the parade grounds it began to rain. It was a thunderstorm that then chased us pretty much all the way home--1 1/2 hours north. And while it was really fun to travel in Bruce's Audi TT, we discovered that the air conditioner wasn't working properly and wwe couldn't use it as a defroster. So we drove with the windows just slightly open, trying to stay un-fogged AND dry. But what a neat day that turned out to be. Bruce said he was really glad he went!

In the beginning of September we're going to the NY State Fair in Syracuse. I'll have a post after that for sure.