Celebrating the 44th year of Matrimonial Bliss

Okay, I'd be lying if I claimed it has been all bliss but it has been a solid and satisfying partnership with much love, friendship, laughter and affection.  We are one of those lucky couples who have grown together rather than apart.  We still share many interests and have learned to tolerate those interests we do not share, mainly by leaving one another enough "alone" time to enjoy them.  We have a lovely balance of unity to solitude.  Anyway, it works for us.

To celebrate, we spent the weekend [Friday evening through Sunday morning] at a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Cold Springs, NY, The Hudson House.  I have a bad habit of bringing along my camera but not using it.  I get so involved in the doing that I forget all about the recording.  I suppose that's not such a bad thing.  So I'll just have to describe the place.  This inn has been in continuous operation since 1830 and the current owners have decorated it accordingly with period wallpapers and spindle backed wooden chairs in every corner with a wing back chair thrown into the mix every so often.  For the rest, there were loads of distressed tables, wardrobes and cabinets.  The headboards were also period pieces.  The food was wonderful, the service top notch but the bedroom was kept at a suffocatingly hot temp.  We had to open the balcony door periodically just to be able to breathe.  And, like so many hotels, motels and B & Bs, the rooms were very softly lit.  So no cross stitching was possible.  On the other hand, I did manage to finish crocheting Liam's crib blanket. On the plus side, downstairs in the public bar and restaurant area, there was a comfortable and cozy sitting area complete with a fireplace.  This was the closest the place came to the common room one expects to find in a typical B & B.  It would only seat half a dozen people, though, and was clearly not meant for mingling with other B & B guests.  It was furnished more like a gentleman's club with leather sofas and barrel chairs.  It was more of an adjunct to the bar than an amenity for overnight guests. The town was quaint and filled with shops,and galleries and restaurants.  Unfortunately, as it was the off season, many were not open.  The few that were open were a bit disappointing.  The antique shops were more properly classified as collectible shops: lots of china, bric-a-brac, depression glass, Beatles and Elvis memorabilia, old toys and old tools.  It is mildly depressing to see that a lot of the kitchenware in such places is quite familiar to me, since it graced my childhood home.  Kitschy 50's era stuff like Corningware, melmac dish sets and Avon bottles just doesn't do anything for me.  It was low end junk back then and remains so today.  I was looking for antique needle work accessories, pin cushions, ivory knitting needles and crochet hooks and found nothing of interest.  Of course, many of the shops were closed.  I'd say the place is worth another look in Spring or Summer.  But if we go again, I'll definitely want to time our visit around a concert or two at Boscobel and make reservations to eat dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.  There's also a needlework shop in Hyde Park that would be well worth a visit.

In warmer seasons, one can enjoy a gorgeous view of the Hudson River which is literally across the street.  There is a charming gazebo and many benches along the river a stone's throw from the Hudson House's front steps.  The view in the winter was quite dramatic: an icy river lined by bare trees and mountains.  But with temps hovering in the high teens we weren't tempted to linger.  

Here at home, I have set up my Anniversary/Valentine's Day tree in my entry hall.  The ornament that is front and center is the one I stitched in 2014 and has my wedding day stitched in the center.  I'll keep this tree up until Valentine's Day, after which it will be replaced by my Spring tree.  the goal is to stitch a few more Spring and Easter ornaments between now and then.

Bipolar Weather

I saw this very apt description of this week's weather on Monica Ferris' Killer Hobbies blog and can not take credit for the clever phrasing.  It certainly does describe the bounce from mid to high 50s back down to low 20s with wind chill further reducing it to single digits.  Though bitterly cold, the sun is shining brightly.  Considering the bleak skies Sunday through Wednesday, sunshine is a welcome relief.  This winter has been crazy in so many ways.  It is seriously upsetting people's behavior.  Everyone I meet seems crankier than usual, more prone to take offense over petty things, myself included.  Nerves are raw and emotions [especially the negative ones] seem quite close to the surface.  I can't wait for Spring to put an end to cabin fever and mellow us all out.

On the stitching front:

I did a little more work on my adaptation of the Whispered in the Wind ornament.

I have begun assembling the Town Square ornaments and just have to make some cording to trim them.

I have assembled a Columbus Day ornament.  This also needs cording.

I will show photos tomorrow when everything is complete.

Christmas Recess Is Over

And the forces of inertia are in full play: a body at rest tends to remain at rest, etc.  I really didn't want to return to work on Monday after a two week hiatus.  At 63, I am close enough to retirement to feel the strong pull toward laying down my burden and resting.  I haven't quite reached the burn-out point but I am less patient.  I have never been one to suffer fools lightly but I have always been able to internalize my reaction and conceal it quite nicely, thank you!  But not so much anymore.  It takes a little more effort to put on my happy face and behave in a politic manner.  If only I were able to afford to pay for health insurance for the full year before I qualify for Medicare in September 2015, I'd probably seriously consider retiring at the end of this school year.  But I guess I will just wait until June 2016 when full SS benefits kick in as well.

The upside of this is that, according to the laws of inertia, a body in motion tends to remain in motion.  So once I am back into my routines, I will recover the enthusiasm I have for my work.  There are many challenges and satisfactions ahead of me once I shake off the sloth that is making these first few days back feel like slogging through three foot snow drifts without the benefit of snow shoes.

But on to something a little more cheerful: here's a photo of my progress on The English Band Sampler.  I have managed to do a bit more of the cross stitch outlines.  I want to finish all the cross stitches before starting on any of the satin stitches.  There was a time when I didn't enjoy satin stitching, but I find it very relaxing nowadays.  I am looking forward to seeing this band come together.  Unfortunately, there is some frogging in my future: two of the dark blue block motifs will have to be frogged and moved to the right by two linen threads and a bit of the dark olive green cross stitch will have to be frogged back to a knot on the back.  Imagine me gnashing teeth and muttering imprecations.  Since there is still snow and ice in the backyard, the above photo is an indoor photo and the best I can manage using my stitching lamp.

A Good Book but a Strange Read

I have been doing very little stitching these past four days since I have been absorbed in a lengthy novel by Nelson DeMille, The Lion Game.  As a New Yorker, who lost friends and neighbors in the Twin Tower disaster on 9/11/01, this was a strange experience.  I will be forever grateful that my youngest son's summer job, which placed him within a block of the disaster, ended two weeks before 9/11.  Otherwise, he would have been coming out of the subway onto that very street at the time of  the collapse.  The novel, published in 2000, dealt with Mideastern terrorists and made frequent reference to the then standing towers.

The novel was fascinating but reading it took on something of a Twilight Zone atmosphere because I knew what came next in the real world.  Cynical soul that I am, I fear that in the real world of anti-terrorism agencies, there is even less cooperation and even more territorialism than the book depicts.  In the book, turf wars seem to take precedence over human lives with the predictable result of even more lives lost.  I suspect if the average citizen really knew what went on behind the closed doors of the CIA, the FBI and Homeland Security, we'd all be appalled at the flaws in the system meant to protect us and amazed at our sheer dumb luck in not having suffered even more at the hands of terrorists.

Day Camp

On a board that I frequent, there was a discussion of day camps with some ladies saying they would enjoy their children's programs.  But then some of us started fantasizing about the perfect adult day camp.

Personally, my ideal adult day camp would be at a luxury resort from the turn of the last century where I could enjoy wide verandas with cushioned wicker chairs [for stitching], afternoon tea served daily, a ragtime piano bar in the evenings. And boating, swimming, lawn tennis and croquet to fill in the time in between. Oh, and beautiful gardens for strolling would be an absolute must. I am thinking The Sagamore Hotel Bolton's Landing, Lake George, NY, in its heydey.  Eva put in a vote for The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island which, if I recall correctly, is where the movie Somewhere in Time was filmed.

I'd even go so far as to wear long white dresses and wide brimmed hats though I admit I would be very relaxed about lacing the corset.  My name isn't Scarlett, after all!

What would your perfect adult day camp look like and what would be on the program?  

I'll close with a photo or two from the Sagamore where I enjoyed a long weekend in the off-season at prices closer to my budget.

Stitching on the veranda, overlooking Lake George

The view from the veranda

A shot of the veranda and the terraces leading down to the grand lawn.

Hallelujah

For the very first time in nearly two years, I have a totally empty inbox.  I finished up all current work yesterday.  All I have left on my plate is long-range projects with deadlines in September, November and March and a few little tasks that require the contribution of others before I can close the files.  It is an exhilarating experience!  All the more so since I have no clue as to when it will occur again.  And with only 5 work days left till my  4 week summer vacation, the timing is fortuitous.   It will be nice to leave the office with an absolutely clean desk and no unfinished paperwork lurking under the dust cover.

I will be praying for a break in the heat wave though since the bulk of my vacation will be spent on the decluttering project I mentioned a few posts ago.  My husband has already filled 11 tall kitchen trash bags with shredded documents no longer needed and I have been working on closets.  So far I have gone through the linen closet and half of the kitchen cabinets.  But there is still so much more to do.   At least, the worst offender, the large walk in closet in the bedroom, is in a room with air-conditioning.  Don't feel too badly for us though: as Senior Citizens, we have free membership in the town pool and will be able to spend our afternoons cooling off in the pool and picnicking under the trees beside the Hudson River whenever we are so inclined.

Not Much Stitching Going On

None of the June Goals were met so they become the July goals.  I have picked up a needle only every so often, more once a week than once a day.  I'd feel better about this if a whole lot of gardening had been going on.  But the near constant rain has pretty much eliminated that as an excuse.  I have been reading, both serious and light.  The light reading has been Catherine Coulter FBI thrillers and Tea Time and Vegetarian Times magazines.  The serious stuff has been various volumes about the scandals in the Catholic Church and about how to pray the Psalms with movement.  And I have done a lot more home-cooking now that my schedule has lightened up.  So I haven't been totally idle.  

The office workload has slowed to a less frenetic pace and both my secretary and assistant are now off for the summer,  My husband wonders how I can be happy, all alone in the building, but I have always been a solitary soul.  Spending the month of July as a hermit is a welcome respite from all the demands of working with the public the rest of the year.  I am getting a lot of the next school year's programs planned and have the time to go back through student and catechist records and dot every "i" and cross every "t" that got overlooked in the course of the hectic school year.  Happily only nine student records out of 350 were missing some data ... we are, apparently, more efficient than I thought.  I have yet to go through the catechist records, so we shall see how that goes.  I am also reviewing some textbooks at the 7th and 8th grade levels, since the current texts are getting somewhat dated.  Just the usual administrative stuff for the summer.

I have been visiting my Mom much more frequently, sharing pictures of my grandchildren with her, trading books back and forth.  She turned 85 last April.  Without wishing to be morbid, it hit me that this seemingly immortal matriarch might not be so very immortal after all.  So I have started visiting every Sunday afternoon for two or three hours and calling her on the phone every three or four days.

I read on another blog this comment, "none of my favorite bloggers seem to be posting very often."  For just a moment, the very egotistical sprite on my left shoulder whispered in my ear, "they mean you, dahling!"  However, the more grounded and rational sprite on my right shoulder started laughing, somewhat excessively, I thought.   But I knew that out of the very many stitching and crafting bloggers out there, I was probably not the one being mentioned.  I've noticed that Blacksheep, Stitch Bitch and the Spinster Stitcher have scaled way back and I suspect they were the ones being missed.

I don't know why I am experiencing such a malaise vis-a-vis stitching and blogging at the present.  I expect it will pass as most things do.  In any case, I really need to get focused on the Christmas stockings for my grandchildren.

Gardening as Salvation

I am looking for a small spot of calm in the eye of the storm and actually feel ashamed to use that metaphor when the folks in Oklahoma have been dealing with the reality.  Nevertheless, it is true.  I need to decompress, de-stress and defuse.  What I'd really love is a spa day complete with a calorically correct and beautifully presented luncheon plate, a facial, a full body massage, a haircut, a manicure and a pedicure.  I can just see myself, swathed in pristine white terry cloth, delicately sipping cucumber water.  A foolish dream since I can afford neither the time nor the cash for such an idyll.

When stressed, I tend to eat all the wrong things and consequently, really have messed with my glucose numbers.  Type II diabetics need to be careful and careful is precisely what I have not been for the past five weeks.  Now I have to restore a proper balance ... happily, it is summer and fresh produce will help.  All the lovely fruits and vegetables currently available will go a long way toward correcting the over-indulgence in bagels, Dunkin' donuts and quick meals dependent on pasta or processed foods.

Soon, I'll even be able to harvest some lovelies from my own garden: fresh peas, mesclun lettuce mix, baby spinach and radishes.  The zucchini, pattypan squash, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes will come a bit later on.  But there is nothing better than vegetables still warm from the sun ... I go out to my garden every morning, literally willing my plants to grow and ripen.  I talk to them, surround them with good thoughts and positive vibrations.  It's become a morning ritual ... before you know it I'll start planting according to the phases of the moon and strategically placing crystals round about my garden.  I don't know what it is about gardening that brings out my inner pagan ... perhaps it is my Celtic heritage that leaves me particularly sensitive to the pull of Mother Earth.

The First of February

I am hoping for a better month than last.  I have heard so many sad stories and  have had to deal with so many sensitive situations in January as part of my work as a CRE in a Catholic parish that I could use a little spiritual renewal myself.  The annual retreat for certified CREs is coming in April and can't come soon enough for me.  Happily, we'll be having a Parish Renewal during Lent which will make a nice interim exercise.

This depressed economy is wreaking havoc on so many good and hard-working folk in my community, so many are still suffering from the aftershocks of Sandy and still more are carrying heavy personal burdens.  Working with families as I do, I have access to a lot of very private information and I am constantly amazed by how many quiet heroes there are: ordinary people making the best of painfully extraordinary circumstances.

But even in the midst of it all, there is comic relief.  We recently celebrated First Confession with our 2nd graders.  One of my more enjoyable tasks as CRE is doing some real hands-on work preparing the children for sacraments.  Prior to First Confession, we did role-play practices with me as the priest and the children as themselves, as penitents.  I told them not to tell me their real sins as they practiced but some of them exercised such imagination [at least, I hope it was imagination] that I had a hard time maintaining a straight face.  One innocent little boy with the face of a choir boy and the reverent voice of a budding saint confessed that he "threw away just one of his big sister's best earrings because he was mad at her."  In my role as pseudo priest, I gave a short homily on the evils of revenge and talked about some better methods of resolving personal conflict, all the while hoping that this wasn't a true story and that grandma's heirloom diamond earrings weren't involved.  One almost had to admire the diabolical inspiration of throwing away "just one" earring of the pair: the remaining earring being a constant reminder of the loss of its mate.  Another young cherub, solemnly confessed that he hated going to school because the kids in his class were always saying things like "Jesus f-----g Christ".  What could I do but solemnly agree that it must be very difficult to attend such a school but then suggest that perhaps church wasn't quite the right place to quote his classmates so accurately.  These stories are funny precisely because the contrast between the child and the story is so great.  But, when examined more closely, they also contain a certain element of pathos: a commentary on how pervasive our secular culture is and how it has the power to corrupt even the very young and very innocent.  Maybe I have been at this too long, 20 years in catechetics and 4 years before that as a teacher in a parochial school, but it's just sad that even the comic relief moments are tainted by the rank perfume of what Baudelaire called the fleurs de mal.

Well, I have depressed myself quite enough for the time being ... but I needed to vent.  Ironically, I expect February to be a happier month even though Lent begins on the 13th.  Lent, for all its solemnity, ultimately points to Easter truth and on a more ordinary level, culminates in Spring.  

Yes, I am alive

I will get back to posting on a regular basis by the weekend.  Truth be told, I have remarkably little to post about given the length of my absence.  Confirmations, First Communions, May Crowning, Registration and the myriad details of finals and progress reports and last days for five sessions have pretty much consumed my time.  I have done very little stitching and am way behind in work on an exchange project ... so you know exactly how I will be spending my Memorial Day Weekend four day holiday.   What little stitching I have managed has been the simplest of simple: the borders of the four remaining squares of Primitive Needle's Black'd Skie.  Simple rows of xxx's in unvarying black have been oddly relaxing these past few very busy weeks.  In any case, anything more complex would likely have led to hours of frogging given my attention span and stamina.