2013
Back in the Falls
30/12/13 09:15
Another year just about by the boards. I'm sitting here in Starbucks in Queensbury, NY, while the family does what they do up back at the hotel. To be precise, Evan is fast asleep and Nancy is using the treadmill after she and I had a little breakfast down in the Adirondack room. With the emphasis on little, I might add. I had high hopes for a cheese omelet and was not happy to find that the only eggs they had were hard, cold, and without a lick of cheese. So much for my carb fixation on this fine frigid morning in the Adirondacks. Nancy found some oatmeal that appealed to her and had a small styrofoam bowl full before we called it quits.
As benign as that experience sounds, we had a few laughs as we talked about the germans sitting close by with their pickles and hummus, and Nancy even noted that there was another party of folks sitting not far off that had brought their own cups. How novel, I thought. Bring your own breakfast...hmmm. Not a bad idea. Give me some halfway decent ingredients and I might have occupied myself making something of interest instead of sucking down the obligatory hard boiled eggs just to put something in my stomach. And then there was the little girl with the stoney face who would stare at us but wouldn't crack a smile for all the funny faces that we couldn't muster.
What a joy she'll be when she gets older, I thought to myself. She will probably grow up to be a comedienne and I'll see her name in the headlines without ever remembering the morning we had breakfast together in some far off hotel in the Adirondacks in late December in the year 2013. Well, almost together. Of course, I was determined to wipe that pissey little look off her face as lovable as she may have been to her parents and associates. I reached into my bag of tricks and remembered the little trick that worked so well in my youth. With a look that was equally icy, I stared into her black little eyes and pulled my ears away from my head at 45 degree angles with my hands. That stoney little stare quickly gave way to a warm and loving smile that just melted my heart. There was a child in there after all and all of that nonsense about exorcists and demons was nothing but piddle. Piddle paddle piddle paddle. I saved the best for last and as I was leaving our table I donned one of the little styrofoam cereal bowls atop my head and tipped it as though I were tipping my hat which released another small avalanche of smiles that I just wanted to carry away with me like a pocketful of sweet sentiment. She couldn't have been more than four but knew the power of expression. Something I learned long ago.
But these trips are cathartic if nothing else. It gives the lot of a chance to remove ourselves from an environment that is replete with the usual cues just to see if we have any natural spontaneity left with which to respond to the world around us. This is where I grew up so I may have less to work with than Nancy and Evan but perhaps they can lead by example. This is their time as well. Evan, for all of his oddball proclivities, elected not to bring his phone. He is typically not separated from his phone for any reason so not bringing it suggests a certain conscious decision on his part to try and break from that tradition for reasons I'm not sure I understand and reasons that he is not wanting to articulate. Maybe this is his way of taking a break from all the tethers in his life be they good or bad habits, positive or negative inclinations, proclivities one way or the other, or something infinitely more simplistic.
Nancy too seems to be wanting and needed this trip to take her away to a place different enough to be exotic but familiar enough to be inspirational. There are places she wants to go, people she wants to visit, and things she wants to do. I should remember that we are here for a reason although it is not the sole reason for our being here. Yes, we have a holiday party to attend at Uncle Wally's where the family gets together every year to celebrate family, holiday, good food and good company, and to raise our collective glasses to the year 2014 which we all hope will bring more promise that the year before. We have a bagful of presents to bring and a little something for most everybody I think. That was the intent anyway. The grab gift this year is a recycled set of Wolfgang Puck knives that Mrs G found on the Home Shopping Network. A fitting gift for a son-in-law no doubt so many thanks to Mrs G for her thoughtful gift. Little does she know that I have great appreciation for fine cutlery and know all too well the intrinsic and practical value of a good chef's knife. I can only hope that they will find a good and suitable home as they are roundly viewed by the many good folks participating in the grab exchange. I might rather have a good box of chocolates than a set of knives that I might never use.
The matter of Evan's skin came up this morning at breakfast and we were wondering what, if anything, he might like to do about it. He seems to care less and less about his appearance at time goes by and one has to wonder where that comes from. It may well go hand in hand with his apparent disinterest in doing much of anything about anything. It's almost frightening. He disappears here and there and stays out all night from time to time and with whom we'll never know. He is no more inclined to discuss these matters with us than the man in the moon and when pressed he becomes even more recalcitrant in his attitude and objections. I think a little tetracyline might go a long way towards clearing up his skin but he seems not to care. Not only does he not care, but he has not for one moment expressed a desire to do anything while he is home for the month-long vacation from school. One might take from this that he is depressed or otherwise compromised but that does not seem to be the case. In summary, this is just more of the same? I think so. Maybe we can take something from the grades that he gets from school after the first semester. If we knew what they were, we might. As it is, we know nothing. What else is new...that is a rhetorical question.
The music is nice here at the Starbucks and the voices around me are getting more and more animated as the hours go by. The breakfast crowd is in full swing now although I have never seen anything appetizing enough to actually want to eat so I am happy that the two meager eggs that I consumed earlier this morning are fulfilling their promise. There is nothing like pure unadulterated protein to keep your appetite at bay and your energy in check. The only thing I might have added was a shake or two of pepper but didn't pursue that for whatever reason. Did I mention that Lise has an iPad mini? Good for her! I think she has wanted access to the internet for some time but that never quite came about for whatever reason. And now, the world is her oyster. Figuratively speaking, of course. I do think she will be happy to know that there are plenty of apps out there which may well appeal to her. A scanner app, for one. With that in mind, we picked up an iTunes gift card for her and I will work with her to take full advantage of it given half a chance. I really am just tickled for her so let the games begin. Oh, and if she doesn't smoke any longer, she will be rewarded with something more practical than a tankful or two of Sunoco gasoline. Cash is a always good thing.
Sunday, the day after
Oh, it feels like my fingers are going to cooperate this morning. That's good. Well, the party at Uncle Wally's was a lot of fun. It is always is as a matter of fact. Seeing everyone in one place during the holidays is truly a treat. The only bro missing was Jimbo and he called in from afar. Just couldn't make it this year as was the case. He has a lot going on in his life so it's difficult at best for him to get away. He sounded great and that is always a welcome sign. Everyone was happy to speak to him and the phone was passed from person to person until he had spoken to literally everyone in the group. Until next year then.
Everyone brought something to the party so there was a lot to eat and no one went home hungry. Some folks left with leftovers and that was a good thing since there was plenty of food left at the end of the night. Mostly lasagna, I would say but there were cookies, ham, deviled eggs, and lots of desserts left on platters throughout the house. Sister Den did a good job with her lasagna as usual although I did get her to admit that she used gluten free noodles and hunts tomato sauce when throwing together her concoction. Did I tell you that she made both a meatless and a meat version of her dish? That girl really does aim to please. She and I talked plenty as well about her career and where she thought it might be heading in the coming years now that she is no longer at the hospital in GF. We agreed that pushing back the dates on her resume to reveal more of her experience was a good thing and pursuing new careers at her age was a decision that did not come easy. She looked wonderful though and clearly the weight of recent events was not weighing on her as one might expect. That is a good thing.
Sister Leesey was looking good as well. I had seen her earlier this year when I took the girls out to dinner at the place we like in Cleverdale. Leesey's latest fascination is the iPad mini which she brought to the party and was clearly enjoying her new toy. It was in and out of the box all night long and she was looking up friends on Facebook, taking video of family and friends even in the low light of the room, snapping pictures here and there, and never once losing sight of it in the crowded venue. I gave Leesey a gift certificate to iTunes and we added some apps to the device and left her with a few dollars on her account with which to make purchases in the future. It is always fun spending time with Leesey as she lives squarely in the moment and you just can't say that about most folks. I told her that I stopped by her place of employment earlier in the day and that the doors were locked even though the place had been open already for two hours. She chuckled and said something about the fact that it would have never happened had she been working. That is Leesey in a nutshell.
We talked about cheerleading and charm bracelets with Uncle Wally's daughter who is looking like a tall glass of water these days. She was proud of the fact that she had a varsity letter for her efforts and that is a good thing. It cannot be overstated that she loves her pets and cuddled seemingly the entire night with one pet or another when she wasn't entertaining the two youngest girls attending the event. I have to say that there were a few times when she needled her dad and knew just the right words to use. Where does one learn that sort of thing? He gave as good as he got and that may well answer the question I'm posing. She gets it from her dad! Mom is far too gracious to indulge in such nonsense and she spent the better part of the night being the perfect hostess, mother, and wife. She and I had a rather interesting little sidebar about alcohol and such and the wine flowed freely for those interested in such things. To uncle Wally's relief, and perhaps mine as well, it never devolved into a swill-fest and that may well portend good things for future get togethers. Besides, how much trouble can you get into with wine?
You should have seen the model that Uncle Wally had of dad's boat of days past. It was really quite amazing. It was a scaled down version of the Century crafted of wood, varnished up good, and looking every bit as good as the real thing but just smaller. It must have been 3-4 feet long and encased in a beautiful see-through display case and sitting pretty as could be all illuminated by recessed LED lights and seemingly enshrined for ever more. He, Leesey, and I just stood there in the darkness of their bedroom, yes I said bedroom, admiring the boat and all the memories that it brought along with it to anyone wanting to go down that road. Truth of the matter is that dad loved that boat but worked on it endlessly for whatever reason. All I ever remember is giving him a screwdriver when he asked for an Allen wrench and giving him an Allen wrench when he asked for a Phillips screwdriver. I just couldn't get it right for whatever reason. I was more into the aesthetics than the nuts and bolts of such things but I will admit to feeling a little inadequate when falling flat in fulfilling my dad's requests. What son doesn't want to be there for his dad? Keep in mind that I was competing with brothers and probably sisters who knew better than I about such things but we'll leave that alone. Suffice it to say that I know the difference today.
Sister Kat was looking good as she always does and made an effort to include children who might have otherwise been left behind. It was nice to hear the giggles of little girls and the pitter patter of their feet and they chased each other around the house in stocking feet. We tried as we might to get them to smile for the camera and they reluctantly lit up the room with their smiles albeit for a brief few seconds. Kat was cool with whatever they decided to do or not to do and that is her style. Kathy's twins stopped by with their respective beau's and added splendor and pizzazz to the gathering with their youthful exuberance. Perhaps less so with one more than the other due to a lingering ailment, but she was doing her level best to keep up appearances despite it all. It was hard to tell if their significant others were there because they wanted to be there or, perhaps more to the point, they weren't given much of a choice. Uncle Wally's get-togethers are legendary so my take is that they were there of their own volition and were happy to have an invitation.
That should do it for now. We're back home after a nice trip through the states of Vermont and NH and with a quick stop at the Vermont Country Store. We'll look forward to next years extravaganza. So long, 2013.
As benign as that experience sounds, we had a few laughs as we talked about the germans sitting close by with their pickles and hummus, and Nancy even noted that there was another party of folks sitting not far off that had brought their own cups. How novel, I thought. Bring your own breakfast...hmmm. Not a bad idea. Give me some halfway decent ingredients and I might have occupied myself making something of interest instead of sucking down the obligatory hard boiled eggs just to put something in my stomach. And then there was the little girl with the stoney face who would stare at us but wouldn't crack a smile for all the funny faces that we couldn't muster.
What a joy she'll be when she gets older, I thought to myself. She will probably grow up to be a comedienne and I'll see her name in the headlines without ever remembering the morning we had breakfast together in some far off hotel in the Adirondacks in late December in the year 2013. Well, almost together. Of course, I was determined to wipe that pissey little look off her face as lovable as she may have been to her parents and associates. I reached into my bag of tricks and remembered the little trick that worked so well in my youth. With a look that was equally icy, I stared into her black little eyes and pulled my ears away from my head at 45 degree angles with my hands. That stoney little stare quickly gave way to a warm and loving smile that just melted my heart. There was a child in there after all and all of that nonsense about exorcists and demons was nothing but piddle. Piddle paddle piddle paddle. I saved the best for last and as I was leaving our table I donned one of the little styrofoam cereal bowls atop my head and tipped it as though I were tipping my hat which released another small avalanche of smiles that I just wanted to carry away with me like a pocketful of sweet sentiment. She couldn't have been more than four but knew the power of expression. Something I learned long ago.
But these trips are cathartic if nothing else. It gives the lot of a chance to remove ourselves from an environment that is replete with the usual cues just to see if we have any natural spontaneity left with which to respond to the world around us. This is where I grew up so I may have less to work with than Nancy and Evan but perhaps they can lead by example. This is their time as well. Evan, for all of his oddball proclivities, elected not to bring his phone. He is typically not separated from his phone for any reason so not bringing it suggests a certain conscious decision on his part to try and break from that tradition for reasons I'm not sure I understand and reasons that he is not wanting to articulate. Maybe this is his way of taking a break from all the tethers in his life be they good or bad habits, positive or negative inclinations, proclivities one way or the other, or something infinitely more simplistic.
Nancy too seems to be wanting and needed this trip to take her away to a place different enough to be exotic but familiar enough to be inspirational. There are places she wants to go, people she wants to visit, and things she wants to do. I should remember that we are here for a reason although it is not the sole reason for our being here. Yes, we have a holiday party to attend at Uncle Wally's where the family gets together every year to celebrate family, holiday, good food and good company, and to raise our collective glasses to the year 2014 which we all hope will bring more promise that the year before. We have a bagful of presents to bring and a little something for most everybody I think. That was the intent anyway. The grab gift this year is a recycled set of Wolfgang Puck knives that Mrs G found on the Home Shopping Network. A fitting gift for a son-in-law no doubt so many thanks to Mrs G for her thoughtful gift. Little does she know that I have great appreciation for fine cutlery and know all too well the intrinsic and practical value of a good chef's knife. I can only hope that they will find a good and suitable home as they are roundly viewed by the many good folks participating in the grab exchange. I might rather have a good box of chocolates than a set of knives that I might never use.
The matter of Evan's skin came up this morning at breakfast and we were wondering what, if anything, he might like to do about it. He seems to care less and less about his appearance at time goes by and one has to wonder where that comes from. It may well go hand in hand with his apparent disinterest in doing much of anything about anything. It's almost frightening. He disappears here and there and stays out all night from time to time and with whom we'll never know. He is no more inclined to discuss these matters with us than the man in the moon and when pressed he becomes even more recalcitrant in his attitude and objections. I think a little tetracyline might go a long way towards clearing up his skin but he seems not to care. Not only does he not care, but he has not for one moment expressed a desire to do anything while he is home for the month-long vacation from school. One might take from this that he is depressed or otherwise compromised but that does not seem to be the case. In summary, this is just more of the same? I think so. Maybe we can take something from the grades that he gets from school after the first semester. If we knew what they were, we might. As it is, we know nothing. What else is new...that is a rhetorical question.
The music is nice here at the Starbucks and the voices around me are getting more and more animated as the hours go by. The breakfast crowd is in full swing now although I have never seen anything appetizing enough to actually want to eat so I am happy that the two meager eggs that I consumed earlier this morning are fulfilling their promise. There is nothing like pure unadulterated protein to keep your appetite at bay and your energy in check. The only thing I might have added was a shake or two of pepper but didn't pursue that for whatever reason. Did I mention that Lise has an iPad mini? Good for her! I think she has wanted access to the internet for some time but that never quite came about for whatever reason. And now, the world is her oyster. Figuratively speaking, of course. I do think she will be happy to know that there are plenty of apps out there which may well appeal to her. A scanner app, for one. With that in mind, we picked up an iTunes gift card for her and I will work with her to take full advantage of it given half a chance. I really am just tickled for her so let the games begin. Oh, and if she doesn't smoke any longer, she will be rewarded with something more practical than a tankful or two of Sunoco gasoline. Cash is a always good thing.
Sunday, the day after
Oh, it feels like my fingers are going to cooperate this morning. That's good. Well, the party at Uncle Wally's was a lot of fun. It is always is as a matter of fact. Seeing everyone in one place during the holidays is truly a treat. The only bro missing was Jimbo and he called in from afar. Just couldn't make it this year as was the case. He has a lot going on in his life so it's difficult at best for him to get away. He sounded great and that is always a welcome sign. Everyone was happy to speak to him and the phone was passed from person to person until he had spoken to literally everyone in the group. Until next year then.
Everyone brought something to the party so there was a lot to eat and no one went home hungry. Some folks left with leftovers and that was a good thing since there was plenty of food left at the end of the night. Mostly lasagna, I would say but there were cookies, ham, deviled eggs, and lots of desserts left on platters throughout the house. Sister Den did a good job with her lasagna as usual although I did get her to admit that she used gluten free noodles and hunts tomato sauce when throwing together her concoction. Did I tell you that she made both a meatless and a meat version of her dish? That girl really does aim to please. She and I talked plenty as well about her career and where she thought it might be heading in the coming years now that she is no longer at the hospital in GF. We agreed that pushing back the dates on her resume to reveal more of her experience was a good thing and pursuing new careers at her age was a decision that did not come easy. She looked wonderful though and clearly the weight of recent events was not weighing on her as one might expect. That is a good thing.
Sister Leesey was looking good as well. I had seen her earlier this year when I took the girls out to dinner at the place we like in Cleverdale. Leesey's latest fascination is the iPad mini which she brought to the party and was clearly enjoying her new toy. It was in and out of the box all night long and she was looking up friends on Facebook, taking video of family and friends even in the low light of the room, snapping pictures here and there, and never once losing sight of it in the crowded venue. I gave Leesey a gift certificate to iTunes and we added some apps to the device and left her with a few dollars on her account with which to make purchases in the future. It is always fun spending time with Leesey as she lives squarely in the moment and you just can't say that about most folks. I told her that I stopped by her place of employment earlier in the day and that the doors were locked even though the place had been open already for two hours. She chuckled and said something about the fact that it would have never happened had she been working. That is Leesey in a nutshell.
We talked about cheerleading and charm bracelets with Uncle Wally's daughter who is looking like a tall glass of water these days. She was proud of the fact that she had a varsity letter for her efforts and that is a good thing. It cannot be overstated that she loves her pets and cuddled seemingly the entire night with one pet or another when she wasn't entertaining the two youngest girls attending the event. I have to say that there were a few times when she needled her dad and knew just the right words to use. Where does one learn that sort of thing? He gave as good as he got and that may well answer the question I'm posing. She gets it from her dad! Mom is far too gracious to indulge in such nonsense and she spent the better part of the night being the perfect hostess, mother, and wife. She and I had a rather interesting little sidebar about alcohol and such and the wine flowed freely for those interested in such things. To uncle Wally's relief, and perhaps mine as well, it never devolved into a swill-fest and that may well portend good things for future get togethers. Besides, how much trouble can you get into with wine?
You should have seen the model that Uncle Wally had of dad's boat of days past. It was really quite amazing. It was a scaled down version of the Century crafted of wood, varnished up good, and looking every bit as good as the real thing but just smaller. It must have been 3-4 feet long and encased in a beautiful see-through display case and sitting pretty as could be all illuminated by recessed LED lights and seemingly enshrined for ever more. He, Leesey, and I just stood there in the darkness of their bedroom, yes I said bedroom, admiring the boat and all the memories that it brought along with it to anyone wanting to go down that road. Truth of the matter is that dad loved that boat but worked on it endlessly for whatever reason. All I ever remember is giving him a screwdriver when he asked for an Allen wrench and giving him an Allen wrench when he asked for a Phillips screwdriver. I just couldn't get it right for whatever reason. I was more into the aesthetics than the nuts and bolts of such things but I will admit to feeling a little inadequate when falling flat in fulfilling my dad's requests. What son doesn't want to be there for his dad? Keep in mind that I was competing with brothers and probably sisters who knew better than I about such things but we'll leave that alone. Suffice it to say that I know the difference today.
Sister Kat was looking good as she always does and made an effort to include children who might have otherwise been left behind. It was nice to hear the giggles of little girls and the pitter patter of their feet and they chased each other around the house in stocking feet. We tried as we might to get them to smile for the camera and they reluctantly lit up the room with their smiles albeit for a brief few seconds. Kat was cool with whatever they decided to do or not to do and that is her style. Kathy's twins stopped by with their respective beau's and added splendor and pizzazz to the gathering with their youthful exuberance. Perhaps less so with one more than the other due to a lingering ailment, but she was doing her level best to keep up appearances despite it all. It was hard to tell if their significant others were there because they wanted to be there or, perhaps more to the point, they weren't given much of a choice. Uncle Wally's get-togethers are legendary so my take is that they were there of their own volition and were happy to have an invitation.
That should do it for now. We're back home after a nice trip through the states of Vermont and NH and with a quick stop at the Vermont Country Store. We'll look forward to next years extravaganza. So long, 2013.
Christmas 2013
22/12/13 07:42
So that was Thanksgiving. Seems like a long time ago. And now we have Christmas in a mere three days from now. The tree is up; the son is home; the season is more festive than last year at this time; and the stench of the St. Thomas affair is in the rear view mirror. It is good to put things behind you. That is especially true of things that cause pain and misery. But we have all moved on. Evan is presumably on the right track with his studies at school but we'll not know for sure until we get a look at his grades. This is a boy who doesn't even share the invoice that the school gave him for the new semester so I'm not hopeful on the grades issue. This is also a fellow who refuses for whatever reason to ask the school what happened to the $200 that his mother put on his dining card. Evan emphatically states that the money never reached its intended destination and he continues to incur additional charges when using his debit card to purchase his meals much to our chagrin and consternation. And his momma tells me that he talked her ear off when driving back from Boston a few days where he had arrived from taking the train into Boston from Penn Station in NYC. The round trip drive to Pace was killing us being a good 10 hours in total or so and that needed to change. The challenge, of course, was getting him to work through the logistics of going to Grand Central Station, walk across town a good mile or so to Penn Station, and then to catch the Acela train to Boston. So far, so good.
Nancy didn't spend a lot of time talking about our christmas tree and how she spent hours decorating it while I was in Keene for three days this past week but my sense is that she took great pleasure in doing so since she took so little pleasure last year in the wake of the St. Thomas business. It was the year when a sole ornament took its lonely place on our tree and even that was difficult to do. There was just so little enjoyment in the air hereabouts ands it was a wonder indeed that we even had a tree. But our tree this year is luxurious, full, standing erect and tall against the wall, and with an air of hope and resurrection it brings a glimpse of promise to those lucky enough to look upon it. It is a blessed thing as well it should be. Then again, some things never change. Evan stays home when we expect him to go out; he goes out when we expect him to stay in; he is cavorting with god only knows who; and sometimes he comes home at night and sometimes he doesn't. It's hard to say whether he is eating right. When he stopped by the house yesterday before going back out the door, he reeked of cigarettes and his friends waited outside in the driveway while he took his cornstarch and made plans to spend the night away from home. I guess we'll have plenty of time to wonder what will become of him over the coming summer months when he is home from school and working or wanting a job. He does not have a strong work history so we'll see if he starts to remedy that aspect of his life. Lots of things to think about but we'll tray to keep our focus where it should be for the moment. That is to say, on the holiday and it is all about home and family.
There is snow on the ground but it is raining lightly outside with temperatures in the mid thirties. There was talk yesterday that we might have an ice storm but the temperatures are simply not cold enough here on the coast. I may have to get a wood stove going this morning just to take the chill off. I'm hoping to make a nice lasagna today for the family. It will be good for Evan to have leftovers during the week at least early on when we are away at work. I'll probably use a combination of sausage and beef although I think that darn recipe calls for spinach so I will have to see if we have any spinach before I start cooking. Evan likes a nice garlic bread too so I will have to give that some thought.
Seems as things are going ok in the Falls. I have sisters looking for work; sisters who can't work; sisters who work and love what they do; and brothers who cover the same gamut. Money issues are pervasive but not life threatening and issues related to cars never seem to go away. You would think that with a mechanic in the family, related by marriage, that those sorts of things would be lessened in stature. Not so. I get it. If you learn anything as an adult, it is that you can't count on anyone but yourself to get things done right. There are no free lunches; there are no handouts; and life can be unforgiving for those who fail to understand precisely how that works. And for those who least expected it this fine holiday, speaking of brothers and sisters, I hear that there are a couple of iPads under the tree this year. There is a god!
Nancy didn't spend a lot of time talking about our christmas tree and how she spent hours decorating it while I was in Keene for three days this past week but my sense is that she took great pleasure in doing so since she took so little pleasure last year in the wake of the St. Thomas business. It was the year when a sole ornament took its lonely place on our tree and even that was difficult to do. There was just so little enjoyment in the air hereabouts ands it was a wonder indeed that we even had a tree. But our tree this year is luxurious, full, standing erect and tall against the wall, and with an air of hope and resurrection it brings a glimpse of promise to those lucky enough to look upon it. It is a blessed thing as well it should be. Then again, some things never change. Evan stays home when we expect him to go out; he goes out when we expect him to stay in; he is cavorting with god only knows who; and sometimes he comes home at night and sometimes he doesn't. It's hard to say whether he is eating right. When he stopped by the house yesterday before going back out the door, he reeked of cigarettes and his friends waited outside in the driveway while he took his cornstarch and made plans to spend the night away from home. I guess we'll have plenty of time to wonder what will become of him over the coming summer months when he is home from school and working or wanting a job. He does not have a strong work history so we'll see if he starts to remedy that aspect of his life. Lots of things to think about but we'll tray to keep our focus where it should be for the moment. That is to say, on the holiday and it is all about home and family.
There is snow on the ground but it is raining lightly outside with temperatures in the mid thirties. There was talk yesterday that we might have an ice storm but the temperatures are simply not cold enough here on the coast. I may have to get a wood stove going this morning just to take the chill off. I'm hoping to make a nice lasagna today for the family. It will be good for Evan to have leftovers during the week at least early on when we are away at work. I'll probably use a combination of sausage and beef although I think that darn recipe calls for spinach so I will have to see if we have any spinach before I start cooking. Evan likes a nice garlic bread too so I will have to give that some thought.
Seems as things are going ok in the Falls. I have sisters looking for work; sisters who can't work; sisters who work and love what they do; and brothers who cover the same gamut. Money issues are pervasive but not life threatening and issues related to cars never seem to go away. You would think that with a mechanic in the family, related by marriage, that those sorts of things would be lessened in stature. Not so. I get it. If you learn anything as an adult, it is that you can't count on anyone but yourself to get things done right. There are no free lunches; there are no handouts; and life can be unforgiving for those who fail to understand precisely how that works. And for those who least expected it this fine holiday, speaking of brothers and sisters, I hear that there are a couple of iPads under the tree this year. There is a god!
Thanksgiving 2013
28/11/13 08:39
It's Thanksgiving 2013 and just when we thought it would never get here...it gets here. In splendid fashion, I might add. We have all the fixin's and then some. Our turkey comes to us this year compliments of Philbricks. It's a 16 pound beauty without the usual additives, fillers, and saline solutions that usual accompany the more commercial birds. The damn thing is even fresh. We'll be celebrating the holiday with Nancy's mom, Evan, and Nancy's sister, Debbie. I'll be doing the carving. Nancy made her grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe last night and it is sitting pretty on the stovetop awaiting the short trip across town where we will be dining at Nancy's mom's house. That is nothing unusual. Absent this year is Nancy's father who passed away earlier this year. He will not be down for supper as Howie likes to say. We will have a moment of silence where everyone gets to say their peace and then we will proceed to do what people do when they sit down to a Thanksgiving meal. Pass the mashed potatoes please. Nancy, would it be too much trouble to pass me the cranberry sauce. Oh, Mrs G, the potatoes are just perfect. Where ever did you get the recipe? Evan, would you like some more turkey while I'm serving it to everyone? Debbie, you really must try the stuffing we made.
We have much to be thankful for this year. The lot of us have our health as tenuous as that seems to be sometimes. Aside from the occasional gnawing of the arthritic joints, MRI's that give rise to wild speculation, suspicious freckles, fading eyesight, and fitful and sometimes sleepless nights, we are good to go. That reminds me that there is still much to do before the first real snow falls. I saw my first squall of the season two days ago when we left to drive to New York to pick Evan up from school. It was an unexpected snow event and the minute Nancy spied the snow, as we were walking out the door I might add, she very nearly curled up into a fetal position and went back to sleep. Tears flowed nervously from her eyes and I grew visibly impatient and closed the door behind me as I went into the garage. I assured her that it was nothing more than a coastal flurry swirling back in off the ocean and we would be rid of it within the hour as we drove further and further from the coast. We had more to worry about than a smattering of snow so it was good to put that behind us. The real challenge came later in the day and into the early evening when we ran into traffic along route 495 leading up to New Hampshire. That aside, it was a good trip and we were happy to be bringing Evan home for the holiday. That said, I would have rather seen him catch a ride to NH than the two of us (Nancy and me) make the 10 hour round trip in one day. Who does that to one's parents? And then, we get to do it all over again in a few days.
I do wonder what all the brothers and sisters are doing for the holiday. I've chatted with a couple of them and they seem to be doing the same old thing they've been doing for years and years. It's all about family and giving thanks for what you have at this time of the year. It is not unlike our traditions when we were children growing up in update New York in the 60's and 70's. There was always a big Butterball turkey, mounds and mounds of mashed potatoes, squash, boiled onions, and stuffing and more than enough to go around. Even when times were tight we seemed to do the right thing on this particular day of the year. There were a couple of years when it was late coming or maybe not even thawed out by the time dinner was due on the table but we persevered. That is what children do. They don't know how to do anything else. Taking matters into our own hands was out of the question and we had little in the way of resources or powers of resurrection with which to restore the situation. And, there were many situations and maybe too many to recall with any real degree of accuracy. But, the memories linger and will no doubt be with us for a long time if not eternity assuming anything really lasts that long. We can only hope for one memorable occasion at a time so today it is. And, we pray for those less fortunate....Happy Thanksgiving all!
We have much to be thankful for this year. The lot of us have our health as tenuous as that seems to be sometimes. Aside from the occasional gnawing of the arthritic joints, MRI's that give rise to wild speculation, suspicious freckles, fading eyesight, and fitful and sometimes sleepless nights, we are good to go. That reminds me that there is still much to do before the first real snow falls. I saw my first squall of the season two days ago when we left to drive to New York to pick Evan up from school. It was an unexpected snow event and the minute Nancy spied the snow, as we were walking out the door I might add, she very nearly curled up into a fetal position and went back to sleep. Tears flowed nervously from her eyes and I grew visibly impatient and closed the door behind me as I went into the garage. I assured her that it was nothing more than a coastal flurry swirling back in off the ocean and we would be rid of it within the hour as we drove further and further from the coast. We had more to worry about than a smattering of snow so it was good to put that behind us. The real challenge came later in the day and into the early evening when we ran into traffic along route 495 leading up to New Hampshire. That aside, it was a good trip and we were happy to be bringing Evan home for the holiday. That said, I would have rather seen him catch a ride to NH than the two of us (Nancy and me) make the 10 hour round trip in one day. Who does that to one's parents? And then, we get to do it all over again in a few days.
I do wonder what all the brothers and sisters are doing for the holiday. I've chatted with a couple of them and they seem to be doing the same old thing they've been doing for years and years. It's all about family and giving thanks for what you have at this time of the year. It is not unlike our traditions when we were children growing up in update New York in the 60's and 70's. There was always a big Butterball turkey, mounds and mounds of mashed potatoes, squash, boiled onions, and stuffing and more than enough to go around. Even when times were tight we seemed to do the right thing on this particular day of the year. There were a couple of years when it was late coming or maybe not even thawed out by the time dinner was due on the table but we persevered. That is what children do. They don't know how to do anything else. Taking matters into our own hands was out of the question and we had little in the way of resources or powers of resurrection with which to restore the situation. And, there were many situations and maybe too many to recall with any real degree of accuracy. But, the memories linger and will no doubt be with us for a long time if not eternity assuming anything really lasts that long. We can only hope for one memorable occasion at a time so today it is. And, we pray for those less fortunate....Happy Thanksgiving all!
The Elusive Bird
24/11/13 07:30
Hells bells, dude. I know it's hard to believe but Thanksgiving is rolling around again. As I sit here at the computer a little after 7 on a Saturday morning, the temperatures are in the 20's and the wind is howling something fierce. My baby is still in bed and I've been up since a little before 5. The wood stove kept temperatures in the house just above 60 the whole night through as I'd hoped it would. It is only going to get colder from here on in. I can't imagine the wind chill will be pretty out there today and my heart goes out to the homeless folk hereabouts. Hopefully, they are seeking shelter from the brutality of this cold spell. I spent the day yesterday putting away lawnmowers, fixing and buying bird feeders and getting them up and running, and just a bunch of other things that one does before the snow falls. It figures that when you put the feeders up and fill them with the best, freshest, and select seeds that you can find, that the birds are nowhere to be found. Maybe we're putting them up a bit too early this year. Maybe the little furry fuckers don't even start looking until the first snow falls. Well, memo to Johnny. Maybe that's true. What do they want? A bloody invitation? And, this year, we bought a squirrel-proof feeder. Check back in with me in a month or two and I'll tell you how successful or not those furry little bastards have been. My money is on the squirrels.
Evan will be coming home from school in a couple of days. It will be nice to have him around for a change. I suspect we'll not see a lot of him when he's here but that is about what we expect. We do hope that he stays in touch and that he doesn't keep us up half the night every night that he's here. I can't say that we'd much appreciate that. Some fella from school is giving Evan a ride as far as Massachusetts and we'll arrange to pick him up there. There is no snow in the forecast so we'll not fret any more than usual. We asked Ev, did you arrange to get a ride back to school from the same fella? "Why, no," he said. As incredulous as that sounds, that is how the conversation went. We won't have that college material discussion again anytime soon since he seems to be fully engaged so we'll let that take us and him as far as it can. I told Nancy that it will be nice to have Evan come home to a warm house so I'll have a nice fire and we'll let it run while we travel to Massachusetts to pick him up. And, we'll try to make some of his favorite dishes so he can steer clear of that fast food stuff he's been eating at school. What is it with the microwaved meals? We'll have a nice Thanksgiving meal at Nancy's mom's house on Thursday and aside from Evan we're expecting Nancy's sister Debbie to join us. We've asked her to bring Portugese sweet bread so we'll see if she remembers to do that. It will be the first holiday without Nancy's dad since he passed away early this year so we'll do our level best to bring a little holiday cheer to Nancy's mom and the home she now inhabits.
So much for our good friends at Hurd farm. We arrived a little after 2 to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey and found to our dismay that they had distributed all but the smallest of turkeys earlier in the day and if we wanted one we would have to select one of the birds that weighed less than ten pounds. I was disappointed to say the least. There is reportedly a shortage of Butterball turkeys this season so that likely sent a battle cry out across the land that if you wanted a succulent bird of any kind that you would be wise to look early and often or go without. We were quickly falling into the latter category and not feeling good about our prospects. Surely, there must be other options available to us. What, pray tell, would we tell our guests who were planing to come from far and wide to share in our proposed sumptuous feast? Would we serve up something frozen and pass it off as fresh? Would we purchase something sliced and by the pound and pass it off as our own? I began to feel like the only dad on the block without a cabbage patch doll for his daughter sitting beneath the tree on Christmas morning. I was determined to remedy that absurdity that was growing like a cancer inside my brain. Stopping by one of the pricier stores in town, I spied a 16 pounder that looked to be most appropriate in size with the usual qualifiers like no hormones, farm raised, no antibiotics, and all the rest. It was perfect and the day was saved. Cold, but saved. We learned a lesson in our dealings with Hurd and one that should serve us well in the years ahead. Get there as early and as often as you can if you want the best that money can buy. Good advice anyway you slice it. Pass the gravy please....
Evan will be coming home from school in a couple of days. It will be nice to have him around for a change. I suspect we'll not see a lot of him when he's here but that is about what we expect. We do hope that he stays in touch and that he doesn't keep us up half the night every night that he's here. I can't say that we'd much appreciate that. Some fella from school is giving Evan a ride as far as Massachusetts and we'll arrange to pick him up there. There is no snow in the forecast so we'll not fret any more than usual. We asked Ev, did you arrange to get a ride back to school from the same fella? "Why, no," he said. As incredulous as that sounds, that is how the conversation went. We won't have that college material discussion again anytime soon since he seems to be fully engaged so we'll let that take us and him as far as it can. I told Nancy that it will be nice to have Evan come home to a warm house so I'll have a nice fire and we'll let it run while we travel to Massachusetts to pick him up. And, we'll try to make some of his favorite dishes so he can steer clear of that fast food stuff he's been eating at school. What is it with the microwaved meals? We'll have a nice Thanksgiving meal at Nancy's mom's house on Thursday and aside from Evan we're expecting Nancy's sister Debbie to join us. We've asked her to bring Portugese sweet bread so we'll see if she remembers to do that. It will be the first holiday without Nancy's dad since he passed away early this year so we'll do our level best to bring a little holiday cheer to Nancy's mom and the home she now inhabits.
So much for our good friends at Hurd farm. We arrived a little after 2 to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey and found to our dismay that they had distributed all but the smallest of turkeys earlier in the day and if we wanted one we would have to select one of the birds that weighed less than ten pounds. I was disappointed to say the least. There is reportedly a shortage of Butterball turkeys this season so that likely sent a battle cry out across the land that if you wanted a succulent bird of any kind that you would be wise to look early and often or go without. We were quickly falling into the latter category and not feeling good about our prospects. Surely, there must be other options available to us. What, pray tell, would we tell our guests who were planing to come from far and wide to share in our proposed sumptuous feast? Would we serve up something frozen and pass it off as fresh? Would we purchase something sliced and by the pound and pass it off as our own? I began to feel like the only dad on the block without a cabbage patch doll for his daughter sitting beneath the tree on Christmas morning. I was determined to remedy that absurdity that was growing like a cancer inside my brain. Stopping by one of the pricier stores in town, I spied a 16 pounder that looked to be most appropriate in size with the usual qualifiers like no hormones, farm raised, no antibiotics, and all the rest. It was perfect and the day was saved. Cold, but saved. We learned a lesson in our dealings with Hurd and one that should serve us well in the years ahead. Get there as early and as often as you can if you want the best that money can buy. Good advice anyway you slice it. Pass the gravy please....
On a Bender
10/11/13 07:41
I just don't know what got into me yesterday. I got to cleaning the garage and it was all consuming. I had hoped to do other things, like rake some leaves and maybe even take a bike ride, but my focus was on the garage. Nancy was working in Boston for the day, and working Saturday's is clearly unusual for her, so I was on my own. I was looking forward to having the day to myself but had nothing in particular that I wanted to do. I knew that keeping busy was probably a priority and I had given just a little thought to taking Nancy's mom out for coffee later in the afternoon. I knew around noontime that that would not happen. I was immersed in what I was doing. I had a blueprint of sorts in my head or a pathway to success that would take me a number of hours to complete giving me a break for lunch and some late afternoon refreshment but that was about it. I moved stealthily from spot to spot in the garage leaving no areas untouched. There were things to be thrown away; things to be swept and cleared; things to be placed elsewhere; things to be moved from one container to another; and decisions to be made one after the other until the day grew dark. I was clearly in a zone the entire day. I had the energy, the desire, the music, the time, and no distractions whatsoever to take me off my stride. At the end of the day I would turn from time to time to look back at what I'd accomplished and it all seemed so magical were it not for the residual aches and pains that were quick to remind me that it was I who had moved heaven and earth to complete this task. All Nancy wanted to know when she finally got home, since I had told her nothing in our conversations during the day of my task at hand, is if I had thrown anything away. Imagine that.
Fast forward one week. I just did one paragraph last week? I have got to get on the stick. We talked to Evan yesterday. He was asking right off if he could get rid of the corn starch containers in the trash. He does have a thing about concealing this aspect of his life. I'm guessing he would tell no one if he had the choice. We told him that he could and that the containers were probably good to go right in the recycling bin since they are a 1 or 2 on the recycling scale. He gave us an update on his food stuffs and assured us that he was eating well and that he had enough money on his account to last through Thanksgiving. We asked if he was meeting any girls he liked and his response was expectedly dismissive. That is how it always is with that boy. He is just about the most private person you could ever want to know. But, that's Evan. His studies seem to be going ok although he admits to struggling with math and made some reference to a high school teacher who just made matters worse for him. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? We asked him is the Business curriculum was working out for him and he said that it was. My math skills are equally suspect and it made little difference when I was in college since Business has less of a focus on math and more on accounting, spreadsheets, and such. And god only knows that I don't do quantum physics day in and day out in my day job so I'm good to go. I think Evan would do well to stay on his current path and get through as best he can. I'm sure he'll be fine.
I just don't know where the time goes. I had every intention to get a birthday card out to my bro and just never got it done. I do that a lot and it only seems to be getting worse as I get older. But we'll leave that alone. Everything from this day on goes out belated. It will have to do. Did I tell you that I bought an android phone? I wanted to send a message to the good folks at Apple that their upgrades and updates have been less than inspirational since Steve died and my good friends at Samsumg have backfilled my needs nicely. Ironically, it was the iPad that got me hooked on larger screens and shifting from that to the iPhone just never really worked that well. I like having the extra real estate on the Galaxy and it is clearly a more stunning device to play with and use. And, they are catching up in the app department so I'm good with the transition however temporary. I am now hearing that Apple will be coming out with larger screen next year. They are a day late band a dollar short to the party. Where you been, baby??? Are they paying any attention to the trends in the marketplace? We're liking the iPad air though and may well trade up for the holidays and give Nan's device to her sister so she can party on like it's 1999. She has always been very good to us so I have no issues with that at all. We're getting out turkey from Hurd farm this year as we did last year. We're a little late with the deposit so I'm hoping we didn't miss the boat. Deb will be joining us as well. Maybe she can help her mom with the mashed potatoes. Maybe more. She can surprise us.
Fast forward one week. I just did one paragraph last week? I have got to get on the stick. We talked to Evan yesterday. He was asking right off if he could get rid of the corn starch containers in the trash. He does have a thing about concealing this aspect of his life. I'm guessing he would tell no one if he had the choice. We told him that he could and that the containers were probably good to go right in the recycling bin since they are a 1 or 2 on the recycling scale. He gave us an update on his food stuffs and assured us that he was eating well and that he had enough money on his account to last through Thanksgiving. We asked if he was meeting any girls he liked and his response was expectedly dismissive. That is how it always is with that boy. He is just about the most private person you could ever want to know. But, that's Evan. His studies seem to be going ok although he admits to struggling with math and made some reference to a high school teacher who just made matters worse for him. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? We asked him is the Business curriculum was working out for him and he said that it was. My math skills are equally suspect and it made little difference when I was in college since Business has less of a focus on math and more on accounting, spreadsheets, and such. And god only knows that I don't do quantum physics day in and day out in my day job so I'm good to go. I think Evan would do well to stay on his current path and get through as best he can. I'm sure he'll be fine.
I just don't know where the time goes. I had every intention to get a birthday card out to my bro and just never got it done. I do that a lot and it only seems to be getting worse as I get older. But we'll leave that alone. Everything from this day on goes out belated. It will have to do. Did I tell you that I bought an android phone? I wanted to send a message to the good folks at Apple that their upgrades and updates have been less than inspirational since Steve died and my good friends at Samsumg have backfilled my needs nicely. Ironically, it was the iPad that got me hooked on larger screens and shifting from that to the iPhone just never really worked that well. I like having the extra real estate on the Galaxy and it is clearly a more stunning device to play with and use. And, they are catching up in the app department so I'm good with the transition however temporary. I am now hearing that Apple will be coming out with larger screen next year. They are a day late band a dollar short to the party. Where you been, baby??? Are they paying any attention to the trends in the marketplace? We're liking the iPad air though and may well trade up for the holidays and give Nan's device to her sister so she can party on like it's 1999. She has always been very good to us so I have no issues with that at all. We're getting out turkey from Hurd farm this year as we did last year. We're a little late with the deposit so I'm hoping we didn't miss the boat. Deb will be joining us as well. Maybe she can help her mom with the mashed potatoes. Maybe more. She can surprise us.
After the Fact
03/11/13 07:17
I had the best of intentions to keep up my journal while visiting Evan at Pace this past weekend. You know how that goes. It just seemed that I never had the right opportunity to sit down when I needed to sit down and put it all on paper. Maybe it's better looking in the rear view mirror. Time can be a very efficient and useful filter. You can parse out the bad things and tease out the good things. Not sure that is necessary here since , in the words of today's youth, it was all good. Evan was primed and pumped to get away fro the weekend and we were excited to spend some time with him so everyone got what they wanted out of the deal. The trip to NYC on Saturday was a bonus and helped keep us all focused. Ev was the last to get out of bed and the last to have any breakfast but otherwise okay with the trip to the city. He wanted nothing to do with the school and all the fanfare associated with Homecoming weekend. As it was, when we arrived there late Friday afternoon the first thing we noticed was how empty the parking lots were and how few people were milling around given the festivities planned. We also noticed that our concerns about his weight and the length of his hair were a figment of our imagination and nothing more. His hair was a little unruly and his weight solidly in check. Again, all good. We had hugs all around and it was good to see him after not seeing him for the better part of 2 months.
He was the same old Ev. That's about all you can ask for. We had a nice dinner in town at a nice little Italian restaurant. The food was good but the company was better. We got caught up in a hurry and it was nice hearing what he had to say about the school, his friends, his activities, and his concerns. In a nutshell, I guess I would say that everything was going pretty well. More important than his grades perhaps is just how he is adjusting to the campus and the social life that it has to offer. He admitted quite freely that he was not as connected as he might like to be but was working on all of that. All of his observations were, well, the kind of observations that you would expect him to make. He is a relentless observer and has always been a relentless observer. From his early days at Montessori to the present he is the kind of guy who never jumps in with both feet but stands back and assesses, and assess, and assesses before proceeding. As it relates to the social scene in which he finds himself, he knows where he wants to end up but is not quite there yet. More importantly, he is patient and knows that he will arrive with bells on when the time comes. That's ok. We can live with that. Better not to be too impulsive anyway.
We took him for a haircut on Saturday morning before going into the city. Looking for a place to have his hair cut was a bit of a hairdo in and of itself. There are salons, barbers, and not much in between. We would have given a king's ransom for a Supercuts but we found everything but a Supercuts. When we finally found a place that he was willing to go into, we stood out in the parking lot on a day that was pristine in every way and waited while he got his hair cut. We couldn't see into the shop but counted down the minutes and believed that the longer he was in the shop the better things were probably going. He emerged with a big smile on his face and we watching him walk down the walkway while catching a reflection of his new haircut in the store windows. It looked nice. It really did. It was not appreciably shorter but it was cut, styled, and pimped so he was good. And then he processed to wear that stupid fucking hoody when we got into the city. He blended in with all the other homeboys walking 42nd street and I was a little worried that we night see a turf war break out before our eyes so we kept our distance. Not sure what he was hiding from or otherwise trying to project but it was troubling in a weird sort of way. Maybe it was his way of taking it all in without being obvious about it. We let it be as we always do and went about our business. We took in the Museum of Modern Art where we had a little lunch (Ev had nothing because he was worried about the peanut thing) and proceeded to walk down to Central Park along 42nd street. Our last stop for the day, if you put aside the Apple store in Grand Central Station, was Chipolte where Ev grabbed a burrito. It was a really very nice and memorable trip into the city. I suspect we'll be heading down there again when we get down to Pace to see Ev.
On Sunday, we all carried groceries up to Ev's room and had him give us a little tour of the campus before we hit the road to go back to NH. It was a splendid visit to be sure and I think it did a lot for his frame of mind. If nothing else, he has some pretty good things to eat in his room and he won't have to worry about going out for food if he is not otherwise in the mood.
He was the same old Ev. That's about all you can ask for. We had a nice dinner in town at a nice little Italian restaurant. The food was good but the company was better. We got caught up in a hurry and it was nice hearing what he had to say about the school, his friends, his activities, and his concerns. In a nutshell, I guess I would say that everything was going pretty well. More important than his grades perhaps is just how he is adjusting to the campus and the social life that it has to offer. He admitted quite freely that he was not as connected as he might like to be but was working on all of that. All of his observations were, well, the kind of observations that you would expect him to make. He is a relentless observer and has always been a relentless observer. From his early days at Montessori to the present he is the kind of guy who never jumps in with both feet but stands back and assesses, and assess, and assesses before proceeding. As it relates to the social scene in which he finds himself, he knows where he wants to end up but is not quite there yet. More importantly, he is patient and knows that he will arrive with bells on when the time comes. That's ok. We can live with that. Better not to be too impulsive anyway.
We took him for a haircut on Saturday morning before going into the city. Looking for a place to have his hair cut was a bit of a hairdo in and of itself. There are salons, barbers, and not much in between. We would have given a king's ransom for a Supercuts but we found everything but a Supercuts. When we finally found a place that he was willing to go into, we stood out in the parking lot on a day that was pristine in every way and waited while he got his hair cut. We couldn't see into the shop but counted down the minutes and believed that the longer he was in the shop the better things were probably going. He emerged with a big smile on his face and we watching him walk down the walkway while catching a reflection of his new haircut in the store windows. It looked nice. It really did. It was not appreciably shorter but it was cut, styled, and pimped so he was good. And then he processed to wear that stupid fucking hoody when we got into the city. He blended in with all the other homeboys walking 42nd street and I was a little worried that we night see a turf war break out before our eyes so we kept our distance. Not sure what he was hiding from or otherwise trying to project but it was troubling in a weird sort of way. Maybe it was his way of taking it all in without being obvious about it. We let it be as we always do and went about our business. We took in the Museum of Modern Art where we had a little lunch (Ev had nothing because he was worried about the peanut thing) and proceeded to walk down to Central Park along 42nd street. Our last stop for the day, if you put aside the Apple store in Grand Central Station, was Chipolte where Ev grabbed a burrito. It was a really very nice and memorable trip into the city. I suspect we'll be heading down there again when we get down to Pace to see Ev.
On Sunday, we all carried groceries up to Ev's room and had him give us a little tour of the campus before we hit the road to go back to NH. It was a splendid visit to be sure and I think it did a lot for his frame of mind. If nothing else, he has some pretty good things to eat in his room and he won't have to worry about going out for food if he is not otherwise in the mood.
Homecoming Weekend
25/10/13 07:00
Evan has been away at Pace for a little less than two months now. It is interesting to note that one of Nancy's most common tirades in the days and months leading up to him going to school in NY was just how far away it was. She would get downright apoplectic at times on the issue and it became something of a rant. I wasn't concerned in the least and I thought it a good thing if anything. It went a long way towards separating him from those would steer him in the wrong direction and would effectively reset his clock so to speak. I would agree with my darling in one respect. If he did have any health issues then it may be a bit of problem to lend him a hand. Again, these are things he is going to have to take care of himself and this is a good opportunity to throw caution to the wind and see where it takes us. At a minimum, he will have the support he needs if something does happen. But I digress. So we come full circle to the day we knew would come sooner or later. It is time to attend his homecoming weekend at Pace and we have a bit of a drive to take to get there. Not only has Nancy not even mentioned the drive but she is actually looking forward to it. The prospects of seeing her son after one of the most prolonged absences in their time to together on this planet is dominating in every respect and a drive however long pales in comparison. It's funny how that works.
Should I be concerned about the amount of food that we're carting down to Pleasantville, NY? It's portable enough but four flats of water? Really? They do have a cafeteria so what the hey. Is that the miserly side of Evan we're seeing? Is it the hungry boy who never misses a meal and dare not due to his condition? Are there hoarding tendencies at play here? He has plenty of money on his card at school so that isn't an issue. That said, you know how he is when it comes to money. I think he simply doesn't like spending it. Even when he has it he doesn't like spending it. You would think he grew up on the other side of the tracks where money was a scarce commodity and you pinched and skirted wherever you could just to get by. He is so miserly that he doesn't even like to spend our money. How miserly is that? He does have a refrigerator and a microwave but doesn't have the means to get back and forth to a market so maybe that is the issue. We picked up some cans of chicken noodle soup; microwavable mac and cheese meals; Pop Tarts; protein drinks; flats of Poland Spring Water; and lots of other little things which we'll be delivering today. He mentioned something about turkey which I found to be odd but maybe what he is really wanting is more protein. We can buy that down there, we told him. Your momma will make some nice pumpkin muffins today and we'll see if we can't get you the antiperspirant you were wanting. And it doesn't look like we'll be delivering the iPhone we promised. Something having to do with supply and demand so you will have to wait.
I just picked up a new Netgear Nighthawk 1900 router. It is one of the most powerful routers on the planet bar none. Still can't get that bloody Time Machine to work but I'm not done with that puppy yet. It's an Apple product so it should work right out of the box. Right? Not so much. But the new router is splendid in every respect. It performs as advertised. Gone are the dead spots, the dreaded drops, the long distance waning and all the rest. It will no doubt prove to be a fine addition to our existing networking apparatus and an upgrade worthy of the name. Apple is offering a few new upgrades that I may be interested in taking a look at. Don't know about Maverick the operating system. There is always the issue of incompatibilities which I seem to run into quite often when I try as I might to hang on to these old programs I have. It is technology's way of telling you that it is time to move on. I'm also reminded that this new operating system was built to accommodate my early 2008 Mac Pro but it is the last of the line. When the successor to Maverick is released in the future, my machine will officially be declared a dinosaur. No longer ready for prime time. No longer able to meet the demands of the new and nifty programs available on the market. Simply not supported as they say.
Should I be concerned about the amount of food that we're carting down to Pleasantville, NY? It's portable enough but four flats of water? Really? They do have a cafeteria so what the hey. Is that the miserly side of Evan we're seeing? Is it the hungry boy who never misses a meal and dare not due to his condition? Are there hoarding tendencies at play here? He has plenty of money on his card at school so that isn't an issue. That said, you know how he is when it comes to money. I think he simply doesn't like spending it. Even when he has it he doesn't like spending it. You would think he grew up on the other side of the tracks where money was a scarce commodity and you pinched and skirted wherever you could just to get by. He is so miserly that he doesn't even like to spend our money. How miserly is that? He does have a refrigerator and a microwave but doesn't have the means to get back and forth to a market so maybe that is the issue. We picked up some cans of chicken noodle soup; microwavable mac and cheese meals; Pop Tarts; protein drinks; flats of Poland Spring Water; and lots of other little things which we'll be delivering today. He mentioned something about turkey which I found to be odd but maybe what he is really wanting is more protein. We can buy that down there, we told him. Your momma will make some nice pumpkin muffins today and we'll see if we can't get you the antiperspirant you were wanting. And it doesn't look like we'll be delivering the iPhone we promised. Something having to do with supply and demand so you will have to wait.
I just picked up a new Netgear Nighthawk 1900 router. It is one of the most powerful routers on the planet bar none. Still can't get that bloody Time Machine to work but I'm not done with that puppy yet. It's an Apple product so it should work right out of the box. Right? Not so much. But the new router is splendid in every respect. It performs as advertised. Gone are the dead spots, the dreaded drops, the long distance waning and all the rest. It will no doubt prove to be a fine addition to our existing networking apparatus and an upgrade worthy of the name. Apple is offering a few new upgrades that I may be interested in taking a look at. Don't know about Maverick the operating system. There is always the issue of incompatibilities which I seem to run into quite often when I try as I might to hang on to these old programs I have. It is technology's way of telling you that it is time to move on. I'm also reminded that this new operating system was built to accommodate my early 2008 Mac Pro but it is the last of the line. When the successor to Maverick is released in the future, my machine will officially be declared a dinosaur. No longer ready for prime time. No longer able to meet the demands of the new and nifty programs available on the market. Simply not supported as they say.
A Real Conversation
13/10/13 08:06
It's funny how things change over time. Evan called us from Pace the other night and we were on the phone for the better part of an hour with him. Nancy was having the conversation and I was sitting close by but not paying especially close attention. Not because I wasn't interested but because I was otherwise occupied doing something on the computer. I was distracted here and there when the tone of the conversation changed or when they were discussing a subject matter that was of more of less interest to me. It wasn't until the conversation was over, or maybe this occurred to me a good ways into the give and take of the chat, that this chat was different. It was different than any other chat I had ever heard between the two of them. It was, and I told Nancy this after the fact, perhaps the first real conversation I had ever heard between the two of them as adults. A real honest to goodness exchange of thoughts, feelings, concerns, pleasantries, and everything you might expect to hear in such a conversation.
The fact that it went on for an hour or more should tell you something. What it told me is that Evan wanted to speak to his mom candidly and without reservation. His thoughts were organized and well thought out and I began to think while listening to him that his being away at school was a good thing. He was learning and benefiting from his newfound independence but he has a ways to travel yet. He had concerns about not getting enough exercise; not eating the right foods; not getting the grades he thinks he deserves in the courses that he is taking; not getting a haircut as soon as he might have liked to; that his friends might think it odd if we brought too many flats of water to his room when we visit later this month; and concerns aside, he was very appreciative of the care package that his mom had sent within the last week. It was a nice package replete with her home bake cookies, clothes that he had asked to have sent, and some other miscellaneous items that he wasn't expecting and that I can't think of at the moment. I think that the conversation, while necessary from Evan's point of view, was restorative for his mom. It was a clear reminder to her that he was his mother's son. That concept has been adrift for too long now no thanks to Evan and his sometimes belligerent behavior. Perhaps the tide is changing. It couldn't come at a better time with Evan living and learning so many miles away.
I'm not sure where it all started with Nancy but it has been a pervasive character trait going back a number of years that seems to be getting worse with time. I think I first noticed it when she would lament the fact that some planned event or other did not or could not take place because of the weather. Oh, those poor people, she would say. They put so much work, time, money, and effort into putting this together only to have their efforts go to waste because no on attends these sorts of things in bad weather. I get that. Her sympathies have contorted and twisted over the years and they now extend to businesses on the brink, sole proprietors scratching out an existence at a local roadside stand, or some lost soul selling their wares on the internet. It has somehow become her responsibility to make sure that their businesses not only survive but that they thrive under her so-called stewardship. God forbid they should fail. So she does her personal best to make sure that that doesn't happen. It is a particular pastime that seems to give her pleasure so I'm careful not to go out of my way to say anything. Not that it would make a difference, of course. So I endure and forgive her her proclivities when and where her happiness is concerned. Is that not a husband's core chore? Indeed it is. And so it goes.
The fact that it went on for an hour or more should tell you something. What it told me is that Evan wanted to speak to his mom candidly and without reservation. His thoughts were organized and well thought out and I began to think while listening to him that his being away at school was a good thing. He was learning and benefiting from his newfound independence but he has a ways to travel yet. He had concerns about not getting enough exercise; not eating the right foods; not getting the grades he thinks he deserves in the courses that he is taking; not getting a haircut as soon as he might have liked to; that his friends might think it odd if we brought too many flats of water to his room when we visit later this month; and concerns aside, he was very appreciative of the care package that his mom had sent within the last week. It was a nice package replete with her home bake cookies, clothes that he had asked to have sent, and some other miscellaneous items that he wasn't expecting and that I can't think of at the moment. I think that the conversation, while necessary from Evan's point of view, was restorative for his mom. It was a clear reminder to her that he was his mother's son. That concept has been adrift for too long now no thanks to Evan and his sometimes belligerent behavior. Perhaps the tide is changing. It couldn't come at a better time with Evan living and learning so many miles away.
I'm not sure where it all started with Nancy but it has been a pervasive character trait going back a number of years that seems to be getting worse with time. I think I first noticed it when she would lament the fact that some planned event or other did not or could not take place because of the weather. Oh, those poor people, she would say. They put so much work, time, money, and effort into putting this together only to have their efforts go to waste because no on attends these sorts of things in bad weather. I get that. Her sympathies have contorted and twisted over the years and they now extend to businesses on the brink, sole proprietors scratching out an existence at a local roadside stand, or some lost soul selling their wares on the internet. It has somehow become her responsibility to make sure that their businesses not only survive but that they thrive under her so-called stewardship. God forbid they should fail. So she does her personal best to make sure that that doesn't happen. It is a particular pastime that seems to give her pleasure so I'm careful not to go out of my way to say anything. Not that it would make a difference, of course. So I endure and forgive her her proclivities when and where her happiness is concerned. Is that not a husband's core chore? Indeed it is. And so it goes.
Johnny Yuma
28/09/13 06:16
I have to say. Mrs G (Nana) does love her iPad. I think the only thing she does with it is play chess but I could be wrong. I give it a tweak or two from time to time just to make sure that everything is up to date but she is otherwise on her own. She is quick to tell us that she just loves the device. I can imagine that we should have given her one a long time ago although we all know they are a somewhat recent innovation. Even I, who loves internet radio and has looked long and hard for alternatives to same because of the cost involved, find that the iPad delivers in spades all the internet radio that I can possibly consume. Some of it is even pricey and that would be mainly Sirius. But I digress. I do think the pad has helped to fill a hole in Mrs G's life made conspicuous by the rather abrupt departure of her beloved husband earlier this year. There is only so much that your neighbors, sons, and daughters can offer in the way of consolation once the day is done and you are left to your own devices (pun intended.) This is a good thing. I don't even think that an updated device is necessary all things considered. Perhaps a smaller device might be nice. I am just not of the mind to change it up on her just when she is starting to get attached to it. So we'll leave that alone and that will be that. Some things, you know, are better left alone.
Not sure how Nancy got caught up watching the television show "Johnny Yuma" week in and week out. It is a western filmed in the fifties about a journal writing rebel roaming the Midwest in the mid 1800's after the end of the civil war. I've seen some episodes myself where I've seen actors like John Carradine and others from that generation whose careers have spanned decades since. I can't say that my dedication is as sweet or prolonged as is Nancy's but we'll leave that alone. I can take it or leave it. But our schedules on Saturday morning have been forever altered and adjusted so that Nancy can watch her show at the appointed hour. If we were smart we would find a way to put that show on tape and not be a slave to the clock or the show. I think that is not so easy these days with cable TV. Can we even tape a show without engaging the services of Comcast and an accompanying DVR? Whatever happened to the days when you plugged in your VCR and you were good to go? Things came to a head this past week when Comcast completed their conversion to digital and we lost all of our channels. We lost the 4.1's, 5.1's, etc. Well, my darling couldn't bear the thought of losing her Johnny Yuma so off I went to the local Comcast office to take care of business. We now have everything but high definition since I download that content and we are good to go. Good ole Johnny-be-good.
Evan called earlier this week from school. Seems he was on his way home and got stuck at a bus stop and was feeling a little exposed so asked that we stay on the line with him. Maybe he didn't ask that specific question but we could tell that that was the unofficial backdrop of the conversation. Since we only talk to him once a week we didn't complain about this unscheduled call. You can never hear enough from your children when they are not by your side. The greater the distance, the greater the need to hear from them. I think the gist was that he stopped for a bite to eat after once of his classes and got lost in the shuffle somehow and just found himself on the wrong side of the bus schedule. All of a sudden there was a lot to talk about. A lot to catch up on. We tell ourselves after every conversation with him that we should tape the conversations for posterity. I think we may pick that up this coming weekend when we speak to him again. We're probably better off not telling him that we're taping. He's funny that way.
Not sure how Nancy got caught up watching the television show "Johnny Yuma" week in and week out. It is a western filmed in the fifties about a journal writing rebel roaming the Midwest in the mid 1800's after the end of the civil war. I've seen some episodes myself where I've seen actors like John Carradine and others from that generation whose careers have spanned decades since. I can't say that my dedication is as sweet or prolonged as is Nancy's but we'll leave that alone. I can take it or leave it. But our schedules on Saturday morning have been forever altered and adjusted so that Nancy can watch her show at the appointed hour. If we were smart we would find a way to put that show on tape and not be a slave to the clock or the show. I think that is not so easy these days with cable TV. Can we even tape a show without engaging the services of Comcast and an accompanying DVR? Whatever happened to the days when you plugged in your VCR and you were good to go? Things came to a head this past week when Comcast completed their conversion to digital and we lost all of our channels. We lost the 4.1's, 5.1's, etc. Well, my darling couldn't bear the thought of losing her Johnny Yuma so off I went to the local Comcast office to take care of business. We now have everything but high definition since I download that content and we are good to go. Good ole Johnny-be-good.
Evan called earlier this week from school. Seems he was on his way home and got stuck at a bus stop and was feeling a little exposed so asked that we stay on the line with him. Maybe he didn't ask that specific question but we could tell that that was the unofficial backdrop of the conversation. Since we only talk to him once a week we didn't complain about this unscheduled call. You can never hear enough from your children when they are not by your side. The greater the distance, the greater the need to hear from them. I think the gist was that he stopped for a bite to eat after once of his classes and got lost in the shuffle somehow and just found himself on the wrong side of the bus schedule. All of a sudden there was a lot to talk about. A lot to catch up on. We tell ourselves after every conversation with him that we should tape the conversations for posterity. I think we may pick that up this coming weekend when we speak to him again. We're probably better off not telling him that we're taping. He's funny that way.
Tis the Season
22/09/13 07:48
I think today is the first day of Fall, 2013. So far so good. Don't know where this year has gone but gone it has. I best get to thinking about the upcoming holidays and what that means. And then there is 2014. Where the hell has the time gone? I hope someone is paying attention because I'm certainly not. I'm along for the ride day in and day out. Fact of the matter is that none of us has any control over anything except that which passes our lips for the usual three squares a day. Even then, I'm not sure that a lot of what passes our lips isn't determined by habit and good old commercial advertising. Just look at the boxes of Cheerios sitting in bags still unpacked on our kitchen table. More importantly, perhaps, is what we put on those Cheerios and where those little ditties come from. I'm talking berries. Lots of berries. Blueberries. Strawberries. Raspberries. I think Nancy may have even come home with blackberries once. Oh, yes. Mrs Marple is plying her goods and Nancy is taking full advantage. Even when the season has come and gone for one or all of the varieties, Mrs Marple has berries for all who want them. What I want to know is where precisely do they come from. Does he have a magic garden of sorts where fruits and vegetables grow year around? Seems odd enough but who am I to ask the question. Nancy spends a small fortune there and divulges little about how much she really spends. It's probably better that way. I keep my comments to myself and gobble up those berries like nobody's business at every chance. Besides, the season is long gone and soon the berries will be gone as well. Or, will they?
The bike riding is going well. I find myself rushing out the door at work at the hour of 5 to try to make it home so I can squeeze a ride in before darkness sets in. It is a race against time without question. Let it be known that I do not object to riding at dusk but don't otherwise trust drivers to see me when it counts. I can even leave the house when it starts to get dark and get back just in time. That is sometimes a 45 minute ride that takes me north on Ocean Boulevard to Atlantic Avenue and back. It's the funniest thing. When I don't really feel like riding I talk myself into it by saying that I will ride as far as Jenness Beach and back. Invariably, by the time I reach Jenness I have a head of steam worked up and I am off to maybe the next milestone which is the large stucco home just north of the surfing area. If I get that far then I am left with one last leg which I don't always make depending on how I feel. It has more to do with how I feel than how light or dark it is out. My last decision, whether I get to Atlantic Ave or not, is always whether or not I stop by Rye Harbor for a little stretch. Since it is so close to home I usually forgo that pleasantry and just get on home. Then, as the night wears on I feel all the goodness that a good bike ride can leave you with and usually in spades. In other words, I never regret it. I regret not going when I don't go but never regret it after the fact. And the feeling is residual in the sense that I can feel the spring in my step the next morning. It is a good thing.
Speaking of biking, did you hear about the two cyclists that were killed I'm Hampton yesterday? There was a biking event of sorts that had hundreds of cyclists beginning their ride in Hampton and riding north through Rye possibly going into Portsmouth. It was a pristine day with temperatures in the 60's and with a full sun overhead. Apparently, a young women in her twenties crossed the center line and plowed into a stream of the riders killing two and injuring a number of others. We're a good 24 hours away from the event and the silence is deafening. Where are the screams for justice? A twenty something doesn't just cross the road in that fashion without being distracted in some way, shape, or form. Were I to guess, I would say that she was on the phone, texting, or doing something along those lines. Why is that question not being asked? Who is protecting this young women? Why is this young woman being protected? Why are the politicians not yelling at the top of their lungs for new laws to protect the innocent from such savagery? Technology is a good thing but there are bodies strewn along the path of progress reminding us that progress doesn't come without a cost. The ultimate cost has to be measured in human lives and there you have it. Where lives are lost, a price must be paid. Bring this woman to justice and let justice have its day in the sun.
The bike riding is going well. I find myself rushing out the door at work at the hour of 5 to try to make it home so I can squeeze a ride in before darkness sets in. It is a race against time without question. Let it be known that I do not object to riding at dusk but don't otherwise trust drivers to see me when it counts. I can even leave the house when it starts to get dark and get back just in time. That is sometimes a 45 minute ride that takes me north on Ocean Boulevard to Atlantic Avenue and back. It's the funniest thing. When I don't really feel like riding I talk myself into it by saying that I will ride as far as Jenness Beach and back. Invariably, by the time I reach Jenness I have a head of steam worked up and I am off to maybe the next milestone which is the large stucco home just north of the surfing area. If I get that far then I am left with one last leg which I don't always make depending on how I feel. It has more to do with how I feel than how light or dark it is out. My last decision, whether I get to Atlantic Ave or not, is always whether or not I stop by Rye Harbor for a little stretch. Since it is so close to home I usually forgo that pleasantry and just get on home. Then, as the night wears on I feel all the goodness that a good bike ride can leave you with and usually in spades. In other words, I never regret it. I regret not going when I don't go but never regret it after the fact. And the feeling is residual in the sense that I can feel the spring in my step the next morning. It is a good thing.
Speaking of biking, did you hear about the two cyclists that were killed I'm Hampton yesterday? There was a biking event of sorts that had hundreds of cyclists beginning their ride in Hampton and riding north through Rye possibly going into Portsmouth. It was a pristine day with temperatures in the 60's and with a full sun overhead. Apparently, a young women in her twenties crossed the center line and plowed into a stream of the riders killing two and injuring a number of others. We're a good 24 hours away from the event and the silence is deafening. Where are the screams for justice? A twenty something doesn't just cross the road in that fashion without being distracted in some way, shape, or form. Were I to guess, I would say that she was on the phone, texting, or doing something along those lines. Why is that question not being asked? Who is protecting this young women? Why is this young woman being protected? Why are the politicians not yelling at the top of their lungs for new laws to protect the innocent from such savagery? Technology is a good thing but there are bodies strewn along the path of progress reminding us that progress doesn't come without a cost. The ultimate cost has to be measured in human lives and there you have it. Where lives are lost, a price must be paid. Bring this woman to justice and let justice have its day in the sun.
It's All About Evan
21/09/13 07:37
Back to the grind. I suspect that Evan is doing the same thing. He's been a Pace a good three weeks now and it's been quiet around here without him. More noticeable is the fact that we just don't worry about him anymore. We don't worry about him not coming home on time; we don't worry that he's not eating properly; we don't worry that he's hanging around with the wrong group of friends; we don't worry about the cops showing up on our doorstep; and that is a tremendous monkey off our backs. It is a good feeling. A freedom almost that we haven't had for a few years now. You would think that with the passing of years that we might be able to worry less about him and that we might well celebrate his growing independence. Not so much. Not with his propensity for foolishness and poor judgment. We don't have a lot of tangible proof to show anyone who might ask for evidence of such things but if we looked carefully enough we might be able to come up with something. We do wonder how he's doing from day to day and we don't hear from him nearly as much as we would like to. We even wonder if he would call at all if we didn't call him. And, we have plenty of reasons to follow up these days.
You may recall that we ordered him a computer before he went to school and had it delivered to school. It took him a good week before he even knew where to go pick up the package. He just wasn't all that concerned. When we told him that we could see that it had been delivered and that we were concerned that it was lying around somewhere he made the incredulous statement that we could just order him another one. What is that boy thinking? Scarier than that is the fact that he wasn't kidding. You can well understand that we were relieved to hear that he had finally picked it up but only after they told him that they didn't have it when he finally figured out where it was.
He told me when I spoke to him that he had "sniped" it out of the corner of his eye and the postal jerks fessed up and handed over the laptop. What were they thinking? His room mate didn't show up and even to this day he is in a room by himself. Now that he finally got his bank card squared away, we see that he is reverting to the mean as it were. He is watching Netflix and has downloaded some computer games now that he has the means to do so. I can rationalize that all away by saying that that the poor boy has yet to make friends, has no room mate to party with, and is on a floor of football players so has little or nothing in common with that group and is on his own. I would deny him a television show from time to time even if it is about meth dealers (Breaking Bad)? I just hope he stays on top of his work since that is the sole purpose for his being there. Nancy was inclined to cancel it but thought better of it after speaking with me and hearing what I had to say on the subject.
If Nancy had known that he was going to be on a campus where breakfast wasn't served until 9am I think she would have asked that he be moved. After all, he ended up there when we found out that there was going to be construction on the main campus and that was a less than ideal environment for a boy with his issues. Evan doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or another so we'll leave that alone for the moment. He doesn't seem to complain about much of anything really. We suggested that he do some sort of intramural something and it looks like he signed up for indoor soccer. That should help him stay on the fit side for a bit. He might even fall in with a group of fellas that are like-minded and on the straight and narrow.
Actually, he has complained a little bit about his history class. Just doesn't like it for some reason. Loosely translated, that may mean trouble for his GPA is he fails to see the bigger picture. You just need to get through these classes with somewhat respectable grades and you'll be good. That is what I would say to him. I may have even done that. And that Monday night class? Seems that it is a class better designed for night school types given the mix of students that Evan speaks of. We intentionally indicated that we did not want him attending classes at night so not sure how he ended up in one. I guess they slot them according to their needs and to hell with the student and their desires.
You may recall that we ordered him a computer before he went to school and had it delivered to school. It took him a good week before he even knew where to go pick up the package. He just wasn't all that concerned. When we told him that we could see that it had been delivered and that we were concerned that it was lying around somewhere he made the incredulous statement that we could just order him another one. What is that boy thinking? Scarier than that is the fact that he wasn't kidding. You can well understand that we were relieved to hear that he had finally picked it up but only after they told him that they didn't have it when he finally figured out where it was.
He told me when I spoke to him that he had "sniped" it out of the corner of his eye and the postal jerks fessed up and handed over the laptop. What were they thinking? His room mate didn't show up and even to this day he is in a room by himself. Now that he finally got his bank card squared away, we see that he is reverting to the mean as it were. He is watching Netflix and has downloaded some computer games now that he has the means to do so. I can rationalize that all away by saying that that the poor boy has yet to make friends, has no room mate to party with, and is on a floor of football players so has little or nothing in common with that group and is on his own. I would deny him a television show from time to time even if it is about meth dealers (Breaking Bad)? I just hope he stays on top of his work since that is the sole purpose for his being there. Nancy was inclined to cancel it but thought better of it after speaking with me and hearing what I had to say on the subject.
If Nancy had known that he was going to be on a campus where breakfast wasn't served until 9am I think she would have asked that he be moved. After all, he ended up there when we found out that there was going to be construction on the main campus and that was a less than ideal environment for a boy with his issues. Evan doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or another so we'll leave that alone for the moment. He doesn't seem to complain about much of anything really. We suggested that he do some sort of intramural something and it looks like he signed up for indoor soccer. That should help him stay on the fit side for a bit. He might even fall in with a group of fellas that are like-minded and on the straight and narrow.
Actually, he has complained a little bit about his history class. Just doesn't like it for some reason. Loosely translated, that may mean trouble for his GPA is he fails to see the bigger picture. You just need to get through these classes with somewhat respectable grades and you'll be good. That is what I would say to him. I may have even done that. And that Monday night class? Seems that it is a class better designed for night school types given the mix of students that Evan speaks of. We intentionally indicated that we did not want him attending classes at night so not sure how he ended up in one. I guess they slot them according to their needs and to hell with the student and their desires.
Lake George Vacation 2013
14/09/13 06:41
Good morning. It's Tuesday, September 2nd, 2013, and the first day after Labor Day. My fingers are doing the best they can to get adjusted to this keyboard so we'll leave that alone. But we're here on Lake George vacationing after the summer crowds have come and gone. It is just the way I like it. Quiet. Serene. Simple.
Getting here was half the battle. More than half the battle this year since it is Evan's first year at Pace University and dropping him off over the weekend was the main objective. Everything and anything more than that was just gravy. We went down on Saturday and spent the night at a local Marriot so we could be up and adam when the time came to drop him off. It's a good 4 hour trip from New Hampshire so going down early was not a bad idea. It required little or no coercing to get everyone on board so that is what we did.
The car was packed and we even used the Thule on top of the car to hold the bedding. It was the second time we've used it since buying it some years ago so that all worked out. We even brought our bikes so we could use them when we arrived at Lake George. The day we dropped him off it was threatening rain and even rained a bit as we were taking everything out of the car. We saw a lot of parents moving stuff here and there but not so much with the kids. That should tell you something about who was more eager to finalize everything.
I think his building was referred to as the Hillside dorm. We learned after the fact that it is mostly football players who they house there although we saw none of them the day we move Evan in. I think Evan ended up there after Nancy complained that he needed to stay off the main campus due to the impending construction. Good ole Briar Cliff campus. It was larger and more expansive than I had imagined. Definitely not a satellite location with a smattering of housing. His building houses half women and half men as is probably the practice of most schools. It was a two story building built in the 70's if I had to guess. His room was spacious as dorm rooms can be spacious and there seemed to be ample room to store everything that he brought. I was even surprised at the amount of room he had under the bed. That was not lost on him and he shoved a few containers beneath the bed as soon as we started to move him in.
His room mate was not planning to move in for a bit so Evan had the place to himself which was nice. It just gave us room to maneuver and we needed it. Evan chose the bed near the window and that was one benefit of moving in first. He got to select which desk he wanted to use and his roomie got the other one. The lighting was horrendously bad and I'm curious as to how they consider themselves an educational institution when they fail to supply the lighting necessary for the students to do their work. Maybe they prefer the students spend their time in the library. Who knows.
I'm guessing that we took a good two hours or more to move him in. It was not as logistically nightmarish as we thought it would be so that was good. His room was at the end of the hall and that may simply mean that it is quieter than most and not a problem for those students who prefer to be off the beaten path. Did we tell you that he didn't even have any soap? Either he didn't pack it or we forgot to leave it with him. That should dovetail with his lack of attention to the such things as of late. Nancy even commented that he may well let his hair go and I replied that if that was the worst of it then we could well deal with that. He has always taken care of his hair in getting it cut timely and needed nothing from us other than to pay from time to time.
The one task that we failed miserably at was hanging his poster. The tape or adhesive that Nancy brought didn't work particularly well so the print was not up ten minutes when it fell off the wall. That did not please Evan. We left it propped up on his dresser and that was that. He hung all of his coats; then all of his tee shirts; then folded the rest of the tee shirts and put them away in his drawer. He tucked his shoes away at the end of his bed and seemed pleased that the bedding worked out as well as it did. His momma took particular attention to getting him a comforter cover that looked nice and the flannel was sure to come in handy come winter. Immediately outside his window were trees that he could just about touch and a nice deciduous tree that would be pretty when the snow starts to fall. I silently hoped that it would not be too cold with his bed near the windows which ran practically from floor to ceiling.
The one last chore that we took care of was going into town to get him a flat of water before we left. It was a warm day and he complained a few times about the heat. He had a nice fan which we left on during the time were there and it provided some relief. Once we found out how to get off campus we left to go to town for the water. The one surprise with the water was just how expensive it was. College town indeed. They see these kids coming and hike the prices accordingly. Bastards. Who do they think is footing the bill? The parents, you stupid fucks. That is probably the point. Duh! His momma got him to pose with the numbers "13" denoting his thirteenth year of school. Just like all the years before. There were no neighbors in the picture this time. No Jeremy Jackson's; No Chloe Walton's; just Evan. It was a little sad actually. As was his practice, he did it for his mom. Had he his druthers, he would have not done it at all. Maybe it was his way of saying thank you to his momma for all she did in getting him to this point in his life. The gesture was not lost on me and probably not lost on his momma.
We hugged our son one last time and wished him well before heading out. We were going north to lake George for the week without him. That was Sunday. Today is Tuesday. We were on our way to have dinner at 5 Guys last night in Glens Falls when he called. That was the first time we had heard from him since we left. He sounded a little sad but he sometimes sounds that way anyway so we were not concerned. His roomie was now on board but Evan was not hanging with him. Evan had been to the main campus a couple of times but had not taken the shuttle. He commented about having so much money on his debit card and he was satisfied that he could purchase everything and anything he wanted and was not limited to $10 a day. That was a relief given his eating habits and the need that he has to eat frequently.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2013
The war drums continue to beat away as the US looks to Congress to approve an attack against Syria. Our fearless leader (Obama) is looking to bolster his sagging ratings and will do anything to get back into the good graces of the american public. It's the old weapons of mass destruction argument that Bush used when invading Iraq but it's altogether different when the Democrats do it. Syria has allegedly used chemical weapons against its own people and the assholes in the US government have taken it upon themselves to preach their brand of self righteousness to those on the planet who don't tow the line.
The British parliament voted against the action so Obama gang will launch their missiles unilaterally if the Congress votes against the action in the same fashion. In the meantime, the US has telegraphed its intentions so the Syrian government has sufficient time to disperse its assets, reposition it's forces, and take whatever action is necessary to blunt the impact of a missile strike by the US. There will be no boots on the ground and this will be a limited action as they like to tell the US public. Who the fuck are they kidding? Don't look to Rhino's like Baynor and McCain to represent the conservatives amongst us because they are on the Obama bandwagon like nobody's business. It makes you wonder what the NSA has on them. And don't get me going on Lindsey Graham. He is a Nancy like no other.
So now I have to worry about where Dell delivered that damn laptop? It shows up as "delivered" on the FedEx website but Evan says they have no package for him in the mail room. Now what the fuck do we do? Should I have had that thing sent certified? Should I have insured it? How long do we wait before taking this up with someone? It pisses me off. Maybe Evan went to the wrong mailroom. Maybe they delivered it to the wrong address or even the wrong campus. He has his first class today and he called last night looking for information that was contained in an e-mail a week ago or so. How typical is that of him? How do you think he sounded, Nancy asked. She had him on speaker so I heard every word and it sounded like he was in something of a rush to move the conversation along. That was my take. He didn't sound concerned about the laptop so I don't know what to make of that. And then the conversation was over and he was gone.
It's a beautifully bright and deliciously sunny morning here on Assembly Point, Lake George. The temperatures are what you might expect this time of the year; cool and comfortable. Shards of sunlight are streaking across the hardwood floors as I look up from my computer screen and I can feel the cool air of the morning making its way across the room towards me. This house faces the east side of the lake and the sun comes over mountains that I know so well. The mirror-like sheen that lay across the lake like a velvet blanket overnight now ripples with excitement and moves deliberately with the morning breezes. Like the day before, it will be a quiet day on the lake. The summer crowds have abandoned their dreams and those of their children for the realities of life that take them back to their jobs, their schools, their lives, and the lake returns to its somnamulent state awaiting their return. Who says lakes don't have memories?
We had dinner last night with Kathy, Lise, and Denise. I wanted to take them out for dinner where we might have some polite conversation and good company. I chose the San Souci based on reputation and experience and hoped that with the summer crowds now out of the way we might have a better chance of getting a table and a decent meal. It surprised me to learn that neither Lise or Denise had ever been to that restaurant but it wasn't out of the question entirely since this neighborhood was not one they spent much time in as children. The food was not as good as I remembered although I don't know that it made that much of a difference. We enjoyed the non-stop conversation and it came as no surprise that recollections varied of days and people past. Denise may have made the biggest impression with her comment about type 1 diabetes but there were bigger fish to fry so we moved on to topics far and wide before the night was over.
It was decidedly fun and good to talk so candidly about so many things with the sisters. I'm not sure we have ever done that before but we should surely do it again.
Saturday, September 6th, 2013
Greetings from Assembly Point, Lake George, NY. This is our last day for this year vacationing in this neck of the woods. It is also the first year in more than I can remember when we have not had Evan with us. We dropped him off a week ago at Pace University. Our time here without Evan has been quite different. I remarked to Nancy yesterday that had he and Noah been with us we surely would have spent a lot more time on the water boating, skiing, etc. I think we did exactly what we wanted to do and that didn't always involve boating or otherwise being on the water. I must say that the highlight, at least for me, was swimming in Sandy Bay yesterday. I could have stayed in all day had we not other places to go and people to meet. Well, places to go anyway.
The weather has been that nice. Just as you might expect at this time of the year in the Adirondack's. There were a couple of mornings where the local forecast called for frost. I never woke up even once to a totally calm morning on the water and there has always been at the very least a little chop on the lake. That is a little unusual. I spent next to no time fishing since I thought the better of it given my shoulder pain. Whatever I did, I wish I hadn't. But, swimming in the bay yesterday afforded me a certain weightlessness that took away any and all pain and I swung my arms beneath the water while treading without a scintilla of pain. It was simply luxurious.
I don't know why but these walkers here on Assembly Point are getting on my nerves. They are fanatical in their strides, strident in their intent, and dedicated to their routines. Had I a slingshot I might be tempted to ping one or two of them just to hear them squeal in abject annoyance. How dare he? Well, I dare. Not really. Maybe you get used to them if you live here long enough. Maybe you learn to love them and even give them a wave or two now and then. Maybe the day would come where you invite them to stop long enough to have a chat and maybe a frosty one weather permitting. They are mostly women as far as I can tell. Middle aged women with nothing but time on their hands with their husbands away at work. They walk together for safety in numbers and a little cameraderie while they get in their daily exercise. They have by now, taken their surroundings for granted and have long lost whatever appreciation they once had for the beauty of the area in which they live, walk, and love. Perhaps the seasons and the changing of same change it up just enough to restore whatever it is that they lose or have lost. Mother Nature, can and will, give you a bitch slap from time to time if you lose sight of her beauty. Women can be fickle that way.
Nancy and I cruised to Bolton Landing one day; Went to Lake George Village another day; Had a time in Sandy Bay another day; and went to Saratoga one other day. Did I tell you that we ate at the Bryant Inn in Saratoga? We also had dinner at Coopers Cave in Glens Falls and had a cone to go. Now, that is coffee ice cream! The cave was mobbed and we should have known that going there on a Friday night was and could be problematic. Our waiter could have learned a thing or two about famished patrons and the need to put something, anything, in front of them as soon as they were seated. I don't hear Nancy complain often about low blood sugar but she did last night and I had a word with the waiter and the side salads followed shortly thereafter. The meal was otherwise good and standard fare. It probably didn't help that they were catering a wedding somewhere in the back and the constant flow of service people carrying this that and the other thing did not go unnoticed. Maybe we should have planned to eat at home more often. Oh, and the pizza at the Harvest was simply the bees knees. Who the fuck came up with that expression?
And, what the bejeezus is going on with Evan. His mom calls him and he doesn't even return her calls. He knows we are trying to get to the bottom of the laptop issue and he is simply not helping. We had it shipped to his school and he simply cannot get to the right mailroom to ask the right questions of the right people. It is complete insanity. The darn thing was not inexpensive and he can't even return our calls. He called last night after promising to call the night before and was short and seemingly in some kind of a hurry and finally hung up on us. What the fuck is he thinking? It is a little soon but he has quite possibly already begun the descent into what we can only describe as a death spiral and final collapse of his short and uneventful college experience. Not sure what precipitated all of this but I'll be damned if he is going to ignore our pleas about this computer thing. It may not matter to him but if that laptop was stolen and not properly accounted for then we will involved the local constabulary until the case is solved and the culprit put behind bars where he or she belongs. He can move on to whatever it is that he moves on to and that will be his choice. He will not be welcome at our home. The nest is closed until further notice.
We are delighted to hear about Carli and her newfound cheerleading activities. I would love to go to one of her games. As it is, there is one today but we are leaving for New Hampshire so will not be in attendance. Perhaps next time. Should we worry about Kathy and her recent injuries? A little physical therapy may be just what the doctor ordered. Not sure where that leaves her when and where her work is involved but it is what it is. She will have to sort through the issues. I do regret not having bought some olive oil while in Saratoga. I think that would have been a nice gift for Rollie for having given us use of his boat for the week. We inquired as well while getting gas for the boat about a detailer and his/her availability. Not sure that is going to work out well either. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Denise does not lose her job at the hospital as that would surely change up her priorities in a hurry. Given her luck, Cliff would have a coronary and without insurance he might be relegated to coverage afforded under some little known aspect of Obamacare. In other words, he would die a slow and painful death before ever getting in to see a physician. She can always take in migrant farm hands to manage the crops. What crops, you say? Good question.
Aside from Evan and his issues, I think Nancy has had a nice vacation. She enjoys her time here and likes the lake nearly as much as I do. I know that she mentioned that she would have liked to swim in Sandy Bay more than she did and that was probably true for me as well. I think she is not wanting to go home since it will remind her how her son is no longer at home and that will be a source of sadness for her. I think the fact that he was seldom home as it was when he was there may go a ways towards easing that pain but that remains to be seen. Perhaps it is her work schedule that she prefers to not want to think about and that I understand. It involves a long commute albeit for only two days a week but painful nonetheless.
All the kings horses and all the kings men can do nothing to change that until she decides that the time has come to stop making the commute. Yes, I think Nancy enjoyed our hike around Long Island as well. The island was quiet but with one or two boaters who had made landfall and could be seen sitting in their chairs by the waters side. We talked about returning next September and perhaps even camping on the island. Not sure that that is even possible once the rangers have taken leave of their posts for the season. Then again, I saw nothing saying that post-season camping was not permitted. Sometimes you have to make it up as you go along. It has been a beautiful week weather wise. Always a smattering of clouds; temperatures never too oppressive; water temperatures warmer than the air itself; and only one day was the lake so rough that we thought better of going out on it in the boat.
And, like every vacation, it is with mixed feelings that we leave this place. I like to think that we will return soon enough and that is a comforting thought. Lake George will always have a special place in my heart and rightly so. I am blessed to have spent as many years in this place as I have and I hope to spend just as many returning after the fact. That is my parting wish. Where would we be without our wishes, our dreams, and places like Lake George in our hearts?
Getting here was half the battle. More than half the battle this year since it is Evan's first year at Pace University and dropping him off over the weekend was the main objective. Everything and anything more than that was just gravy. We went down on Saturday and spent the night at a local Marriot so we could be up and adam when the time came to drop him off. It's a good 4 hour trip from New Hampshire so going down early was not a bad idea. It required little or no coercing to get everyone on board so that is what we did.
The car was packed and we even used the Thule on top of the car to hold the bedding. It was the second time we've used it since buying it some years ago so that all worked out. We even brought our bikes so we could use them when we arrived at Lake George. The day we dropped him off it was threatening rain and even rained a bit as we were taking everything out of the car. We saw a lot of parents moving stuff here and there but not so much with the kids. That should tell you something about who was more eager to finalize everything.
I think his building was referred to as the Hillside dorm. We learned after the fact that it is mostly football players who they house there although we saw none of them the day we move Evan in. I think Evan ended up there after Nancy complained that he needed to stay off the main campus due to the impending construction. Good ole Briar Cliff campus. It was larger and more expansive than I had imagined. Definitely not a satellite location with a smattering of housing. His building houses half women and half men as is probably the practice of most schools. It was a two story building built in the 70's if I had to guess. His room was spacious as dorm rooms can be spacious and there seemed to be ample room to store everything that he brought. I was even surprised at the amount of room he had under the bed. That was not lost on him and he shoved a few containers beneath the bed as soon as we started to move him in.
His room mate was not planning to move in for a bit so Evan had the place to himself which was nice. It just gave us room to maneuver and we needed it. Evan chose the bed near the window and that was one benefit of moving in first. He got to select which desk he wanted to use and his roomie got the other one. The lighting was horrendously bad and I'm curious as to how they consider themselves an educational institution when they fail to supply the lighting necessary for the students to do their work. Maybe they prefer the students spend their time in the library. Who knows.
I'm guessing that we took a good two hours or more to move him in. It was not as logistically nightmarish as we thought it would be so that was good. His room was at the end of the hall and that may simply mean that it is quieter than most and not a problem for those students who prefer to be off the beaten path. Did we tell you that he didn't even have any soap? Either he didn't pack it or we forgot to leave it with him. That should dovetail with his lack of attention to the such things as of late. Nancy even commented that he may well let his hair go and I replied that if that was the worst of it then we could well deal with that. He has always taken care of his hair in getting it cut timely and needed nothing from us other than to pay from time to time.
The one task that we failed miserably at was hanging his poster. The tape or adhesive that Nancy brought didn't work particularly well so the print was not up ten minutes when it fell off the wall. That did not please Evan. We left it propped up on his dresser and that was that. He hung all of his coats; then all of his tee shirts; then folded the rest of the tee shirts and put them away in his drawer. He tucked his shoes away at the end of his bed and seemed pleased that the bedding worked out as well as it did. His momma took particular attention to getting him a comforter cover that looked nice and the flannel was sure to come in handy come winter. Immediately outside his window were trees that he could just about touch and a nice deciduous tree that would be pretty when the snow starts to fall. I silently hoped that it would not be too cold with his bed near the windows which ran practically from floor to ceiling.
The one last chore that we took care of was going into town to get him a flat of water before we left. It was a warm day and he complained a few times about the heat. He had a nice fan which we left on during the time were there and it provided some relief. Once we found out how to get off campus we left to go to town for the water. The one surprise with the water was just how expensive it was. College town indeed. They see these kids coming and hike the prices accordingly. Bastards. Who do they think is footing the bill? The parents, you stupid fucks. That is probably the point. Duh! His momma got him to pose with the numbers "13" denoting his thirteenth year of school. Just like all the years before. There were no neighbors in the picture this time. No Jeremy Jackson's; No Chloe Walton's; just Evan. It was a little sad actually. As was his practice, he did it for his mom. Had he his druthers, he would have not done it at all. Maybe it was his way of saying thank you to his momma for all she did in getting him to this point in his life. The gesture was not lost on me and probably not lost on his momma.
We hugged our son one last time and wished him well before heading out. We were going north to lake George for the week without him. That was Sunday. Today is Tuesday. We were on our way to have dinner at 5 Guys last night in Glens Falls when he called. That was the first time we had heard from him since we left. He sounded a little sad but he sometimes sounds that way anyway so we were not concerned. His roomie was now on board but Evan was not hanging with him. Evan had been to the main campus a couple of times but had not taken the shuttle. He commented about having so much money on his debit card and he was satisfied that he could purchase everything and anything he wanted and was not limited to $10 a day. That was a relief given his eating habits and the need that he has to eat frequently.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2013
The war drums continue to beat away as the US looks to Congress to approve an attack against Syria. Our fearless leader (Obama) is looking to bolster his sagging ratings and will do anything to get back into the good graces of the american public. It's the old weapons of mass destruction argument that Bush used when invading Iraq but it's altogether different when the Democrats do it. Syria has allegedly used chemical weapons against its own people and the assholes in the US government have taken it upon themselves to preach their brand of self righteousness to those on the planet who don't tow the line.
The British parliament voted against the action so Obama gang will launch their missiles unilaterally if the Congress votes against the action in the same fashion. In the meantime, the US has telegraphed its intentions so the Syrian government has sufficient time to disperse its assets, reposition it's forces, and take whatever action is necessary to blunt the impact of a missile strike by the US. There will be no boots on the ground and this will be a limited action as they like to tell the US public. Who the fuck are they kidding? Don't look to Rhino's like Baynor and McCain to represent the conservatives amongst us because they are on the Obama bandwagon like nobody's business. It makes you wonder what the NSA has on them. And don't get me going on Lindsey Graham. He is a Nancy like no other.
So now I have to worry about where Dell delivered that damn laptop? It shows up as "delivered" on the FedEx website but Evan says they have no package for him in the mail room. Now what the fuck do we do? Should I have had that thing sent certified? Should I have insured it? How long do we wait before taking this up with someone? It pisses me off. Maybe Evan went to the wrong mailroom. Maybe they delivered it to the wrong address or even the wrong campus. He has his first class today and he called last night looking for information that was contained in an e-mail a week ago or so. How typical is that of him? How do you think he sounded, Nancy asked. She had him on speaker so I heard every word and it sounded like he was in something of a rush to move the conversation along. That was my take. He didn't sound concerned about the laptop so I don't know what to make of that. And then the conversation was over and he was gone.
It's a beautifully bright and deliciously sunny morning here on Assembly Point, Lake George. The temperatures are what you might expect this time of the year; cool and comfortable. Shards of sunlight are streaking across the hardwood floors as I look up from my computer screen and I can feel the cool air of the morning making its way across the room towards me. This house faces the east side of the lake and the sun comes over mountains that I know so well. The mirror-like sheen that lay across the lake like a velvet blanket overnight now ripples with excitement and moves deliberately with the morning breezes. Like the day before, it will be a quiet day on the lake. The summer crowds have abandoned their dreams and those of their children for the realities of life that take them back to their jobs, their schools, their lives, and the lake returns to its somnamulent state awaiting their return. Who says lakes don't have memories?
We had dinner last night with Kathy, Lise, and Denise. I wanted to take them out for dinner where we might have some polite conversation and good company. I chose the San Souci based on reputation and experience and hoped that with the summer crowds now out of the way we might have a better chance of getting a table and a decent meal. It surprised me to learn that neither Lise or Denise had ever been to that restaurant but it wasn't out of the question entirely since this neighborhood was not one they spent much time in as children. The food was not as good as I remembered although I don't know that it made that much of a difference. We enjoyed the non-stop conversation and it came as no surprise that recollections varied of days and people past. Denise may have made the biggest impression with her comment about type 1 diabetes but there were bigger fish to fry so we moved on to topics far and wide before the night was over.
It was decidedly fun and good to talk so candidly about so many things with the sisters. I'm not sure we have ever done that before but we should surely do it again.
Saturday, September 6th, 2013
Greetings from Assembly Point, Lake George, NY. This is our last day for this year vacationing in this neck of the woods. It is also the first year in more than I can remember when we have not had Evan with us. We dropped him off a week ago at Pace University. Our time here without Evan has been quite different. I remarked to Nancy yesterday that had he and Noah been with us we surely would have spent a lot more time on the water boating, skiing, etc. I think we did exactly what we wanted to do and that didn't always involve boating or otherwise being on the water. I must say that the highlight, at least for me, was swimming in Sandy Bay yesterday. I could have stayed in all day had we not other places to go and people to meet. Well, places to go anyway.
The weather has been that nice. Just as you might expect at this time of the year in the Adirondack's. There were a couple of mornings where the local forecast called for frost. I never woke up even once to a totally calm morning on the water and there has always been at the very least a little chop on the lake. That is a little unusual. I spent next to no time fishing since I thought the better of it given my shoulder pain. Whatever I did, I wish I hadn't. But, swimming in the bay yesterday afforded me a certain weightlessness that took away any and all pain and I swung my arms beneath the water while treading without a scintilla of pain. It was simply luxurious.
I don't know why but these walkers here on Assembly Point are getting on my nerves. They are fanatical in their strides, strident in their intent, and dedicated to their routines. Had I a slingshot I might be tempted to ping one or two of them just to hear them squeal in abject annoyance. How dare he? Well, I dare. Not really. Maybe you get used to them if you live here long enough. Maybe you learn to love them and even give them a wave or two now and then. Maybe the day would come where you invite them to stop long enough to have a chat and maybe a frosty one weather permitting. They are mostly women as far as I can tell. Middle aged women with nothing but time on their hands with their husbands away at work. They walk together for safety in numbers and a little cameraderie while they get in their daily exercise. They have by now, taken their surroundings for granted and have long lost whatever appreciation they once had for the beauty of the area in which they live, walk, and love. Perhaps the seasons and the changing of same change it up just enough to restore whatever it is that they lose or have lost. Mother Nature, can and will, give you a bitch slap from time to time if you lose sight of her beauty. Women can be fickle that way.
Nancy and I cruised to Bolton Landing one day; Went to Lake George Village another day; Had a time in Sandy Bay another day; and went to Saratoga one other day. Did I tell you that we ate at the Bryant Inn in Saratoga? We also had dinner at Coopers Cave in Glens Falls and had a cone to go. Now, that is coffee ice cream! The cave was mobbed and we should have known that going there on a Friday night was and could be problematic. Our waiter could have learned a thing or two about famished patrons and the need to put something, anything, in front of them as soon as they were seated. I don't hear Nancy complain often about low blood sugar but she did last night and I had a word with the waiter and the side salads followed shortly thereafter. The meal was otherwise good and standard fare. It probably didn't help that they were catering a wedding somewhere in the back and the constant flow of service people carrying this that and the other thing did not go unnoticed. Maybe we should have planned to eat at home more often. Oh, and the pizza at the Harvest was simply the bees knees. Who the fuck came up with that expression?
And, what the bejeezus is going on with Evan. His mom calls him and he doesn't even return her calls. He knows we are trying to get to the bottom of the laptop issue and he is simply not helping. We had it shipped to his school and he simply cannot get to the right mailroom to ask the right questions of the right people. It is complete insanity. The darn thing was not inexpensive and he can't even return our calls. He called last night after promising to call the night before and was short and seemingly in some kind of a hurry and finally hung up on us. What the fuck is he thinking? It is a little soon but he has quite possibly already begun the descent into what we can only describe as a death spiral and final collapse of his short and uneventful college experience. Not sure what precipitated all of this but I'll be damned if he is going to ignore our pleas about this computer thing. It may not matter to him but if that laptop was stolen and not properly accounted for then we will involved the local constabulary until the case is solved and the culprit put behind bars where he or she belongs. He can move on to whatever it is that he moves on to and that will be his choice. He will not be welcome at our home. The nest is closed until further notice.
We are delighted to hear about Carli and her newfound cheerleading activities. I would love to go to one of her games. As it is, there is one today but we are leaving for New Hampshire so will not be in attendance. Perhaps next time. Should we worry about Kathy and her recent injuries? A little physical therapy may be just what the doctor ordered. Not sure where that leaves her when and where her work is involved but it is what it is. She will have to sort through the issues. I do regret not having bought some olive oil while in Saratoga. I think that would have been a nice gift for Rollie for having given us use of his boat for the week. We inquired as well while getting gas for the boat about a detailer and his/her availability. Not sure that is going to work out well either. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Denise does not lose her job at the hospital as that would surely change up her priorities in a hurry. Given her luck, Cliff would have a coronary and without insurance he might be relegated to coverage afforded under some little known aspect of Obamacare. In other words, he would die a slow and painful death before ever getting in to see a physician. She can always take in migrant farm hands to manage the crops. What crops, you say? Good question.
Aside from Evan and his issues, I think Nancy has had a nice vacation. She enjoys her time here and likes the lake nearly as much as I do. I know that she mentioned that she would have liked to swim in Sandy Bay more than she did and that was probably true for me as well. I think she is not wanting to go home since it will remind her how her son is no longer at home and that will be a source of sadness for her. I think the fact that he was seldom home as it was when he was there may go a ways towards easing that pain but that remains to be seen. Perhaps it is her work schedule that she prefers to not want to think about and that I understand. It involves a long commute albeit for only two days a week but painful nonetheless.
All the kings horses and all the kings men can do nothing to change that until she decides that the time has come to stop making the commute. Yes, I think Nancy enjoyed our hike around Long Island as well. The island was quiet but with one or two boaters who had made landfall and could be seen sitting in their chairs by the waters side. We talked about returning next September and perhaps even camping on the island. Not sure that that is even possible once the rangers have taken leave of their posts for the season. Then again, I saw nothing saying that post-season camping was not permitted. Sometimes you have to make it up as you go along. It has been a beautiful week weather wise. Always a smattering of clouds; temperatures never too oppressive; water temperatures warmer than the air itself; and only one day was the lake so rough that we thought better of going out on it in the boat.
And, like every vacation, it is with mixed feelings that we leave this place. I like to think that we will return soon enough and that is a comforting thought. Lake George will always have a special place in my heart and rightly so. I am blessed to have spent as many years in this place as I have and I hope to spend just as many returning after the fact. That is my parting wish. Where would we be without our wishes, our dreams, and places like Lake George in our hearts?
Pace Yourself
25/08/13 07:07
We have really had a sensational August. It is the August of our content you might say. It more than makes up for all of the drudgery we endured in June and July. I'm referring to the weather, of course. Our garden continues to flourish and I picked peppers and tomatoes just yesterday. It was a sole pepper I must admit but there appear to be more coming so I will continue to be patient. Maybe there is something to be said for rotating your crops every so often. My tomatoes, at least, have found their sweet spot and we have had a splendid crop thus far. I am not so enamored of the plum tomatoes as they are the least sweet of the crop that I planted earlier this year. Nancy is taking pleasure as well in the well being of her sunflowers and assorted other flowers including the infamous Morning Glory. There is just an abundance of everything and, in retrospect, we should have planted more of everything. I even brought a small container of cherry tomatoes to our neighbors, Betsi and John, which was brimming in goodness and blood red in color. She was most appreciative and left a stalk of horseradish on my car after the fact as we discussed. What, sweet Jesus, am I going to do with that?
One week to go now before we take Evan to school. Ask me if he has done his pre-work. You know the answer. Ask me if I think he is prepared to go to school. You know the answer. He is one of the last of his friends to go off to school and he is determined to not let one night go to waste while there is at least one friend in town. Who knows where he goes. Who knows what video games he's playing. Who knows what beverages he's consuming. Who knows what else he is getting in to. He woke Nancy out of a stupor last night to ask if she might bring him his starch so he could spend the night at his friend's house. They would, no doubt, play video games into the early hours of the morning. The shoot-em-up type video games that turn your mind to mush and make you more likely than not to commit crimes involving guns, death and destruction. This heroin-like addiction has rendered him incapable of logical thought and the putrid substances with which he abuses his body cannot portend well for a so-called-student heading off to school. There is no agent of change that is likely to move the trajectory of his future in any meaningful way so I am dubious that he will find success in school. He will be attracted to like souls and will gravitate to the lowest common denominator in society and in school and will wither even further. So that we're not sending good money after bad, he would do well to fail miserably in his first semester and that would be that. He is a man now and can make his own decisions about these kinds of things. Again, not one of his strengths.
Nancy concerns herself with getting him ready to go to school and is sightly obsessive about everything from floor lamps to sheets. She takes him shopping and she tells me that he cannot concentrate for even a minute to make decisions about things he needs for school. I reminded her that I am no different when and where shopping is concerned and that it more likely a man thing than anything else. He showed particular interest in a print depicting a scene out of "The Great Escape" which is one of his all time favorite movies. Something for his wall at school I suspect. Maybe we should take some comfort in the fact that it is a start however small. Flannel sheets might be nice given that Fall is right around the corner, I suggested. Evan was not receptive to taking two sheets instead of one. Just how serious is this brain malfunction of his? But, he has to have a good supply of boxer shorts. Go figure. And where the bejesus is he going to store all of his starch? It is just as well, and I am more convinced of this than ever, that he is not going to UNH. Some of his buddies are going there so it would be more of the same. This Pace thing will be entirely different and he will have a fresh start so we'll see how it goes. A week from yesterday we'll be making the trip south and dropping him off. It will be a life changing event for all of us. Maybe a little prayer is in order. Dear Jesus...
One week to go now before we take Evan to school. Ask me if he has done his pre-work. You know the answer. Ask me if I think he is prepared to go to school. You know the answer. He is one of the last of his friends to go off to school and he is determined to not let one night go to waste while there is at least one friend in town. Who knows where he goes. Who knows what video games he's playing. Who knows what beverages he's consuming. Who knows what else he is getting in to. He woke Nancy out of a stupor last night to ask if she might bring him his starch so he could spend the night at his friend's house. They would, no doubt, play video games into the early hours of the morning. The shoot-em-up type video games that turn your mind to mush and make you more likely than not to commit crimes involving guns, death and destruction. This heroin-like addiction has rendered him incapable of logical thought and the putrid substances with which he abuses his body cannot portend well for a so-called-student heading off to school. There is no agent of change that is likely to move the trajectory of his future in any meaningful way so I am dubious that he will find success in school. He will be attracted to like souls and will gravitate to the lowest common denominator in society and in school and will wither even further. So that we're not sending good money after bad, he would do well to fail miserably in his first semester and that would be that. He is a man now and can make his own decisions about these kinds of things. Again, not one of his strengths.
Nancy concerns herself with getting him ready to go to school and is sightly obsessive about everything from floor lamps to sheets. She takes him shopping and she tells me that he cannot concentrate for even a minute to make decisions about things he needs for school. I reminded her that I am no different when and where shopping is concerned and that it more likely a man thing than anything else. He showed particular interest in a print depicting a scene out of "The Great Escape" which is one of his all time favorite movies. Something for his wall at school I suspect. Maybe we should take some comfort in the fact that it is a start however small. Flannel sheets might be nice given that Fall is right around the corner, I suggested. Evan was not receptive to taking two sheets instead of one. Just how serious is this brain malfunction of his? But, he has to have a good supply of boxer shorts. Go figure. And where the bejesus is he going to store all of his starch? It is just as well, and I am more convinced of this than ever, that he is not going to UNH. Some of his buddies are going there so it would be more of the same. This Pace thing will be entirely different and he will have a fresh start so we'll see how it goes. A week from yesterday we'll be making the trip south and dropping him off. It will be a life changing event for all of us. Maybe a little prayer is in order. Dear Jesus...
I am Trayvon
11/08/13 08:09
I am Trayvon. No, you're not. Trayvon is dead. Trayvon Martin. A victim of a senseless murder at the hands of a white man or so it was reported by the press. Returning to his home after walking to local store to score a bag of Skittles and he is gunned down in cold blood. That is what the liberal press would have you believe anyway. Truth of the matter is that he was a punk with an attitude and he had the misfortune to cross paths with a neighborhood watchman who took matters into his own hands after getting into a scuffle with Trayvon. In other words, the watchman was defending himself and had every right to do that under the Stand Your Ground law statute in the state of Florida. Skittleboy was on the wrong side of that argument but was otherwise clueless and paid the price. A steep price for sure but a price nonetheless. It is somewhat old news at this juncture but it was on the tip of my tongue so I thought I'd brave a few words on the subject. Sometimes, when there is a dearth of subject matter it doesn't hurt to touch on matters that have not quite played out in their entirety in the national press. We should have the right to protect ourselves and our interests against those who would presume differently. I don't care that their skin color is the same as mine or not. Although, the statistics about black on black and black on white crime are fairly compelling. The rates are higher amongst black on black but that may have everything to do with proximity. You know what they say about statistics.
It is quite a nice morning here in town with cloudless skies and cool temperatures. It felt like mid September when I got out of bed around 7 but I am not complaining. I looked around for my hoodie and found it hanging just where I left it some months back. It was just like jumping back into the warmth of my bedding but I was on my feet and there was no mistaking that feeling. I chased the coolness away with a cup of java brewed just the way I like it and warmed my hands with the cup while considering my options in the moment. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm back to finish what I started. The coolness persists and the weather couldn't be nicer. Evan just came in the door and it's a little after 6 in the morning. WTF. And out the door he went. WTF. He came home long enough for starch and that was it. He stuck his head in the bedroom and said something to his mom that I couldn't hear. He was probably just updating her as to his intentions. My guess is that he hasn't slept all night and there are illicit somethings involved. After watching that show last night on television about meth zombies in San Francisco I'm maybe a little concerned. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe he is just up early with his friends and getting ready for a busy day down in Boston. Whoever said being a parent was easy?
His roommate at Pace is what? Black? Hmmm. I didn't think they did that sort of thing. I wonder how the black kid feels about having a white roommate? He may find more of a kindred spirit in Evan than he thinks possible. Evan can get down with the nigs like nobody's business when he puts his mind to it. He likes the music; the lifestyles; the jargon; the hipness; the blackness; and the get jiggy with it end of things. I wonder if he might consider a black girlfriend? Talk about getting jiggy with it. Evan is no racist so that should come as something of a relief to his new roommate. They will be sharing babes and bongs before the semester is out and I just pray to the baby jesus that the black kid is there to get an education and not just sitting out four years of his life in a dorm room as an alternative to living on the streets. You know how the liberal establishment in these deep blue states go out of their way to try to make it up to the black man after all those years of slavery and such. Who remembers? The liberals do. That's who. Maybe this kid is on the up and up and actually wants an education in order to improve his chances of success later in life. Evan could take something from that if he were so inclined. Having a black bud with an abject dislike for hoes could be a revelation for Evan. A real eye opener. Truth be told, Evan didn't seem to care much about the news. Didn't matter one way or another. ok. We can live with that. I think.
It is quite a nice morning here in town with cloudless skies and cool temperatures. It felt like mid September when I got out of bed around 7 but I am not complaining. I looked around for my hoodie and found it hanging just where I left it some months back. It was just like jumping back into the warmth of my bedding but I was on my feet and there was no mistaking that feeling. I chased the coolness away with a cup of java brewed just the way I like it and warmed my hands with the cup while considering my options in the moment. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm back to finish what I started. The coolness persists and the weather couldn't be nicer. Evan just came in the door and it's a little after 6 in the morning. WTF. And out the door he went. WTF. He came home long enough for starch and that was it. He stuck his head in the bedroom and said something to his mom that I couldn't hear. He was probably just updating her as to his intentions. My guess is that he hasn't slept all night and there are illicit somethings involved. After watching that show last night on television about meth zombies in San Francisco I'm maybe a little concerned. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe he is just up early with his friends and getting ready for a busy day down in Boston. Whoever said being a parent was easy?
His roommate at Pace is what? Black? Hmmm. I didn't think they did that sort of thing. I wonder how the black kid feels about having a white roommate? He may find more of a kindred spirit in Evan than he thinks possible. Evan can get down with the nigs like nobody's business when he puts his mind to it. He likes the music; the lifestyles; the jargon; the hipness; the blackness; and the get jiggy with it end of things. I wonder if he might consider a black girlfriend? Talk about getting jiggy with it. Evan is no racist so that should come as something of a relief to his new roommate. They will be sharing babes and bongs before the semester is out and I just pray to the baby jesus that the black kid is there to get an education and not just sitting out four years of his life in a dorm room as an alternative to living on the streets. You know how the liberal establishment in these deep blue states go out of their way to try to make it up to the black man after all those years of slavery and such. Who remembers? The liberals do. That's who. Maybe this kid is on the up and up and actually wants an education in order to improve his chances of success later in life. Evan could take something from that if he were so inclined. Having a black bud with an abject dislike for hoes could be a revelation for Evan. A real eye opener. Truth be told, Evan didn't seem to care much about the news. Didn't matter one way or another. ok. We can live with that. I think.
Damn Critters
04/08/13 07:18
Well, here we go. I'm trying to see if this new chair is going to be a challenge or not. It's a little higher than our other chair so all the angles are different. I knew the proof in the pudding would be when I sat down to write in my journal. So far, so good. The arms feel like they want to get in the way and I think they do but I'm trying to ignore them. It's like sitting in a cubicle too small. And, I feel like I'm sitting way to erect. Maybe this is what it feels like to sit correctly in your chair. Maybe I've been hunching way too long. Never mind about that. The animals are eating Nancy's broccoli and she is not a happy camper. We took special precautions to keep those plants hydrated when we went to Pace for a few days and they stayed inside on a dampened cloth while temperatures climbed into the nineties every day for 3 days straight. What does a person have to do these days to get a respectable crop? We're willing to take the usual precautions but we are not going to get crazy over it. We will just have to grow things that animals seem to ignore. Tomatoes would be a good choice. And I have a bloody nice crop of those babies this summer. Peppers, plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and a whole lot of herbs. I've been making a few greek salads as well and you can't make a proper greek salad without cucumbers so I've been buying them from the councilor up around the bend for $.50 a piece. I will grow my own next year god willing.
Nancy is looking forward to our trip to the lake. I think it will be a sensational way to cap off an 18 year roller coaster ride with a boy named Evan. I wonder how he feels about it. It has to be a little scary. If he were around the house more than he is we might be able to get a sense of that but he is not. He is off with his friends here, there, and everywhere. We have noticed that he is a little less well kept these days. His hair is a little longer, his nails are in need of a trim, and he is a little less attentive to detail in the general sense of the term. The latter comment is just speculation but certainly fueled by the obvious. He is no more engaging than he ever was and, if anything, seems to be oblivious to his impending relocation. He keeps everything so close to the vest and that has not changed over the years. As such, we are not very well attuned to what is going on between his ears and are left to draw conclusions based on what we see day in and day out. He had better start to think about what he needs for school. They recommended a course for new students but he will not be taking the course. He is not inclined to start school any sooner than he absolutely has to. That means that he will not mix business with pleasure. He cannot be bothered. That is the difference between a successful student and a not-so-successful student. I suspect that that those differences will come back to haunt him. They always have. It is his modus operandi. It is the essence of the Ev-man.
Nancy is looking forward to our trip to the lake. I think it will be a sensational way to cap off an 18 year roller coaster ride with a boy named Evan. I wonder how he feels about it. It has to be a little scary. If he were around the house more than he is we might be able to get a sense of that but he is not. He is off with his friends here, there, and everywhere. We have noticed that he is a little less well kept these days. His hair is a little longer, his nails are in need of a trim, and he is a little less attentive to detail in the general sense of the term. The latter comment is just speculation but certainly fueled by the obvious. He is no more engaging than he ever was and, if anything, seems to be oblivious to his impending relocation. He keeps everything so close to the vest and that has not changed over the years. As such, we are not very well attuned to what is going on between his ears and are left to draw conclusions based on what we see day in and day out. He had better start to think about what he needs for school. They recommended a course for new students but he will not be taking the course. He is not inclined to start school any sooner than he absolutely has to. That means that he will not mix business with pleasure. He cannot be bothered. That is the difference between a successful student and a not-so-successful student. I suspect that that those differences will come back to haunt him. They always have. It is his modus operandi. It is the essence of the Ev-man.
Twist and Turn
27/07/13 07:32
Finally getting a break from the heat. Nancy planted the broccoli yesterday so we'll see how that turns out. The garden, overall, looks pretty darn good. The weather has been favorable for growing especially for those plants that love the heat and humidity. And the rain pattern this year has been somewhat consistent so there has been very little need to water. Nancy bought a soaker hose just to be safe and that too has worked well in a pinch. I'm committed to putting in a better fence next year and I would like to put in some raised beds as well but that seems to be more daunting of the two tasks. But we have four tomato plants in all and they are going gang busters so we will sure enjoy the fruit of our labor when the time comes for picking. It is too bad that Nancy's sunflowers didn't work out and I think we need a new strategy to deal with them. I should give that some thought. I should also remember to pick some of the spinach leaves that Nancy planted on the side of the house near the clothesline. They look good. Not plentiful by any stretch of the imagination but we'll give them a little more time to develop before we go pulling off leaves to eat. I just hope we beat the resident animals to the punch. They don't miss much.
Maybe it's a good thing that Nancy is taking her mom to Massachusetts today. I have appraisals to write and a lawn that is in need of a haircut. I should not waste this opportunity. I'm guess that Nancy will get up, we'll get ready and go for a bike ride, and I will head off to work for 2-3 hours to see if I can knock off an appraisal or two. I'm not too far behind the eight ball so I think I don't need to kill myself. After so many years doing this sort of thing, I have it down pretty well. That goes for the delivery as well. Just not a big deal. And I think the annual surveys reflect that which is a good thing. Better to be ahead of your peers and have less work to do in the human relations area of your job. Employees can be tough lot when they set their minds to it. But, I digress. I just started reading the book, Truman" by David McCulloch and it looks like a great book so far. You know how a good book sucks you in and takes you for an unforgettable ride? Well, this book has that kind of promise. And that book, River of Darkness? That was very interesting as well. I do like so like stories involving exotic travel and corners of the world involving the Amazon and Arctic have a special appeal to me. So, Johnny boy, hows do you explain Truman? Nothing terribly exotic about rural Missouri, is there? I guess we'll find out. After all, he did become president. Can't be all that boring.
Where did this shoulder pain come from exactly? Well, not sure. Seems to radiate across my shoulder blades from right to left like a searing hot knife cutting through butter. Clairemont did a couple of perfunctory checks, gave me a prescription for extra strength Advil, and sent me on my way. Oh, yes. He asked that I do some exercises and promised to follow up in a few days with me. I was hoping that my incredible powers of recuperation would see the end of this problem and that would be the end of it. Not so much. There is something enduring about this pain that troubles me. And all this talk about frozen shoulder syndrome? That is some scary shit. This stuff happens to other people. Not moi! So I will be relentless in pursuit of a cure and I have to believe that the exercises will send me down the right path. It is not otherwise terribly disabling but I have to be careful about what I choose to tackle and I have to move my body accordingly. Anything requiring a severe twisting or turning may have to wait. I think mowing the lawn is doable. Lake George will have to wait. Until early September, that is. When the children are gone and the bays have see the last of the boats and families for the summer. Johnny…it's Valahalla calling!
Maybe it's a good thing that Nancy is taking her mom to Massachusetts today. I have appraisals to write and a lawn that is in need of a haircut. I should not waste this opportunity. I'm guess that Nancy will get up, we'll get ready and go for a bike ride, and I will head off to work for 2-3 hours to see if I can knock off an appraisal or two. I'm not too far behind the eight ball so I think I don't need to kill myself. After so many years doing this sort of thing, I have it down pretty well. That goes for the delivery as well. Just not a big deal. And I think the annual surveys reflect that which is a good thing. Better to be ahead of your peers and have less work to do in the human relations area of your job. Employees can be tough lot when they set their minds to it. But, I digress. I just started reading the book, Truman" by David McCulloch and it looks like a great book so far. You know how a good book sucks you in and takes you for an unforgettable ride? Well, this book has that kind of promise. And that book, River of Darkness? That was very interesting as well. I do like so like stories involving exotic travel and corners of the world involving the Amazon and Arctic have a special appeal to me. So, Johnny boy, hows do you explain Truman? Nothing terribly exotic about rural Missouri, is there? I guess we'll find out. After all, he did become president. Can't be all that boring.
Where did this shoulder pain come from exactly? Well, not sure. Seems to radiate across my shoulder blades from right to left like a searing hot knife cutting through butter. Clairemont did a couple of perfunctory checks, gave me a prescription for extra strength Advil, and sent me on my way. Oh, yes. He asked that I do some exercises and promised to follow up in a few days with me. I was hoping that my incredible powers of recuperation would see the end of this problem and that would be the end of it. Not so much. There is something enduring about this pain that troubles me. And all this talk about frozen shoulder syndrome? That is some scary shit. This stuff happens to other people. Not moi! So I will be relentless in pursuit of a cure and I have to believe that the exercises will send me down the right path. It is not otherwise terribly disabling but I have to be careful about what I choose to tackle and I have to move my body accordingly. Anything requiring a severe twisting or turning may have to wait. I think mowing the lawn is doable. Lake George will have to wait. Until early September, that is. When the children are gone and the bays have see the last of the boats and families for the summer. Johnny…it's Valahalla calling!
Off and Running
21/07/13 07:23
I'm glad we were able to catch up with Rollie during our time at Pace this past week. Our schedules worked out well enough so that we had time to go have dinner with him in Tarrytown. I was hoping he might have time to stop by the school just so he can get the lay of the land should he wish or otherwise have to visit Evan when he is in the area. My guess is that he was tired from a long day after driving into the Bronx for a business meeting and he had had enough. So we took a drive the 20 minutes or so it took to get there and we had dinner at a local diner. It was as cheesy a diner as you might find with octogenarian waitresses and greek management types schooling the staff. Even the patrons at that hour of the evening seemed somewhat macabre in a pedestrian but usual way. Rollie and I ordered the chef salads and Rollie ordered an extra dressing while regaling us with stories of his trip to the west coast. Sounds like he made time to visit with the relatives on brother Jim's side of the family and their extended families. Where brother Jim is, no one knows for sure. Off on a binge perhaps or recovering from one thing or another in a place not of his choosing. Nancy had a nice chicken sort of thing which she seemed to enjoy. I'll have lemon with my iced tea and hold the sugar.
Our time at Pace was time was well spent even if we didn't go to all the events. We even got two Pace snuggies out of the deal. We'll have to give one of them to Nancy's mom. They are sure to keep her warm in the upcoming winter. And now the task of figuring out what he needs and what we do when he's gone is front and center. Do we get him an expensive Mac laptop and run the risk of having it stolen or do we get him a less expensive PC and have him load up the damn thing with all kinds of games? I think he knows his own weaknesses well enough to know that a Mac would be the better choice but he is just not ready to jump in with both feet. Nancy and I were running around Target last night looking for bedding and other things for him and just trying to get a jump on the process. Seems Nancy has a good idea of the things that he needs and is off and running. I suggested that Nancy use his room as her office, or at least the desk in his room that he will no longer be using. We sat on the steps outside the coffeehouse in downtown Portsmouth and came up with more than a few good ideas that we actually had fun talking about. Not to rush the boy out of the house or anything.
I have noticed that Evan is no longer hanging with his usual crowd and that is probably a good thing. Those boys are just BAD! Noah and Sebastian seem a better choice leading up to the time they all leave for college and Nancy couldn't be happier to see her son making good choices. You do have to wonder why after all this time that Evan is changing course in who he hangs out with. Maybe he had a wake up call that prompted him to make a decision that he was unwilling to consider beforehand. Stranger things have happened. Noah is going to Clark University In Worcester and Sebastian is going to Clemson in NY I think. I don't want to get too smug about things just yet. There is still plenty of time for Evan to take a wrong turn or go down a road where he has no business going. I shall ask my friends to keep an eye on him just as an extra precaution. It can't hurt. He will more than likely still say that he is going to Jeremy's house when asked where he is heading and that is probably no more than his desire to have a little privacy when it comes to his affairs. I supposed he is entitled since he is of age. There are no girlfriends that we know of and that aspect of his life has always been a mystery and one which we are unlikely to figure out any time soon. Bad boys and broken hearts go hand in hand so we shouldn't have our heads buried too deeply in the sand. Suffice it to say that his life is his own. It wasn't always that way but it is now so that is that.
Our time at Pace was time was well spent even if we didn't go to all the events. We even got two Pace snuggies out of the deal. We'll have to give one of them to Nancy's mom. They are sure to keep her warm in the upcoming winter. And now the task of figuring out what he needs and what we do when he's gone is front and center. Do we get him an expensive Mac laptop and run the risk of having it stolen or do we get him a less expensive PC and have him load up the damn thing with all kinds of games? I think he knows his own weaknesses well enough to know that a Mac would be the better choice but he is just not ready to jump in with both feet. Nancy and I were running around Target last night looking for bedding and other things for him and just trying to get a jump on the process. Seems Nancy has a good idea of the things that he needs and is off and running. I suggested that Nancy use his room as her office, or at least the desk in his room that he will no longer be using. We sat on the steps outside the coffeehouse in downtown Portsmouth and came up with more than a few good ideas that we actually had fun talking about. Not to rush the boy out of the house or anything.
I have noticed that Evan is no longer hanging with his usual crowd and that is probably a good thing. Those boys are just BAD! Noah and Sebastian seem a better choice leading up to the time they all leave for college and Nancy couldn't be happier to see her son making good choices. You do have to wonder why after all this time that Evan is changing course in who he hangs out with. Maybe he had a wake up call that prompted him to make a decision that he was unwilling to consider beforehand. Stranger things have happened. Noah is going to Clark University In Worcester and Sebastian is going to Clemson in NY I think. I don't want to get too smug about things just yet. There is still plenty of time for Evan to take a wrong turn or go down a road where he has no business going. I shall ask my friends to keep an eye on him just as an extra precaution. It can't hurt. He will more than likely still say that he is going to Jeremy's house when asked where he is heading and that is probably no more than his desire to have a little privacy when it comes to his affairs. I supposed he is entitled since he is of age. There are no girlfriends that we know of and that aspect of his life has always been a mystery and one which we are unlikely to figure out any time soon. Bad boys and broken hearts go hand in hand so we shouldn't have our heads buried too deeply in the sand. Suffice it to say that his life is his own. It wasn't always that way but it is now so that is that.
Pace Orientation
20/07/13 07:19
We're here in Tarrytown, NY for day one of Evan's orientation at Pace University. We're in the middle of a heat wave in the Northeast. Temperatures this week through Sunday are expected to be in the middle to upper 90's. Nancy is doing her best but I question her ability to cope. She has already said that she is going to have a tough time doing all of this and the heat isn't making it any easier. I reminded her that I was the one who drove down with the implication that if anyone had the right to whine it was me. She reminded me that she offered to drive. I just don't want to give her any more reasons than she already has to not like this whole Pace arrangement. I told her over breakfast in the lobby while our son slept away back in the hotel room that if we were bringing Evan to Yale that she wouldn't be whining nearly as much. Her only response was that Yale was not as far away. I'm not so sure.
I will have to send Rollie a text to tell him that we're having breakfast in the Tarrytown Marriot. I believe this area is a destination for him as it relates to his job and he has been coming down here for many years. I thought we might get together with him down here but he wasn't sure that he was going to be around. That's fine. Nancy and I were a little concerned that the double beds might be a problem but it wasn't too bad. The bed was actually quite comfortable and the bedding was nicely done. It reminded me that we should do something with our bedding at home and there is nothing like a heat wave to remind you that all is not quite right. Too much wool and warmth and not enough thread count if you know what I mean.
But, I am ready for Fall at this point. The heat is hard to take and the next few days at Pace could be very trying. All we need is to have a room without air conditioning. You might have thought that when we asked for the accommodations at Pace that they might have mentioned that they had no air conditioning. They did not so maybe we will be pleasantly surprised. I guess we have the option of skipping the planned activities if we feel that it is too much and we're certainly not shy about making those kinds of decisions. If we end up in a third floor walk-up with no air conditioning that could be a killer. I just don't want to think the worst and that is not my tendency so I won't go there in spades. I'll leave the self-torment to Nancy. She can stew for the two if us if necessary.
Did we make a bad choice last night or what? Ordering food from a local restaurant was not the best choice. It was expensive and second rate to be sure. I am being kind. Evan's ravioli didn't look particularly appealing but he was hungry and he did his best to put a brave face on while eating. I ordered a tuna sub and tuna was hard to find even after separating the two halves of the roll where beneath a single pickle and tomato laid a slim smattering of tuna. I had brought a salad of my own and ate that and only pieces of the sub. I guess they figured that we were not going to be coming back anytime soon so why bother with the quality. They got that right. Not anytime soon is an understatement. I think Nancy got a Caesar wrap which seemed ok and the fries they ordered were soggy and just unappetizing. Not sure what we were thinking when we placed that order. It was an expensive lesson.
As tempted as I was to go to Starbucks across the highway this morning I sucked it up and drank coffee in the breakfast area. I guess they just don't bother with quality when it comes to the transients. They spend so much time and effort in making the rest of the hotel experience a good one for their guests but overlook the more subtle necessities of the experience which, at least for me, includes a quality cup of java. Don't know what I'll find at the college for quality but it could be a while before I get a good cup of coffee again. Sometimes it's just the buzz and that is all I need. The iced coffee that we bought at Dunkin Donuts before starting our trip was icy and delicious and provided many miles of enjoyment. That sewer water I had no more than an hour ago is long gone but has left me somewhat edgy and unsatisfied.
Time is running short this morning. It's 8:47 am and we need to be at Pace at 10. Evan is in the bathroom camping out as is his usual practice and when gets out of there he will need to go get a bite to eat. If he is smart he won't load up on garbage so we'll see where that goes. In the world around us, the radical left is up in arms at the perceived injustice rendered at the Zimmerman trial. Yes, the jury found him innocent of manslaughter. It's time to move on. Not those fucking left wingers whose idea of justice is what they say it is and nothing less.
Can you believe those assholes are casting a nationwide net to find out if anyone anywhere knows anything about George Zimmerman and his so called proclivities towards racism? Are they fucking nuts? Will they stop at nothing to exact their own version of justice? These are the same liberals who rejoiced at the jury's acquittal of OJ Simpson even though everyone knew he was guilty of slaughtering two people in cold blood. There is no end to the collective guilt that the left feels over the treatment of blacks and minorities going back hundreds of years and there is no end to which they will not go to now rectify that injustice. Thankfully, the Zimmerman jury was not swayed by this nonsense and came in with the right verdict for a change.
Thursday, July 17th, 2013
Day 2 of orientation here at Pace. I was hoping to get an earlier start with my journal today but it just didn't work out. It may have had something to do with the fact that Nancy and I ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor after scrunching up together on her twin mattress until we could scrunch no more. I'm not sure that we did any better on the floor but it was a welcome change from what we were doing so there you have it. I should have turned down the air conditioner sooner. Had I done that, we might well have done just fine with the one blanket that we had between the two of us. I would have used the blanket and would have stayed on my bed and she would have used a sheet in place of a blanket and would have stayed in her own bed.
Since I slept less well, I slept in later than I should have. That gave me less time to do the things I wanted to do before we headed off for our day's activities. As tired as I was, I could not forgo my coffee at Starbucks. The coffee here on campus is horrific and the only milk they offer is whole milk or cream. What century are they living in? Who drinks cream in their coffee anymore? Milk I can understand. I will use milk in a pinch but only in a pinch. My preference is to use skim milk. So I dragged my tired ass out of bed and out the door and took the 10 minute drive in to downtown Pleasantville.
Not sure why I keep confusing it with Plainville. This particular Starbucks in in the center of town near the railway station where commuters leave their vehicles and take the train into town for the day. That may well explain why this Starbucks is open and the ungodly hour of 5:30 in the morning. Downtown Pleasantville is your typical downtown that you might expect to see in any middle class town and in any middle class city in the USA. It has the additional mantle of being a college town of sorts although being here during the summer when students are between semesters is not especially telltale. I'm not sure that I have ever seen a busier Starbucks and that place was hopping both this morning and yesterday afternoon when we stopped in. This morning, anyway, I grabbed my coffee and sat for about an hour with my iPad before heading back to catch breakfast at 8:15 at the University. Can't imagine how much busier the store would be were school in session.
They have the kids off on a different track than the parents and it is planned so that your paths only intersect when they are designed to do so. Evan is one of two or three kids who are wearing hats in the group so he is easy to see when scanning the groups. The hats worn backwards are indicative of bad boys with attitudes to match and while we don't see that in our son it is something he wishes to communicate so that is what he does. There are times when I wish he would lose the hat. Just leave the damn thing behind. Children will be children and they are as varied in their modes of dress and style as they are in their preferences for different flavors of ice cream so you leave well enough alone. It is better to let these things come and go than to focus attention and make more of it than it deserves. It just isn't worth it. Life is too short.
Friday, July 19th, 2013
Whew. What a fucking night. And those damn racoons. There is still one stuck in the dumpster. I wonder if we'll hear him screeching this morning. Didn't matter much that Nancy called security last night to report. They just didn't seem interested. Poor little bastard. Did you hear him crying? Maybe the big news of the day was the skit at the end of the day. All the various groups, including ours, put on a little thing for the kids and they for us. Evan's group did their thing and he did his own thing within the group. He demonstrated very little rhythm and suspiciously less rhythm than we thought that boy possessed. All his nigga this and nigga that? You might have thought he was living the nigga blues and getting jiggy with the brothers. But, no. No evidence of that last night. Wonder why not.
What we did see was a disengaged Evan. He seemed as though he might have preferred to be elsewhere although you can probably say that of most boys his age. He sat somewhat at the end of the line of kids of his group on the bleachers and had on his silly hat with a backwards orientation as is his usually style. After their performance, he was standing against the rails at the top of the bleacher section all alone. It is indicative of his demeanor and attitude overall but we were hoping to see him get out of his box a little and engage with his peers. The dirty little secret to getting the most out of college is that you have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow and prosper and become the enlightened lad they said yes to when he submitted his application to go to school there.
Maybe we know less about his comfort zone than we thought we did. It may be a bear trap of a comfort zone where no light gets in and no light gets out. In the absence of light, there is no growth, no game, no fun, and no life. Only he knows for sure but we see the results of his mind set and can come to few other conclusions. Our responsibilities as parents is to make the opportunities available to him but he needs to do his part. I think he is just scared. Maybe petrified. I wish he would treat it like a high wire event where he and his friend Noah just did it and got out of it what they put into it. I had a fleeting thought that maybe that boy needs something like military school where he follows a predictable path day in and day out. There are no new ideas; no room for invention or curiosity; no slack in the curriculum; and you get pretty damn good at bouncing pennies off your bedsheets at the end of the day but not much else.
Instead of college, he should be going to trade school. The rub there is that he wants to do what his brothers are doing and they, for the most part, are going off to school. Maybe it makes more sense for him to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Mussig and Mr. Kelley. Those boys are going to school of cooking and welding respectively. They are not going to an institution of higher learning where ideas and the exchange of same are part and parcel of the curriculum. That is not what they do. That is not what they will do for the rest of their lives. I applaud their parents for putting their boys in a position to succeed knowing what they do about their children's abilities. Forget the drinking and all of that nonsense. That is but an adolescent backdrop and a footnote to their timelines. It is what Nancy wants, of course. She wants him trained to do something. She doesn't want him to do what she did. I think she forever laments the fact that she didn't take up nursing, physical therapy, or some other discipline. I personally think that she needs to get over that but I think the lesson is not lost as it relates to Evan.
What then, do we do? The ride home today should be interesting. We've been here for three days of intensive training on everything PACE. We are unlikely to hear anything from Evan on what he experienced. Maybe if we ignore him he will speak on the subject. Maybe he will say that it is not for him. It is not too late. How do we say that to him without appearing to discourage him? That will only send him deeper into the abyss and then we're left playing the waiting game until we bring him back to Pace some weeks from now. Maybe if Nancy and I just talk it up a little and see if he picks up on the conversation and we can take that wherever it goes. What I think is going to happen is that he will take to his iPhone and we won't hear from him until we get back to New Hampshire. Maybe, now that I think of it, he has been going through withdrawal while here at Pace. That might explain his apparent disinterest. He misses his drink; his Twitter; his texts; his friends; his smoke; his chew; and his bad boy buds.
Fact of the matter is that they too will be going somewhere a month from now and whatever comfort that gives him will have to be taken from somewhere else. I think he can prosper at Pace given half a chance. We are going to give him that half chance. I won't spend a lot of time telling you that his mother and I decided that we would not go whole hog on the premium meal plan because it is non-refundable and we're just not sure he's going to make it through a semester. How do you like that for wishful thinking? Getting through four years could be a herculean task but if he makes it through the first semester, the first few weeks, the first few days. God help us. What is to become of that boy?
Like parents, like son? I guess we weren't much different last night. We were tired and not wanting to engage with our group when the time came for singing and dancing. It was as simple as that. And we expected something different from our son? But, we've had a lifetime of doing differently and have shown Evan that there are always options. Options to do something different; be someone different; be what he wants to be. He has always had that latitude. Maybe that was not the way to go. Oh, well. My time here at Starbucks and Pace is coming to a close and it is time to go back to the room to check out. It was a telling time for everyone. Let's not take too much from it other than to say we went, we experienced, and we learned. That is all you can say about anything you do in life but you have to take the first step. This is Evan's first step and we're hoping he takes something from it. His very life depends on it.
I will have to send Rollie a text to tell him that we're having breakfast in the Tarrytown Marriot. I believe this area is a destination for him as it relates to his job and he has been coming down here for many years. I thought we might get together with him down here but he wasn't sure that he was going to be around. That's fine. Nancy and I were a little concerned that the double beds might be a problem but it wasn't too bad. The bed was actually quite comfortable and the bedding was nicely done. It reminded me that we should do something with our bedding at home and there is nothing like a heat wave to remind you that all is not quite right. Too much wool and warmth and not enough thread count if you know what I mean.
But, I am ready for Fall at this point. The heat is hard to take and the next few days at Pace could be very trying. All we need is to have a room without air conditioning. You might have thought that when we asked for the accommodations at Pace that they might have mentioned that they had no air conditioning. They did not so maybe we will be pleasantly surprised. I guess we have the option of skipping the planned activities if we feel that it is too much and we're certainly not shy about making those kinds of decisions. If we end up in a third floor walk-up with no air conditioning that could be a killer. I just don't want to think the worst and that is not my tendency so I won't go there in spades. I'll leave the self-torment to Nancy. She can stew for the two if us if necessary.
Did we make a bad choice last night or what? Ordering food from a local restaurant was not the best choice. It was expensive and second rate to be sure. I am being kind. Evan's ravioli didn't look particularly appealing but he was hungry and he did his best to put a brave face on while eating. I ordered a tuna sub and tuna was hard to find even after separating the two halves of the roll where beneath a single pickle and tomato laid a slim smattering of tuna. I had brought a salad of my own and ate that and only pieces of the sub. I guess they figured that we were not going to be coming back anytime soon so why bother with the quality. They got that right. Not anytime soon is an understatement. I think Nancy got a Caesar wrap which seemed ok and the fries they ordered were soggy and just unappetizing. Not sure what we were thinking when we placed that order. It was an expensive lesson.
As tempted as I was to go to Starbucks across the highway this morning I sucked it up and drank coffee in the breakfast area. I guess they just don't bother with quality when it comes to the transients. They spend so much time and effort in making the rest of the hotel experience a good one for their guests but overlook the more subtle necessities of the experience which, at least for me, includes a quality cup of java. Don't know what I'll find at the college for quality but it could be a while before I get a good cup of coffee again. Sometimes it's just the buzz and that is all I need. The iced coffee that we bought at Dunkin Donuts before starting our trip was icy and delicious and provided many miles of enjoyment. That sewer water I had no more than an hour ago is long gone but has left me somewhat edgy and unsatisfied.
Time is running short this morning. It's 8:47 am and we need to be at Pace at 10. Evan is in the bathroom camping out as is his usual practice and when gets out of there he will need to go get a bite to eat. If he is smart he won't load up on garbage so we'll see where that goes. In the world around us, the radical left is up in arms at the perceived injustice rendered at the Zimmerman trial. Yes, the jury found him innocent of manslaughter. It's time to move on. Not those fucking left wingers whose idea of justice is what they say it is and nothing less.
Can you believe those assholes are casting a nationwide net to find out if anyone anywhere knows anything about George Zimmerman and his so called proclivities towards racism? Are they fucking nuts? Will they stop at nothing to exact their own version of justice? These are the same liberals who rejoiced at the jury's acquittal of OJ Simpson even though everyone knew he was guilty of slaughtering two people in cold blood. There is no end to the collective guilt that the left feels over the treatment of blacks and minorities going back hundreds of years and there is no end to which they will not go to now rectify that injustice. Thankfully, the Zimmerman jury was not swayed by this nonsense and came in with the right verdict for a change.
Thursday, July 17th, 2013
Day 2 of orientation here at Pace. I was hoping to get an earlier start with my journal today but it just didn't work out. It may have had something to do with the fact that Nancy and I ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor after scrunching up together on her twin mattress until we could scrunch no more. I'm not sure that we did any better on the floor but it was a welcome change from what we were doing so there you have it. I should have turned down the air conditioner sooner. Had I done that, we might well have done just fine with the one blanket that we had between the two of us. I would have used the blanket and would have stayed on my bed and she would have used a sheet in place of a blanket and would have stayed in her own bed.
Since I slept less well, I slept in later than I should have. That gave me less time to do the things I wanted to do before we headed off for our day's activities. As tired as I was, I could not forgo my coffee at Starbucks. The coffee here on campus is horrific and the only milk they offer is whole milk or cream. What century are they living in? Who drinks cream in their coffee anymore? Milk I can understand. I will use milk in a pinch but only in a pinch. My preference is to use skim milk. So I dragged my tired ass out of bed and out the door and took the 10 minute drive in to downtown Pleasantville.
Not sure why I keep confusing it with Plainville. This particular Starbucks in in the center of town near the railway station where commuters leave their vehicles and take the train into town for the day. That may well explain why this Starbucks is open and the ungodly hour of 5:30 in the morning. Downtown Pleasantville is your typical downtown that you might expect to see in any middle class town and in any middle class city in the USA. It has the additional mantle of being a college town of sorts although being here during the summer when students are between semesters is not especially telltale. I'm not sure that I have ever seen a busier Starbucks and that place was hopping both this morning and yesterday afternoon when we stopped in. This morning, anyway, I grabbed my coffee and sat for about an hour with my iPad before heading back to catch breakfast at 8:15 at the University. Can't imagine how much busier the store would be were school in session.
They have the kids off on a different track than the parents and it is planned so that your paths only intersect when they are designed to do so. Evan is one of two or three kids who are wearing hats in the group so he is easy to see when scanning the groups. The hats worn backwards are indicative of bad boys with attitudes to match and while we don't see that in our son it is something he wishes to communicate so that is what he does. There are times when I wish he would lose the hat. Just leave the damn thing behind. Children will be children and they are as varied in their modes of dress and style as they are in their preferences for different flavors of ice cream so you leave well enough alone. It is better to let these things come and go than to focus attention and make more of it than it deserves. It just isn't worth it. Life is too short.
Friday, July 19th, 2013
Whew. What a fucking night. And those damn racoons. There is still one stuck in the dumpster. I wonder if we'll hear him screeching this morning. Didn't matter much that Nancy called security last night to report. They just didn't seem interested. Poor little bastard. Did you hear him crying? Maybe the big news of the day was the skit at the end of the day. All the various groups, including ours, put on a little thing for the kids and they for us. Evan's group did their thing and he did his own thing within the group. He demonstrated very little rhythm and suspiciously less rhythm than we thought that boy possessed. All his nigga this and nigga that? You might have thought he was living the nigga blues and getting jiggy with the brothers. But, no. No evidence of that last night. Wonder why not.
What we did see was a disengaged Evan. He seemed as though he might have preferred to be elsewhere although you can probably say that of most boys his age. He sat somewhat at the end of the line of kids of his group on the bleachers and had on his silly hat with a backwards orientation as is his usually style. After their performance, he was standing against the rails at the top of the bleacher section all alone. It is indicative of his demeanor and attitude overall but we were hoping to see him get out of his box a little and engage with his peers. The dirty little secret to getting the most out of college is that you have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow and prosper and become the enlightened lad they said yes to when he submitted his application to go to school there.
Maybe we know less about his comfort zone than we thought we did. It may be a bear trap of a comfort zone where no light gets in and no light gets out. In the absence of light, there is no growth, no game, no fun, and no life. Only he knows for sure but we see the results of his mind set and can come to few other conclusions. Our responsibilities as parents is to make the opportunities available to him but he needs to do his part. I think he is just scared. Maybe petrified. I wish he would treat it like a high wire event where he and his friend Noah just did it and got out of it what they put into it. I had a fleeting thought that maybe that boy needs something like military school where he follows a predictable path day in and day out. There are no new ideas; no room for invention or curiosity; no slack in the curriculum; and you get pretty damn good at bouncing pennies off your bedsheets at the end of the day but not much else.
Instead of college, he should be going to trade school. The rub there is that he wants to do what his brothers are doing and they, for the most part, are going off to school. Maybe it makes more sense for him to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Mussig and Mr. Kelley. Those boys are going to school of cooking and welding respectively. They are not going to an institution of higher learning where ideas and the exchange of same are part and parcel of the curriculum. That is not what they do. That is not what they will do for the rest of their lives. I applaud their parents for putting their boys in a position to succeed knowing what they do about their children's abilities. Forget the drinking and all of that nonsense. That is but an adolescent backdrop and a footnote to their timelines. It is what Nancy wants, of course. She wants him trained to do something. She doesn't want him to do what she did. I think she forever laments the fact that she didn't take up nursing, physical therapy, or some other discipline. I personally think that she needs to get over that but I think the lesson is not lost as it relates to Evan.
What then, do we do? The ride home today should be interesting. We've been here for three days of intensive training on everything PACE. We are unlikely to hear anything from Evan on what he experienced. Maybe if we ignore him he will speak on the subject. Maybe he will say that it is not for him. It is not too late. How do we say that to him without appearing to discourage him? That will only send him deeper into the abyss and then we're left playing the waiting game until we bring him back to Pace some weeks from now. Maybe if Nancy and I just talk it up a little and see if he picks up on the conversation and we can take that wherever it goes. What I think is going to happen is that he will take to his iPhone and we won't hear from him until we get back to New Hampshire. Maybe, now that I think of it, he has been going through withdrawal while here at Pace. That might explain his apparent disinterest. He misses his drink; his Twitter; his texts; his friends; his smoke; his chew; and his bad boy buds.
Fact of the matter is that they too will be going somewhere a month from now and whatever comfort that gives him will have to be taken from somewhere else. I think he can prosper at Pace given half a chance. We are going to give him that half chance. I won't spend a lot of time telling you that his mother and I decided that we would not go whole hog on the premium meal plan because it is non-refundable and we're just not sure he's going to make it through a semester. How do you like that for wishful thinking? Getting through four years could be a herculean task but if he makes it through the first semester, the first few weeks, the first few days. God help us. What is to become of that boy?
Like parents, like son? I guess we weren't much different last night. We were tired and not wanting to engage with our group when the time came for singing and dancing. It was as simple as that. And we expected something different from our son? But, we've had a lifetime of doing differently and have shown Evan that there are always options. Options to do something different; be someone different; be what he wants to be. He has always had that latitude. Maybe that was not the way to go. Oh, well. My time here at Starbucks and Pace is coming to a close and it is time to go back to the room to check out. It was a telling time for everyone. Let's not take too much from it other than to say we went, we experienced, and we learned. That is all you can say about anything you do in life but you have to take the first step. This is Evan's first step and we're hoping he takes something from it. His very life depends on it.
Enough Already
13/07/13 07:12
The perfect time for writing. It is just a little after 7 in the morning and the family is fast asleep. The back door is open and the birds are chirping up a storm. I think they just like to hear themselves chirp sometimes. I don't blame them. Sometimes I just like to hear myself make noise just to remind myself that I'm not a potted plant. Sentient beings should assert themselves and it is against their nature not to so I'm up with the birds doing what sentient beings do. It's cool too this morning and I'm all for cool given all the heat we've had this summer. Enough already. This upcoming week is supposed to be hot too. All week long, they say. In the 90's. I'll try to get my yard work out of the way early on so I'm not doing it in the middle of the day. Before I do anything, I'll have to run over to the store to get a little milk for the darlings since I used it all for my coffee this morning. Can't drink that shit black. Not that I can't but I don't prefer it that way. Life is too short not to have your coffee the way you like it. It may be one of the few things in life that you have any real control over. And then there is Ev's college orientation.
Before I get to that, I want to say a couple of things about that boy's work ethic. To say I'm concerned is an understatement. And what the hell happened to that Water Country schtick? I think they let him go after realizing that he was unreliable. Not sure what he was thinking. Not sure why the job wasn't working out for him. It's only his second or third job he's ever had for god's sake. And he really only worked a handful of days. I think his mom didn't really want him working in the sun all day and she communicated that to him in a variety of ways some subtle and some not so subtle. He asked if she would allow him to take the summer off like his friend Noah. You know, do stuff around the house and get paid for it and all the rest. Not sure how she answered that question but I told him in no uncertain terms that if his mom and I were going to work every day so he could go to college then he should find himself a job and make a contribution. In other words, he should have some skin in the game. But, noooooooooo. Not so much. Those conversations invariably do not go well.
So there you have it. I was asked by someone what I might be doing on my vacation and I responded by saying that I was probably just hanging around and doing stuff like yard work. Another half truth for sure. What I really want to do is to get a good book and sit down and read the damn thing. I'm trying to think of a subject matter that might help me focus and one that will keep my mind occupied while I wade though the pages towards the end of the book. If I'm feeling too scattered, I can look at any number of magazines that I've downloaded and they should help to take me where I need to go. Another thing I'd like to do, and I took care of this today, is to prepare a nice eggplant dish. It was really an eggplant/vegetable lasagna kind of dish that we had for dinner and one that Nancy thoroughly enjoyed. I put a little more than I thought she might eat in a dish and apologized for giving her perhaps too much. Well, to my delight, she ate every last bite. That-a-girl! There is no question I will make every effort to get a bike ride in every day but you have to remember that we have a planned jaunt to his orientation so we'll do out best to squeeze these things in. Wish us luck!
Before I get to that, I want to say a couple of things about that boy's work ethic. To say I'm concerned is an understatement. And what the hell happened to that Water Country schtick? I think they let him go after realizing that he was unreliable. Not sure what he was thinking. Not sure why the job wasn't working out for him. It's only his second or third job he's ever had for god's sake. And he really only worked a handful of days. I think his mom didn't really want him working in the sun all day and she communicated that to him in a variety of ways some subtle and some not so subtle. He asked if she would allow him to take the summer off like his friend Noah. You know, do stuff around the house and get paid for it and all the rest. Not sure how she answered that question but I told him in no uncertain terms that if his mom and I were going to work every day so he could go to college then he should find himself a job and make a contribution. In other words, he should have some skin in the game. But, noooooooooo. Not so much. Those conversations invariably do not go well.
So there you have it. I was asked by someone what I might be doing on my vacation and I responded by saying that I was probably just hanging around and doing stuff like yard work. Another half truth for sure. What I really want to do is to get a good book and sit down and read the damn thing. I'm trying to think of a subject matter that might help me focus and one that will keep my mind occupied while I wade though the pages towards the end of the book. If I'm feeling too scattered, I can look at any number of magazines that I've downloaded and they should help to take me where I need to go. Another thing I'd like to do, and I took care of this today, is to prepare a nice eggplant dish. It was really an eggplant/vegetable lasagna kind of dish that we had for dinner and one that Nancy thoroughly enjoyed. I put a little more than I thought she might eat in a dish and apologized for giving her perhaps too much. Well, to my delight, she ate every last bite. That-a-girl! There is no question I will make every effort to get a bike ride in every day but you have to remember that we have a planned jaunt to his orientation so we'll do out best to squeeze these things in. Wish us luck!
July 4th, 2013
04/07/13 08:01
Oh, the pain. My poor darling. Her tooth is killing her and she is beside herself with pain. It's that bloody dentist that she chose to go to in Portsmouth. I think she's convinced of that now. Every visitation it's something new. Our dentist retired last year and neither of us decided to go to the dentist that took over Dinnerman's business. Not sure why really but that is just how it all shook out. I've never seen Nancy in such a quandary with her teeth in all the time I've known her. The pain emanating from the problem area has spread to surrounding areas to the point where she no longer knows which tooth is the culprit. She certainly knows which tooth she had an issue with so she will simply have to backtrack. So, tomorrow, we will go to see the dentist who did the root canal and we'll see what he says. She liked him well enough so seeing him again may well offer the appropriate amount of reassurance and just enough of it to get her back on track. She took some pain killer last night that just zonked her and she went out like a light. It was a work day and I tried as I might to get her to call in sick but she wouldn't have any of it. I warned her that the 4th of July traffic leaving the city of Boston was about as bad as it gets but she was resolute in her determination to go to work come hell or high water. I think she paid a high price for that decision and she knows it. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.
Nancy's sister, Debbie, will be paying a visit today and will stay with Mrs G for a couple of days. She is very interested in going to see the fireworks so I hope Nancy is up to it. I don't relish the idea of going off with Debbie and her mother to Hampton where they will be celebrating the fourth with fireworks, etc.. I'm guessing that Debbie will want to take the lot of us off in her new Honda CRV and that will be fine. It should fit the four of us comfortably. Between now and then I have a lot to do. The bloody lawn requires my attention and it is a bit overdue so I best get moving. The kitchen is in rough shape as well so I will look to remedy that situation. I'm just not sure how reliable Nancy is going to be today. I'm not sure that it is a holiday that she has been waiting for with baited breath so perhaps her disappointment will be temporary. The bigger issue, for her, is Evan. Where is that boy? We last heard from him last night when he said that he was coming home from Johnny's in Hampton. He never showed up. Never made it home. I remind Nancy that he is almost 19 so doing what 19-year olds do. They stay out all night with some frequency. It should not be alarming in any way, shape, or form but it is clearly upsetting to Nancy. To top things off, some fuck is eating the tips off her sunflowers. She is not a happy camper.
I don't know what the hell is going on with our country. It seems like every time we turn around there is a ruling, some decision, some law that is being implemented that changes the social fabric of our culture. It is as though everything is upside down. Supreme court rulings favoring gay marriage and the institution as we know it is gone. The centuries old definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is so repugnant to those on the left that they would overturn heaven and earth to force their views into the mainstream. Allowing children to be adopted by same sex couples is a recipe for disaster. What kind of warped mind sees that as a healthy thing for a child? Yet, the liberal courts approve these monstrous arrangements with great regularity. Nationalized healthcare is another abomination. These are all gift from the progressive types who march in a single file towards socialism and the nanny state. These are the folks who want to take from the rich and give to the poor until the rich have no more to give. These are the left minded liberals who have found an effective partner in the press in moving their agendas forward. The ballot box has become their best friend.
And now, with the left looking to force an unwanted and unpopular immigration bill on the nation, it is only a matter of time before they get what they want. That is to say, this bill gives them 30 million new voters to the democratic party. That sort of deluge turns red states blue and blue states bluer. The Republican party will become a party of the past and the left will be free to continue their march towards socialism. Their ability to spy on anyone anytime in the name of preventing terrorism has given them an even more insidious weapon with which to ferret out their enemies. We know how that works in China. We'll soon know how that works in our beloved country when we see the drones overhead and gestapo marching door to door enforcing the laws and political views of the left. Where the fuck are the republicans in this bloody mess?
Nancy's sister, Debbie, will be paying a visit today and will stay with Mrs G for a couple of days. She is very interested in going to see the fireworks so I hope Nancy is up to it. I don't relish the idea of going off with Debbie and her mother to Hampton where they will be celebrating the fourth with fireworks, etc.. I'm guessing that Debbie will want to take the lot of us off in her new Honda CRV and that will be fine. It should fit the four of us comfortably. Between now and then I have a lot to do. The bloody lawn requires my attention and it is a bit overdue so I best get moving. The kitchen is in rough shape as well so I will look to remedy that situation. I'm just not sure how reliable Nancy is going to be today. I'm not sure that it is a holiday that she has been waiting for with baited breath so perhaps her disappointment will be temporary. The bigger issue, for her, is Evan. Where is that boy? We last heard from him last night when he said that he was coming home from Johnny's in Hampton. He never showed up. Never made it home. I remind Nancy that he is almost 19 so doing what 19-year olds do. They stay out all night with some frequency. It should not be alarming in any way, shape, or form but it is clearly upsetting to Nancy. To top things off, some fuck is eating the tips off her sunflowers. She is not a happy camper.
I don't know what the hell is going on with our country. It seems like every time we turn around there is a ruling, some decision, some law that is being implemented that changes the social fabric of our culture. It is as though everything is upside down. Supreme court rulings favoring gay marriage and the institution as we know it is gone. The centuries old definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is so repugnant to those on the left that they would overturn heaven and earth to force their views into the mainstream. Allowing children to be adopted by same sex couples is a recipe for disaster. What kind of warped mind sees that as a healthy thing for a child? Yet, the liberal courts approve these monstrous arrangements with great regularity. Nationalized healthcare is another abomination. These are all gift from the progressive types who march in a single file towards socialism and the nanny state. These are the folks who want to take from the rich and give to the poor until the rich have no more to give. These are the left minded liberals who have found an effective partner in the press in moving their agendas forward. The ballot box has become their best friend.
And now, with the left looking to force an unwanted and unpopular immigration bill on the nation, it is only a matter of time before they get what they want. That is to say, this bill gives them 30 million new voters to the democratic party. That sort of deluge turns red states blue and blue states bluer. The Republican party will become a party of the past and the left will be free to continue their march towards socialism. Their ability to spy on anyone anytime in the name of preventing terrorism has given them an even more insidious weapon with which to ferret out their enemies. We know how that works in China. We'll soon know how that works in our beloved country when we see the drones overhead and gestapo marching door to door enforcing the laws and political views of the left. Where the fuck are the republicans in this bloody mess?
Frayed Nerves and Empty Bellies
24/06/13 07:38
Nancy and Evan went to Florida by themselves this time around much to Nancy's consternation. I had some work related things I had to attend to and she was unwilling to reschedule. So be it. We bought her some noise canceling headphones and she and Evan were on their way. Ev was scheduled to spend the night at the hospital and he did just that. Everything turned out all right as I understand it so we'll not say any more than that. I checked in daily just to make sure that everything was all right and I even bought an app for my iPad that tracked their flight. It was pretty cool and worked like a charm. When the day came to go pick them up I wasn't paying close enough attention to the app and I did not know that the flight got delayed until I went over to pick up Mrs G and she informed me of the delay. Nancy had called her because she couldn't get through to me. Our phone was acting a little funny and not cooperating and all of the kings horses and all of the kings men couldn't put it back together so that was that. I do wonder when we, like the rest of the world, will abandon our landline for our handheld devices. It can't come soon enough if you ask me. Nancy, on the other hand, is a little married to the notion of keeping it. I suspect that it may be just a matter of time before we give it up.
One thing that I struggled with while they were away was whether or not I should take the opportunity while they were away to clean Evan's room. It was beyond the pale and even he was starting to complain about it. He would make a pass from time to time to straighten things out but it was superficial at best. I knew that if I were jump into the fray that I would more than likely find things I didn't want to find but there would be no real surprises. I was right. I was worried a little bit about how he might react. I was certain that he would be pleased to see that his room was clean but he might otherwise feel that his privacy had been violated. It was now or never and I took the plunge with unusual abandon. I took all of his clothes off the floor, 4 basketfuls I might add, and went to the laundromat with them after work. I loaded them up in my car in the morning and spent two hours at the cleaners washing, drying, and folding them. I arrived him around 7 or so and went into his room and didn't come out for three hours. I started in one corner near his bed and went through that room from end to end. I wish in retrospect that I had taken a before and after picture given the dramatic difference. I also didn't have the energy once I was finished to put away all of his clothes so attacked that the following morning.
I would not tell Nancy this but I threw away things that should have been thrown away long ago. I can tell you that they will never be missed. There were even old couch cushions in his room that served no purpose whatsoever so out they went. He is not an overly effusive chap so about the best he could do was give me a smile when I asked him how he liked his room once he got home. I said nothing about it on the ride home from the airport and even closed his door to heighten the element of surprise. It worked. He even seems to be making an effort to keep it clean now that I've shown him what is possible. We'll see how that goes.
I had the foresight to plan a little lunch for them when they arrived at the airport. With the flight delay it was more than likely that they would not have a chance to have a scheduled meal. You know how Evan gets when he's hungry. Let's not forget either that missing a meal is not conducive to staying on top of things for that boy and he is not always the best planner when it comes to that sort of thing. You would think he would know by now. I can tell you that he has been taking corn starch more and more often throughout the day because it makes him feel better. This is a change that signals either a change in his body chemistry due to age or a change in his overall condition. For that reason alone, the Florida excursion was not a wasted trip. I packed him a Moe's tuna sub and corn chips and I made Nancy a soy butter sandwich. I put a few blueberries in a small container and threw in a couple of cans of soda water and I thought that should do the trick. One of the first things they talked to me about when they arrived was food. Evan was pacing and clearly restless from hunger. His eyes were scanning the airport space for eateries and not locking onto anything in particular. Nancy was nudging me that he needed to eat. I played coy for about three seconds before telling that them I had a cooler full of their favorite foods. And then we all scurried to get the luggage and move the process along so everyone could get a bite to eat. The food went a long way towards deflating frayed nerves and empty bellies. Did I tell you that Mrs G was along for the ride?
One thing that I struggled with while they were away was whether or not I should take the opportunity while they were away to clean Evan's room. It was beyond the pale and even he was starting to complain about it. He would make a pass from time to time to straighten things out but it was superficial at best. I knew that if I were jump into the fray that I would more than likely find things I didn't want to find but there would be no real surprises. I was right. I was worried a little bit about how he might react. I was certain that he would be pleased to see that his room was clean but he might otherwise feel that his privacy had been violated. It was now or never and I took the plunge with unusual abandon. I took all of his clothes off the floor, 4 basketfuls I might add, and went to the laundromat with them after work. I loaded them up in my car in the morning and spent two hours at the cleaners washing, drying, and folding them. I arrived him around 7 or so and went into his room and didn't come out for three hours. I started in one corner near his bed and went through that room from end to end. I wish in retrospect that I had taken a before and after picture given the dramatic difference. I also didn't have the energy once I was finished to put away all of his clothes so attacked that the following morning.
I would not tell Nancy this but I threw away things that should have been thrown away long ago. I can tell you that they will never be missed. There were even old couch cushions in his room that served no purpose whatsoever so out they went. He is not an overly effusive chap so about the best he could do was give me a smile when I asked him how he liked his room once he got home. I said nothing about it on the ride home from the airport and even closed his door to heighten the element of surprise. It worked. He even seems to be making an effort to keep it clean now that I've shown him what is possible. We'll see how that goes.
I had the foresight to plan a little lunch for them when they arrived at the airport. With the flight delay it was more than likely that they would not have a chance to have a scheduled meal. You know how Evan gets when he's hungry. Let's not forget either that missing a meal is not conducive to staying on top of things for that boy and he is not always the best planner when it comes to that sort of thing. You would think he would know by now. I can tell you that he has been taking corn starch more and more often throughout the day because it makes him feel better. This is a change that signals either a change in his body chemistry due to age or a change in his overall condition. For that reason alone, the Florida excursion was not a wasted trip. I packed him a Moe's tuna sub and corn chips and I made Nancy a soy butter sandwich. I put a few blueberries in a small container and threw in a couple of cans of soda water and I thought that should do the trick. One of the first things they talked to me about when they arrived was food. Evan was pacing and clearly restless from hunger. His eyes were scanning the airport space for eateries and not locking onto anything in particular. Nancy was nudging me that he needed to eat. I played coy for about three seconds before telling that them I had a cooler full of their favorite foods. And then we all scurried to get the luggage and move the process along so everyone could get a bite to eat. The food went a long way towards deflating frayed nerves and empty bellies. Did I tell you that Mrs G was along for the ride?
Graduation 2013
15/06/13 06:22
I'll be damned. He made it. He graduated from High school. Not the school we wanted him to graduate from but that is water over the dam. He almost made it. He got three and a half years at St. Thomas and spent the last half year at Portsmouth where he graduated. His time at St. Thomas was not wasted although I can't say with absolute certainty that he took full advantage of what they had to offer. It was certainly a more challenging curriculum then he would have had at Portsmouth so the fact that he had the time he did there is probably not a bad thing. But he is not, and has never been, a strong finisher. As much as I have tried to convince him of the importance of finishing strong he has gone in the completely oppose direction in most cases. Doing that in Portsmouth put him in jeopardy of not graduating so as you can imagine the e-mails exchanged, the discussions, the anguish, and the craziness that we went through in these past few months. I have to say that the people at Portsmouth were terrific to the end. They made all the difference in getting Evan over the finish line. They were determined not to let Evan be a statistic. Thank you, Mrs. Grenier and thank you Mr. Collins. Your dedication to your trade and the students you nurture is inspiring to say the least. Your dedication to our son did not go unnoticed. We applaud you.
The graduation event itself was anticlimactic. Nancy has never quite gotten over the St. Thomas fiasco and never quite warmed up to the Portsmouth experience. When we went to the school to sign him up Nancy was not quite herself. She was not wanting to engage or discuss and spoke as little as possible. She was never more than a moment away from breaking into tears from the ordeal and she was a woman on the edge. She was ashamed for her son and ashamed for herself. For that, I will never forgive Evan. To put your mother through something like that is unforgivable. In that same vein, we sought out the least conspicuous of corners at the commencement in which to hide where we could see our son receive his diploma but not engage the crowds. Not engage the parents faces we know and the children with whom Evan has grown up in and around this town of ours. The school had a small auditorium where they accommodated a handful of elderly and the infirm and where they could see the proceedings on a large screen. The video was not the best but it was all we needed. It was comfortable and cool and there were maybe 15-20 people there. It was just right. Nancy's mom joined us as well and it was perfect for her. Not sure how she would have made out in the hot auditorium. We were where we needed to be.
It was a beautiful evening. After several days of rain and darkness, the early evening air was cool and delicious with the sun in all its glory descending slowly but deliberately on the horizon. The rains had all but washed away any heat and humidity in the air and it was a most refreshing change and perfect for the occasion. It was a nice night for the laddies to enjoy themselves and to bask in the afterglow of their accomplishments after 4 years at the school. A moment in the sun before they land on their feet and have to embrace the world once again with eyes wide open. I could feel the excitement in the air as I watched the young men and women without a worry in the world walking up to get their diplomas. As hard as I tried I did not get a good picture of Evan and the tassel that Nancy said Evan lost got in the way of the one shot that I thought I had which might be okay. It was not. Oh, well. It was kind of consistent with the events of the past year so did not otherwise surprise me. Maybe some else has a good picture that they will be willing to share. The commencement ended with a toss of the caps into the air and that was that. We did not see Evan as we left and he met up with us at nana's a short while later for burgers and fries. Remind me not to go to 603 Burgers anytime soon. The food was just not that good. It was the one exception to an otherwise exceptional evening.
The graduation event itself was anticlimactic. Nancy has never quite gotten over the St. Thomas fiasco and never quite warmed up to the Portsmouth experience. When we went to the school to sign him up Nancy was not quite herself. She was not wanting to engage or discuss and spoke as little as possible. She was never more than a moment away from breaking into tears from the ordeal and she was a woman on the edge. She was ashamed for her son and ashamed for herself. For that, I will never forgive Evan. To put your mother through something like that is unforgivable. In that same vein, we sought out the least conspicuous of corners at the commencement in which to hide where we could see our son receive his diploma but not engage the crowds. Not engage the parents faces we know and the children with whom Evan has grown up in and around this town of ours. The school had a small auditorium where they accommodated a handful of elderly and the infirm and where they could see the proceedings on a large screen. The video was not the best but it was all we needed. It was comfortable and cool and there were maybe 15-20 people there. It was just right. Nancy's mom joined us as well and it was perfect for her. Not sure how she would have made out in the hot auditorium. We were where we needed to be.
It was a beautiful evening. After several days of rain and darkness, the early evening air was cool and delicious with the sun in all its glory descending slowly but deliberately on the horizon. The rains had all but washed away any heat and humidity in the air and it was a most refreshing change and perfect for the occasion. It was a nice night for the laddies to enjoy themselves and to bask in the afterglow of their accomplishments after 4 years at the school. A moment in the sun before they land on their feet and have to embrace the world once again with eyes wide open. I could feel the excitement in the air as I watched the young men and women without a worry in the world walking up to get their diplomas. As hard as I tried I did not get a good picture of Evan and the tassel that Nancy said Evan lost got in the way of the one shot that I thought I had which might be okay. It was not. Oh, well. It was kind of consistent with the events of the past year so did not otherwise surprise me. Maybe some else has a good picture that they will be willing to share. The commencement ended with a toss of the caps into the air and that was that. We did not see Evan as we left and he met up with us at nana's a short while later for burgers and fries. Remind me not to go to 603 Burgers anytime soon. The food was just not that good. It was the one exception to an otherwise exceptional evening.
Run Amok
08/06/13 06:35
There are just too many scandals to keep track of when it comes to the Obama administration. First we learn that the IRS is targeting conservative groups to prevent them from raising money to fund republican candidates in the last election. Oh, it was just a couple of rogue analysts in the Cincinnati office. Bullshit. Is that why Lois Lerner took the fifth when she was called before Congress to testify? The White House knew and you know it and I know it. It is the Chicago way. That is how the Obama administration is running our government. And now we learn that they are exploiting loopholes in the Patriot Act to spy on millions of americans. Oh, we don't actually listen in to phone conversations. Bullshit. And how about the Benghazi incident where four americans lost their lives and then the Obama administration tried to blame it on a anti-Muslim video gone viral. Bullshit. Any and all troops on standby that could have helped were ordered to stand down. That order came from the White House. God forbid the american people hear that terrorism is alive and well after Obama and his Chicago thugs took credit for the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
And then, if you can believe this, the vice president stood at a podium in some speech and revealed the names of the Seal team that was involved in the slaying of Osama Bin Laden. It wasn't long after that that many members of the Seal team were brought down while taking off in a helicopter by a Jihadist firing a shoulder fired missile. When will this government be held responsible for their actions? I think Rush was right when he said that "we are in the midst of a coup." And to think that they are contemplating the use of drones to surveil Americans. God help us!
Nancy has so much on her plate. And now her mom wants to get together with her to discuss matters. It's that discussion that most parents have with their child or children when the right time comes. They are old but not so old that they can't carry on day to day but old enough to know that it is now or never for conversations about what will happen when they are gone. It has more to do with finances than anything else although there is an air of finality in and around the conversation to come that is probably hard to ignore. It is the veritable 800 pound gorilla in the room. Nancy is not entirely sure that she is the right person to have this conversation but she is the eldest and that responsibility typically falls to the eldest. The mother will become the child and the child will become the parent. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then certainly the next day and on and on.
Roles will be reversed and responsibilities will change hands for better or worse. Were it not for the many fires that Nancy is trying to put out already she might well feel up to the task. There is her work; her day to day here at home; her struggles with our son and all that entails; and a household that looks to her for direction and upkeep. It is a full plate anyway you slice it. But her mother is adamant and as adamant as I have ever seen her in asking Nancy to come over for that talk. So they will do that today come hell or high water. The likelihood of high water is very good since there is a storm blowing up the East coast. I will mind matters here at home and try to help Nancy put a little distance between those things calling out to her so she is not otherwise distracted from the things in life that really matter. I do what I can.
If Evan doesn't graduate, Nancy wants to leave town for the night when graduation comes. She can't bear to be around. That, my friends, is a sad state of affairs. If he does somehow manage to graduate then it will be such a sense of relief. I'm not even sure why we think in our wildest dreams that sending him off to college is going to make things any different. I have every expectation that he will not survive his first quarter. How is that for low expectations? Not that he doesn't have the wherewithal to do the work because he does. If he gave it half a chance and put in the work he could do it. I'm just not sure he cares enough to make that happen. It's hard to know what he cares about these days. I'm reminded from time to time that Evan was the kind of kid who never showed any kind of natural curiosity about anything growing up. He never showed any enthusiasm for anything. He participated because he had to but that was about it.
As a child, he never asked why the sky was blue; why the earth was round; why water freezes in the winter; and on and on. I think you need a little bit of natural curiosity here and there as you progress through the grades just to keep things interesting. One would think. When you decide to use your head for something besides a hat rack, as my father used to say, you might be surprised to find that life will be that much more interesting. As a practical matter, I worry less about his curiosity deficits than I do his ability going forward to support himself and perhaps even a family someday. He needs to improve his prospects if he is going to have half a chance. We're pulling for him but he needs to pull for himself. I hope it isn't too late.
And then, if you can believe this, the vice president stood at a podium in some speech and revealed the names of the Seal team that was involved in the slaying of Osama Bin Laden. It wasn't long after that that many members of the Seal team were brought down while taking off in a helicopter by a Jihadist firing a shoulder fired missile. When will this government be held responsible for their actions? I think Rush was right when he said that "we are in the midst of a coup." And to think that they are contemplating the use of drones to surveil Americans. God help us!
Nancy has so much on her plate. And now her mom wants to get together with her to discuss matters. It's that discussion that most parents have with their child or children when the right time comes. They are old but not so old that they can't carry on day to day but old enough to know that it is now or never for conversations about what will happen when they are gone. It has more to do with finances than anything else although there is an air of finality in and around the conversation to come that is probably hard to ignore. It is the veritable 800 pound gorilla in the room. Nancy is not entirely sure that she is the right person to have this conversation but she is the eldest and that responsibility typically falls to the eldest. The mother will become the child and the child will become the parent. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then certainly the next day and on and on.
Roles will be reversed and responsibilities will change hands for better or worse. Were it not for the many fires that Nancy is trying to put out already she might well feel up to the task. There is her work; her day to day here at home; her struggles with our son and all that entails; and a household that looks to her for direction and upkeep. It is a full plate anyway you slice it. But her mother is adamant and as adamant as I have ever seen her in asking Nancy to come over for that talk. So they will do that today come hell or high water. The likelihood of high water is very good since there is a storm blowing up the East coast. I will mind matters here at home and try to help Nancy put a little distance between those things calling out to her so she is not otherwise distracted from the things in life that really matter. I do what I can.
If Evan doesn't graduate, Nancy wants to leave town for the night when graduation comes. She can't bear to be around. That, my friends, is a sad state of affairs. If he does somehow manage to graduate then it will be such a sense of relief. I'm not even sure why we think in our wildest dreams that sending him off to college is going to make things any different. I have every expectation that he will not survive his first quarter. How is that for low expectations? Not that he doesn't have the wherewithal to do the work because he does. If he gave it half a chance and put in the work he could do it. I'm just not sure he cares enough to make that happen. It's hard to know what he cares about these days. I'm reminded from time to time that Evan was the kind of kid who never showed any kind of natural curiosity about anything growing up. He never showed any enthusiasm for anything. He participated because he had to but that was about it.
As a child, he never asked why the sky was blue; why the earth was round; why water freezes in the winter; and on and on. I think you need a little bit of natural curiosity here and there as you progress through the grades just to keep things interesting. One would think. When you decide to use your head for something besides a hat rack, as my father used to say, you might be surprised to find that life will be that much more interesting. As a practical matter, I worry less about his curiosity deficits than I do his ability going forward to support himself and perhaps even a family someday. He needs to improve his prospects if he is going to have half a chance. We're pulling for him but he needs to pull for himself. I hope it isn't too late.
A Veritable Cauldron
02/06/13 08:27
All of a sudden we have temperatures in the nineties? And this has to coincide with the Senior prom why? Evan took Devon Parker to the senior prom this year. All of the fuss about his jacket and he ended up not wearing one. At least he didn't wear it in the pictures that they took around town. He looked a bit the black sheep since everyone else was wearing their jackets. It was largely a non-tux event and some kids, namely Jeremy Jackson, wore shorts. They seemed to be more of a modified knicker than anything else but they were not unsightly so that was good. Despite the fact that everyone was running behind schedule by the time Evan showed up at his nana's, Nancy managed to get a picture or two of the Evan and his prom date. I have to say. Devon was stunning. Just a knock-out. This is the second year in a row where Evan's prom partner was a leading member of the Portsmouth High School's lacrosse team. It's no wonder that these girls can fit into the skimpiest of skimpiest outfits. Not really sure how the evening went since Evan was tight-lipped as he usually is and when he arrived home the next day he just went to sleep. It was an early night for Devon since she had a big game the following day. The bigger question is, where did Evan spend the night? My money is on one of his friend's homes where they wiled away the evening and early morning hours playing video games. One of these days, I hope he gets a life. I'm not holding my breath.
But life goes on. Tomorrow, Nancy and I will be in Boston for her 6-month checkup. In a word, it's scan time. We know the odds of recurrence are low but I remind Nancy that the odds of recurrence in cases managed by the top tier surgeons is not only marginally better but appreciably better. That doesn't mean that she doesn't have issues to work on. She would tell you the same thing. Don't we all, is what I would say. If anything is going to rattle her world, it would have to be something to do with our son. By her own admission, we are focused now on the next week or two where we will know for certain as to whether or not he will even graduate. If he does not, then we are done with him. He will have to make his own way in the world and that will be that. We have given him every chance and every opportunity to do what he needs to do but he has squandered the opportunities and now his chickens just may be coming home to roost. If he does not graduate, he will have to make whatever decisions he makes while on his own because he will no longer be welcome in our home. If he survives, then he can go on to college in the fall along with his peers and perhaps he can find himself there. As much as we pull for him in his endeavors, we are running on empty when it comes to injecting hope into that equation. He hasn't capitalized on opportunities to date so we're simply not hopeful. A sad state of affairs to be sure.
I would like to work on the lawn today and I should probably tackle it before temperatures get back into the 90's. The upcoming week promises cooler weather so that is good. I will be in Boston 3 days this week for various meetings two of which are job related. It will no doubt make for a tiring week. I will be watching the national news closely for the unfolding scandals involving the Justice Department, the IRS, and President of the United States. I will not be relying on the normal sources since the media cannot be trusted to tell the real stories and that in and of itself is a big problem. Events in Syria seem to be tilting in favor of the government there and their use of chemical weapons against the opposing forces has been universally criticized. Immigration reform is on the presidents agenda and before the senate in the coming months. There should not be a path to citizenship since they are here illegally and they should be rounded up and deported along with their anchor babies and all off their offspring. The reality is that we have social programs like Social Security and Medicare that rely on the tax dollars as do the coffers of the individual states and with declining birth rates there will soon be more people taking than putting in and that is simply not sustainable. As such, they look at the revenues from the illegal aliens and their broods as the coin of the realm and our gutless politicians cannot abide by a policy that doesn't somehow accommodate the illegal masses. It is a recipe for disaster. It portends a sad ending for our once great nation. God help us all.
But life goes on. Tomorrow, Nancy and I will be in Boston for her 6-month checkup. In a word, it's scan time. We know the odds of recurrence are low but I remind Nancy that the odds of recurrence in cases managed by the top tier surgeons is not only marginally better but appreciably better. That doesn't mean that she doesn't have issues to work on. She would tell you the same thing. Don't we all, is what I would say. If anything is going to rattle her world, it would have to be something to do with our son. By her own admission, we are focused now on the next week or two where we will know for certain as to whether or not he will even graduate. If he does not, then we are done with him. He will have to make his own way in the world and that will be that. We have given him every chance and every opportunity to do what he needs to do but he has squandered the opportunities and now his chickens just may be coming home to roost. If he does not graduate, he will have to make whatever decisions he makes while on his own because he will no longer be welcome in our home. If he survives, then he can go on to college in the fall along with his peers and perhaps he can find himself there. As much as we pull for him in his endeavors, we are running on empty when it comes to injecting hope into that equation. He hasn't capitalized on opportunities to date so we're simply not hopeful. A sad state of affairs to be sure.
I would like to work on the lawn today and I should probably tackle it before temperatures get back into the 90's. The upcoming week promises cooler weather so that is good. I will be in Boston 3 days this week for various meetings two of which are job related. It will no doubt make for a tiring week. I will be watching the national news closely for the unfolding scandals involving the Justice Department, the IRS, and President of the United States. I will not be relying on the normal sources since the media cannot be trusted to tell the real stories and that in and of itself is a big problem. Events in Syria seem to be tilting in favor of the government there and their use of chemical weapons against the opposing forces has been universally criticized. Immigration reform is on the presidents agenda and before the senate in the coming months. There should not be a path to citizenship since they are here illegally and they should be rounded up and deported along with their anchor babies and all off their offspring. The reality is that we have social programs like Social Security and Medicare that rely on the tax dollars as do the coffers of the individual states and with declining birth rates there will soon be more people taking than putting in and that is simply not sustainable. As such, they look at the revenues from the illegal aliens and their broods as the coin of the realm and our gutless politicians cannot abide by a policy that doesn't somehow accommodate the illegal masses. It is a recipe for disaster. It portends a sad ending for our once great nation. God help us all.
That Son of a Gun
27/05/13 08:10
I guess he decided that he was going to stay overnight someplace and that was that. Maybe the telltale sign was laying in the sink and we just didn't notice it. You know that when he does this sort of thing that he has his corn starch before leaving the house. Nancy and I were busy taking Mrs G down to the Ice House for a little dinner and a cone. Could they find any larger plates in that place to serve their sandwiches on? And what the fuck! No pickles? There wasn't room anyway so we figured that was just the way it is there. But back to Evan for a minute. WTF? What about his getting his work done on Monday (today) so that he can graduate with the rest of his class. I guess that just isn't important to him. His priorities are what again? His mother was beside herself with anguish and you could hear her muffled cries in the darkness of the bedroom as the hour approached midnight. "Where is he", she moaned uncontrollably. "I can't sleep until he comes home", she went on.
He finally texted when she was nearly comatose and all she could do was to roll over. She's done. He can do his own damn economics project. He can go buy his own damn clothes for the prom. I keep telling her that is is not her fault. He is old enough to make his own decisions and he will live and die by them. That's what I keep telling her. You can't have that conversation with him. He's never home long enough to do that for one thing. He never takes responsibility for his own actions for another. It's always someone else's fault. Well, I guess we'll see, won't we.
Everybody wants to know the date for his graduation. I don't know what to tell them so I don't tell them anything. He's shown no indication that he is either wanting or capable of completing what he needs to complete in order to graduate. His teachers complain that he has already checked out. He goes on a trip to Boston with his class and sleeps in the bus while his class carries on. What a fucking loser! I hate to say that about my son but you need to call a spade a spade. And Dr. Rosman is sending Nancy pictures of ties that Evan can wear to the prom and there is a certain amount of cluelessness out there that leaves me scratching my head. And they ask about what to buy for his graduation and again, we don't know what to tell them. For once, when Mrs G asked the question, and when I responded with a "maybe", I wasn't kicked under the table.
The reality is setting in. Nancy won't have to worry about what to wear to the ceremony. There won't be any ceremony. That train left town a long time ago. I guess we'll see. Stranger things have happened. And then there is college in the fall. He will really be on his own then. Our most optimistic projection has him failing out in his first semester. So the question crossing Nancy's lips just last night is, "if he fails after the first semester, are we responsible for paying the balance?" We'll do what we did at St. Thomas. We'll pay in installments and we'll just stop paying when he drops out. That's a lovely thought. I hope he has a place to go because he is not coming back to this house. Not if I can help it.
He finally texted when she was nearly comatose and all she could do was to roll over. She's done. He can do his own damn economics project. He can go buy his own damn clothes for the prom. I keep telling her that is is not her fault. He is old enough to make his own decisions and he will live and die by them. That's what I keep telling her. You can't have that conversation with him. He's never home long enough to do that for one thing. He never takes responsibility for his own actions for another. It's always someone else's fault. Well, I guess we'll see, won't we.
Everybody wants to know the date for his graduation. I don't know what to tell them so I don't tell them anything. He's shown no indication that he is either wanting or capable of completing what he needs to complete in order to graduate. His teachers complain that he has already checked out. He goes on a trip to Boston with his class and sleeps in the bus while his class carries on. What a fucking loser! I hate to say that about my son but you need to call a spade a spade. And Dr. Rosman is sending Nancy pictures of ties that Evan can wear to the prom and there is a certain amount of cluelessness out there that leaves me scratching my head. And they ask about what to buy for his graduation and again, we don't know what to tell them. For once, when Mrs G asked the question, and when I responded with a "maybe", I wasn't kicked under the table.
The reality is setting in. Nancy won't have to worry about what to wear to the ceremony. There won't be any ceremony. That train left town a long time ago. I guess we'll see. Stranger things have happened. And then there is college in the fall. He will really be on his own then. Our most optimistic projection has him failing out in his first semester. So the question crossing Nancy's lips just last night is, "if he fails after the first semester, are we responsible for paying the balance?" We'll do what we did at St. Thomas. We'll pay in installments and we'll just stop paying when he drops out. That's a lovely thought. I hope he has a place to go because he is not coming back to this house. Not if I can help it.
Jihad
25/05/13 07:25
I think I'm starting to buy into this holy war business. So much for multiculturalism and diversity. When you hear about bombings by radicalized muslims at the finish line at the Boston Marathon; when you hear about week-long fire bombings and civil unrest on the streets of of Stockholm by gangs of Muslim immigrants; when you hear about the beheading of a British soldier on the streets of London in broad daylight by Muslims screaming Allah-u-Akbar (God is Great); when you hear about the unwillingness of our country's liberal leaders to even utter the word "Terrorists" in relation to events that obviously fall into that category, it is a problem. It is a narrative that does not fit well into the liberal agenda and they avoid discussion of same like the plague. It is the liberal policies that attract these immigrants and lure them from abroad with every kind of monetary incentive you can imagine. States like Massachusetts pay for their housing, their living expenses, their education, and even their trips to and from the Jihadist training bases in the Mideast. If they have anything in common it is that they despise infidels of every stripe be they Americans or other. So, it bears watching. When we see a general disinclination by our politicians to endorse or embrace profiling policies that may actually keep us safe from these animals, we must resist those policies with every fibre of our being. That means ousting politicians responsible and righting those wrongs at every turn and by any means available. That may be difficult with our porous borders and our weak-kneed politicians who on both sides of the aisle either look at the masses crossing as cheap labor or their future constituents.
But life goes on. The Ev man was up and gone by 7:45 this morning to his schtick at Water Country. Not sure what they're doing there today since it is raining and has been the better part of the night but leave that alone. He had to pick up his friend first so Nancy made him eggs and sent him on his way. This is only his second job if you forget for a moment about his assistant counselor schtick at a summer camp in upstate New York a few years ago. I think the Mrs would have preferred that he get a job in one of the local restaurants instead of Water Country. That has more to do with his being exposed to the sun day in and day out. That is to say, since his mother has already shown a predisposition to skin cancer and his grandfather had an even more serious issue which may or may not be related to the sun, she felt it best to have him work inside instead. It was not to be. Besides, if he gets his life guard accreditation, he can find summer jobs more easily because he has a sought after skill. He could even, if he wanted, apply back to the camp in NY which I think would be fine with us. With unemployment at an all time high for kids his age, these are opportunities that he should be taking advantage of. I guess we'll see where it goes.
SCAN TIME! The gentleman at the intersection stopped ever so briefly but not before asking the two of us where he might find a pharmacy. Not sure if that was code for wanting to score some drugs or if it was a straight forward request for information. Besides, we were unlikely candidates from our perspective so we fell for the query and responded after a moment or two of what seemed thoughtful deliberation. My internal GPS always points north but I was feeling more confident than usual and I bleated out with unusual abandon, "down the road about a mile you will find a CVS." He seemed satisfied and didn't linger for any further elaboration because my directions and identification were precise right down to the store name. Nancy, on the other hand, was less sure of the store name and thought for sure that the store to which I referred was a Rite-Aid. I will admit that there seems to be a Rite-Aid on every corner these days but I was alarmed at her insistence to the point that I gave her a second and even third look before averting my eyes less I be run over by the foot traffic in downtown Portsmouth. Only then did I issue the "Scan Time" warning. In a weeks time we will be visiting Boston for yet another scan so we can hopefully look back on this particular event and laugh it off as a lapse of something, anything. Yes, laughing will be good. I will look forward to it even.
But life goes on. The Ev man was up and gone by 7:45 this morning to his schtick at Water Country. Not sure what they're doing there today since it is raining and has been the better part of the night but leave that alone. He had to pick up his friend first so Nancy made him eggs and sent him on his way. This is only his second job if you forget for a moment about his assistant counselor schtick at a summer camp in upstate New York a few years ago. I think the Mrs would have preferred that he get a job in one of the local restaurants instead of Water Country. That has more to do with his being exposed to the sun day in and day out. That is to say, since his mother has already shown a predisposition to skin cancer and his grandfather had an even more serious issue which may or may not be related to the sun, she felt it best to have him work inside instead. It was not to be. Besides, if he gets his life guard accreditation, he can find summer jobs more easily because he has a sought after skill. He could even, if he wanted, apply back to the camp in NY which I think would be fine with us. With unemployment at an all time high for kids his age, these are opportunities that he should be taking advantage of. I guess we'll see where it goes.
SCAN TIME! The gentleman at the intersection stopped ever so briefly but not before asking the two of us where he might find a pharmacy. Not sure if that was code for wanting to score some drugs or if it was a straight forward request for information. Besides, we were unlikely candidates from our perspective so we fell for the query and responded after a moment or two of what seemed thoughtful deliberation. My internal GPS always points north but I was feeling more confident than usual and I bleated out with unusual abandon, "down the road about a mile you will find a CVS." He seemed satisfied and didn't linger for any further elaboration because my directions and identification were precise right down to the store name. Nancy, on the other hand, was less sure of the store name and thought for sure that the store to which I referred was a Rite-Aid. I will admit that there seems to be a Rite-Aid on every corner these days but I was alarmed at her insistence to the point that I gave her a second and even third look before averting my eyes less I be run over by the foot traffic in downtown Portsmouth. Only then did I issue the "Scan Time" warning. In a weeks time we will be visiting Boston for yet another scan so we can hopefully look back on this particular event and laugh it off as a lapse of something, anything. Yes, laughing will be good. I will look forward to it even.
Memorial Day Weekend 2013
24/05/13 07:36
I think this holiday couldn't have come along soon enough. I've been feeling ever so slightly mentally fatigued as of late and for no particular reason. I should probably be taking more time off from work than I do but that is the way it goes in the first few months of every new year. You wake up one day and you realize that the year is half way done and you're gasping for air. You need a new drug. You need a distraction that takes you far away from the maddening crowds. Television no longer does the trick. Biking is good and I am more likely to get hooked on the high it gives me but you can only bike so far in any given day. Relationships of every ilk are good but they too can be cloying rather than clearing so I don't rely on them in any meaningful way. You like to think that family time can offer you a renewed center but children have issues and when children have issues the parents have issues. And, god knows we have issues. I do think that our surroundings have become cluttered as well and it is more than likely nothing more than a reflection of our collective mental states here at home. So, maybe the answer I'm looking for is right under my nose. Maybe all it takes is to go through our home one room at a time and attack this thing from the bottom up. Maybe that is the place to start. It is a feng shui approach to clearing the slate so I can start anew. I like it. Now the challenge becomes getting the family on board. That will be difficult. Another circular challenge. It's a wonder that anything gets done.
The patterns with that boy just don't change. These are the patterns that have in no small way contributed to the dismal failures in his academic track record. The symptoms are ever present. Easy to see and known to those of us who are closest to him. Known to us but not easily remedied. How do you explain a boy who comes home from school each day and sleeps for hours on end. Doesn't he have work to do? Doesn't he have exams to study for? I asked him once if he was familiar with the word "procrastination" and if he thought he might be a procrastinator. He didn't think he was, of course, so I didn't pursue that line of questioning. You wonder as a parent what your child is thinking but that's all you can do. You get the e-mails from his teachers saying that he's checked out; e-mails from his counselors reminding us of work that he still has to do so he can graduate; and yet there is little in his behavior that suggests he is attuned to any of those issues. For a boy who has plans to go to college in a few months, he is not only not finishing strong in these final few weeks but I suspect now that he has fallen too far behind to ever catch up. Perhaps he has more important priorities. What they are I can only surmise but I worry that his choices are not healthy ones. He may even have issues with substance abuse, which if I am correct, can literally suck the lifeblood out of you. He's eighteen now and capable of making his own decisions. If only I had more faith in him to make the right decisions. I don't.
The patterns with that boy just don't change. These are the patterns that have in no small way contributed to the dismal failures in his academic track record. The symptoms are ever present. Easy to see and known to those of us who are closest to him. Known to us but not easily remedied. How do you explain a boy who comes home from school each day and sleeps for hours on end. Doesn't he have work to do? Doesn't he have exams to study for? I asked him once if he was familiar with the word "procrastination" and if he thought he might be a procrastinator. He didn't think he was, of course, so I didn't pursue that line of questioning. You wonder as a parent what your child is thinking but that's all you can do. You get the e-mails from his teachers saying that he's checked out; e-mails from his counselors reminding us of work that he still has to do so he can graduate; and yet there is little in his behavior that suggests he is attuned to any of those issues. For a boy who has plans to go to college in a few months, he is not only not finishing strong in these final few weeks but I suspect now that he has fallen too far behind to ever catch up. Perhaps he has more important priorities. What they are I can only surmise but I worry that his choices are not healthy ones. He may even have issues with substance abuse, which if I am correct, can literally suck the lifeblood out of you. He's eighteen now and capable of making his own decisions. If only I had more faith in him to make the right decisions. I don't.
Another glorious weekend
18/05/13 07:46
This Spring has really been quite spectacular weather-wise. It has been cool and largely precipitation free. That bodes ill for firefighters but not so much for the local landscapers who make their hay while the sun shines. And shine it has. Our hummingbird feeders have been out for a couple of weeks now and we've seen them but one day out of those two weeks. It is rather odd to say the least. Maybe they don't approve of the food in the feeders? It is, after all, a juicy and colorful concoction of sugar and water and just what the doctor ordered after a long migration from the sunny south. Their little wings have done a whole lot of flapping in their trip north and the little critters may just be completely tuckered out and not ready to get down with our routines. We can wait. We even have binoculars this year so will pay close attention to the activity around the feeder. We built it and they will come. This is their nature. I suspect they are the same birds that have been coming for years although we can't be sure. Maybe with the binoculars, we will be better equipped to spot those identifiers so that we can be certain beyond a reasonable doubt that they are who we think they are.
Well, I think all that talk about taking away the Xbox put the fear of god into Evan. He went out and got himself a job at Water Country for the summer. They promise to pay him $8 something an hour as a lifeguard so that should be good. It's hard to say how serious he's taking it since the paperwork for the certificate and the check for $100 that it will cost him to take the course still sits on our kitchen table. We do worry about the exposure to the sun over the course of the summer months but we'll do our level best to remind him to stay safe and get down with the lotion. It won't do him any good to get burned and that will just make his life more miserable. Although, I will say, he is the kind of kid who has to find these things out for himself and may just have to learn a lesson or two before it sinks in. We know this from experience. I reminded him of the time that he and Noah swam around Long Island, Lake George when they were probably around 12. Noah was doing his best to stay afloat by the time they finished and, in retrospect, that little guy could have just collapsed in place and drowned while trying to keep up with Evan. That is how good a swimmer Evan is. In fact, I urged him any number of times to get involved with swimming as a sport but he never showed any interest. Notta. That's ok. God knows he has played just about everything else and that includes joining a lacrosse team in his last year of high school. Who does that?
I have to say, I have been a little focused in these past few months with political issues and related fallout. Maybe I am gearing up in my head for the upcoming elections in 2016. I despise the Clintons so hope that they rot in hell but short of that I can only pray to the baby Jesus that they stay off the center stage and out of the limelight. And, Bill Clinton has been out of office for several years now so you know my vitriol runs deep. I wasn't too concerned when Hillary became Secretary of State because that is typically a nowhere job for someone with aspirations for higher political office. So, I paid especially close attention when the Benghazzi matter came to light where four Americans died in a Libyan hell hole while our fearless leader (Obama) went off to Las Vegas for a political fund raiser. He was telling everyone and anyone who would listen that it all had to do with a hateful video that went viral thus inflaming tensions in Muslim brotherhood around the world who took out their rage on our hapless fellow americans. Fact of the matter is, it had nothing to do with a video. It was a narrative concocted by the Obama administration to downplay the rise of terrorism at a time when he was running for reelection and taking full credit for hunting down and killing Osama Bin Laden. He would have every american believe that he alone was responsible for the demise of terrorism around the world. It just wasn't true. But he lied to the american people to ensure that he won his reelection bid. Hillary Clinton lied when she parroted the same story line. Susan Rice went on every television network telling the same lie. Now we know. And there are other scandals breaking this very day. Too many to name here in one paragraph. Do stay tuned. I'm not finished ranting. Not by a long shot. Can you say, I-M-P-E-A-C-H-M-E-N-T?
Well, I think all that talk about taking away the Xbox put the fear of god into Evan. He went out and got himself a job at Water Country for the summer. They promise to pay him $8 something an hour as a lifeguard so that should be good. It's hard to say how serious he's taking it since the paperwork for the certificate and the check for $100 that it will cost him to take the course still sits on our kitchen table. We do worry about the exposure to the sun over the course of the summer months but we'll do our level best to remind him to stay safe and get down with the lotion. It won't do him any good to get burned and that will just make his life more miserable. Although, I will say, he is the kind of kid who has to find these things out for himself and may just have to learn a lesson or two before it sinks in. We know this from experience. I reminded him of the time that he and Noah swam around Long Island, Lake George when they were probably around 12. Noah was doing his best to stay afloat by the time they finished and, in retrospect, that little guy could have just collapsed in place and drowned while trying to keep up with Evan. That is how good a swimmer Evan is. In fact, I urged him any number of times to get involved with swimming as a sport but he never showed any interest. Notta. That's ok. God knows he has played just about everything else and that includes joining a lacrosse team in his last year of high school. Who does that?
I have to say, I have been a little focused in these past few months with political issues and related fallout. Maybe I am gearing up in my head for the upcoming elections in 2016. I despise the Clintons so hope that they rot in hell but short of that I can only pray to the baby Jesus that they stay off the center stage and out of the limelight. And, Bill Clinton has been out of office for several years now so you know my vitriol runs deep. I wasn't too concerned when Hillary became Secretary of State because that is typically a nowhere job for someone with aspirations for higher political office. So, I paid especially close attention when the Benghazzi matter came to light where four Americans died in a Libyan hell hole while our fearless leader (Obama) went off to Las Vegas for a political fund raiser. He was telling everyone and anyone who would listen that it all had to do with a hateful video that went viral thus inflaming tensions in Muslim brotherhood around the world who took out their rage on our hapless fellow americans. Fact of the matter is, it had nothing to do with a video. It was a narrative concocted by the Obama administration to downplay the rise of terrorism at a time when he was running for reelection and taking full credit for hunting down and killing Osama Bin Laden. He would have every american believe that he alone was responsible for the demise of terrorism around the world. It just wasn't true. But he lied to the american people to ensure that he won his reelection bid. Hillary Clinton lied when she parroted the same story line. Susan Rice went on every television network telling the same lie. Now we know. And there are other scandals breaking this very day. Too many to name here in one paragraph. Do stay tuned. I'm not finished ranting. Not by a long shot. Can you say, I-M-P-E-A-C-H-M-E-N-T?
Pace it is
05/05/13 08:23
It's amazing just how uninvolved Evan has been in the college selection process. It has been a battle as well to get him to pay so much as a visit to the schools to which he was accepted. He was willing to go to some but not others. His only requirement seemed to be that it be "urban." The deadline was fast approaching and it seemed that our visit to Pace University just outside NY City did the trick for him. We would have liked to see him go to Emmanuel in Boston but he did not get accepted. Our second choice was probably Merrimack but I think that reminded him too much of St. Thomas so that didn't work out. Nancy is beside herself with Pace since it is so far away and she did her level best to steer him clear of that choice but without success. She harped on the commuter population, the fact that we never got a chance to see so much as a classroom when we were there, and that the graduation rate was sub-par. Nancy even sought the counsel of Dr Rosman but misled him on the UNH information so took his advice with a grain of salt. It is true that at the end of the day you have to respect the choices made by your child since they get to make such choices and agree to live by their decisions. We put Evan on notice though that his grades must be reasonably good or we would not continue to pay for his schooling. As much as we want him to enjoy his college experience, we must insist that he gets grades that will qualify him to do something when he graduates. Graduating with 2.0 GPA will do him no good whatsoever.
Nancy would have preferred as well that he go into a medical field of sorts whether that be an X-Ray tech or other. These are up and coming professions that will be at the epicenter of tomorrows economy. I think we'll know after his first year as to what direction may or may not suit him. He is in a program where for that first year he will have more than enough support to get him started on the right foot. I do think that Evan's problem has never been his ability but rather his willingness and discipline to do the work required to get the good grades. He knows in his own mind that he can do it but fails to follow through as he should. Maybe that boy just has a screw loose. I guess we'll know sooner or later. Well, while I'm on the subject, here is a good example. He took my car to school on several occasions and got a warning each time that his car would be towed if he failed to get a parking sticker. So, he asked me last Friday if he could take my other car perhaps thinking that since he switched cars that he could get away with it. Well, that car came hime with a big orange sticker as well. It was just such a WTF moment. He couldn't bring himself to buy a sticker after all this time? I told him that he couldn't use the car again until he brought home the sticker. Period. Oh, let me be clear about one other thing, I told him. If you do not have a summer job by the time you graduate school then I will be taking the X Box away. I'll be damned if we're going to put him through college while he is making little or no effort to supplement his own income. It just isn't going to happen.
We've been taking Mrs G here and there with us on our weekend jaunts. It's good to get her out of the house now that Mr G is no longer around. We went to Ron Jillian's in Hampton last night for Italian food which she seemed to enjoy. She is settling a bit after the passing of Mr G some weeks ago and is managing to keep busy. She has neighbors stop by from time to time dropping off marinara sauce, asking for information about local real estate, etc.. These are the same kind folks who clear away the snow in the winter from her car and otherwise keep an eye out to see that she is managing all right. I am doing my part by doing this and that around her house and today we will visit Home Depot where she expects to purchase a door for the front of her house. She had asked that I repair the lower section of the door and my recommendation was that she replace the door and be done with it. We went to look at the doors and the idea grew on her rather quickly. There is nothing more satisfying that having a nice new door and I can attest as much since I have replaced a few in my day. I did insist that she avail the services of their technicians to install the darn thing since it is really a job to get that done. Not difficult, but time consuming. She seems to have weathered the emotional aspects of her husband's passing and has now moved on to managing her own life. It is surely a chore that she knew would come one day but just didn't realize that it would come as soon as it did. Life is just full of surprises. Who knew.
Nancy would have preferred as well that he go into a medical field of sorts whether that be an X-Ray tech or other. These are up and coming professions that will be at the epicenter of tomorrows economy. I think we'll know after his first year as to what direction may or may not suit him. He is in a program where for that first year he will have more than enough support to get him started on the right foot. I do think that Evan's problem has never been his ability but rather his willingness and discipline to do the work required to get the good grades. He knows in his own mind that he can do it but fails to follow through as he should. Maybe that boy just has a screw loose. I guess we'll know sooner or later. Well, while I'm on the subject, here is a good example. He took my car to school on several occasions and got a warning each time that his car would be towed if he failed to get a parking sticker. So, he asked me last Friday if he could take my other car perhaps thinking that since he switched cars that he could get away with it. Well, that car came hime with a big orange sticker as well. It was just such a WTF moment. He couldn't bring himself to buy a sticker after all this time? I told him that he couldn't use the car again until he brought home the sticker. Period. Oh, let me be clear about one other thing, I told him. If you do not have a summer job by the time you graduate school then I will be taking the X Box away. I'll be damned if we're going to put him through college while he is making little or no effort to supplement his own income. It just isn't going to happen.
We've been taking Mrs G here and there with us on our weekend jaunts. It's good to get her out of the house now that Mr G is no longer around. We went to Ron Jillian's in Hampton last night for Italian food which she seemed to enjoy. She is settling a bit after the passing of Mr G some weeks ago and is managing to keep busy. She has neighbors stop by from time to time dropping off marinara sauce, asking for information about local real estate, etc.. These are the same kind folks who clear away the snow in the winter from her car and otherwise keep an eye out to see that she is managing all right. I am doing my part by doing this and that around her house and today we will visit Home Depot where she expects to purchase a door for the front of her house. She had asked that I repair the lower section of the door and my recommendation was that she replace the door and be done with it. We went to look at the doors and the idea grew on her rather quickly. There is nothing more satisfying that having a nice new door and I can attest as much since I have replaced a few in my day. I did insist that she avail the services of their technicians to install the darn thing since it is really a job to get that done. Not difficult, but time consuming. She seems to have weathered the emotional aspects of her husband's passing and has now moved on to managing her own life. It is surely a chore that she knew would come one day but just didn't realize that it would come as soon as it did. Life is just full of surprises. Who knew.
Birthday Boy
28/04/13 08:42
It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to…cry if I want to. But, I don't. I'm too busy to shed tears about anything. What about that boondoggle in Boston? I'm talking about the bombing on Patriots Day where those Chechen bozo's with backpacks detonated a couple of bombs near the finish line separating people from their limbs. What followed in the ensuing days can only be described as a series of scenes right out of the Keystone Cops in a classic terrorist hunt. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't track down this ragged 19-year old whose alleged activities put him at the epicenter of the crime. Yes, the big bad boys in fatigues from every agency from miles around gathered to participate in this exercise in lunacy as they found him, then they didn't, then they did, then they didn't, and on it went. It was laughable. The City of Watertown was locked down for two days while these good squads went house to house searching basements, attics, closets, under beds, and in places any self-respecting terrorist wouldn't even think about hiding. They were as tough as they needed to be as they evicted grandmothers, invalids, and families who would rather be watching their favorite sitcom than be moved from their spots in front of the tv by weekend warriors carrying muzzle loaders and bayonets. "No, we ain't seen no terrorists round here" was the most likely refrain heard round the hood and the keystone cops went door to door.
It wasn't the combined forces of the FBI, the local and state police, or even the technologists with all their gadgetry employed in every conceivable fashion who finally located the kid. It was the careful eye of a local who saw blood on and around his boat that sat shrink wrapped in his driveway who made the discovery. And then, the emboldened forces who stood with their weapons at the ready, opened fire on the boat thinking that each and every gunshot coming from their peers was one aimed at their very hearts by the terrorist in the boat. They were morons all. Not only did they not realize that not a single shot had been fired from the boat but when the smoke cleared they realized that their barrage of fire failed to find their target time and time and time again. The cops towed the boat away some days later having realized their idiocy and not wanting the press to realize that the boat was riddled beyond repair and yet another example of their idiocy in action. And then to see the politicians far and wide in the state of Massachusetts push the commercialization of the event where people died and many others were maimed as an example of "Boston Strong." What the fuck were they thinking? Just so you know, and as every aspiring politician knows all too well, you never let a good crisis go to waste. And they surely have not. It was purposely crafted as a platform from which the mealy mouthed Deval Patrick, the esteemed governor of Massachusetts, will launch his bid for the presidency in 2016. And, if you have any thoughts about vengeance or retribution in the wake of this attack, you can forget about it. He will get room and board and 3 squares a day until yet another liberal on the bench in the great state of Massachusetts sees fit to release him. This is the Democratic way. This is Massachusetts.
We as parents are betwixt and between when it comes to our son, Evan. More specifically, we are in the cusp of making a decision about where he is going to go to college and it has not been easy. We are of the mind that he is better suited based on his experience to date to a specific occupation of sorts than a liberal education that gives him 4 years of college and very little in the way of prospects beyond that. How about a radiation technologist? An X-Ray guy? A nurse? And then there is the drinking. The bottles here, there, and everywhere. Where does the wayward drinking of teenage boys start end and the binge drinking of the long term alcoholic begin? What business do we have sending a child with such propensities away for months at a time where he is forced to face his demons in a place where he may be destined to fail for these very reasons. And then we will think that he was not particularly well suited to that environment when all the while the real issue at hand is the alcohol. It just seems like such an inauspicious beginning to say the least. God help us. And him.
It wasn't the combined forces of the FBI, the local and state police, or even the technologists with all their gadgetry employed in every conceivable fashion who finally located the kid. It was the careful eye of a local who saw blood on and around his boat that sat shrink wrapped in his driveway who made the discovery. And then, the emboldened forces who stood with their weapons at the ready, opened fire on the boat thinking that each and every gunshot coming from their peers was one aimed at their very hearts by the terrorist in the boat. They were morons all. Not only did they not realize that not a single shot had been fired from the boat but when the smoke cleared they realized that their barrage of fire failed to find their target time and time and time again. The cops towed the boat away some days later having realized their idiocy and not wanting the press to realize that the boat was riddled beyond repair and yet another example of their idiocy in action. And then to see the politicians far and wide in the state of Massachusetts push the commercialization of the event where people died and many others were maimed as an example of "Boston Strong." What the fuck were they thinking? Just so you know, and as every aspiring politician knows all too well, you never let a good crisis go to waste. And they surely have not. It was purposely crafted as a platform from which the mealy mouthed Deval Patrick, the esteemed governor of Massachusetts, will launch his bid for the presidency in 2016. And, if you have any thoughts about vengeance or retribution in the wake of this attack, you can forget about it. He will get room and board and 3 squares a day until yet another liberal on the bench in the great state of Massachusetts sees fit to release him. This is the Democratic way. This is Massachusetts.
We as parents are betwixt and between when it comes to our son, Evan. More specifically, we are in the cusp of making a decision about where he is going to go to college and it has not been easy. We are of the mind that he is better suited based on his experience to date to a specific occupation of sorts than a liberal education that gives him 4 years of college and very little in the way of prospects beyond that. How about a radiation technologist? An X-Ray guy? A nurse? And then there is the drinking. The bottles here, there, and everywhere. Where does the wayward drinking of teenage boys start end and the binge drinking of the long term alcoholic begin? What business do we have sending a child with such propensities away for months at a time where he is forced to face his demons in a place where he may be destined to fail for these very reasons. And then we will think that he was not particularly well suited to that environment when all the while the real issue at hand is the alcohol. It just seems like such an inauspicious beginning to say the least. God help us. And him.