Encyclopedia of Me - E

E is for Eagle Rock Reservation- I was born, grew up, and until this recent move to North Carolina, lived in Essex County, New Jersey, 12 miles due west of Manhattan. The primary geologic feature of the area are the ridges that run north and south. The eastern-most ridge is called Watchung Mountain. At the top of the ridge, facing New York City, is Eagle Rock Reservation. From the Reservation there is a spectacular view across the Jersey meadows and you can see the city from the George Washington Bridge south to the Verrazano Bridge.

I suppose Eagle Rock is one of the places I will miss most. It features in my memories back as far as I can remember. Going there for picnics and to enjoy the view as a child, hanging out there as a teen with friends, eating at Highlawn Pavilion, just stopping a short while to soak up the view while driving through to a further destination, lovely walks there with The Tramp, and more recently taking visitors to see the Essex County September 11th Memorial as well as the breathtaking views of the city. I always found the panorama which includes the homes of almost 10 million people could bring me out of my insular little world of the moment and remind me of the larger world. Something going to church does for me as well. It's humbling, as well as a way to reconnect with the larger community.

The September 11th memorial is beautiful. On the fateful morning I was in my office in the center of town when we got a phone call alerting us to the first part of the disaster. We turned on CNN and watched in horror. The whole thing was made even more surreal as we had a clear view of mid-town Manhattan from my office window and from that vantage point it was a normal gorgeous autumn day. The World Trade Center site was out of view behind the trees. It was bizarre to go back and forth from the lovely view at my window to what we were seeing on the television. My boss spent the morning frantically trying to reach her son and DIL who were living and working in the city. One of my daughter's friends was on the 73rd floor of Tower One. Her story is harrowing. A friend of ours was a roommate in the Air Force with the pilot of one of the planes. Everyone knows someone who was directly affected on the day or afterwards during the rescue and clean-up effort.

After the initial rush up the mountain to outlooks like Eagle Rock, all the streets to places with a view were closed by the police for a few days. The reservation was closed for weeks. The local schools stayed open into the night waiting for parents to come home. Some were stuck in the city, trapped by checkpoints or lack of transportation. Some never came home. The event looms hugely in the collective psyche of the area. We grew up with the view of the New York skyline as a constant in our lives and then suddenly and violently it changed.

I know I'll be visiting there again.

Encyclopedia of Me - D

D is for Dolls - I love dolls. I like to buy dolls, I like books about dolls, I like to make dolls, I like to talk about dolls. I went through pre-divorce jag of buying Lee Middleton dolls. I have way too many and should probably sell some to make room for new. But they are so cute!



D is for Daughter-in-law - I'm blessed with a lovely DIL, wife of the Sailor Son. Though very young, she's no shrinking violet and should manage fine as a military wife. The baby (boy) is due in October and she says he's bouncing every minute. Last I heard they are coming to visit this weekend. *happy dance*

Patting the baby. :)

D is for Dragon - The Tramp has about a dozen t-shirts with dragons on the front. My Mom made him a beaded dragon that is absolutely magnificent. I have a wyvern by Melinda Small Paterson half made for him, pink of course! His fave color.

Addition to Encyclopedia of Me - C

Today we went to Mom and Dad's for Sunday dinner. They are starting to put things up on their bare walls and my favorite quilted wall hangings were up.

C is for Cat - Mom is a very talented at appliqué. I guess this took her about a year. Hard to tell, she always has so many projects going. I think it's stunning.

C is for Chicken - But I really covet the chicken quilts. This one is up on the wall.A new one is on the frame. And a third one is just begun!The colors are wonderful.You can just see the pencil marks in the shape of chicken wire.
I want it!!! :)

Encyclopedia of Me - C

C is for Christmas - When my brother and I were children our parents made sure that Christmas was a big a deal as they could afford. They didn't buy us lots of small things during the year, they saved up for Christmas. When we were very small they would put up the tree Christmas Eve after we went to bed and in the morning we were carried through the house with our eyes closed to the kitchen. We had to eat breakfast before we could do anything else! It sounds so strict to me now but our Christmas stockings were always hung on our doorknobs and we opened them as soon as we woke up. Of course when we were older we snuck downstairs at dawn and poked at our presents and speculated about them until our parents appeared. Christmas was always the highlight of the year. The delicious anticipation and the exciting day. All during my childhood, if I couldn't sleep at night or was worried about something, I could always make myself feel better by just thinking about Christmas. Thanks Mom and Dad.

The photo is of the first tree I had in my apartment, five years ago. It's one of those "country" trees with the long trunk. My Mom dubbed it "the cell phone tower". It's tall and skinny and reminded her of those "disguised" towers. So of course we still call it that! :)

C is for non-Conformist - I asked The Tramp if he was going to participate in this meme and he "didn't think so". Next thing I knew he was tapping away at his keyboard. Bless his little cotton socks, he's so predictable sometimes. :) He's started his Encyclopedia of Me Meme with "Zed". Gotta love him. He always has to put his own twist on things.

C is for Control - The Tramp and I celebrate having control over our own lives. Having both previously lived with very controlling people we've learned to communicate and compromise and treat each other with the utmost respect. Of course we annoy each other sometimes...he spends way to much time with his computer, and my ability to break mine drives him crazy.

LOL That reminds me of the time my eldest daughter, at the age 4, suddenly announced one day, "Mommy's crazy and Daddy's crazy, that's cooperation!" That's when I knew she'd watched entirely too much Sesame Street!

Encyclopedia of Me - B

Day two!

B is for Belle - Belle is my long haired chihuahua. Mostly white with black ears. And she's tiny, only 4lbs. She's 6 1/2 years old now, my ex and I bought her at a flea market in Kissimmee, Florida. She's named after Snoopy's sister. Like every chihuahua she has the heart of a BIG dog. When she has a chunk of rawhide or a fuzzy toy to protect the big dogs don't dare challenge her. She snarls like a little wildcat and jumps and snaps at their faces. It's funny watching them back off. Mostly she and Ngaire get along just fine. I just worry about Ngaire stepping on her when she gets exuberant (Ngaire should have been named Tigger).

Being little has put her in serious harms way more than once. She had one run-in with a larger dog she almost lost. A large canine tooth went into the open molera on her head (didn't break the skin). Brain swelling and all kinds of trauma for her...and me! The most recent incident was with caffeine....we think. She may have picked up an Excedrin for Migraine type pill one of us lost on the bathroom floor, we're just not sure. Anyway she was flying high for about 48 hours and something caused it. Pretty scary. The latest worry is our new huge yard and not losing her out there! The other day I counted 15 big hawks circling. Yikes. So The Tramp is going to build her a run...with a roof!

This was taken during the caffeine episode. Ngaire knew something was wrong and went to curl up with her under my sewing machine table. Belle sat up for almost the whole 48 hours, swaying back and forth. Her head never stopped moving. She looked left, right, up and back....for hours and hours. Yet another expensive trip to the emergency vet...sigh.

Taking her rightful place between the bride and the groom. Too much excitement in one day! :)

Giving me the evil eye after a bath.

There's more seatbelt than dog!

Always curled up with her favorite people. In this case it's my mom.

B is for Bettas - I have 5 Betta fish. I originally got them for my desk at work. It was a reception desk in an IT training center and they were a great conversation piece. Now they live on my kitchen counter. Perfectly happy as long as they get fed and a water change every two weeks.

My mom made the quilt for over my desk. :)

Encyclopedia of Me Meme - A

Thanks to Anina I'm joining in the Encyclopedia of Me meme. What fun! Of course I say that before I've written anything. LOL But it's worth a try! Lets see.... I wonder if I can find photos to include with each. What fun!

A is for Anniversary - August 8th is our third wedding anniversary. The Tramp and I have just moved into our third house in three years! It's taken all that time to figure out what living style makes us comfortable together. I think we've figured it out. Though I feel like we won't be really "living" here until all the rooms are painted, boxes emptied and and furniture set up the way we like it. The house is about 3,000 sq ft. Half of it is a 70's brick ranch and half was added in 2000 as a photography studio and offices. We will add windows to the studio which will give us a 23 ft x 25 ft living room. The Tramp and I will each have our own "study" and I will also have a big sewing room. Woohoo! The dark room is still here and we're looking forward to having fun with that too. I've almost finished painting and setting up the old part of the house and am looking forward to starting on the studio part this week. I can't wait!

We got married on Skaket Beach on Cape Cod. It was a picture perfect day. It was just us, my Mom and Dad (they were living on the Cape) and the Justice of the Peace. We talked it over with our children and decided it would be all of them or none of them at the wedding. They thought that would be "fair". Sadly, the schedule just wouldn't work out for everyone to be there. But thank goodness for phones and email. Photos were shooting around the world by the end of the day.


Our plan was to get married barefoot in the sand. Well in the pressure and excitement of the moment guess what we both forgot! My dad took the photo of our feet not even realizing what our plan was. It's my favorite photo from the wedding and (when I unpack it) it's going up on the wall again.

A is for African Violet - I love African Violets. I'm a sucker for the wonderful colors. Yum yum yum. Our previous house had the Perfect Window for them. Here, I think I'm going to have to put up glass shelves in some of the windows. Right now most of my plants are living on a folding table surrounded by boxes in The Tramp's study...sigh.

Mr. Bluelight

I've become less enchanted with the product offerings and service at Kmart over the years. It was a great place in the late 70's and early 80's but there has been less and less reason for me to take the trouble to visit Kmart stores these days.

I thought things were on an upswing recently but I'm totally put off by the new commercials starring Mr. Bluelight. Whether he is leering at runway models, or driving a school bus and classifying the girls as pretty and the boys as smart, the character is sleazy and blatantly sexist and frankly makes me uncomfortable. It isn't much better when he is trying to talk the lady into buying a TV in hopes she will receive diamonds from a grateful husband. Eeewwwwww.

I really think Kmart and Sears need to rethink their advertising strategy. Around here there is way too much competition and I can avoid going to Kmart completely....easily!

I have to say however, some of the Hillshire Farms Go Meat commercials make me grin every time. :-D

Old dogs and new tricks

Some folks may wonder at this, but...today...for the first time...I peeled and seeded tomatoes! How cool is that! :)


I actually had to look up how to do it. Cooking is not at the top of the list of ways I like to spend my time. But one of the things we were looking forward to after our move from New Jersey to North Carolina was time for home cooking. In New Jersey, when we both got home from work, it was way to easy to just go out to one of the many 24 hour local diners. No diners in North Carolina though there sure is no lack of restaurants. When I thought about it I figured it's been 10 to 15 years since I cooked regularly for a family. Wow.

Our neighbor has been generously providing us with the biggest meatiest tastiest tomatoes. So today I tackled the the peeling issue and they are now simmering away with all the other ingredients in the slow cooker. A good feeling.

Disappointment

Yesterday we had replacement windows installed in the old part of the house by Clear Choice. What a disappointment and we did not get the cheapest windows. The installer isn't so much the problem, it's the manufacturer of the windows, Silver Line (Andersen). The installer promises to make good (I'm not paying until they do) and I'm waiting for a representative from Silver Line to come to the house so I can vent about how awful these windows are. I don't care what all hype and promises they have on their pretty website, these are eleven lousy windows. Dammit!

You can't tell by just looking but when you start to use them it's obvious that the sashes don't fit the frames! I can move the locked windows up and down a half an inch (or more!) in their frames. So there is no weather seal. At all. I can easily fit my fingers under the sashes!

I also noticed the weather stripping on one of the screens is backwards, facing outward. I'm wondering what else I'll find today. Really shoddy craftsmanship. :-(


The beautiful blue and black butterfly was a bonus though. :-) It was slowly opening and closing it's wings and they were stunning in the sunlight.


Bonus dog pics. They really do work hard at being bookends but sometimes it works better than others. LOL

Cute

Of course each time you go back and do it you get a different result. :) I like this one.

You Are The Moon

You represent the unconscious side of life, what happens in dreams. You are capable of great genius - but also of great madness. Emotions tend to be primal for you, both your fears and your fantasies. Your intuition is always right, listening to it is the difficult part. Your fortune: You are about to embark on a very important journey - and a very difficult one. Some of your deepest dreams will be realized, as well as some of your deepest nightmares. Follow your creativity and visions; stay away from your weaknesses. You are taking a voyage to the center of yourself, and you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

What Tarot Card Are You?