Midge just called (6:00 a.m. EDT) and she and Jay are ready to hit the road east. "I'm still geeked," she said, "about Barack Obama last night." As life long Democrats, mad fans of the Kennedy's and 60's girls, we are in the Obama column for sure. He does remind me of the candidate John Kennedy. Pundits called him inexperienced and undistinguished as well. I think Obama holds enormous promise to catch the zeitgeist, the moment, and make a huge difference. It's what Bill Clinton did as well, and Ronald Reagan and, somehow, Richard Nixon. It does seem like magic, this charisma thing. Although labeling it charisma slights it - it's something else, something subtle and ephemeral. By the way, keep an eye on David Patterson, New York's got-there-the-odd-way governor. He's got the goods.
One more work day to the lovely Labor Day holiday. It is a gift, a last sigh of summer, a time for garden and family and of course, the New Paltz Arts and Crafts show, end-of-summer version. I'll be there with my new friends Shelly, Marda and Pat and perhaps Jackie, who joined the staff in July as the new VP for Administration & Finance.
I have a phone call at 9:00, meetings at 10:00 and 11:00 and a lunch date. Then it would be amazing to actually finish the analysis of the Graduating Senior Survey. In any event, the day will end and it will be - ta da - Labor Day weekend.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Welcome to canning 101. We took a canning class at Brook Farm last week and it was fantastic. Stephanie, the canning expert, took about 8 of us through our paces and we produced many pints of salsa. She learned how to can from her Mom, who learned from her Mom, so it has a nice, Mom-to-Mom feel to it. Also stuff - and you all know how much we like to buy stuff. So far, we have everything but the centerpiece - the canner - which includes the twongers (to lift the hot bottles out of the hot water bath), the jars, the funnel, the pickling spices, and of course the pickling cukes and the many, many tomatoes rapidly ripening. The canner has been ordered from the in-our-neighborhood True Value and should be here Wednesday. Midge and Jay are coming on Friday and will be here until Sunday. She offered to help. One of my goals is to can peaches - which are glorious around here. I never thought I'd find the equal of a Michigan Red Haven peach, but voila! The Hudson Valley has wonderful peaches.
Ken is off to Elmhurst in Queens this morning and I am off to the start of the 2008-2009 academic year. Our classes start today and thousands of new and returning undergraduate and graduate students will be flooding the campus. My chorus class has its first meeting on Wednesday. Just in case you are early planners, our concerts are November 18 and 22 and December 9.
Have a good Monday.
Ken is off to Elmhurst in Queens this morning and I am off to the start of the 2008-2009 academic year. Our classes start today and thousands of new and returning undergraduate and graduate students will be flooding the campus. My chorus class has its first meeting on Wednesday. Just in case you are early planners, our concerts are November 18 and 22 and December 9.
Have a good Monday.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
What we did this summer...
To friends & family of Ken and Jackie -
Summer of 2008 has been bracketed by visits from our loved ones. The wonderful Linda Blakey visited in June, bringing her energetic self, her gardening and composting expertise, her willingness to walk many miles in city and country. We saw "In the Heights" the very day it went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. She helped me create a perennial bed at the foot of our driveway that will live forever. She taught us how to compost, hopefully turning food scraps into good soil. She observed that we might want to move those 24 tomato plants from one small plot of land, a project that has occupied Ken ever since. Of course, we are now looking at literally 100s of tomatoes in three locations.
The 4th of July rolled around and with it Erica, her three daughters Jessica, Chelsea and Jennifer, our niece Jody and Matthew all the way from Portland, OR. We ate. We shopped. We had a group birthday dinner, complete with a fantastic cake by Matt, cards and a loud song. We saw "Wicked," which was very much fun. Did I say we shopped? Well we shopped. We had a subway car to ourselves. We lost Grandpa Cheese. Matt and I went to the Bronx Zoo, learning as much about the express buses as the gorillas. Matt went to his first dance performance, seeing Pilabolus at The Joyce. It was very cool.
Ken and I had a happy July, watching those tomatoes and that watermelon take over our garden space. Who knew watermelon were so aggressive? We then celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary with a week off and a variety of adventures. We painted 3 bedrooms, 3 metal doors and 1 shed. We swam in the Hudson River, ate Greek food on Lark St., jaunted in our Riviera of the Hudson. We spent 3 nights at the Waldorf=Astoria, courtesy of Ken's Hilton points. We saw "Hair," ate FANTASTIC Chinese food in Flushing to celebrate the Olympics, walked and walked, saw "Man on Wire" and "Swing Vote" and rode Biria bikes up and down a car-less Park Avenue. It was too cool for school.
We await the visit of Midge and Jay over Labor Day, which will cap a lovely summer.
Summer of 2008 has been bracketed by visits from our loved ones. The wonderful Linda Blakey visited in June, bringing her energetic self, her gardening and composting expertise, her willingness to walk many miles in city and country. We saw "In the Heights" the very day it went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical. She helped me create a perennial bed at the foot of our driveway that will live forever. She taught us how to compost, hopefully turning food scraps into good soil. She observed that we might want to move those 24 tomato plants from one small plot of land, a project that has occupied Ken ever since. Of course, we are now looking at literally 100s of tomatoes in three locations.
The 4th of July rolled around and with it Erica, her three daughters Jessica, Chelsea and Jennifer, our niece Jody and Matthew all the way from Portland, OR. We ate. We shopped. We had a group birthday dinner, complete with a fantastic cake by Matt, cards and a loud song. We saw "Wicked," which was very much fun. Did I say we shopped? Well we shopped. We had a subway car to ourselves. We lost Grandpa Cheese. Matt and I went to the Bronx Zoo, learning as much about the express buses as the gorillas. Matt went to his first dance performance, seeing Pilabolus at The Joyce. It was very cool.
Ken and I had a happy July, watching those tomatoes and that watermelon take over our garden space. Who knew watermelon were so aggressive? We then celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary with a week off and a variety of adventures. We painted 3 bedrooms, 3 metal doors and 1 shed. We swam in the Hudson River, ate Greek food on Lark St., jaunted in our Riviera of the Hudson. We spent 3 nights at the Waldorf=Astoria, courtesy of Ken's Hilton points. We saw "Hair," ate FANTASTIC Chinese food in Flushing to celebrate the Olympics, walked and walked, saw "Man on Wire" and "Swing Vote" and rode Biria bikes up and down a car-less Park Avenue. It was too cool for school.
We await the visit of Midge and Jay over Labor Day, which will cap a lovely summer.
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