Maria Theresia, 1991-2008

MT died last night after a massive stroke that left her blind and paralyzed.  It started about 9:00 and by 11:30, Ken and I were home burying her in the back, by the rosebush.  We will plant more roses and hope to see that whole line along the back bloom in the future.

We got MT after we visited Matt in Vienna* in the spring of 1991.  She was to be 'company' for another cat, whose name I cannot recall.  We started with cats in 1982 with Cleo, who died on the operating table of the Ann Arbor Humane Society while being spayed.  We then had Dolly for a number of years, Sinbad and Binx for too few and Motley for too many.  We had Lewis and Clark in Delhi, but they did not make the trip to New Paltz.  They live in Michigan, formerly with Erica, and now with Brian, I think (hope).  They were lovely, but three cats was too much, especially as MT, always a spiky sort, was not lonely.

Midge's cat Daisy was put down last week and I heard that Candace's beloved Honey, the golden retriever, died quite unexpectedly recently.  

This is the end of the line for cats for us, although I could envision a time where life is less hectic and we will yearn for a creature to care for. 

* She was named for Maria Theresia of Austria, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria 

Post Obama, continued

Abraham Woods, a Civil Rights activist in the 1960's, a colleague of Martin Luther King and others, died this week.  In his obit in the New York Times yesterday, his granddaughter Marian Bell told this story:  'On election night last week, in his hospital room,  Ms. Bell asked him what he was thinking about the results.  He said, "If I could wake up Martin, Coretta, Rosa" along with other leaders of the struggle, "I would tell them that my son Barack made it."'  

Have a good Friday.

Post Obama

We O-people are indeed glad and heartened by the results of the election.  On the actual day, I was driving back from Providence, exhorting, "America, do the right thing!"  And it did.  Lovely.  As Ken said last weekend in New York City, "I look around and think, everyone I see is a member of the family."  We are one.  This election has turned cynical, hardened liberals into sentimental patriots and it feels pretty good.  

We are in the dog days of November, gray, not yet really cold; but what is ahead is obvious.  With the time change, it is dark by 5:00 and my walk home is via Main Street, brandishing my flash light on the streets of my neighborhood.  But it is light enough in the morning for me to do my walk or run at home, instead of going over to the Wellness Center on campus.  I expect that by Thanksgiving week, I will be back there, however.  

We were in New York last weekend, in a New York arts/culture trifecta:  Radio City Music Hall and the Christmas Spectacular; Joe's Pub and a monologist; and separate movies for separate movie tastes.  Radio City was pretty spectacular, if emphatically Christian and heterosexual.  The 3-D - wowie.  Mike Daisy, the monologist, was energetic and funny/depressing.  His performance was titled "If You See Something, Say Something."  As to movies, I saw "Rachel Getting Married" and Ken saw "Soul Men."  Perfect for both of us.  It rained like mad on Saturday and, as I was thoughtless and even stupid, I managed to ruin my cell phone.  So a new phone for me.  This weekend, we are there again to see Columbia play Cornell in football and another play at The Public.  

The news from the New York budget is pretty dire.  We have been in New York during good times and I am worried about New York City, and about my sweet college.  I keep asking people how long they think it will last and the consensus seems to be 2-3 years.  Timing is everything in life.

Stay warm.

November 1

"Rabbit, rabbit," as Barbara would say.  We are Obama people, and hope fervently that this month brings an Obama victory.  I have been wrestling with partisanship, wanting not to be a nutjob on the left, but I do fear McCain/Palin.  I keep talking myself down: I survived 8 years of Ronald Reagan; I survived 8 years of George Bush; many people I admire admire John McCain; Obama is not perfect.  So we'll see.  Does the future of the nation ride on this election?  I believe so.  

It's been a strange week, and, as we 'fall back' into Eastern Daylight Time, it will continue to be off-schedule.  Ken and I head to Providence, RI, today for the Northeast Association for Institutional Research.  It should be fun, as neither of us have ever been to Providence, which is about 3.5 hours away.  Ken will go to New York on Sunday night via Amtrak, then will come back home on election day, which is when the conference ends.  Both of us voted absentee.  Along with my many other wishes is the hope that we have a winner declared by Wednesday morning.  

We were in Michigan last weekend to celebrate Karen's birthday and Midge's birthday.  It was fun being there in nice weather, as opposed to Christmas.  We saw Ray, Veda, Erica, Jess, Jennifer, Chelsea, Karen, Mike, Jody, Nicole and Eileen.  We saw Midge, Jay, a group of their friends at a Michigan-loses-again/birthday party, as well as Linda and her friend Richard, and Jean and Jim.  It was big fun and lightening quick.  We were in Livonia, Chelsea and Ann Arbor, which was  welcome, as we frequently also drive across the state to Grand Haven.  That trip is coming up at Christmas and for Ken's birthday in February.  

Thanksgiving will be quiet, as traveling on that holiday is so onerous.  We'll be home on the actual day, watching football and probably going to New World Home Cooking in Saugerties for dinner.  Randy and Jen and their girls come in from Utica for a day in NYC and a day in New Paltz.  

Happy November.  Peace.  Joy.  Good weather (i.e., no snow).  

Ken and the Chipmunk

And I don't mean Alvin.  Here is a story about Ken, who embodies the good men/human beings on this planet.  He spent many hours on planning and creating our first garden, and this month many hours cleaning it up and tearing it down.  Because we live in a deer neighborhood, we put a soft mesh fence around the garden during the build-up phase.  In the tear-down phase, Ken took down the soft mesh and put it in a heap in back of the shed.  On another day of garden clean up, he was in the vicinity of the heaped up mesh and found a chipmunk struggling mightily.  Yikes!  He went in the house and found his most sturdy gloves and a scissors and worked for 20 minutes on cutting this little creature out of the mesh.  I wasn't home, so am repeating what he told me.  He held the chipmunk in his hand, putting it on its back, and cut the mesh that had enfolded it.  He said once it was on its back, it did not struggle much.  Was it a boy chipmunk or a girl chipmunk, I asked?  I didn't notice, he replied.  Did it try to bite you?  No, but it kicked a lot until I got it on its back.  Was it grateful?  Who knows?  Will it come back and save you some day in the future?  Maybe.  So add this sobriquet to Ken's long list:  chipmunk saver.  

College Football in the Hudson Valley

While Michigan was losing to Toledo yesterday, we were at Michie (pronounced Mikey) Stadium at the US Military Academy at West Point watching Army beat Eastern Michigan University on a shining, sunny day.  It was Army's homecoming, and I have to admit I was rooting for Army.  After all, teams deserve to win their homecoming, and oh, the pageantry of it all.  I think the Catholics and the military come from the same school of over-the-top ceremony and tradition.  It's in my blood and it moves me every time.  What the Army homecoming game had:  4 cadets parachuting onto the center of the field from very high in the sky from a Black Hawk helicopter; said helicopter often hovered above the field, inviting the not-sold-out crowd to admire it (Ken thought it had these hovering capabilities for other reasons).  It had a band.  It had cheerleaders.  A whole platoon (? right term?) of cadets, cheering and whooping, formed an avenue for the players to flood onto the field.  It had canons - yep, lots of explosions from them (it?).  The canon boomed for every point scored.  It boomed when the quarters ended.  It boomed when the game ended.  The Army fight song rang from the 40,000 seat stadium, which is perched high above the Hudson River and the campus.  The Army varsity song (think 'hurrah for the yellow and blue') made me cry as well.  The game has the Star Spangled Banner, sung by an a cappella group of USMA alumni.  Of course, this is one of few places in America where the words to the SSB mean something.  I have been to the USMA campus 8 times since moving to New York:  2 conferences, 3 football games, 2 college fairs and 1 band concert, all in the post 9/11 world; all when we are at war.  There are surely cadets on campus on my previous visits who are now war casualties.  The cheerleaders, band members and football players we saw yesterday may be in Iraq or Afghanistan next year.  They may come back from those wars minus limbs or with serious psychological issues.  It is sobering and sad and tragic.  It all looks exactly like a college like EMU or Michigan, but it is not.  

I do not want to end this post on that note.  We had a lovely time, especially as the last two games we went to were in pouring rain.  Last year, Tom and Barbara were here and we saw Rutgers beat Army, and I mean, it was pouring!  

Today is a birthday party, a hike around Lake Minnewaska, one more day of dealing with tomatoes and prep for the week to come.  I'll be in Rochester Thursday and Friday and Ken will be in Queens and Long Island Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Until the next post, be well...

Woodstock Film Fest & other weekend news

We are so lucky to be living in a culturally rich area and to have the energy and the wherewithal to take advantage of it.  I went today to the Woodstock Film Festival with colleague Sally Cross and her husband Mark.  We saw a panel about 'films that matter; do films matter?' with John Sayles, Haskell Wexler, Morgan Spurlock and Pamela Yates.  Very interesting and impressive.  Haskell Wexler is a FAMOUS cinematographer and director who has worked with John Sayles a number of times.  We went on to see "The Secret of Roan Inish," which is a Sayles/Wexler film.  More in a bit about the film.  Morgan Spurlock was very articulate and intelligent.  I have not seen either of his movies, but would gladly do so after having seen him.  Pamela Yates is a director of documentaries and has been doing so for 25 years.  They talked interestingly about being both in the film industry and outside of it.  Pamela Yates is the only one to have a career outside of the commercial industry, but the others have reaped many awards and rewards, all the while maintaining a distance.  I would have liked to hear more about how they do that.  "The Secret of Roan Inish" was very beautiful and lyrical and made me cry, but then I'm easy that way.  John Sayles talked about his movie "Silver City," which had a limited distribution schedule.  I would recommend that we all go out and buy/rent it today.  Sounds close to home re our current political situation.  I'm going to end this session to make dinner.