ok, so we watched this quirky Dave Eggars film on netflix last night.....it is a sweet piece about a couple who search for the pefect place to raise the daughter they are expecting after they discover that the parents they have moved cross-country to be 'near' are moving to Belgium just before their first grandchild will be born......they visit friends/family in Phoneix/Tuscon, Madison, Toronto, and Miami before realizing where they really need to set down roots......I enjoyed the movie......cnanot say that others with me like the talk/talk sort of non-action film....

digging up daylilies

ok, so.....given that i was already hot and sweaty after my 5k walk this morning, i changed shoes and headed out to do battle with nature.....on this morning i chose to dig out the daylilies that had been between the privet hedge, now gone, and the limelight hydrangeas that are now the back-bed focal point......and when it was all over i had a huge bouquet of daylilies....a flower one does not usually consider for cut arrnagements.....but given that the bottom end of each plant was gone...might as well enjoy their single 'day' on my table.....

twenty-nine

ok, so......it just occured to me that tomorrow is a triple-dip day of sorts....sunday at the band festival, father's day, and our 29th anniversary.......which means that monday is our eldest's birthday.....he was just starting his cross-country bike trip this time last year.....this year he is getting ready for his rhine ride.....i do treasure all of the years we were able to celebrate birthdays together, but i suppose it is most important that we were together for the first.....

brass band 5k

ok, so.....i got up early and walked the brass band 5k.....out of nostalgia mostly....the race directors have been doing this event in some fashion for 12 years.....the first version being the montessori run for reading......all four of us did the event.....which was memorable as my best ever 5k time- just over 30 minutes.....a feat accomplished not out of fitness or competitiveness, but out of material protective instinct.....my youngest (at the time) child was jogging with me slowly through the green acres course when he decided that he wanted to go faster....and he took off in an outright run.......i can recall panicking over potential hazards, like 'would there be somebody at the intersections to make sure he doesn't get hit by a car' and i took off running to try to catch him......for the record, there was no catching him.......i thought of that episode this morning as a mother of five we know asked me if her little one could walk with me to the pavilion after i finished the course.....the mom called after us 'i just want to make sure somebody is with her when she crosses the road'......

commencement and closure

ok, so.....we are trying to get back to status quo after a very long weekend of commencement activities in New Jersey. We missed the P-Rade, which is a transitional activity between The Reunions and Commencement. This parade is a procession of classmembers, wearing their distinctive class beer jackets. Seems this year's event was led by a 105-year old member of the Class of 1920. Wow! Kinda wish we had been there, but we were driving the obligatory 13 hours from Ky at the time. Sunday's Baccalaureate was our first taste of the pomp that is Princeton graduation. The procession, led by a mace-bearer and gonfalons (residential college banners) filed solemnly into the Gothic-style chapel, which we watched from a remote location given the restrictive size of the chapel. Jeff Bezos, '86 spoke of choices and challenges. Next came the Class Day procession, whereupon the Class of 2010 filed into the Cannon Green wearing their own jacket (orange and black and white with 2010 across the back), and listened to several student speakers as well as Charles Gibson '65, who regretted skipping out on his own Class Day. We did not arrive in time to find seats in the shade, and ended up moving our chairs when the heat became offensive. Box lunches followed, then on to the departmental receptions. French and Italian had a relatively small graduating class, so the reception held in Rockefeller College's vaulted common room was intimate and convivial. Commencement festivities started early with the finding of the shadiest seats possible that still had a decent view of the dais. The salutorial address was given in Latin, with the text provided. Clearly, it is a testament to the caliber of Princeton professors that they laughed heartily at jokes in the presentation that alluded those of us who do not know this ancient language. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on hand to receive an honorary degree, which was a special moment given her health, and the state of the current SCOTUS nomination. The president of the university gave the sermon, and then it was on to Forbes College (our child's residential college) for the actual presentation of the diploma. The reception was quite lavish with white table clothed tables under huge tents and a lovely champagne buffet lunch. Whew.......a three-day lovefest. The diploma is entirely in Latin, and the only words i recognize are his name, and Summa Cum Laude. We are so very proud. And thankful that his summer internship with the Princeton Community Garden project is manual rather than acedemic. A little downtime might be welcome after the rigors of the intense final semester. I hope that gardening's cerebral qualities will be healing and restorative.

Hyphen lower level

Ok,so......E. and i are hanging out in Air-conditioned Nirvana in Hyphen lower Level......Til 2:00 when we will Meet our Special graduate At the French reception in the Rockefeller Common Room.....Class day ceremony was enjoyed by two out of Three of us ....but i digress from the Events that we drive 13 hours to attend......i especially appreciate the old-ness of the buildings, the Awards,and the traditions......this is the 265th graduating Class....and i am in awe of the intense dedication to Learning that inspired it all.....

ok, so this from the mudflats blog from alaska.....

coffee

ok, so i was supposed to have the afternoon off to make up for travel time the next two days.....but early on it was clear that leaving early was neither prudent in terms of budget completion, nor politically correct given the last-minute tasks that would be left to others......and so i got home nearly an hour late....and dragged myself into the house with the starving cat and hyperactive dog.....and at some point after feeding the cat and dog..and strolling about my blooming roses......i smelled coffee......seems i had lasped into my morning routine of putting on the coffee, letting out the cat and dog while i walk to the mailbox for the newspaper..... and feeding the cat and dog when they come back inside.......omg.......i have too much going on to be senile at age 54........heavy sigh....and so i turned off the coffee after it brewed, with plans to simply heat it up just before i leave for an early meeting in frankfort......

ok, so this from the huffington post....

ok, so this from The Mudflats.....

up in the air....

ok, so....since i cannot remember the last time i blogged, i should be asking for both forgiveness and understanding....thanks.......we signed up for netflix this week.....a huge move for us in that we skipped cable and satellite entirely as media options......and since we have signed on we have only watched a single dvd- Up in the Air with George Clooney...more on George later......the best part about Netflix is the streaming.....I have watched 7 episodes of The Tudors, mostly walking on the treadmill.....wow!...despite the historical inaccuracies .....I have been enanamored of HVIII since PBS showed the Six Wives of Henry VIII in the 70's.......and after every viewed episode this week I feverishly research the accuracy....which has already been researched by Wikipedia.......saves time.....but I digress from George.....I am distressed that it was not George but the female lead who was un-truthful.....though she never actually lied about having a husband and children....she never corrected our assumption that she did not......and George seemed so very lonely as he flew off at the end......must focus on Henry VIII whose life is an open book and less open to fret............

James Joyce Pilgrimage

ok, so...Andrew and I walked nearly 9 miles round-trip through Zurich and up the mount overlooking the city to find James Joyce's grave and statue......maybe not quite as long as Bloom's circuit of Dublin but certainly an adventure....

easter with extended family

ok, so....i have enjoyed a lovely day with two of third cousins in Lassee....Gunther and Werner...and their spouses and children....19 in all.....brunch was eggs and meats and bread....afternoon was a jause (pronounced yow-sa) that was a buffet of desserts....they are loading up the table for round three.....looks like champagne......

bon voyage...

ok, so my plane leaves at noon...first leg to cincinnati...then to paris for a three hour layover between 6:00 am and 9:00 am.....will be lucky to find cafe creme available at that hour.....then on to vienna at 11:30 am....where upon andrew and assorted kindred are to meet and greet me....a few days in austria and then we travel to zurich....where we will pilgrimage to the grave of james joyce among other things.....a side trip to luzern and then on home.....lots to pack into a week.....nice to get away.....and it will be nicer to get back home to my blooming garden.....the redbuds are just coming out......

pruning

ok, so......i have unloaded 3 scoops of mulch in the past 8 days onto my weeded beds.....or mostly weeded....after a while one figures out how to smother the finer of the wild onions with mulch rather than taking the trouble to yank them out......i also dug out yet another section of daylilies and random perennials to make way for a line of shrubberies the variety yet to be determined....the phlox i transplanted...the daylilies are in the compost pile......my aim is go for more year-round interest, especially along the fence......thinking of boxwood, but then i already have oodles of boxwood....i have plenty of time to worry over the particulars when i get back from my trip.....maybe the gardens in vienna will be inspirational....after lunch today i took to pruning the city of york trellis rose.....lots of dead wood to cut away.....thankfully the rain came again just as o managed to cut away a length that was only mostly dead....yikes...i felt sick as i tossed the greening strand onto the pile....i did a practice packing run today as well.....pruning away this and that until i have only the really useful clothing in the carryon.....of course, the really useful clothing are the things i wear most days......and now that they are carefully arranged in the bag i will attempt to finish out the week wearing my least favorite clothing.....life is complicated, yes?

mulch and mayhem....

ok, so.....i took my mother to lunch at the red lobster in lexington today, before stops at j.beth to purchase a travel journal and tuesday morning.....and then home again....whereupon i traded out my car in her driveway for the truck...and drove over to h-burg where one can stil purchase bulk mulch....and a topiary alberta spruce that is delightfully twisted....the spruce is now in a pot on my newest terrace....the mulch....is spread over the spots closest to the truck......i calculate the need for at least 3 more truck-loads of mulch before the critical beds are done.....thankfully the whirlpool bathtub is there to negate any pain and suffering.....

another sandwich generation installment......

ok, so.....i tried to call my mother this morning, only to hear from the recorded message that her phone number had been temporarily disconnected.....and so i stomped up the street clutching my cell phone with the intention of finding the unpaid bill and getting her service re-upped.....and what i found was piles of mail beside each of her sitting places......as well as beside her bed and on her desk....and on the round table in the back room.....actual bills mixed in with scads and scads of solicitations to charities i have never heard of......and by the time the dust settled she had paid the 9 real bills and i had tossed three bags of junk mail.....i know that my mother gives to many of these groups through loyalty to my late father.....the Parkinson's people, the Alzheimer's people, numerous veterans groups and the heart association....the list goes on and on.....but it is also clear that she has gotten on so many lists that even the better groups seem like vultures........ah well....she is caught up for now and i must find a way to keep her that way.....

vivid details

ok, so.....i dreamed last that i was working again at the hospital, somehow attched to the kitchen, andf i was meeting with kithcen managers in an office with 2 doors that empited out into the same hallway. The first door opened into a tiny area just big enough for three people to sit with their backs to the wall and their knees to the low counter......the remainder of the office was essentially emty behind the counter....except for the boss who sat on the other side of the counter....i asked why we were squished into the smaller side of the room, and i was ignored......there were candy bowls on the counter.....wrapped cinnamon hard-candy but no little red-hots....and i clutched my belongings (purse, cell phone, coat) and asked if i was to have a desk and a place to hang my coat, and i was ignored....and handed a printout for doing inventory of the storeroom, but no pen, and when i asked for a pen i was ignored....another curious detail is that i do not remember smelling any cooking aromas.....and i asked why nobody was cooking for the next meal.....and was ignored.....

in the zone.....

ok, so......one my favorite places to be emotionally is in the travel-planning mode....whereupon all options are available for lining up sites to see and places to eat once the plane ticket has been purchased and sleeping arrangements made......this time around i have also added some serious clothing purchasing to the mix.....a chili pepper red nylon rain coat with hidable hood and zippered and snapped pockets as well as a black vest that has zippered pockets inside and out.....and to make sure the ensembles all matched i invested in a chili pepper red sweater set and a few classic longsleeve tshirts in white and black....oh yeah....and european-style long scarf to wrap and drape casually......i suppose with enough time i could have assembled the same sort of travel garb through the area goodwills.......but it was ever so much more fun to buy it all to match and to fit perfectly.....

senile senator

ok, so i took the time to contact senator bunning yesterday, about his foul language on the senate floor,m hius rude hand gestures and his blockage of the extension of unemployment benefits, citing deficit spending....seems in his dotage he has forgotten that he voted for 2 wars, medicare drug benefits and a host of pork projects,,,with deficit spending.....