Days and Weeks Pass

 It's all going so fast.

Not just the spring and summer but life

Whoosh!

Walter is still a weirdo and so devoted.

DD and DS are flourishing in their careers and their lives.

SO many exciting things happening for them.

Many of you already are seeing shows they have worked on,

with many more coming in the fall and next year. 

Darling Daughter was here this week for 4 days to check on her mama.

We prepared all vegetarian meals ( I learned a lot) 

 and completed many chores.

 Hannah was a huge help doing things

 I can no longer easily do, or safely do.

She completed another painting for me which I adore.

Currently I'm overwhelmed with taking care of

  medical insurance and other paperwork drivel. 

Why does everything take so long

 and must it be so complicated? 

I believe they want us to exhaust ourselves and give up.

Now and then I do feel exactly like that.

Most of the remaining garden has now fried, which is most distressing.

I won't be doing it again, as the increased water cost and severe drought 

make it seem irresponsible. The herbs are hanging on, but they are 

in a semi protected area. 

We did a little refresh of Hannah's old room.

I'm determined to get new photos of the house one of these days.

 So much has changed over

the years of the blog and I've never updated.

With the world the way it is... 

a lot seems frivolous 

Back to my forms and copying records,

appointments this week with govt and insurance folk.

This too shall pass.

SO PROUD

It's official

DARK HORSE

Women rock!

Darling Daughter * Jenny -Writing Partners 

Watch for them in your viewing futures.

Z

 

Friends And A Small World

Hannah and Katie

My daughter had the great fortune to be roomed 

with a New Jersey girl named Katie when she 

attended NYU.

Subsequently they shared apts for years

after the dorm.

To say they bonded would be an understatement.

They have remained close 

even with all the miles now in between them.

Hannah flew to NYC last weekend

to attend Katie's mom's wedding.

Here's where the small world comes in....

The bride and groom were high school sweethearts

in New Jersey who went their separate ways 

and lived across the country from each other,

 only to reconnect

many years later post divorces and children.

The groom also has a daughter

and are you ready?...

She attended elementary school 

here in lala land with my darling daughter!

A small world indeed.

Hannah sent me these

shots of her and her bff

and the fact that I've barely 

heard from her in days,

means a grand time is being had 

back in the big city. 

Katie is a talented, vibrant, and funny girl

who does great music mixes.

http://8tracks.com/goellercoaster

my favorites

are

Walking Around the West Village

Folkin Around

I Will Survive

Check her out and please give her some love.

Hats off to long lost loves, friendships

and our gigantic, very small world.

Like A Duck To Water

Along with directing and script writing, 

DD has been doing a lot of production design

 so mama had this idea that a 

sewing machine might come in handy.

This small Janome in the coolest colors 

was a special on-line

with free shipping so I ordered one 

for her B-day. 

It is lightweight, will require little storage space 

in her teensy place, and has just enough stitches

 to make it practical for her to use.

Yesterday she sat down at the table, 

taught herself how to thread it, run it, 

and after scavenging through my 

enormous supply of wools

popped out with two "art" style pillows

 for her brother and his sweetie 

and the new place they move into this weekend. 

Since they never read the blog, 

I am not spoiling any surprise.

She was so pleased, did a great job, took to it like,

well....you know... quack quack

and I'm hoping I can convince her to 

try a small quilt before she leaves. 

Goodness knows I have enough fabric!

"sigh"

makes mama happy

Kinda wish I had bought one for myself in bright orange.

Merry almost 25th of December (wink)

You and Me Boo

After five horrific days in Neonatal

because of  hospital errors,

we brought you home Christmas Eve

24 years ago, praying all would be well.

You have brought nothing but joy to me

every day since my darling daughter.

..... and now you are a beautiful, funny, talented and smart

young woman

so very happy and in love

and tonight you are sitting in our family room

 with your beau

working on your script.

I hear your conversation and laughter

and smile...

you are home

you are well

Happy Birthday Boo

I love you so very much

mama

Whizzing By

No, not Howie whizzing...

LIFE

I am in great need of comfort food tonight 
so I whipped up this and will add some eggs,
and a cup of HOT HOT Coffee

I'm sure all of you post 50, remember sitting somewhere

with your elders and listening to their talk

of the time flying by and the poor condition 

of the youth of the times.

Maybe it was the front porch of a grandparents'

home or around the dining table as the "women folk" cleared

the table after a Holiday meal.

BUT it does fly by as we age.

but WHY?
Why does change speed up?
Are we racing to the inevitable finish line?

My summers pre teen went on forever.

There was camp, vacations and long,

 long summer days and nights of playing hide and seek

and playgrounds and tree climbing.

Graduation of DD was 18 months ago.

I started the blog right before she left right?

(6 + years ago!?)

DS just changed jobs in LA.

Didn't he just move there?

(Nearly 3 years ago!?)

Now 21 years after moving into this home

with a 3 and an 8 year old,

I am overhauling the exterior so it will be 

unrecognizable to some.

Just the removal of the big tree

has caused some to whizz on by in error.

All the vintage stuff scattered

on the front porch and around the yard

has been removed or reduced.

Thanks to pal Sue who "shopped" here yesterday

I know it found a good home.

Change is sometimes good, change is sometimes sad

change is sometimes rapid.

The only certainty IS change.

21 years ago when my husband and I bought

this home we felt that we now owned a mansion.

We walked through the newly framed structure

giddy with excitement and promise.
We had doubled our square footage for
 the same monthly payment. 

My world was certain and true and wonderful.

Those 21 years then whizzed by.

Wheelbarrows full of wonderful memories, 

buckets full of sad days,

and a gallon or two of despair,

have whizzed me right back to my front porch 

in the blink of an eye...
where I sit looking at the house as it is right now
and realizing that after Monday
it will be changed forever.

"It's just the way it changes 
like the shoreline and the sea
but let's not talk of love or chains
and things we can't untie
your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey that's no way
to say goodbye."
 Leonard Cohen

Make it a good week chickadees

Z

Stay For The Credits

Stay for the credits and cheer 

as darling daughter Hannah's name scrolls up

WOOT!!!!

St Vincent

Opens today

400' Of Cute Studio

Slightly over 400' sq feet studio

Borrowed treasures from home, some

film castoffs and craigs list 

and creativity = a charming space for DD.

I think she made a wonderful nest. 

Aunt Iva's old trunk (storage)

This IKEA couch has (storage) under the chaise area and there

is a pop up section, that turns it into a queen bed for guests.

DD remade the butterfly collection 

she found cheap in thrift store.

We found the shelves at Target

 for less than $21 total including brackets.

 Most of knick knacks are from her room at home,

and painted vases $4 ea at target clearance.

Boxes and tins hold desk supplies since she has no drawers.

Simple table used for desk

Divided cubby from Mom's hallway

 frees up limited cabinet space.

Vintage yellow cabinet from my

 family room acts as a pantry;

they secured it to cabinets behind. 

It also helps visually separate the kitchen.

Chalkboard back of cabinets backs up to couch,

and provides "leaning" area.

These were the two unpainted cabinets 

we bought from Lowe's and then we added a laminate top. 

This added two cupboards and two drawers to kitchen

as well as much needed counter space.

I found orange top canisters for $4 each.

Vintage cabinet on right from DD's room at home,

dining table from Mom's living room.

Chairs - We got deal from Target for $17 each due to 

metal caps missing from legs. Pays to "Ask for discount"

Linens from home

Stacked end tables $24 make another bedside table

and two bins inside act as drawers and hide clutter.

Rusty wire circle memo holder was

 found in desert dump in lala.

The trunk moves to the base of bed 

when couch is in pull up mode.

Bed on risers with end to end bins (storage) underneath.

Metal calendar purchased at BIG NSS sale,

 painting is one of DD's.

I just bought her the above sink drainer from IKEA,

since there is no other space to air dry dishes.

I thought it was so clever.

Except for fridge you see the

 entire kitchen provided by apt.

Believe it or not they could entertain 10 for dinner

with the seating inside and on porch. 

Folding table, two chairs from Mom's yard

sit on wee patio.

Atrium on bottom floor sends all this green up to her,

along with lots of hummingbirds.

The whole studio is rich with color- hard to tell here..

Blue tiled fireplace and wall mounted tv area

are the last space being tweaked (show when complete)

Two closets and a small bath complete the space.

I could live here so easy peasy.

Yes there is more purging, downsizing,

simplifying headed my way.

I am obsessed with the tiny house movement.

Guess who?

Right below the twinkle star

Orange cap

Darling Daughter

Production Designer

The Curse of Don Scarducci.

 It's a short narrative film about a mobster 

who is allergic to gluten.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

***************

Local gals..

Huge "robe and much more" sale at the warehouse

tomorrow morning.

email coming today

we're going to kick back in the sun

eat breakfast and have starbucks

join us...

Empty Nest

A few years back Hannah left this for me

 to find one morning after she had 

returned to NYC.

It made me laugh.

It made me cry.

It hangs on the wall next to my desk.

Now it occasionally makes me misty.

DD is all packed and ready to leave early tomorrow.

One of her best buds is here cramming in some more 

best bud time and I can hear the chatter upstairs

 as I sit herepast midnight not wanting to sleep 

and miss a second of the sounds.

We did not get to do a lot of the things we had planned due

to the plague that descended upon my house last week.

All three of us in pj's an entire week, sick as could be.

The Beau has recovered and departed for LA, 

DD has a light cough and of course, 

I am still hacking away.

Bonding time with a twist. 

The poor Beau saw me sans makeup, 

washed hair or even clean clothes one day and vice-versa. 

We all sacked out in the family room 

amid piles of quilts, pillows, soups and Vicks.

I became "MOM" to him also.

I feel greedy wanting more time with the kids. 

I had kid company almost a full month 

and that has not happened in 5 years.

 I'm trying not to count the months till

the next visit, but it creeps into my mind.

I'm already planning a run to see

 Dearest Son and his love

ASAP. Thank Heaven he lives closer.

We managed several visits this year.

Each one more precious than the last.

The kids think if I were busier or "involved" that I would

miss them less. I know they are wrong.

Although I am thrilled for their lives far away, 

and always support their choices, 

I lived my entire adult life far from any family

 and I know it sucked. 

In a reverse way of course, missing my parents, 

but it still sucked.

I'm not the whiny "oh woe is me Mom"

 or a clingy Mom to them but 

I do miss them always, every day.

Having close, loving relationships

with your children is such a blessing,

but it also deepens the distance,

intensifies the longing for a mama 

away from her children.

I have weeks of work ahead so I will knuckle down

and tend to my chores and work on my projects

and bless Skype and telephones and emails.

Long ago when folks sailed to other countries

 or wagoned their way across this country 

and left loved ones behind,

often forever,

the sound of breaking hearts 

must have been a deafening roar.

An empty nest is a sad one.

Cookie Time

First holiday Batch

Peanut Butter Blossoms

A Classic Holiday Cookie around here

My favorite part?

I race to see if I can unwrap the kisses

 before the cookies come out.

Silly I know, but it's part of the tradition for me.

Tomorrow I make the dough for my

 Mexican Chocolate Hearts

which I'll bake Friday.

Friday I'll make the dough for 

Pepparkakor ( a gingerbread type)

which I'll bake Saturday.

Tonight I have another bar cookie to make. 

The name escapes me.

(Snickerdoodle Bars - came to me 12 hours later)

I used to make 8-12 varieties  for many years

and drive myself crazy with  

multiple cookie exchanges etc.

Now I make the 4 types my family enjoys 

and we gobble them all up. 

Well, maybe a few go to friends here and there.

Thursday is Darling Daughter's B-Day,

so no baking.

Remember that young girl I dropped

off at NYU a few years back?

Thursday she is 23

Graduated, Working, In Love, 

Living in NYC

Turns out I will have a house full of 

young folks here after Christmas as well as before.

Seems Hannah and her beau have several 

friends coming in for New Years and I am

already out of bedrooms.

Time for the blow up in the living room.

 A loud and busy full house...

Time for soups and chili and casseroles..

I'll go easy on myself and buy the breads...

Lord knows we'll have enough cookies

and how happy this mama will be.

May you be as blessed this Holiday Season

Z

bet you can see my grin from 

wherever you are

Darling Daughter - Dearest Son

This week and 

my two favorite people 

Hannah at work on

Kensho At The Bedfellow

She is Production Designer on the film.

You can check it out at the link above.

oh, and like it on facebook if you wish.

Lots of photos there.

They are working so hard on this independent 

film and we all should support independent films.

Ben creating the signage 

for the wedding of his two friends.

According to his girlfriend,

they were the hit of the party.

He cooks, designs, writes, works in film media,

does standup, repairs broken 

everything for me.

One very lucky Mama

And they're home in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I giggle just saying it.

The Girls Are In The House

In the yard actually

The weather has cooled considerably and

it was a perfect late afternoon

for a chat and catch up session.

They walked up to the market and  

brought back candy bars and beer.

That cracked me up.

I was walking into the living room

and through the open window,

caught this glance of the three of them.

For many years, these girls spent countless

hours here growing up into these fine women.

All graduated from college now,

living very far apart,

with serious boyfriends 

and serious jobs.

Darling Daughter swears they'll be friends forever.

It can be done

I hope so

Guess who slept well last night?

sigh.....

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Ya know that wonderful feeling you get 

when you go to bed early

 and the bed feels so cozy 

and the pillow barely needs fluffing

and you don't need the news set on a timer

and you fall right to sleep

and you stay asleep ALL night

with magical dreams of moonbeams 

and you wake refreshed 

and you're 

 poopin' out sunshine?

Yeah me neither

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Accumulated hours of sleep in the past 7 days?

Under 30

Darling Daughter
arrives in 3 hours

Hallelujah!

the photo?

making sure you're paying attention

Z

Graduation 2013 NYC

Where to start?

So much crammed into 5 days.

Bear with me, so I can tell

local friends and bloggie friends.

Arrived on Tuesday to face humidity that

curled brillo padded my hair, and ran rivulets down my back.

Wednesday was Yankee Stadium Graduation

 for the entire university and on the walk there I met

Blake for the first time.

After a sardine packed train 

where I had stranger's body parts

 pressed against mine for 40 minutes, 

we arrived at the stadium 

and I met up with parents of roommates

 to sit in nose bleed seats and weep in unison.

The graduates don't walk, they stand as a group

 according to their schools and we all go crazy.

What happens when there are 40,000 students

 in a university, and 1/4th of them are graduating.

You meet in Yankee Stadium.

How cute is this?

This was their first date...at...

Yankee Stadium

Some Tisch friends

The large group split up after the ceremony and 

Blake and Hannah decided they

wanted not to go fancy, but to go to their favorite

Pies N Thighs for lunch.

While there, Ben checked in, he had flown in the day before,

and he and Anam were also in Williamsburg, 

they had just eaten at Pies N Thighs, so we met them.

So other, significant other, was met.

Darling Daughter and Dearest Son with their

significant others.

I think my children chose wisely and well. 

Thursday Hannah and I spent the day 

having makeovers at Sephora, 

shopping like fools and making memories.

We were caught in a horrible thunderstorm, soaked to the bone, and loved every minute.

Friday was the Tisch salute at Radio City music hall,

for just Tisch graduates, and still they did not walk,

 but stood in groups as their concentrations were called.

The keynote speaker Glenn Mazzara was fabulous.

Glenn Mazzara

worth listening to..great advice

Bono and Denzel Washington were at the end of my row,

and to those of you who will understand all too well...

I successfully avoided those family folks I did not wish to see.

Ben sat with me and shared the moments with me.

Perfect

NYC

I went up and down a thousand subway steps,

and covered a zillion uneven miserable concrete blocks,

 I swear.

I took to carrying small foldable slippers in my purse and

swapped shoes frequently.

Frequently the young folk were 1/2 block ahead with one or

the other turning back and stopping.."are you Ok?"

I was either soaking wet in rainstorms or soaking wet with sweat,

my photo ops are awful...but I don't care.

We ate at favorite haunts, shopped at neighborhood stores and

I really got the sense of her life in Brooklyn.

We saw Ben and Anam here and there,

they had friends to see and catch up with also, 

and we had the worst Italian

something? cocktail in a very pretty spot... my bad choice

Ben you were right....

Late my last night there Blake, Hannah 

and I headed far into Brooklyn to go to Target 

and get apt stuff ( mama's treat)

and passed an exterior craft show closing up and 

we picked up fried Oreos and a funnel cake.

From sweating bullets to 40 degrees and freezing that night. CRAZY.

We had pizza and beer in her tiny apt and dined 

around Brooklyn and Manhatten on quiches, 

great burgers, chopped salads, chinese takeout,

gelatos and good coffees.

I was up at 3:45 a.m. Sunday to get an express bus 

to the airport and Hannah insisted on going

 as far as the Port Authority with me.

Such a sweetie that girl.

It was wonderful.

It was everything I hoped it would be.

My children are prosperous,

hard working, healthy, happy, 

and in love.

Mama is bursting with joy.

All is right with my very small world. 

Winner Winner

Carole you won!

email me for details:

Thanks to all who entered,

I wish you each could win,

 and maybe

I can convince Shabby Apple to do another one someday?

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1 

Max: 47 

 Result:

27

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