The Foo Weather Report

Yesterday Blizzard and I enjoyed half of a scenic ride through the countryside on our way to my parents’.  My car started to sputter after I made a left turn off of 123 in East Alstead village.  The car sputtered, sputtered, then stopped.  It did not start again.  Blizzard pushed the car off the road and I called Mom to rescue us.  It was a rather nice spot to be stranded.  A nice breeze was blowing through the quiet little village.

Today the car was towed to Gilsum and diagnosed with $600-$700 worth of problems, which the mechanic does not think are worth fixing.  So that’s that.  I found myself oddly wistful and sad after receiving the news this afternoon at work.  I bought that car brand new on January 4, 1997.  We were not quite to 120,000 miles.  The end of an era.  I don’t know if I can picture me in any other car.  It will be very weird.

The real problem is that I now need a new car and I have no money.  I’m borrowing my mom’s truck for now.  Blizzard suggested I rent a car few a couple weeks and we could do some car shopping in that time.  The money that I had set aside for this very predictable eventuality was spent on the woodstove so I’ve managed to make him feel responsible in part for the purchase of a new vehicle.

The old Escort had a good last weekend.  Blizzard’s car needs new tires so we took my car down to Salem, MA Friday evening.  It got us there and back safely.  On the way down we stopped for gas and I calculated 35.7 miles per gallon.  Its last fill-up.  No more ‘Scort

Muggy days accented by thundering downpours, growing things overgrown.  I came home to find one of my lilac plants (are they trees or bushes?) lying horizontal on the grass, a great hollow spot where it should be attached to the ground.

At least I am home tonight.  My house is more bearable than Blizzard’s apartment in this weather.  Mucky weather exasberates the uncomfortableness of the old futon he uses as a bed.  Oh how I missed my bed as I was tossing and turning last night.  But tonight I will miss Blizzard.

This afternoon at work we heard a crash of thunder then the fire alarm went off.  We had to evacuate the building in the midst of a downpour.  I stopped by my car on the way out and retrieved a large umbrella.  The back parking lot was a sea of small groups of people huddled under umbrellas with backs getting wet.  The pants I wore today are generally light and comfortable even in hot weather, but they are not so comfortable when they are soaking wet.  Turns out the alarm was malfunctioning.  All the wet people went back to work as the alarm and the strobe lights kept going off.  Very exciting.

It’s raining now.  If I move too much I will sweat.  Pasquale is on the third stare, pressing his face against the space between the spindles and looks very uncomfortable.  He probably wants mommy hugs.  As unpleasant as it can be to hold a heavy furry cat in my arms in this weather, I will do so.

Sunday evening and I have to go back to work tomorrow after a week off.  I am looking forward to spending the day in air conditioning with the predictability of a day at my desk.  This past week has been exhausting.  I need some dullness!

I finally mowed my lawn Friday and everything outside looks so much better now, civilized and peaceful.  That evening I went up to Blizzard’s.  Though we didn’t go out to see fireworks, a neighbor across the road set off a bunch which we watched from the living room window.  Yesterday we spent almost ten hours at a party at the lake.  It was a perfect day to be on the lake.  Blizzard water-skied as I watched from the boat (my attempts at water-skiing result only in water up my nose).  Once it got dark the party host and others set off about a thousand dollars worth of fireworks.  I’ve never had such a close view of that kind of fireworks extravaganza.  It was fun, though quite loud, and I breathed in too much sulfur.  In the end, I drank too much cheap beer and didn’t sleep well last night.

We went for a walk this morning then headed over to my parents’ house for yet another party.  I was on margarita duty though I didn’t drink any myself, just sips from Blizzard’s cup.  He napped in a living room chair while all the rowdy people were outside being rowdy.

I’ve had too much sun, though no sun burns.  I am home alone with my two kitties.  I brought Betty home from my parents’ house today.  The windows are open and birds are tweeting and chirping.  I look forward to a good sleep in my comfortable bed with my kitties purring nearby.

Tomorrow is my brother Edmund’s birthday.  He would have been twenty-nine.  It’s hard to imagine him as old as that.  He is forever seventeen.

7/9 addendum: It seems Edmund’s Keene High classmates are having their tenth reunion this weekend.  It’s amazing to see what these “kids” have done with their lives so far.  I really wish we’d had the chance to see what Edmund would have done with his.

Mom and I flew into Nashville, Tennessee Monday afternoon and flew out first thing this morning.  An exhausting whirlwind of a trip, but it was a lot of fun and I’m quite pleased with all the different things we were able to do and see.  I did not take any pictures.  I had a camera with me but I didn’t use it. I wasn’t in a picture-taking mood, and all the places we visited are already well-documented in postcards.  Besides which, with just the two of us we’d have ended up with a lot of pictures of Mom or Foo standing next to something.

I am going to catalog our Nashville activities mostly so that I can remember it all in the future.

Monday:

• Drove through Music Row, where we saw a lot of buildings with names of record companies on them
• Spent way too long cruising up and down 1st and 2nd Avenues looking for the best (i.e. cheapest) parking
• Walked down 1st Avenue where we saw Fort Nash and the Riverfront park, then took the pedestrian bridge half-way across the Cumberland River and had a great view of the city on one side and the Tennessee Titans stadium on the other (yeah, would have been a good camera moment)
• Ate dinner at BB King’s Blues Club.  A band started up playing while we were eating.  They were fun but too loud for our old ears.
• We then worked off dinner by walking up toward the state government area, and saw a most spectacular sunset from the backside of the Tennessee State Capitol building

Tuesday:

• Toured Belle Meade Plantation and had a lovely lunch in the restaurant they have there.
• Mom then decided she’d like to go to a mall.  I looked at the map and chose one a decent distance away as I was in the mood to cruise the countryside.  It was indeed very pleasant driving through rolling meadows and pastureland.  We passed by a lot of churches, A LOT of churches, and they were big.  Mainly Baptist and Presbyterian.  I would say they have more churches there than we have Dunkin Donuts up here in New England.  Yes, that many.  Anyway, when we reached our destination we found not a mall but a series of upscale plazas.  Not what we were looking for.  We then headed for a different mall up in Nashville.  The first one we tried was under construction.  Third time was the charm as we found a very nice fancy mall that entertained us for a few hours.  I even bought clothes!  I haven’t done any serious clothes shopping in about two years, so it was indeed a noteworthy occasion.  I also bought a new summer purse to use in place of the one Blizzard hates.  He may hate this one too, but as he has said, if he wants me to use a different purse it’s up to him to buy me one
• We then had dinner at Cracker Barrel up near Opryland.  I can never get away with not taking Mom to Cracker Barrel when we’re down south, and am fortunate we got away with only one meal there.
• It was then time for the Opry!  We attended Tuesday Night Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House.  I think the Opry was the highlight of the trip for me.  We saw eight performers in the course of two hours.  Each did two or three songs.  It was a great variety of old country, new country, bluegrass, and comedy, and even a barbershop quartet!

Wednesday:

• In the morning we hit the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.  No, I am not big into country music, but I am interested.  What I really liked about the museum was learning about the history and evolution of music from the days of the early settlers, through the 19th century into the age of radio, and up through present day.  I like learning about where things come from.
• Our afternoon activity was a visit to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson.  A beautiful old house with lovely grounds and gardens.  Another fun trek through history.  We spent a lot of time walking around outside on the tour and it was quite a warm day.  Mom went wading in a creek to cool off.  It did not rain while we were in Tennessee, and while the days were hot and sunny, they were not as oppressively humid as I feared they might be.
• We then visited Opry Mills.  We got some ice cream to cool off, then I stunned all assembled by once more shopping for clothes.
• Our evening entertainment was a dinner cruise and show on the General Jackson Showboat.  Mom lived out her dream of riding on a paddleboat.  It was fun, in a hoaky kind of way.  Which I guess is what you could say about most of Nashville.

My lawn is way overdue for mowing and we just had a rain shower.  Maybe tomorrow morning will be dry enough to mow.  Pasquale was very happy to see me when I picked him up from his vacation home at the vet’s this afternoon.  I need to unpack my bags and get ready to enjoy the long 4th of July weekend.

There’s rain, there’s heat, and more than enough dampness.  I haven’t had the opportunity to water my lawn in over a week!  The grass is growing well enough, but I haven’t managed to find a dry window in which to mow.

I’m taking this week off from work.  I am in the midst of packing for a little adventure with Mom.  She’s here now, saying I’m supposed to be packing and she wants a chance to get on the internet

What else do I need to pack?  It’s only four days.  I have trouble not overdoing it when it comes to packing.  Now I’m just procrastinating.  Mom keeps looking around and coming up with stuff I need to do, like unload the dishwasher, water the plants, shut down the DVD player.  I’d better get to it.

Another damp gray summer day.  The kind of day that I sit myself on the couch and play Civ IV on my computer.  Yay!  As I’ve been sitting here the sun has set and I have not turned on any lights.  The computer screen is very bright in front of me.  It’s all I am able to see.  At least there was still daylight when the UPS man showed up at the door.  I ordered myself a present!  And I haven’t opened it yet!

Before I go any further, I must annouce that he who has been known as “Navarre” will for now on be known as “Blizzard.”  Neither of us liked “Navarre,” and “Blizzard” is a name he has used previously, though I didn’t know about it at the time I was trying to figure out what to call him.  I may go back and edit previous entries for the sake of consistency.

Anyway, yesterday was a perfect beautiful sunny summer day and my man Blizzard took me out to dinner by the waterside which was very nice.  I’m the one who got the raise, and he buys me dinner :)  He wondered how that happened, and I told him it’s because he’s the man and it’s part of his job.  After dinner we went for a walk and looked at all the fancy houses along the lake shore.  It’s fun to look at nice houses and dream together.

Tomorrow is Friday and then I’m on vacation for a week!  Because I can!  I will be going out of town for a few days next week and I’ll share pictures when I get back.

Time to get off the couch and turn on a light.  Good night!

Today I got my letter of underwriting authority, my promotion, and a raise.  So now I guess I’m really “doing” insurance.  All I know is that I am now much busier than I was, which is a good thing, because things were starting to drag as my period of limbo dragged on.  And periods of transition make me antsy.  I’ve been feeling a bit out of focus.  I hope that feeling now improves to something more like focus so that I can get done what I need to get done.  Which ends up being so much stuff!

I’m sitting out on my porch.  Sunlight lies across the mountain like a soft ribbon.  I went for a walk earlier and ended up dancing like a fool in the middle of a field because I could and my iPod was playing some fun tunes, like Michael Jackson’s “Baby Be Mine” and Wham!’s “Club Tropicana.”

I kind of feel like misbehaving today.  I don’t want to do as I’m “supposed” to do.  Maybe I want to go dancing.  Maybe I want to start drinking at noon.  I think I’ll put my hair in pigtails.  I think I want an adventure today.

I’m not going to start drinking at noon.  Nor will I do laundry, vacuum, or do dishes.  Ha!  I’m going to sit outside with my book.  I don’t “have” to do anything.  I’m in a mood to resent anyone telling me what to do or what I should do.  So there!

The morning mist has cleared away and the sun is shining.  Though the sun is always shining, it’s just that sometimes we can’t see it shining through the clouds or on the other side of the planet.

Nothing particular on the schedule for the weekend.  We’ll continue to work our way through the giant pile of wood.  The cats will be inside holding down the cushier items of furniture (thanks cats!).  My roses are blooming!  They are pink and smell heavenly.

Tuesday already - the wonderful thing about taking Monday off from work.  I feel like dawdling on The Weather Report, but I have other things I need to get to this evening.  Like hauling Navarre’s compost to the pile up the hill.  I also have some basil I need to plant because I don’t think it’s going to do well if it stays in its little orange bowl too much longer.

Sunday Navarre and I journeyed southward to see Rush at Great Woods (or whatever they’re calling it now).  As far as concerts go, it was pretty awesome.  I don’t know Rush all that well, but I like them o.k. and might grow to like them more if I continue to listen to them.  For Navarre, this was his fourth or fifth Rush concert and one of the best parts of the concert for me was seeing the joy and excitement in his face and feeling him dancing around next to me (don’t tell him I told you that!).  We stayed overnight with friends of mine and their six-week-old baby boy.  We had a very nice visit and that baby is so sweet to hold.  Then yesterday afternoon we dropped into Cambridge have lunch with a law school friend of mine who is visiting from L.A. for the week.  I miss that kid - I wish he didn’t live so far away.

We got home just in time for Navarre to pull his chainsaw out from the tree that had gobbled it up last week before the rain started pouring.  Ah, rain!  Chainsaw safely under cover he then frolicked about the yard sprinkling grass seed and fertilizer on the bare past.  O.k., maybe he wasn’t quite frolicking, but it was raining.

My library book was due yesterday so this afternoon I went to the library and read the last hundred pages so I could turn it in and get a new book.  I hate taking weeks to read books that should take me days.  Oh well.  Life takes time.