Christmas Trees, Weather Worries, and Other Miscellanea

As we drove back and forth to the Norwalk River Valley Trail in Wilton, I counted seven cars with Christmas trees tied up on top. I asked Jeff if we'd set up a Christmas tree this year. It's been a few years.

When we first got married, we got a live tree each year. Then one year Jeff was working two jobs, I had a busy workload, and getting a tree was just too much stress. Later I felt guilty and bought a four feet artificial tree. A few years later, I bought a second artificial tree. For a few years, we decorated both. 

Today Jeff suggested that we decorate but don't necessarily have to include a tree. That's what I was thinking--we're on the same wavelength again. 

We're getting the first snow of the season tomorrow and Monday--the two days I'm working this week. Tomorrow's snow isn't a big deal, and even if it was, I wouldn't mind re-scheduling. Tomorrow's student is taking the ACT in February. But my Monday student is taking the SAT next Saturday. It will be hard to reschedule, based on her commitments, if we have to cancel Monday.

Before we went to NRVT, Jeff and I checked out a holiday fair at the Norwalk Library. It was better than I expected. I bought a few things--mostly for myself and a few stocking stuffers. 

Even with the colder temperatures the last few days, we've had good walks with Lola. I hope this can continue. 

Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is over.

I can't argue anymore that it's too early for Christmas decorations, songs, etc. A television commercial just told me "the holidays are here."

I don't have many people to buy gifts for this year. In a way, that's a relief. In another way, it's sad.

We plan to go to North Carolina for Christmas with Jeff's family. There are many moving parts that we have to coordinate: comings and goings by family members and room assignments.

I'm interested in seeing Melissa and Karl's new home--the town as well as the house itself. They have been lobbying us to move south. And Jeff's mom is also nearby. I can see us moving south, but I don't know about North Carolina.

I read recently that it's not a good idea to move to save money in retirement because friendships and social connections are so important. That will inform any moving decision we make. Maybe we'll make a bunch of new dog park friends. 

Thanks

This is the first Thanksgiving that Jeff and I spent alone (with Lola of course.) We had a stuffed turkey breast, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and a carrot salad.

Originally I suggested that we eat around 4. After our second walk with Lola, it was already past three, and I wanted to have a cheese course. We had three cheeses, crackers, a pear paste, and some fruit. The consistency of the pear paste was too dry and hard. 

The other disappointment was the turkey. According to the instructions on the turkey's label, it should have taken about 45-50 minutes to cook. It took over twice as long. We ate around 6:30. Luckily, it was just the two of us, or I would have been stressed out. Luckily also, we had eaten the cheese.

We enjoyed a pear tart for dessert. I would have gone for the traditional pumpkin pie, but Jeff bought the tart, and it was delicious.

The important thing about Thanksgiving isn't the food. I am thankful that I have Jeff and that we have a good marriage. I'm thankful that we enjoy good health. I'm thankful for Lola. She may drive me crazy sometimes, but she brings me much joy.  

I'm thankful for friends and family members, even the ones I don't see very often.

I need to give thanks more often. 

Last Day for the Star of the Month

Technically Bette Davis is Star of the Month for another three days. But Tuesday was the fourth day of a 24-hour Bette Davis-athon, and I didn't see any other Bette Davis movies on the schedule for the rest of the month.

The Tuesdays featured films in a rough chronological order. The first Tuesday covered films from 1931 to 1935, the second 1935 to 1940, the third 1940 to 1948, the fourth 1948 to 1987. I've seen all the movies before. I recorded some I hadn't seen in a while and watched parts live when I was home.

A few thoughts. I was disappointed not to see Beyond the Forest on yesterday's listing. I haven't seen that film in years. It may be Bette's worst performance.

The first film yesterday was Winter Meeting, It's a boring film; Bette is unattractive with short bangs (worse than those my mother cut for me) with no makeup. I did fall in love with Bette's New York apartment.

The best of Tuesday's bunch was All About Eve. Bette is so incredible as Margo Channing that it's hard to believe that Claudette Colbert was originally cast in the part.

I recorded The Star: one film I hadn't seen in a while.

I would love to create my own Bette Davis film festival.

State of the Estate

Yesterday I got the word that I could distribute money from my mother's estate. Today I closed one bank account, moved the monies to a checking account, and wrote some checks.

I still have to deal with 2019 taxes for the estate and my mother.

There's also an investment account that's become complicated. I'm working on it.

The Big Store with The Marx Brothers

I first saw this movie when I was a student at University of Delaware. Back in those days, it was difficult to see an old movie. Gone With the Wind was re-released theatrically every several years. I'm not sure about other movies, except maybe in large city revival houses. That's why my mother let me stay home from school to watch The Letter.

I think I first saw most of the Marx Brothers films at Delaware. After seeing A Night at the Opera in an American Studies class, I had to see more. I loved Monkey Business too.

The Big Store isn't in the same category as the other two, but it's fun. Groucho, Chico, and Harpo team up to protect Chico's friend Tommy (Tony Martin.) Tommy is inheriting half-interest in a department store, which he'll sell to fund a new music conservatory. The bad guys led by Douglass Dumbrille can't let new buyers see the books, so Tommy has to go.

The scenes with Groucho and Margaret Dumont were funny. I liked the crazy chase scene with roller skates, bikes, and chutes.

Tony Martin made me miss Zeppo. He's boring and his musical number My Tenement Symphony is horrible and long. I've never been a fan of most of the Marx musical numbers, though I liked the an early scene in the conservatory with four young boys playing piano in Chico style.

The Big Store is worth a watch.

I Shouldn't Feel This Way

Sometimes I question the validity of my feelings.

I say I shouldn't let myself get upset over silly things; I shouldn't get angry over minor things. Today it's that I shouldn't feel overwhelmed.

I shouldn't be overwhelmed because I don't have many things to do that have a specific due date. My problem is that I've been totally inefficient in getting things done. The uncompleted to-do's migrate to the next day's to-do's, and so-on and so-on.

I do the minimum of what I need to do. Everything else seems to all by the wayside.

There are numerous ideas about how to get things done, how to be efficient, how to manage time. I just need to listen.

Another Week in Review

I started this week by tracking my time on Monday. Then I forgot. I remembered sometime on Wednesday. I decided I should wait until next Monday to try again rather than reconstructing two days of time.

I went to the gym three times, exercised here once--probably won't exercise here tonight--I'm tired.

Lola and I have had good walks each day. She especially enjoyed a return to Sherwood Island Park. It's off limits to dogs from May through September. We saw two deer.

I've posted here each day, but haven't done any other writing. My goal to blog everyday this month is interfering with my writing goal. I know that shouldn't be the case: I'm working on it.

I've spent several hours on my mother's estate and the aftermath on the phone and meeting with our accountant.

The week has flown by: I need to catch up.

Marked Woman 1937

It's been years since I've seen the movie Marked Woman. Over the last two days, I watched it twice.

This was Bette Davis's first film after a suspension from Warner Brothers. It was a better role and a better film than some others Warners had offered her (lady lumberjack, anyone?)

Here are a few weird things in the beginning of the film that I noticed. Only the men's last names are listed in the cast of characters. A message says that the film was fictitious. It was widely known to be a version of Lucky Luciano's story. A Warner Brothers movie Black Fury is shown on a movie marque in the opening shot.

The story starts with a new man in town: Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) taking over all the nightclubs/clip joints in the city. He already knows Gabby (Lola Lane) is impressed with Mary's (Bette Davis) smarts, and is interested in Emmy Lou (Isabel Jewell.)  In the next scene, the "girls" (as they're called throughout the film) walk home together.

This is not a subtle movie. The dialog can be over the top. Mary says she knows all the angles, and plans to get to easy street. Here are some direct quotes:

"They found him in a ditch full of slugs."

"I'll get you even if I have to crawl back from the grave to do it."

Davis seems a bit over dramatic in a few scenes. At first it makes sense because Mary is acting to convince attorney David Graham (Humphrey Bogart) to believe her false testimony. In a later scene with Bogart, I don't get the overacting.

In Bette's defense, she fought for realism on this film. Instead of the tiny movie star bandage, she went to her own doctor to be bandaged as a woman who was severely beaten.

There is some weird dialogue in the courtroom scenes. Vanning's lawyer Charlie Delaney (John Litel --an upstanding lawyer from the Nancy Drew films) asked questions that were logically better asked by the prosecution. Did John Litel just need more lines?

I loved the last few minutes of the film. Vanning is found guilty of murder of Mary's sister (Jane Bryan) based on the testimony of the girls. They leave the courtroom as David Graham seeks Mary. He wants to help her because she's had a bad time. She seems to be hoping for more.

Reporters clamor for David--he could be the next district attorney or even the next governor--as the women walk off in the night. (Are court proceedings at night? Never mind, it's a great visual.)

The women walk off and literally disappear into the fog.

Wardrobe Update

Over the summer, I took a long look at my clothes. Part of it was because I needed a dress for our niece's wedding, part was because I noticed some of my clothes were getting a bit shabby. I threw out the worst (a pair of shorts) relegated others (some shorts, skorts, and capris ) to the "around the house/dog park" wardrobe.

I tried on everything I hadn't worn in a while. I gave  away the things that didn't work for me to Goodwill. I needed to shop.

I've never been extravagant with clothes. My wedding dress cost less than $300. I buy most of my clothes on sale or at factory outlets. That's what I tried this summer. I had some success: I replaced some short sleeved and long sleeved v-neck tee shirts, found a good selection of dressier blouses, and a pair of flat sandals. There were another few finds: a teal pencil skirt and a tee shirt dress.

Then I realized that I had only two pairs of jeans. I bought five. Some weren't on sale. I decided I didn't have to wait for sales when I needed clothes. One item was a warm pair of jeans with flannel lining. I'd wanted a pair for years; Jeff had a few; he didn't have the same (mental) limitations that I did. I also got a pair of Tevo sandals.

I recently noticed that my fall sweater is looking worse for wear. I might not find another as nice as it, but I'll just have to try.

I may nurture my clothes over the long run, but they can't last forever.

Just a Dream...

...or a series of unfortunate dreams.

I was in a writing class. We were assigned to redraw a magazine cover, which consisted primarily of a series of triangles, and then write about it. For some reason I was tearing pages from the magazine to find a blank piece of paper. Before I knew it, I had destroyed the magazine and didn't have an image of the cover. My classmates were starting to read their stories, and I hadn't even started.


I climbed to the top of a tower dedicated to Harriet Tubman. To climb down, I needed to take off my shoes and go barefoot. I also had to throw my notebook off the tower before I descended. I didn't get what I needed (presumably inspiration of some type.)


I parked my SUV to drop off my sister-in-law at the Norwalk Airport. She told me that Jeff had taken some wedding or Christmas presents, and, for the second time, the presents had disappeared. I told her Jeff would not resell the gifts. I wondered if they were in our messy second bedroom.


I was with my brother and a friend at an outdoor restaurant. My brother was upset because he punched someone and was on parole. My friend was fighting with the waitress. I worried the waitress would do something to my friend's food.


There were other disjointed parts to these dreams: my niece talking about a high school rivalry, an art show, a bus collapsing a bridge, a bunch of us being wet for some unknown reason.


I woke up 10 minutes before the alarm went out. In the next few minutes, I was thinking about my dreams while half asleep. I dreamed I was walking and started to trip over something on the trail. I jolted forward, now fully awake seconds before the alarm went off.

Dreams are weird. There is no Norwalk Airport. I didn't climb a Harriet Tubman tower. There are only a few real things in the dream: it was my real sister-in-law, my real niece, I am married to Jeff, and we have a messy second bedroom.


I guess the weirdest thing is that yesterday was a pretty good day. Where did all this frustration come from?

Pop Open a Party

Jeff and I returned to Total Wine tonight for a tasting of sparkling wines.

We learned about champagne, cava, prosecco, cremant (I had never heard of this, it's sparkling wine made in France but not in the champagne region) and brachetto and tasted eight wines.

I liked all the wines, even the sweet one--it would have worked as a dessert wine. Surprisingly, I wouldn't buy the most expensive wine ($85.) Jeff and I preferred the $35. wine. We also liked the cheapest wine of the tasting a $10 cava.

I guess we're cheap dates after all.

My Canine Crush

This is a picture of my friends' dog Ben. He died last November. I used to call him my boyfriend; I grew very fond of Ben over the years.

Here is my new canine crush Dylan.

Dylan lives on Highwood Avenue. As we walked by with Lola, he used to bark at us. We learned his name and started to talk with him. He would run to us on his stone wall, and we would pet him.

We don't see him as much now. Afternoon walks are limited by darkness, and he hasn't been outside lately.

But he's my new guy--my canine crush.

What's Cooking?

Two weeks ago I went to lunch with my friend Elaine. Chicken Milanese was on the menu of the restaurant we visited. I didn't order it; we went with one of our standbys: pizza. But I got Chicken Milanese on my mind. In the past two weeks, I sampled three chicken cutlet sandwiches from Norwalk restaurants/delis.

Today I made Chicken Milanese using the Blue Apron recipe. It's good, but it's a pain. I need three bowls/plates to dowse the chicken in flour, mustard and water, and panko bread crumbs.

I also made Romesco Sauce. This was originally a side to steak in a Blue Apron recipe. It's easy to make and delicious as a side to the chicken (okay I forgot the pistachios, but it's still good.) To complete the dish, I made a side salad of romaine. 

A good meal 

Book 20: Wait Until Next Year

I had started the book as I was waiting to move up to the top of the library waiting list for The Testaments. Doris Kearns Goodwin is known for her works of history, especially Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. 

Wait Until Next Year is her memoir of growing up in Brooklyn with a focus on her love of the Brooklyn Dodgers. That love affair started when Doris was six and lasted until the cursed Walter O'Malley moved the team until Los Angeles.

Baseball permeated all parts of Doris's life. In her first confession she was worried because she had gone to see Ray Campanella at the Episcopal Church. Was that a sin? She also confessed that she had wished a broken arm to a Yankee pitcher as well as other injuries to Dodgers' opponents. She had a camaraderie with people in the butcher shop even though they supported the Giants.

The memoir also includes things beyond the neighborhood: the fear of polio, the atomic bomb drills in school, the McCarthy hearings, and the integration of the Little Rock high schools.

Wait Until Next Year is one of the best memoirs I've read. It captures an important time in a life memorably and poignantly.

Singular Sensations

Tonight Jeff and I went to our second single single malt class at Total Wine. Our first spirits class was about a year ago. All our tastings were real single malt scotches (from Scotland and aged a minimum of three years from 100 percent malted barley.) We tasted nine scotches. Eight were set out for us, and then the speaker gave us a surprise ninth. He said it's because it's the last scotch tasting of the year.

I love the classes at Total Wine--a combination of learning about wines, whiskeys, etc. and tasting several. They usually cost $5.00 per person. The last one we attended was on Cabernet Sauvignons. We're going next week for sparkling wines. That will be fun.

Hooray for Jacob deGrom

Last night Jacob deGrom became the eleventh pitcher in major league history to win his second consecutive Cy Young award.

It wasn't smooth sailing for Jake; he had a rough April. He rebounded with a major league leading 2.07 ERA from May through the end of season.

Here are some fun facts about Jake and his AL counterpart Justin Verlander.

Congratulations Jake!

To the rest of the Mets, show him some support next season!

Star of the Month: Bette Davis

Bette Davis is the star of the month for November on TCM. On Tuesdays, it's Bette films for (approximately) 24 hours. The first Tuesday, I watched parts of the films when I could and recorded several that I haven't seen recently. I was psyched to see Special Agent again; it had been years.

Frankly, Special Agent isn't very good. Many of Bette's early films aren't or she had very small parts. It's still fun to watch her. I've been working my way through the recordings.

I've seen all these films before. Now I'm noticing small things in Bette's expressions and movements. I'm also noticing the supporting actors. For example, Allen Jenkins is in five films with Bette; Frank McHugh in four, and Ricardo Cortez in two.

Thanks TCM.

Book 19: The Testaments

The Testaments is Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. It is incredible; I loved it.

Three women narrate the book: Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid's Tale and two young girls, Agnes and Daisy. Agnes and Daisy appear in The Handmaid's Tale, but we know nothing of their thoughts in that book. Both girls are daughters of June (or Offred) the original handmaid.

I was most interested in Aunt Lydia's story. She had been a judge in the United States before Gilead. She describes her transition to becoming an aunt and her efforts to consolidate power. Her story was much better than what was shown in the television show.

Agnes has spent most of her life in Gilead. She loves her adoptive mother Tabitha, but her world is upended when Tabitha dies. Daisy's adoptive parents are killed in an explosion, and she learns that she is the famous baby Nicole, spirited away from Gilead.

I love how the three women come together and joined forces.

Atwood does a great job of world-building beyond what we learned about Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale: the Rubies school to train commanders' wives, how the aunts were established, and how new aunts were trained.

I've already returned the book to the library; fourteen people are still on the waiting list. But I want to read it again.

Edited to add: I just found this post by Rhiannon. Good reading.

November So Far

I want to write about November goals.

Working Out

I previously wrote about prioritizing working out. I restarted consistent working out on October 5 and logged 13 gym visits in October. Since then I've completed two weeks of three gym visits and three weeks of four gym visits.

In November, I've been to the gym six out of 11 days. Only two of those visits included cardio. But as Laura Vanderkam says, don't make perfect the enemy of good. I got to the gym six times this month and exercised here the other five days.

Writing

One goal is to blog every day in November--so far so good--and to write 500 words a day. Now I wrote 500+ words the first two days. After that I edited some pieces. I decided that was acceptable as my daily goal.

With a goal of 500 words a a day, I should have 5000 words by now, but I only  have 2144 words.  NaNoWriMo's goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. My monthly goal is 15,000 words. I hope I can make up the words.

Thinking about Thanksgiving

This will be the first Thanksgiving when Jeff and I won't be with other family members.

We discussed our options. Dinner at a restaurant: only a few are open. I didn't want to invite people over because I didn't want the stress: I've never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner before. Jeff and I decided to stay home and cook a turkey breast: sides to be determined. I got a Stop and Shop magazine with ideas and figured I'd start from there.

Since our decision, I found that a friend Marti is thinking about hosting Thanksgiving if she can get her house in order. I laughed because that was something Jeff and I discussed: we would have major cleaning/organizing to accomplish before inviting anyone over.

I ran into a friend in our condo; she and her boyfriend are alone this year too. And they don't cook. She mentioned getting a turkey breast, instant mashed potatoes, and stove-top stuffing. She's in retail and has to go to work around 6 PM on Thanksgiving. She says it's better than going into work on Friday at 6 AM. I get it.

This year's Thanksgiving is still a work in progress.

Strange Dreams

I've experienced weird dreams the past three nights.

Dreams are ephemeral: I don't even remember my dream on Wednesday night. Thursday's dream involved some sort of home invasion. A couple was detained in a soft-sided cage suspended from the ceiling.

Last night's dream was the most vivid. I was at some kind of work getaway--conference--like ones I used to attend. I was walking down a street and saw a vendor selling parody maps of Connecticut towns and cities. The vendor was someone I knew, but I don't remember who. He didn't have a map of Norwalk.

I want back to another store at the beginning of the street  It sold jewelry and polished stones and shells. The door was open, but no one was there. I put on a bunch of the rings and a pair of earrings and filled my pocketbook with stones, etc. I don't remember what I was thinking.

The owner returned and we talked for awhile. Suddenly she realized some of her stock was missing. I emptied out my pocketbook. A few employees suddenly appeared and tallied up what I had. It covered the counters (don't know how it fit in my handbag.)

The cost for these items was $500 plus. (In reality, pretty good since I had so many items including an emerald and a ruby ring.) I couldn't afford that. So I went along the counters and indicated what I didn't want, and an employee took that off my total. The earrings were the most expensive. Of course, they were what I wanted the most. Ultimately, I gave them up.

I got the total down by about half. I apologized for making more work for the employees because they would have to put all the merchandise back in the display cases. I didn't apologize for attempted theft because I didn't think of myself as a thief.

There was a discussion about a one percent surcharge because I lived in Norwalk. When the employee learned I was from New York City area, she said she would have charged me more.

I checked the time and said I would miss dinner. An employee said she would miss dinner too.

I tried to call Elaine who was at the conference to tell her I would be late.

I couldn't get my phone to work. There I was: back to my standard frustration dream. The other two dreams also ended with some version of the frustration and futility.

I don't remember ever succeeding in these dreams.

Just reread this article that I linked to in a previous post. I  don't consciously feel a sense of relief after my frustration dreams. It's more like--oh, here we go ago. I take comfort that others have the same kind of dreams.

I'd rather return to the dreams in which I can fly.

Another Open Studios Reception

This is the second of three local Open Studios weekends. This weekend it's in Norwalk at Firing Circuits. Here there were more and larger studios than the location we visited last week. 

We saw mostly paintings. some photography, a lot of mixed media, some sculpture, and jewelry. 

I usually feel inspired when I attend these art shows, especially the mixed media. I enjoy collage and even painting, though I've done very little of either (especially painting.) I realized tonight that I just don't have confidence in my art. 

That means I have to keep practicing it. 

Scheduling Calculus

I thought about calling this post Scheduling Gymnastics or Scheduling Negotiations. I went with my first idea.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning. I had a lunch date with my friend Elaine at noon, and I had already decided what to make for dinner.  I wanted to go to the gym, take Lola to a park, go food shopping, do the laundry, write a blog post, and write something else.

Did I realistically think I would get all that done? Sigh.

I fell into my slow morning trap. Around 8:30 or so, I washed up and dressed to take Lola to Taylor Farm. I figured I'd take Lola there from 9 to 10, go to the gym from 10 to 11, then get ready to meet Elaine at 12.

First, I didn't get to the park by 9 because I got stuck in traffic by the new mall (The Sono Collection.)  I realized that my "plan" didn't include travel times back home and to the gym. I would have to shorten my time with Lola at the park. Then I felt guilty about that. It was supposed to rain later in the day, and be cold the next. This morning was the best time to get a good walk in with Lola.

I gave Lola a full hour at the park and blew off the gym. I figured I could wash my hair today instead of tomorrow, finish sorting the laundry, maybe write--at least start--a blog post before I left for lunch.

Well, that didn't work out so well either. I did wash and dry my hair, but didn't have enough time to even finish sorting the laundry.

When I called Elaine to tell her I was on my way, she said she forgot we had lunch plans.

Sigh. At least she was ready when I arrived.

After lunch, I got the food shopping done, finished sorting the laundry, and did a half hour of exercise.

That will have to be enough.

I'll have to do better tomorrow.

The End of the Road (Yellow Trail)

After I voted yesterday, I took Lola to Bradley Park in Wilton. We haven't been there in a while. My goal was to finish what I call the second yellow trail.

I think Lola was a bit impatient with me. She wanted to run down the trails. I was carefully stepping among the fallen leaves, tree roots, branches, and rocks. She slowed down when we were on flat terrain, and I could have sped up.

We started on the orange trail and went clockwise around the park. Lola started to turn down the first yellow trail. I pulled her back and continued to the second yellow trail on the bottom of this map. (If I count the yellow trails clockwise from the parking lot starting point, it is the fifth yellow trail.)

This was our third try, and we finally made it to Woodchuck Lane. It  had been too muddy on our previous attempts.

It was a lovely autumn walk.

Thinking about Spike

As we were walking along the NRVT on Sunday, I suddenly realized why I'd been thinking so much about Spike lately.

Today is his birthday; he would have been 19. Here are a few pictures of Spike from this blog through the years.

Spike was special; he is special. That's why he's the star of this blog with 169 posts so far.

I need to write his story.

Today is also Lola's designated half-way day. Since we don't know her real birthday, we chose May 5.

We're lucky to have shared our lives with these two special pups. 

Top of the List

Several weeks ago, I put myself on the Norwalk Library's waiting list for The Testaments, Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. 

As I waited, I re-read The Handmaid's Tale and caught up on some magazines. Last Monday, I picked up two books at the Norwalk Library book sale. I started to read one, Wait Till Next Year: Doris Kearns Goodwin's memoir of growing up in Brooklyn as a Dodgers fan. At that time I was number three on the waiting list, I had only moved up one place since the previous week.

In effect, Goodwin's book was my pinch reading, until I could get The Testaments.

I love baseball terms.

Lola and Ruby

One of the pleasures of neighborhood walks is meeting some of the neighborhood dogs.  On one of our walks we met Ruby.

A few weeks ago, Jeff, Lola, and I were on one of our semi-regular late afternoon walks. We were heading up the Maple Street hill, walking into sun glare, when we saw a couple and a dog walking toward us.

"Is that a beagle?" Jeff asked.

I was thinking, could it be?

Yes, it was Ruby; we hadn't seen her in months.  I fumbled with my phone to snap a few pictures before we headed our separate ways.

An Art Fix

This week apparently was the start of artists' opening weekends: I've seen ads for at least two other groups holding open studios over the next few weeks.

This was the first: Stamford Loft Artists. Most of the studios were open and the artists served wine and appetizers. I talked with a few of the artists. One told me he doesn't use a brush when he paints. Instead he uses things like cut-up credit cards. Another had shelves of books, several about Paul Klee. I had never heard of him until a few weeks ago when he was named in a poem.

I got a kick out a sign I saw in one of the studios. I didn't take a picture of it, so I have to paraphrase it. Modern Art is something you can do, but you didn't. Obviously, the original sign was better worded.

We also met the cutest candidate for President of the United States.

Vote Canine!

Down to the Wire

It's November 1st. I made a goal that I would write 500 words a day in November in lieu of doing Nanowrimo.

I had a tutoring appointment today, the day before the SAT which is unusual. I had to prep for that, then write a report on that, and then enter my hours before I started working on my 500. I just made it by working on my last assignment for my WPA mural inspired writing course.

Whew.