Life As We Know It
Jan. 5th, 2018 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayAround mid-morning, I shoveled about 3-5" of snow from the sidewalk and driveway, starting from where the sidewalk meets the driveway at the front of the house and back to where the driveway ends, at the rear of the house. That's probably 15 x 40.' I leave the other half of the driveway, from the front of the house to the road, for the plowing service.
After that, around 11:30, I headed over to Mooney Ave, to what used to be the family home, intending to shovel the walks and stairs and to confirm that the furnace was still running. By that time, though, I needed a break. This latest snowfall, probably generated by the storm that's moving up the East Coast, was the heavier, moisture-laden kind, and I had to do a lot more lifting and carrying, rather than just pushing it to the end of the driveway and throwing it up over the snowbank.
So I decided to stay on the highway until the exit for Lowe's, where I picked up a container of ice melt which I needed at Mooney. After which I drove a couple of blocks south to Erie Boulevard and then continued east to the Barnes & Noble. At the B&N, I found a music theory book, that I'm gonna use to help my granddaughter with her keyboard percussion lessons, and then decided, as I was looping back towards Mooney Ave, to stop at the Subie dealership to get the oil changed.
On my way to the dealership, I also stopped at the Herb Philipson's Outdoor Store on the boulevard to check availability of a nitro-piston, .22-caliber air rifle for target shooting in the basement. Or to hunt small game, in the urban ruins, after Trump and the other "Little Rocket Man" push their respective nuclear buttons and end life as we know it.
(Trump claims, based on his delusional thought process, to have "the larger button." But what he apparently hasn't considered, before running his childishly-impulsive mouth, is that there are other "buttons" in this world, ones with LARGER HANDS THAN HIS hovering over them. OMG, please tell me that I didn't go there. OK, I did.)
By "small game" I mean primarily squirrel, although I have seen at least one very impressive flock of wild turkeys in the neighborhood as well. I offer that as an alternative to those who disdainfully refer to squirrels as "tree rats." But where they see tree rats, I see protein. And, no, they don't taste like chicken. Sorry. Then again, neither does KFC. In my opinion.
As I've found to be the case elsewhere, Philipson's stock was badly depleted during the run-up to Christmas, so I may just resort to one of the specialty retailers, like PyramydAir.com, to get what I really want. I've decided to buy something halfway decent that I can maybe pass on to my daughter who's become something of a "prepper," possibly influenced by her 9/11 experience when she lived in New York.
In the meantime, said daughter had been monitoring my progress through this series of mostly-unplanned stops and I had been assuring her that I was, in fact, inventing excuses to avoid going to the house to shovel. (She totally spoiled my fun by agreeing that oil changes were important and saying that she didn't blame me for not wanting to shovel. Usually, she's not such an enabler, lol.)
When I finally got there I found that, as expected, the plows had completely blocked the driveway, forcing me to park on the street. I actually think that the Subie could've made it in and out OK, especially with the new tires and my expert driving, cough, cough.
But driving through a snow bank is never a smart thing to do, if it can be avoided, because you have no way of knowing what the plow may have deposited there along with the snow. Even something like a broken-off chunk of ice could dent or sever a brake line or cause other damage to the undercarriage. At the very least, you're gonna pack the inside rim of the wheels with snow which will throw off their balance and result in annoying and potentially dangerous vibration on the highway.
The snow was actually coming down again when I got out of the car and there was a pretty brisk wind to go with the 6-degree temperature. I was astonished at how much snow had accumulated on the sidewalk and front steps. My surprise was probably owing to the fact that I'd been shoveling two or three times a day back at the house, so it never accumulated there. Here, it was easily over my knees, especially where it had drifted, and I had a hard time getting up the front steps and onto the porch where I keep the shovel.
Afterwards, I was thinking that I could probably just lean it against the outside of the house, since nobody else in the neighborhood seems to even know what it's for. But with my luck it'd be spotted by some passing addict, maybe one that I know, stealing her way to forever.
Honestly, what's happened on the east side is really so sad. Every year or so, another house gets sold to an absentee landlord who doesn't care about maintenance standards or quality of life in the neighborhood. Or who they rent to, as long as they get a security deposit and no one burns the place down. And even then.
I swear, walking down the street from one summer to the next, you can sense that the aggregate I.Q. of the neighborhood has dropped another 10 points in the interim. Not a nice thing to say, I know, but that's really how it is.
Anyway, it took me a good 30 to 40 minutes to clear the sidewalk and front steps and to put down a layer of sand once I'd finished the shoveling. I did have the new jug of ice melt from Lowe's, but I don't like using it unless absolutely necessary because it's so hard on the concrete sidewalks and steps.
When I was done, I texted my daughter again and told her that ours was the only sidewalk on the block that had been cleared that day. Or that week, if you don't count the two women who have houses across the street and continue to be good neighbors and conscientious property owners--despite the growing odds against them.
On my way home, I stopped at McD's and picked up a Southwest salad with two dressings and a root beer with no ice. Gotta eat healthy in my old age, you know. Pftt! On the road, it was slow going and I stayed on surface streets the whole way because Central New York is now under a travel advisory.
I decided, once I got here, to eat dinner, take a couple of Ibuprofen, and call it a night. It'll be the second day in a row that I've skipped my exercises, which I don't like to do. But my shoulder is now bothering me, the one that I hurt a year or two ago when I fell, and I don't want to aggravate that further.
So, instead of my workout, I'm gonna put my feet up and start reading my new music theory book.
I think my granddaughter, and Danlee Mitchell (see previous entry), would be OK with that...
LPK
Dreamwidth
1.5.2018
After that, around 11:30, I headed over to Mooney Ave, to what used to be the family home, intending to shovel the walks and stairs and to confirm that the furnace was still running. By that time, though, I needed a break. This latest snowfall, probably generated by the storm that's moving up the East Coast, was the heavier, moisture-laden kind, and I had to do a lot more lifting and carrying, rather than just pushing it to the end of the driveway and throwing it up over the snowbank.
So I decided to stay on the highway until the exit for Lowe's, where I picked up a container of ice melt which I needed at Mooney. After which I drove a couple of blocks south to Erie Boulevard and then continued east to the Barnes & Noble. At the B&N, I found a music theory book, that I'm gonna use to help my granddaughter with her keyboard percussion lessons, and then decided, as I was looping back towards Mooney Ave, to stop at the Subie dealership to get the oil changed.
On my way to the dealership, I also stopped at the Herb Philipson's Outdoor Store on the boulevard to check availability of a nitro-piston, .22-caliber air rifle for target shooting in the basement. Or to hunt small game, in the urban ruins, after Trump and the other "Little Rocket Man" push their respective nuclear buttons and end life as we know it.
(Trump claims, based on his delusional thought process, to have "the larger button." But what he apparently hasn't considered, before running his childishly-impulsive mouth, is that there are other "buttons" in this world, ones with LARGER HANDS THAN HIS hovering over them. OMG, please tell me that I didn't go there. OK, I did.)
By "small game" I mean primarily squirrel, although I have seen at least one very impressive flock of wild turkeys in the neighborhood as well. I offer that as an alternative to those who disdainfully refer to squirrels as "tree rats." But where they see tree rats, I see protein. And, no, they don't taste like chicken. Sorry. Then again, neither does KFC. In my opinion.
As I've found to be the case elsewhere, Philipson's stock was badly depleted during the run-up to Christmas, so I may just resort to one of the specialty retailers, like PyramydAir.com, to get what I really want. I've decided to buy something halfway decent that I can maybe pass on to my daughter who's become something of a "prepper," possibly influenced by her 9/11 experience when she lived in New York.
In the meantime, said daughter had been monitoring my progress through this series of mostly-unplanned stops and I had been assuring her that I was, in fact, inventing excuses to avoid going to the house to shovel. (She totally spoiled my fun by agreeing that oil changes were important and saying that she didn't blame me for not wanting to shovel. Usually, she's not such an enabler, lol.)
When I finally got there I found that, as expected, the plows had completely blocked the driveway, forcing me to park on the street. I actually think that the Subie could've made it in and out OK, especially with the new tires and my expert driving, cough, cough.
But driving through a snow bank is never a smart thing to do, if it can be avoided, because you have no way of knowing what the plow may have deposited there along with the snow. Even something like a broken-off chunk of ice could dent or sever a brake line or cause other damage to the undercarriage. At the very least, you're gonna pack the inside rim of the wheels with snow which will throw off their balance and result in annoying and potentially dangerous vibration on the highway.
The snow was actually coming down again when I got out of the car and there was a pretty brisk wind to go with the 6-degree temperature. I was astonished at how much snow had accumulated on the sidewalk and front steps. My surprise was probably owing to the fact that I'd been shoveling two or three times a day back at the house, so it never accumulated there. Here, it was easily over my knees, especially where it had drifted, and I had a hard time getting up the front steps and onto the porch where I keep the shovel.
Afterwards, I was thinking that I could probably just lean it against the outside of the house, since nobody else in the neighborhood seems to even know what it's for. But with my luck it'd be spotted by some passing addict, maybe one that I know, stealing her way to forever.
Honestly, what's happened on the east side is really so sad. Every year or so, another house gets sold to an absentee landlord who doesn't care about maintenance standards or quality of life in the neighborhood. Or who they rent to, as long as they get a security deposit and no one burns the place down. And even then.
I swear, walking down the street from one summer to the next, you can sense that the aggregate I.Q. of the neighborhood has dropped another 10 points in the interim. Not a nice thing to say, I know, but that's really how it is.
Anyway, it took me a good 30 to 40 minutes to clear the sidewalk and front steps and to put down a layer of sand once I'd finished the shoveling. I did have the new jug of ice melt from Lowe's, but I don't like using it unless absolutely necessary because it's so hard on the concrete sidewalks and steps.
When I was done, I texted my daughter again and told her that ours was the only sidewalk on the block that had been cleared that day. Or that week, if you don't count the two women who have houses across the street and continue to be good neighbors and conscientious property owners--despite the growing odds against them.
On my way home, I stopped at McD's and picked up a Southwest salad with two dressings and a root beer with no ice. Gotta eat healthy in my old age, you know. Pftt! On the road, it was slow going and I stayed on surface streets the whole way because Central New York is now under a travel advisory.
I decided, once I got here, to eat dinner, take a couple of Ibuprofen, and call it a night. It'll be the second day in a row that I've skipped my exercises, which I don't like to do. But my shoulder is now bothering me, the one that I hurt a year or two ago when I fell, and I don't want to aggravate that further.
So, instead of my workout, I'm gonna put my feet up and start reading my new music theory book.
I think my granddaughter, and Danlee Mitchell (see previous entry), would be OK with that...
LPK
Dreamwidth
1.5.2018
no subject
Date: 2018-01-06 02:33 pm (UTC)The house I grew up in became rental property. I avoid that side of town cause it makes me so sad.
Gosh I haven't eaten squirrel in a coon's age lol, used to be able to clean them too. I suppose in an apocalyptic scenario I would remember the process.
And now I discover you are musically talented too. Is there anything you can't do? Renaissance man for sure! :-)
no subject
Date: 2018-01-06 03:39 pm (UTC)And yeah, I have a sense of sadness about Mooney Ave, for ever so many reasons. My kids have some fond memories, which they mention from time to time, and that makes me glad. But to me the place is mostly about so many chances lost.
As far as musical talent, I guess if I really had any, I'd still be doing it. Looking back, I think it's one of those things that I did for my parents.
I worked hard at it, had some nice experiences along the way, but it never lived in my soul the way that it did for the ones who were destined to be real musicians. Now, I've got several grandkids who are interested in it and I probably "know" enough that I can at least help them in the early stages if I'm asked.
It's kind of like when your kids are learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc., in school and you can help with their homework. But when they get to trig or calculus, you're out, lol. That would be me with music.
As for the Renaissance, I'm lucky if I can spell it, lol. And I'd have to mostly credit those who gave me the kinds of chances that they never had as kids. I only wish, sometimes, that I'd done better at focusing on something I could truly excel at and use to create a more productive life for myself and my kids.
Ah well, it's like my old man used to say, "Too soon old, too late smart..."
no subject
Date: 2018-01-07 12:52 am (UTC)I wish I had listened more closely to my dad.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-07 03:06 pm (UTC)But the MOST impressive things about those experiences, to me, were the people that I met along the way. The ones for whom, as I said, music lived in their souls.
I know it sounds hokey, but it's a very real attribute, an absolute determinant, in my opinion, as to whether one will reach that simultaneously highest and deepest level of success in a musical career.
Maybe it's that way in every human endeavor, but I think it's most readily observed, and most deeply felt, in our consideration of the arts, especially music.
If I'd gotten nothing else, from my time as a wanna-be musician, I was deeply privileged to have known such people and to have learned what they were about...
no subject
Date: 2018-01-07 04:26 pm (UTC)I hear it in the words of my GP who, while nearly as old as I am still rocks it out playing locally most weekends. And see it in my daughter's boyfriend who in spite of back pain still plays bass guitar in at least 3 bands.
And keeping an eye on granddaughter. Lainey, who just yesterday won 1st chair over 18 other sax players in a regional meet. She's 13.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-07 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 02:48 pm (UTC)I just hate it that she seems to have inherited my anxiety issues, but sometimes it seems to be part of of the creative temperament.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 06:10 pm (UTC)It sounds like they've been doing all the right things too. Keyboard training, from an early age, can be the foundation for so many things musically. I hope she's able to keep that up, along with everything else.
I hear you on the emotional health issues, been dealing with a few of them myself, both now and over my lifetime. But hopefully, for Lainey, her music and other wonderfully-varied activities and interests will provide somewhat of an anchor when the stresses come, as we know they will.
And, here again, the fact that mom and dad seem to have a pretty good handle on things is probably the best reason to hope that Lainey will ultimately be successful in this aspect of her life as well.
I certainly wish her and her parents the best and, again, express my congratulations on her musical accomplishments...
no subject
Date: 2018-01-08 07:42 pm (UTC)Just talked to Tracy, Laineys mom,and even though it's just a practice both she and Lainey's dad are going to see her play tonight. Unfortunately it's nearly 40 miles from me and we've got ice so I can't attend. And, *drum roll* she's been asked to try out for honors jazz band.
Her love for music really shows when she comes here and spends most of her time playing the piano.
I am ever hopeful that because she has great parents and so many more resources than I had that she will become well adjusted and resilient. Weird how the mental health thing seems to have skipped a generation. Gosh L, I so want them all to be happy.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 02:58 am (UTC)Interesting, I think, how our own happiness tends to derive from that of our children and grandchildren in later life. But the lesson which I think I'm now learning is that I have to find the right balance between that and whatever I may yet accomplish for myself. And, now that I've finally grasped the concept, I have to take ownership of it and then determine what can and should be done in the hours and days still to be mine.
Which is one of the reasons I so appreciate my LJ and Dreamwidth friends: their generous sharing of their time and talent, the daily example of their energy and productivity--at times in less than optimal circumstances--provides the markers I seem to need along my own road if I'm to reclaim and rebuild some semblence of a life for myself.
And actually, buoyed by the inspiration I've found in you and Kim and Mary and others, I feel pretty good about my chances right now. I have the time and the life and now I just have to do the work. And so my thanks and best wishes to all of you...
no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 12:09 pm (UTC)I so relate to the search for balance between our own happiness and that of
those we love. I find myself cooking these huge meals still and no one comes to eat them. Can't quite wrap my head around the freedom I have or figure out how to use it,
Online friends are indeed great and inspiring. I don't recognize Kim, but maybe know her under a user name? But, Mary, she amazes me, so talented, connected and kind. Love her.
It's so good to feeling good and seeing a future with opportunities. For sure it's all about doing the work and you are. If I've helped in any way, I'm glad and I feel it's a fair exchange for what
you give to me.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 06:36 pm (UTC)I was active, and most interested in the genre, near the end of that period and what we played in stage band was mostly a revisiting of that earlier era when jazz was in its heyday in pop culture.
My "stand-ups," in the two years I was in SB, were "Stardust" and "So Rare," which I think was more reflective of our director's musical interests than ours. But, dang, we sure thought we were cool, with our "DA" haircuts, white "dinner" jackets, and "pegged" dress pants, lol. At least we weren't up there in "zoot suits," as we might've been a generation or so earlier.
Anyway, I'm wondering if Lainey has a sense of what they'll be playing in the honors group. I'm guessing they'll be leaning more toward what the purists would call pop music than pure jazz. Either way, it should be an interesting and exciting experience for her.
BTW, Kim's LJ user name is kimdotdammit. She's a writer, artist, photographer, movie critic, night runner and single mom. AND she has a full-time job. How she does all of that, I can't even guess, but she does it all with incredible inspiration and passion. She's definitely worth a look. And then some.
Also, speaking of what we're thankful to share, I did an email attachment of that letter several days ago and wondered if you'd received it. If not, I'll try again. Don't want you thinking that I'm a TOTAL slacker. Which, of course, I am, lol...
no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 06:49 pm (UTC)I will for sure ask Lainey what she's playing and ask her to bring her sax next time she comes. My jazz experience is mostly Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone etc. It came at a time in my life when I was deeply in love and we spent many hours with champagne and joints listening to those women sing, and uh doing other things *blush*
Oh, I know Kim, have been using some of her photos for my sketching,
And, I got your mail and answered, will send again.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 12:00 am (UTC)I loved that movie. I loved Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. I loved the bitter-sweetness of Richard Linklater's revisitation, nine years later, of their characters' one night stand in Vienna.
When you mentioned Nina Simone, I knew that I had to look it up and when I did, I remembered there was another movie, a prequel called "Before Sunrise." And discovered there was also a sequel, "Before Midnight."
They talk about it in a retrospective, Hawke, Delpy, and Linklater, called "The Before Trilogy--Love Over Time." And they show some of the scenes from each.
I thought about watching the first one which, for some reason, even though I'd bought it, I never had. And I thought about ordering the last one which, until now, I hadn't known existed.
But then, watching the clips from it and feeling it's darkness, I decided against. And the first one, even, when they fall in love with each other and still take their leave. I know it's a story, but.
Which leaves me in the middle, where I started. Jesse is on an international book tour and runs into Celine at a Paris bookstore. And decides to stay.
They're not so impulsively young anymore and so it's OK, isn't it? Not really, because Jesse has left someone else behind. But it's a story, right?
And then it occurs to me that, many years ago, I wrote a story about my first love, about that summer of my first love, when I was just fifteen.
I wrote it in sort of random pieces, sort of like the way I sometimes put together pieces of my journal now, and in the end imagined how we might meet again, at a book signing which she came to because she knew the book that I'd written was about her.
And then there was a kiss, much like the first one when we were kids, and then another parting because we both had other lives, much like that first time for Jesse and Celine. But this was our story, some of it imagined, some of it real, many years before Linklater's was on the big screen.
I've often thought that I might dig it out again and now, I don't know, I may still. In any case, thank you Simone and Jesse and Celine and Elaine...