Apart from a short episode of freezing rain that began when I crossed the George Washington Bridge on my way into and across Manhattan (is there an omen here?), I made it without incident all the way to Amagansett. Everything is in good shape and the heat is functioning, so what is there to complain about? Especially when the today is 51 degrees.
Best to all of you with the snow and the horrific cold. Right now I am thankful for the Atlantic and the Sound and their ameliorating effects. Stay warm.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Window of Opportunity
Now that New Year's celebrations -- in Michigan this year -- and the latest snowfall are over, I'm headed home. Given the blizzard warnings for Long Island, I first called some friends in the Amagansett area and asked them to check that I still have power. Sandy and one or two other hurricanes have made me cautious about how long LIPA can take to get folks back on line. I figured that if there were problems, I would follow my long-standing custom of hanging out at Kit's house until it was all fixed. Reports were that the weather hype had exceeded the bad results for the Hamptons, at least.
Having checked the weather forecasts for Michigan and Long Island and a number of places in between, I concluded that there was a window of opportunity to return home. So I am en route at this point. Now if I can just outrun the forecasted freezing rain. Or, of course, they could be wrong again. As they say, more later.
Having checked the weather forecasts for Michigan and Long Island and a number of places in between, I concluded that there was a window of opportunity to return home. So I am en route at this point. Now if I can just outrun the forecasted freezing rain. Or, of course, they could be wrong again. As they say, more later.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Christmas
This year we decided to find a central place for Christmas, a place as close to equidistant from each of us as we could get. After a good deal of drawing overlapping circles, we settled on a house in southwestern Pennsylvania. It was located on a river, at the edge of several park areas, near lots of good hiking and, most important, big enough for all 9 adults and 3 children.
Best of all, it came with a moose head on the dining room wall. That thing was so big I had a hard time believing it was real. But it got very friendly when we decorated the antlers with all the 12 Christmas stockings. [I would insert a picture here but I'm having my usual computer issues.]
There was a Christmas tree, too, all decorated and ready. The kids added homemade ornaments thanks to Nate's bringing lots of pipe cleaners, construction paper, beads, scissors, etc. There were also paper chains (one of my personal favorites form my own days of making ornaments) courtesy of Aunt Becca. The three littlest kids developed an activity they called "reading the presents" which involved checking the to and from and then arranging and rearranging them in different groups. Lots of planning by those three went into Christmas morning.
Other days included walks, snowboarding for Nate, and ongoing and rotating games. Some of the old faves like checkers, new ones like Forbidden Island and Catan Junior, and, of course, for this group, hand and foot. Hand and foot is a card game that involves five or six decks of cards and lots and lots of shuffling. It has just enough luck and just enough strategy and just enough table talk to keep the game going on at intervals through the whole vacation, with much high fiving by various parties at various times.
As Nate's father, Ron, put it so accurately, "This is the best Christmas ever, until the next one."
Best of all, it came with a moose head on the dining room wall. That thing was so big I had a hard time believing it was real. But it got very friendly when we decorated the antlers with all the 12 Christmas stockings. [I would insert a picture here but I'm having my usual computer issues.]
There was a Christmas tree, too, all decorated and ready. The kids added homemade ornaments thanks to Nate's bringing lots of pipe cleaners, construction paper, beads, scissors, etc. There were also paper chains (one of my personal favorites form my own days of making ornaments) courtesy of Aunt Becca. The three littlest kids developed an activity they called "reading the presents" which involved checking the to and from and then arranging and rearranging them in different groups. Lots of planning by those three went into Christmas morning.
Other days included walks, snowboarding for Nate, and ongoing and rotating games. Some of the old faves like checkers, new ones like Forbidden Island and Catan Junior, and, of course, for this group, hand and foot. Hand and foot is a card game that involves five or six decks of cards and lots and lots of shuffling. It has just enough luck and just enough strategy and just enough table talk to keep the game going on at intervals through the whole vacation, with much high fiving by various parties at various times.
As Nate's father, Ron, put it so accurately, "This is the best Christmas ever, until the next one."
Monday, December 30, 2013
Ouch, Mr. Wright
Most of you are very aware of how much I admire Frank Lloyd Wright and his work. I've planned part of my earlier trips around tours and stays at his work. When I realized that the Christmas house was a short drive from Falling Waters, I put my bid in right away for a family trip there. My own enchantment with Wright goest back to the original Mike Wallace interview in 1957. I watched it then and wanted nothing more than to have this man design a home for me someday. He wasn't able to do that so I continue to move about the country visiting as many of the homes he did have time enough to design as possible.
Falling Waters is special to my family not only because it is amazing and beautiful, but because we visited it together many years ago when we were all together driving back home from Interlochen Arts Camp. It makes the kind of impression that none of us have forgotten, so pretty much everyone was there on our first full day after our arrival. Falling Waters did not disappoint and we were happy to be able to share it with two of the grandkids (Fiona was taking a nap at the house). Luke liked the explanation that Wright wanted to focus on the sound of the waterfall but kept a special enjoyment for the places where you could see the river or the falls. Annie, too, liked the idea of having a house with the outside so very much inside.
What I had forgotten was that there are a lot of stone steps throughout Falling Waters and somewhere in there I must have taken a wrong step. When I got back to our house, I realized that my left foot was not exactly comfortable. I expected improvement by next morning but it kept getting more painful and I was unable to keep from remembering when I broke a bone in that foot and how similar it felt. After a firm talking to from the rest of the family, I agreed to a drive to a nearby town for an x-ray. The good news is that nothing was broken. The bad news was that it was days after Christmas before I could finally get a shoe on and go for a walk along the river that ran right in front of the house. At least it means that there will be a lot left for me to explore if we do this again next Christmas.
Falling Waters is special to my family not only because it is amazing and beautiful, but because we visited it together many years ago when we were all together driving back home from Interlochen Arts Camp. It makes the kind of impression that none of us have forgotten, so pretty much everyone was there on our first full day after our arrival. Falling Waters did not disappoint and we were happy to be able to share it with two of the grandkids (Fiona was taking a nap at the house). Luke liked the explanation that Wright wanted to focus on the sound of the waterfall but kept a special enjoyment for the places where you could see the river or the falls. Annie, too, liked the idea of having a house with the outside so very much inside.
What I had forgotten was that there are a lot of stone steps throughout Falling Waters and somewhere in there I must have taken a wrong step. When I got back to our house, I realized that my left foot was not exactly comfortable. I expected improvement by next morning but it kept getting more painful and I was unable to keep from remembering when I broke a bone in that foot and how similar it felt. After a firm talking to from the rest of the family, I agreed to a drive to a nearby town for an x-ray. The good news is that nothing was broken. The bad news was that it was days after Christmas before I could finally get a shoe on and go for a walk along the river that ran right in front of the house. At least it means that there will be a lot left for me to explore if we do this again next Christmas.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Over the River
Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. But this time it was Gran doing the over the river and through the woods bit. I had been on the road ever since purchasing a dozen or so bagels in Amagansett that morning. It was the 21st, the shortest day of the year, and I was headed for southwest Pennsylvania and the house where the whole family was rendezvousing for Christmas. The weather had been pretty close to perfect but now it was getting dark, snow was thinking about falling and it was time to leave the Turnpike.
Rural roads are very dark. They are also twisty, with lots of turns and ups and downs. Now the snow had decided to be rain and at times it was one of those rains that just slashes down. When the rain let up for a while, it was fog that looked like a wall in front of the car. Take your choice. It was probably good that I couldn't see much beyond the edge of the road because I really didn't want to know. If I had been able to see enough to find a place to turn off, I would have let the line of cars behind me go past. They undoubtedly knew the area much better than I did and I would have been happy to have had someone to follow. As it was, I mentally apologized to all of them and waited for them to find their homes or the turnoff at the next crossroads.
About 7:30, the GPS told me I was close and I made the last turn. The house was alight. There were five cars in the driveway. I was the last one there. I made my way up to the porch and opened the door. A 2 and a half year old started jumping up and down and announcing to the whole gang, "Gran's here. Gran's here." The everyone hugs started. I was home.
Rural roads are very dark. They are also twisty, with lots of turns and ups and downs. Now the snow had decided to be rain and at times it was one of those rains that just slashes down. When the rain let up for a while, it was fog that looked like a wall in front of the car. Take your choice. It was probably good that I couldn't see much beyond the edge of the road because I really didn't want to know. If I had been able to see enough to find a place to turn off, I would have let the line of cars behind me go past. They undoubtedly knew the area much better than I did and I would have been happy to have had someone to follow. As it was, I mentally apologized to all of them and waited for them to find their homes or the turnoff at the next crossroads.
About 7:30, the GPS told me I was close and I made the last turn. The house was alight. There were five cars in the driveway. I was the last one there. I made my way up to the porch and opened the door. A 2 and a half year old started jumping up and down and announcing to the whole gang, "Gran's here. Gran's here." The everyone hugs started. I was home.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Baby, It's Cold Inside
Back home to Amagansett. All set to get organized and wrap presents. Just one problem. There's no heat on the lower level of the house. The level that just happens to contain my bedroom. After some poking and prodding and convincing myself that this was something I couldn't deal with, I called my propane supplier, who also does repairs. We carefully discussed that I had checked the level of fuel just before I left on my trip and my conservative estimate of the reading was 80%. The agent agreed that there was no way this would be a fuel problem so I needed a repair visit. I was told that the repair person would call me to tell me when he would be arriving. This was classified as an emergency call, by the way.
Four hours later, having received no call, I called the provider back. They were very courteous and very sorry, but there was no way they could give me any estimate of when repair would arrive. I tried every form of the question I could come up with. Where was the repair person at this point? Was I the next call or were there others in the queue? Could they contact the repair person and get an answer to any of these questions? No to everything.
Sometime after midnight, the truck arrived. Just one problem. It was a fuel truck, not a repair truck. The driver confirmed that I had more than enough fuel and that I did not need a delivery. He said he had no idea why they had sent a fuel truck instead of a repair truck. Obligingly, he took a look at the heating unit and confirmed that it was the problem. He said he thought it could be fixed easily but, of course, he had no tools.
My next step was to get back on the phone. The emergency office was very concerned to know how the mistake had been made. I realized they would need to know this at some point but somehow I was much more interested in when I could get heat. They said they could correct the information and put in a call for a repair truck but once again they could not give me any estimate of when he might arrive or what else he might have on his agenda. Based on past performance, I had very little hope of resolving this before the dawn so I asked that they schedule it for tomorrow. Sorry, but they couldn't do that. I would have to call back next morning before 8:00 am. I decided to call it a day and set my alarm. I piled on every blanket I could find on the couch upstairs, where the never very satisfactory electric heating helped a bit, and settled in.
Next morning I placed the call and a repair unit did arrive. The blockage was cleared and once again I had an operational furnace. I basked in the heat and took a nap to make up for the night before. Heat is a wonderful thing.
Four hours later, having received no call, I called the provider back. They were very courteous and very sorry, but there was no way they could give me any estimate of when repair would arrive. I tried every form of the question I could come up with. Where was the repair person at this point? Was I the next call or were there others in the queue? Could they contact the repair person and get an answer to any of these questions? No to everything.
Sometime after midnight, the truck arrived. Just one problem. It was a fuel truck, not a repair truck. The driver confirmed that I had more than enough fuel and that I did not need a delivery. He said he had no idea why they had sent a fuel truck instead of a repair truck. Obligingly, he took a look at the heating unit and confirmed that it was the problem. He said he thought it could be fixed easily but, of course, he had no tools.
My next step was to get back on the phone. The emergency office was very concerned to know how the mistake had been made. I realized they would need to know this at some point but somehow I was much more interested in when I could get heat. They said they could correct the information and put in a call for a repair truck but once again they could not give me any estimate of when he might arrive or what else he might have on his agenda. Based on past performance, I had very little hope of resolving this before the dawn so I asked that they schedule it for tomorrow. Sorry, but they couldn't do that. I would have to call back next morning before 8:00 am. I decided to call it a day and set my alarm. I piled on every blanket I could find on the couch upstairs, where the never very satisfactory electric heating helped a bit, and settled in.
Next morning I placed the call and a repair unit did arrive. The blockage was cleared and once again I had an operational furnace. I basked in the heat and took a nap to make up for the night before. Heat is a wonderful thing.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Beacon, New York
Next stop Beacon, NY. Kit was in a sale event with a number of other excellent crafters. It was one very long day and I signed on to keep an eye on Fiona while Mom went to work. The show/sale was great. I loved the tables and boards made by the woodworker whose workshop was the site for the show. She really respects the material she is working with. Quite a bit of it was made of black walnut. Finally I couldn't resist what she calls a baguette board, a cutting board long enough to fit a proper baguette. I told her about the black walnut trees I had had on the farm and she understood immediately. "You miss your trees," she said. Right on.
It was good to see Kit and Nate and Fiona and hang out with them. We fitted in some stocking stuffer shopping and some good food at a special restaurant that is situated next to a waterfall. A partially frozen waterfall after a snowfall is a lovely and constantly changing sight.
It was good to see Kit and Nate and Fiona and hang out with them. We fitted in some stocking stuffer shopping and some good food at a special restaurant that is situated next to a waterfall. A partially frozen waterfall after a snowfall is a lovely and constantly changing sight.
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