Strolling

Finally, a lovely day at work and quiet enough in the office that I could afford to take my behaving foot on a stroll to nearby Hudson Yards (so many little parklets there to sit!) and see the giant soccer ball (near the criminally overpriced FIFA 2026 store) and the Big Pink Bear hanging out by the Vessel. And I now know a better way to get there and back (involving cutting through the Whole Foods and the Hudson Yards mall) to save me a bit of walking. But I wanted to practice, because on Sunday our firm has its annual Family Day at the Bronx Zoo and I'm sure that will involve a fair bit of walking (although I'll have my walking stick with me). And then of course England will necessitate perambulation as well. I'm definitely getting there! Between the lunchtime sojourn and my homeward commute my foot does hurt a bit, but nothing like it has in the past year or so. And I miss getting around, so I'm pleased I can do it this well.

The Paradox of Intolerance

For mysterious reasons, I've spent much of this July 4 thinking about the Nazis in Skokie and the paradox of tolerance. As I age I have less and less patience for bigotry and hatred and bullying, and wonder more and more what can be done to curb it, stop it before it starts, and punish it to the full extent of the law. But I do despair, especially when I look around and see warmongering glorified (the tall ships were lovely and the flybys awe-inspiring to an extent, but they're all symbols of war when you get right down to it) and cheating rewarded, even when the media doesn't call it out. I mean, the World Cup commentators looked like they were itching to discuss how much Paraguay cheated and were repeatedly rewarded for it whilst France was punished for their reactions to being punched and kicked and such, but they couldn't bring themselves to use the "C" word at all, cowed as much as our political media not using the "L" word to describe the everyday utterances of those in power. And my goodness, when will we stop idolizing billionaires as if their gains are not mostly ill-gotten? But even amidst the despair there is hope. We have a lovely mayor and tons of lovely citizens who deeply care about making this country better, the TV fireworks were pretty (and we even saw some local bursts out our front window), I got to watch bits of 1776 and Yankee Doodle Dandy again, and once this awful animal-frightening noise is over I look forward to the heat wave finally dissipating.

Farewell to the Suffolk Folk

Home again, feet hurting (particularly around that big left toe) from all the walking, looking forward to getting back to working wifi and our cherished routine and of course our own bed, but boy did I have fun! We stayed in Sag Harbor today, checked out the marina, then the sun really got to us so the rest of the day was spent relaxing at the house with one of Marjie's friends visiting. We almost went swimming in her pool but I was afraid I'd exhaust myself even more and wouldn't be able to work tomorrow. It's going to be tricky as is! But I'll long remember this lovely weekend, and hope to repeat it sometime in the autumn.

Back East

Our first day in the Hamptons and Sag Harbor, and I can well understand why the rich and famous inhabit these neighborhoods. They're absolutely breathtaking. So much greenery (and of course very, very tall hedges and long driveways sheltering the famous folks' houses from the plebes on the street), fresh air, pools and boats everywhere, lots of fun! My cousin Marc's gal Marjorie has a lovely house in the historic section of Sag Harbor, and we're staying in a lovely room with a 4-poster king sized bed. It's all so informal and fun, and that kind of low-maintenance vacay fits us both well, especially as we haven't actually traveled anywhere since The Before Times (pre-2020). And the food! Marjie makes sure nobody goes hungry! So much fun, even though we're both pretty exhausted at this point (late lunch, late dinner, late to bed... being employed in an 8-5 means I'm usually a morning person and in bed by 10). Can't wait for tomorrow!

Silly Site o' the Day

As an Old, and a non-photogenic one at that, I'm not terribly into taking pitchers any more. Unless it's photography that highlights nature (foliage, flowers, kitties) or features a loved one or friend (like the photos I have from my comic convention-going days), I'm not all that interested. I'm just not self-centered enough to fit into the Selfie Generation, I tend to think everyone around me is more interesting than me anyway. So I'm completely out of my depth with Victorian microphotography.

Silly Site o' the Day

A jam-packed day today, starting with exercising my franchise on the first day of early voting in New York. And oh, was my early-vote polling place crowded! I almost wept with joy, as a large turnout these days almost inevitably means tons of votes for Democrats, but then I'm in a very blue city in a somewhat blue state so that part is no surprise. Then off to visit Mom in the nursing home to which she's finally been transferred. Very fancy, almost like a hotel, and I hope we can all make her comfortable in her remaining days. My California brother supervised the final move, and we've now reconnected after not really having had contact for a half dozen years, so I think that bodes well. It's not going to be easy for any of us to bid Mom farewell, but her decline has been such that she's no longer the Mom she was even a few months ago, so we should be grateful she's been around and alert for 93 years. After that brief visit (Mom was drifting off to sleep and the room had to be around 85 degrees) We then attended the annual reunion party of my college fraternity (the co-ed service frat Alphi Phi Omega), which was coincidentally about 20 minutes away from the nursing home, but easily 90+ minutes from our home. So in addition to the emotional highs and lows I now have to deal with the physical pain induced from so much repeated driving (and especially the traffic slowdowns approaching the GW Bridge) in the last couple of months. The outside of right shin is already seizing up again (shin splint?) and the referred pain will go right to my heel, which hasn't yet recovered from Tuesday's stress. Also, the Yankees are losing the second game of the World Series, so that doesn't help my mood. I need a quiet week of staying off my feet and doing nothing, but it's Riverdale Restaurant Week now so that's not going to happen. At least I can take buses (local for the restaurants, express for my Manhattan days) instead of driving this week! I just hope there's no food trickery involved:

Via Laughing Squid.

Object Permanence

How can this blog be 21 years old today? In internet time that's at least a century, considering the speed at which things change. I'm amazed blogging software still exists, considering all the new apps I've had to learn at work in just the past decade. Yet here we are, and here I am, still (relatively) healthy and hanging in there, saying farewell to too many folks I loved and admired but greeting new additions with all the enthusiasm a childless-but-grandmother-age person can muster. I've become the kind of person to whom hip-hop is still "that new music the kids love but I just can't get into" but fall short of "music was better in my day" because, for all I know, music is still wonderful even if it's not made for me. I think reading comics primarily made for young men all these years has helped in that regard; I'm used to not being the target audience for pretty much any form of entertainment. And yet, I find many things still make me smile. So much streaming media to catch up on that I'll never get bored. Even though I lost my fifth cat earlier this year (I still fondly and lovingly remember Gypsy, Phredd, Datsa and Amy, along with Zed) I'm yearning for another to love, and I continue to peruse lots of cat memes and videos. I don't have any real close friends besides Robin, but I do have lots of online Facebook "friends" and work colleagues, all of whom bring me joy. And I imagine this blog still has at least a few dozen readers. So there are reasons to continue, including this blog. Thanks for still being around.

Silly Site o' the Day

A very pleasant Labor Day, as Robin scorched the last of the meats (a burger and hot dog each for lunch and steaks for dinner) and I relaxed knowing tomorrow's a Manhattan day in 90+-degree heat. It's nice to just take time to appreciate the beauty in things, like these accidentally gorgeous "glitch" photos (via BoingBoing).

Silly Site o' the Day

Spontaneity was today's mood, as we got in the car intending to go food shopping and wound up going up the Saw Mill Parkway to Macy Park to take our annual local foliage photos, then back via the equally splendid Spring Brook Parkway. Beauty has finally come to this area! It was also an out-with-the-old day, as I find I've been losing weight lately without actually trying to, resulting in most of my jeans now being too big for me. I quickly ordered a size 18 for delivery, hoping it's not too wishful-thinking small, and retained the four or so size 20's that are quickly becoming too roomy. I suppose it's a good problem to have, but not one I actually sought, so this whole thing leaves me a bit weirded out. Speaking of which, here are some scary pumpkin ideas.

Silly Site o' the Day

The foot discomfort eased a bit, enough for me to take a trip stumbling down memory lane for a project one of my Firesign friends is doing. It feels like that was a different person, but I'm glad I have my old zines around to serve as at least some sort of memory bank. So much of my youth has blended into the background like so many pop culture characters on sidewalks...

Silly Site o' the Day

Aside from seeing Mom today I'm also looking to life for inspiration. It's this simple at the moment: As I gaze at the autumnal beauty all around, I realize that I refuse to let anyone or any happenstance steal my hopes or dreams or soul. And I think this is beyond adorable:



Te story behind this is at The Mary Sue.