Home Fires Burning

I am in this not everything going according to plan mode- all of which is fine, especially when nothing dire is looming on the horizon. It was a week of running around, photos, seeing a friend from long ago, dinner with relatives and sundry obligations. Saturday night found us resting at home with with supper crafted from the contents of the refrigerator. Kids on the move and wandering through with friends in tow to wander out again allowed us to pause and watch a movie starring (among others) the very telegenic Robert Pattinson by the glow of the fire.

Time Away Well Spent

We made a plan to go away sans kids and pets courtesy of a generous friend who agreed to stay with the household. We travelled north and stayed at the Mariaville Lake Bed & Breakfast which had a lovely setting, delicious breakfasts and the largest mirror I'd seen in a long time.

We amused ourselves exploring the area, shops, yard sales and stopping for well deserved snacks.

En route later, we saw the most amazing kind of firework in the sky. It burned intensely bright, threw sparks and died. It felt extremely close- and James told me we had just seen a meteorite that was hundreds of miles up in the atmosphere. Turns out it was spotted in the night skies from Michigan to Nova Scotia.

Our last excursion came about the next day when James learned that Howe's Cavern was close by. We travelled 150 feet below ground by elevator to reach the uppermost part of the cavern for our two hour tour. My husband loved seeing this amazing geological marvel. A guy, rock formations, crystals and tiny passageways. Claustrophobia, anyone?

By 2 p.m. it was time to head home. We arrived to a calm and happy household. Nothing like 48 hours alone, no pressing obligations, and no teenaged disputes to resolve.

Humming Along

Life is in a rhythm of cold dark mornings and later, lighting a fire in the fireplace in the early evening. More books and magazines are in drifts around the house. The property beckons for its own tucking in before winter truly descends. Last weekend's freak snow storm put winterizing on the top of my to do list. Still, the toad lily survived the storm and blooms profusely as is intended for its internal clock, the lemon verbena continues to put out new growth and the leaves on the trees turn their brilliant colors. The calender is squarely on November as I survey what awaits us all next. No college applications pending, no employment to seek, or big decisions to occupy my mind. It's a quasi stress-free time to work and plow ahead.

Hotel de Ville

I recently joined The Katonah Museum's Artists' Association and as they are having a group exhibit at the Katonah Library, I decided to make something to hang in the show. I remembered this image, taken one late morning in August in a small village in France, the moment of snapping the shutter as a bicyclist rode through my frame. I found the negative and scanned it and then Linda at Inc. did a beautiful job of printing it for me. I framed it with something on hand but I wanted another element. Adding the nail polish gave it a decorative detail. It could probably use more dots- but I was going for restraint and some smudges. Fun to look at something I created 20 years ago and never really looked at before.

Not So Good

"Just once I would like to wake up with more time on my hand than hours in the day."

I cost Liza $11.25 and two hours of her life yesterday when I drove us to see "In Time". I think Justin Timberlake is wonderfully talented and a true triple threat, but in this movie his performance was often like watching paint dry. The art direction of the film created a future where there was less color everywhere than in the above photo (shot during last weekend's storm). It's the kind of movie that is hard to watch in its entirety. Upon leaving, Liza recommended that she pick the picture next time and I felt relieved to be off the hook that easily. I am also the one who suggested we see "Charlie McCloud" starring another talented actor (whom I can find very appealing in an "on camera" sort of way). Within 15 minutes of "In Time" we agreed that even watching Charlie McCloud was more entertaining than this.