International scarf exchange

who wants to participate? Helen??

http://ise9.blogspot.com/

insurance

covers the cost of replacing the lost food. Yea! One small step down the path toward positive news and happenings.

Here is a poem, written by a woman whose two children had just left for college (from Poem A Day, Steerforth Press, 1994):

Fall

So it's today, and in the chokecherry this year:
the first leaves turn ochre, there, by the open gate.

I grab the sweater you left on a chair, wrap it
around my shoulders, and—as I did for days last year

until I couldn't keep up with the season—I pick
every single rusting leaf, each fading flower

and hide them in my apron pocket: their crush
clandestine against my belly. It's a simple gift

for you—for us—such an easy thing to do
for a few more days of summer.

–Laure-Anne Bosselaar

baaaack

Yes, I'm going to be back blogging, now that L is ensconced in her dorm at a small college somewhere within the lower 48.


(Notice the fetching comforter [duvet] cover . . .)



This is the way her bed looked, before we saw the guy across the hall's room (yes, guy; this is 2010, a very progressive place, and god help us). His bed was not lofted, and the desk was moved out from under (well, obviously), and it all looked so much more apartment-ish, so L's roommate pleaded with him and his dad to come over and help move the beds down. Poor D and I helped as best we could.

It looks much better. Sorry I didn't take before and after pictures, but the days there were so fraught with emotion, I'm surprised I got this much recorded.

view out dorm window . . .

While we were there, we received a voice mail, sent by my neighbor on Tuesday morning, only we got notification that it was sent late on Wednesday (bye, AT&T) telling me that the power was off. She didn't know to call the power company, so did nothing until we finally returned her call (thanks, AT&T; we'll be contacting another carrier). Suffice to say, we lost all foodstuffs in fridge & freezer. I think, given all the horrific happenings of this summer (hot water heater quitting on July 4, plumber arriving July 9 or so; car; etc etc) I feel we are just about out of options for catastrophe at this point. Been down so long, it looks like up to me, as Richard Farñia wrote.