It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

In Buenos Aires

It is warming up, it is Spring going into Summer ..
Warm weather clothes are coming out of the closets ..






Where I now live, it is Autumn ..
Cold weather clothes are coming out of the closets..


I have to do more research ..

Friday, September 27, 2013

Adjusting


Things are settling down a tiny bit here, what with the learning our way around ... well, my way around and remembering where I put everything..
I might have started to lose my memory, or the moving from one hotel to another to one house to another  4 times in 3 months might have had some affect on me.

I still remember my name, the children's names and that guy that lives here, so I guess I am doing okay.

We drive miles every day to do something as simple as picking up a carton of milk.
I must remember to always keep things in supply, buy more ... there will be a winter day with snow on the ground and no one is going to want to/be able to go to the store to pick it up.
I look forward to seeing snow but I am not so sure about the Snowed In part.

Right now though, the trees are changing, colors are showing up, we are gardening like mad and taking long drives for this and that and adjusting.

Some of us have more trouble adjusting than others.
Some of us have the patience of a saint and I am thankful for that.

I daydream about little babies visiting , about getting a puppy and even a kitten and not worrying about anything.
But as my grandmother told me many years ago, We come from a long line of worriers.
So I guess by now, I should have adjusted to that.

Thanksgiving is shaping up to be a biggie  ... Everyone is coming to our house !
Loved ones not seen for too long.
Loved ones that are growing too fast and need to be held while they are still floppy and tiny and don't talk back.
Loved ones that just need someone else to do the cooking and tending and to enjoy some mothering and  relaxing.

The garden is ridiculous. Beautiful. Huge.
Full of birds, chipmunks, not that many squirrels, I think I saw one.
Huge black crows hang around sometimes.
A deer moseyed through one day.. I was on the phone, looking out the window, there she went ..
I managed not to break the eardrum of the person on the phone when I started squealing, a deer is in the yard ! 
Wonder how long it will take for that not to be such a big deal.
I doubt it will ever be Not a big deal.
It is a deer for gods sake ! In My Yard !!!

I miss Buenos Aires.
I miss walking everywhere.
I miss our neighbors.
I miss the parks.
I miss walking and walking and photographing everything.
I miss the kisses.
I miss the music.

This weekend ... buy apples.
Bake an Apple Crisp.
Find something to do in the yard ... make that choose what I need to do in the yard. ( it is an endless list)

Start planning Thanksgiving dinner.
Hey ! it is never too early to plan a big meal !
Especially when half the guests don't eat meat of any kind.

TGIF and all that ... and remember, make lists.
They are invaluable.
Especially if you can find them when you need them.
Or can read your handwriting.



Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A Touch of Autumn


The nights are crisp and require extra quilts on the bed already !
The stars look very close in dark clear skies.
The air smells like Autumn. Don't ask me what that smells like, I can only say it smells like Fall.
The urge to bake has come over me.
The scent of roasting tomatoes is soon to come.
Lists for Thanksgiving are soon to be made.
I want to buy more mums, I want to buy some pumpkins and I wonder what it will be like here on Halloween.
Autumn ... I love it.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Life


Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
— Myrna Loy


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Reblog - July, 2010


Todays Guest Poster - Pup

Mom said I can blog.
I don't know what blog is.
I don't think I can eat it.
Today everyone slept late.
No plumbers coming to bother Mom and Dad.
Sun shining. Mom keeps talking about the cold.
That's OK, we like to walk anyway.
We walked past the store where Mom and Dad buy fruit and vegetables.
The people who work there like me.
They pet me and talk to me.
I can't understand what they are saying but they have nice smiles.
Mom likes the way they put the fruit out.
Then we went to my park.

Mom said " Brrr, that lady looks cold".
Mom also fed the birds and I got to chase them, then this one came along. Mom got all excited.. moms!
Then more birds came and she got to feed them all.
She feeds me too but she never gets all excited about it.
We walked to her favorite park where we all sat a while and talked and enjoyed the sun shining on us.
Mom loves the view and the trees.
Especially this tree. She said she wishes she were little again... she says she would climb the tree.
I love my Mom but she has funny ideas.
Mom talked about how much she likes living where there are such nice trees and parks where I can play.
I thought Mom needed to come chase me.

No matter how easy I made it for her to catch me, she just kept laughing.
My mom laughs a lot.. she tells me she loves me all the time.
Then we went home and Mom and Dad read their books and I took a nap.

Pup

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The More Things Change ..

From our home in Buenos Aires, 6 months ago .. of course it was a walk down the block to the park.


From our home now , in the United States.. outside our door.

 Plus ça change, plus c' est la même chose. 

( The more things change, the more they stay the same)


Saturday, September 14, 2013

Birds, Babies and Rainbows..

The sky was getting really dark, after a warm and humid day.
A storm was coming !
The birds were quiet, they were hiding , the air was   still... you could just feel it coming.
If you looked out the window in the bedroom , looking up the hill ,  there was an amazing rainbow, over the fields, bright colors, intense dark sky background.
Really wonderful and of course, impossible to photograph .

Looking out the kitchen window  and there was a young deer, trotting slowly out of the yard, back into the fields and woods behind the house.
A large-ish golden deer. Beautiful.
She can stay as long as she wants, today there were gunshots, hunting season must be starting.
I didn't even like being out in the garden, I hate the thought of not knowing if some dimwit with a rifle knows the rules when it comes to firing rifles .

We are spending a lot of time outside with the cutting and trimming and pruning.
I had a good ole time snipping away vines and shearing off limbs and pruning with gusto .. mucho gusto.

Did I mention we "built" a small, short stone wall ?
We had quite a number of round and smooth stones that were used for a pile around where the snake used to live near our mailbox.
Senor Snake has left and we wanted the pile of stones gone too.
So little by little we have moved them to the other side of the driveway and made a little stone wall.
Yesterday and today, we edited the wall, making it shorter.
I love it.
I finally have my New England stone wall.
And the snake left.
What more could you ask for ?

So far, we have the snake leaving, the deer visiting, the birds keeping busy and my husband and I getting the urge to spend a weekend in New York City.
There is a tiny little boy who wants us to visit.
There is a grandmama who needs to hold a tiny little boy.
The deer can watch over the garden until we get back.





Friday, September 13, 2013

Friday Photo

                                           On 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina

( I miss you BA ! )

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Buenos Aires

 Dear Buenos Aires,
I wish we had been there then.
I wish that we had been there with our children.
I wish we had been able to fly back and forth cheaply ! and I wish we could have had a house with horses out in the countryside to visit when the city got annoying ....or too hot ... or too noisy ... or just for fun.
Oh well, I will be content with the good memories we have and look forward to visits back .

Buenos Aires, yo quiero !



Gracias to the Argentine Post for the video.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Tuesday Rainy Tuesday

Don't you love waking in the morning to no sound but the rain falling ?
The room is so dark you aren't sure of the time .
The lull of the rain makes you want to snuggle down into the comforter and go back to sleep?

Welcome to My Morning.

Thank goodness for Peruvian French Roast coffee .. I was able to get out of bed and in here to sit at the computer.

Looking out the windows, all I see is Green !
Sitting here, all I hear is Rain.

In Buenos Aires, we would have been figuring out what we wanted to do and did it merit going out in the rain or trying to get a taxi in order to do it .
Or taking sweet Pup for a walk and huddling under awnings, balconies or just getting wet while he seemed to enjoy spending even more time sniffing each and every leaf and blade of grass.
Then home to spend  an  hour trying to get him dry.
Poodles hang on to the wet.
At least until they are home where they can give a good shake and spray the walls and anyone standing nearby.

We would usually go to one of the following ...
a- Grocery store
b- Cinema
c- Mall.

Now I am in the United States, not in a city but out in the country.

We have no pup ... yet.

The choices seem to be the same ...
a- drive to the grocery store
b- go to a movie or watch one at home
c- go to a mall.

I think I will stay in.
Do laundry ( down into the dungeon of scariness where my nice big new washer and dryer wait for me )..
Read .
Make the husband hang some more pictures.
Shop online.

I especially like the shopping online option.

What do you do on a rainy day ?
Are you glad you can stay in or do you chafe at the bit and want to go out ?
What are your Rainy Day Pastimes ?

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Sunday Drive

The drive started out with no destination other than Let's go in a new direction.
So we turned left after the bridge and that was that.
It turned into one of those drives where you want to stop the car every few feet to hop out and take another photo.
Woods, dark and deep. Trees , ancient, huge and waiting to drop a gazillion leaves.
Streams, stone bridges, long drives leading to storybook beautiful homes.
Horses, cows and sheep.
Lots of sheep.

Old Chatham Sheepherding Company


I am now in love with the village of Old Chatham and I want to live there. 
It is part of where we live already, in a way .. Old, New, Center etc ..

We drove past the General store and figured we would look around a bit. 
We saw sheep. Lots of sheep. then we went back for coffee. 
It was nice. There is a big stove in the middle of the room that will make it toasty warm in cold weather, I look forward to going there then too. The people working there were kinda grumpy but maybe it was just such a pretty day and they didn't want to be inside working. 
I will give them a second chance. 

I need to check the real estate websites. 
My dream house might be in Old Chatham.

Meanwhile, back here in this house, the hydrangeas are aging nicely and going from white to pink. Who knew ??
We walked up the hill to say hello to the sheep and Highland cows and the horse.
I wonder, does that horse get lonesome, with no one but sheep and cows to talk to ?
Hawks are flying over the fields. I imagine mice are hiding and a few rabbits.
Life in the country.





Friday, September 6, 2013

Friday Photo

                           Where I would like to be right now.

                           Where would you like to be ?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The Best Day Ever

I remember when my son used to answer my question of how was his day ... It was OK.
Sometimes the It was OK sounded a bit forlorn and pitiful and I would question him and find out all the things in that day that were not especially OK .
Then I would talk him into a good mood or at least try to.

My moods have a life of their own and I have come to accept that.
I can wake up just feeling like I am climbing out of a black cloud and the weight of the world is on me..
for absolutely no reason because it isn't .
Then I can wake up, sometimes after not even enough sleep  and everything is Good.

Today, so far, Everything is good.


My son used to go to this school  ... a ties and jackets and no sneakers sort of school.
A good morning Miss Smith and shake her hand sort of school.

Some days I would be sitting there waiting for him to come out at the end of the day, trudging along with a book bag that was almost as big as he was, in his little jacket and tie and I would pray that he would say that he had a Good Day.
Most of the time, it was OK was the answer.
My heart would sing when he would say it was a Good Day .. or The Best Day Ever.

These days he might have a few more worries (they will be with him for the rest of his life-Welcome to parenthood) and a few more  hours less sleep ..
But if you ask him how was his day, he will tell you how Good it was ... thanks to a tiny little boy who will one day answer his daddy, when asked How was your day ? ..... It was the Best Day Ever.

As am addendum because I was not completely awake when writing this ... 
my daughter would bounce out of bed every day with a smile on her face and a cheerful disposition.
It was as if while sleeping, someone had whispered in her ear, all the wonderful things that were going to happen that day.
She always smiled, except when she sulked and even then she was cute .. and she was always optimistic.
She was definitely the sunny child who saw the glass half full.
She had her ups and downs and some terrible things happened in her life, but to this day, she is almost always found with a huge smile on her face and this attitude of Good Things are about to happen.
She is good to have around .. she makes Best Days ..


Wishing all of you , the Best Day Ever.


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Yo Intiendo

We arrived in Buenos Aires, two people, ready to love and be loved.
We had visited for 2 weeks in November and had enjoyed every minute, we decided in the 4 months in between that we really might enjoy living there.
So we moved to Argentina .. Pup and all.

Upon arrival, we settled into a nice little apartment in a very good part of town, in a fantastic location in that part of town ! Who knew ? we just needed a place that allowed dogs .
Pup liked it there, he loved the way everyone wanted to pet him, asked if they could take his photo and whispered little love words in his ears.
He never said, but I am pretty sure he understood the language.

Right away we started to pick up words that we needed in every day life.
You know, please, thank you, hello, good by, where is this and what is that ... how to pronounce things.
Argentine Spanish is Castilian / Castellano. Not exactly pronounced the same as your every day Spanish.

Everyone said chau (ciao) when they said goodbye, we picked that up right away.
Easy- peasy.
But then we had to start our Official Immigration Process and that proved to be difficult in ways we did not consider.
Thinking that someone somewhere will speak English, is not always the best way to go into a new situation .. but luckily for us, between our learning new words every day and our great luck in finding someone who did speak a touch of English, we went to Immigrations, we went to the Police department for our papers and for 4 years, we managed to do all that was required to get a National Identity Card .. Permanent Residents. DNI.

Our neighbor would make phone calls for us, it was impossible to deal with some issues by phone, she was our translator. She was one of the best neighbors we have ever had.

The days that we would walk around totally clueless evolved into days that we walked around and 1- recognized where we were,  2- could find a shop/cafe and actually ask for something and buy it/eat it or 3- find our way home without taking a taxi.
Soon the 3 of us were walking all over BA.
We would walk from our area, through a series of parks to the next neighborhood and from there on and on ... Pup loved those walks. He made friends no matter where he was and on these walks, he had a favorite cafe and waiter who always brought him a bowl of water, a favorite park where we would sit on a bench and he would wander around sniffing, always sniffing.
Does everything smell different in Argentina ?

We started being able to answer questions .. we were able to give directions to tourists ... that was a big day ! Nothing makes you feel more like a "Local" than being able to give directions ..

We were recognized often by the dog. There were none like him, so we became the Extranjero con perro.

As time went by, we realized that we knew what people were saying ! I could eavesdrop on the people at the table next to us at the cafe ! Oh joy, Yo habla Castellano !
Well, not exactly but yo intiendo ... un poco.

And now here I am ... back to the world of English speakers.
I mostly understand everything they say.
Some things they say make no sense and I have no clue what they are talking about but that is OK.. I have perfected the look of understanding and nodding my head in agreement.
It worked in Buenos Aires, it is working here too.

Best of all, I can read everything again.
The New York Times was in English online in Argentina but here, I have real paper magazines !
I still use my Kindle but I can go to a Library if I wish.
I might just to remember what holding a book feels like again.

It is great to be back.
I miss Buenos Aires.
It is so great to be able to do things that I did all my life without thought, but are more special to me now.
I still miss Buenos Aires.






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