Earl and other matters of weather

As Earl approaches the East Coast thinking about all of you out there exposed to that hurricane, especially on the 5th anniversary of Katrina. I know it is brushing by Florida and Victoria, then crawling up towards North Carolina and Cindy, now that they have a house in Outer Banks just in time to get whacked with a hurricane and up the coast to Celia...Everyone take care now.

I'm off to Normandy with my dad and susie for dad's 80th b'day...we're renting a house on the beach, should be good time, lots of museums I suspect.

Had my usual August house concert again...

Hope everyone had a good summer (ours is just starting)...and batten down the hatches, let us know that you are all safe.

Haiti

Most of you know that my sister and her husband Guy go to Haiti at least once a year to bring over materials, teach and help the group of kids that they have taken in (see www.zanmilakay.org). They leave again in two weeks -- and they have their work cut out for them. We've been up all night to make sure Guy's family who is still there (his sister, her husband and their 3 kids) are fine. Also, the place where Jen and Guy stay, with their friend Jacques -- who also houses a lot of doctors and other professionals who come in and out of Haiti -- he's good and the building is still standing so they have a place to stay.

I sponor two little girls for school and one of them, Drinkadine, is ok. We are waiting to hear about the other. Jen is very anxious about the group of boys that she supports in her Teens in Transition program. The best source of news so far has been on Facebook.

It is unbelieveable the horror causes once again in this poor country. If you want to help, Jen and Guy are taking over supplies -- they leave on the 25th -- or you can donate to their non profit and they'll put the money to good use. And keep them in your prayers....

bad news

Hi all

Just a quick note-Bert's youngest sister Betsy died last week. She had been battling cancer for over a year, and Duke ran out of treatment options. We are concerned about her daughter Brianna, who is only 19. Fortunately she gets along well with both her biological father and Betsy's last husband Tim.

Poor Bert is so tired!


Cindy

Memory Lane

Over last weekend I took Zach to Pioneer Valley to look at UMass Amherst and Amherst. While there we ate lunch at Fitzwilly's (where Arnie and I had our first date) and walked the Smith campus. I took time to walk the Smith theater building (green room, scene shops, lab theater, main stage) and tearily reminisced. The smells, the spaces, the vibe was the same as 30 years ago. I really loved what I did there in that rarified little world.

Between Hubbard and the theater I had a marvelous time at Smith....something to remember and cherish.

Minor drama and a food fight

I am peachy-thrilled that September is over. Two days before my much-anticipated bike trip to Maine I had my first kidney stone atttack. I woke up at 2am thinking I was gonna die from back pain and vomiting. Arnie was in Miami taking care of his mom and I ended up calling 911 rather than put our son, John, in the position of carrying me to his car, etc. And so I spent a merry night yakking all over some very charming EMT's as they transported my whiny self to the hospital. Forty minutes later, after a CATscan and some drugs, I lay in the ER with two of my boys and John's faithful girlfriend attending me. I was not a pretty picture, laying like a tired salmon under fluorescent lights, in my tropical "mumu" and covered with yak juice. I turned to my young'uns and said, "Okay, take a good look, kids. I have now become Grandma!"



I was discharged with a round of back-up drugs and instructions to stay home until the newly discovered kidney stone had "passed", so I had to blow off my bike trip (I really didn't want to end up in a hospital in "Hooterville", Maine anyway). It's now October 10th, I've had one minor attack since then, but have no @#$%^&! stone to show for my troubles. Between the two attacks I've felt fine (except for being pissed-off, of course) and have continued to travel and check in with my doc. When this month is over I will have either produced the stone or my doc wants to "go get it". I'll negotiate that deal later.


Zach and I went to the DC area and saw 4 schools in 3 days, which was great fun. We also ate french, greek and morrocan food, cruised the National Zoo and skimmed around the major monuments. Definitely got our bang for the buck there.

John's girl, Ashley, turned 21 on the 26th of the month. Since she's not much for booze she asked for a goofball birthday party. And so we rented a bounce house, cooked burgers for 40 people and staged a gigantic food/water-balloon fight for all the young adults. It was a sight to behold. We older adults needed booze after that party. Ashley finished the day sharing a short glass of "Jack" on ice with her dad.

This weekend I am in Dayton, Ohio (and yes, I sang Randy Newman's song to our hosts) playing with Arnie and some other couples. We are doing a round of football games and local festivals. You haven't lived until you've gone to the Sauerkraut Festival in Waynesville, OH and eaten sauerkraut cream pie and a sandwich affectionately called the "Hawg Dawg", which is a hotdog the size of a well-hung elephant's... well, you know. Tomorrow we'll go to an "apple butter" festival, which is a childhood favorite of mine. I will be binging on apple fritters (or "flappers" as they call 'em here). I am really enjoying the 40-degree weather instead of the 92 degrees I left behind.



Next weekend Zach and I are flying to Hartford to visit Umass Amherst and Amherst College. Amherst is Zach's dream school and I figure it's only $70 to apply and we'll worry about the outcome another day. It's also an excuse for Zach to see Smith, etc.


November is looking good to me.

News from the Flat Part of the World

I have spent much of the fall here in the flat part, not the mountains of upstate New York or Marin County where my loved ones are. Mimi and I put up pesto concentrate for the winter, have been going to the farmers' market, out for coffee, and out into the beautiful fall for long walks. I miss Ned, but it is not as bad as I expected. His latest Facebook post announces he is in a relationship with Olivia Ortega; she is a lovely Latina from Brooklyn interested in biotechnology. I hope I get to meet her parents' weekend! I knew it was serious when he wrote me asking for recipes and his new profile photo showed him waving a wooden spoon over a hot stove.... Daniel continues to be happy commuting to Schenectady for his full-time contract with GE Energy and Infrastructure. He and his girlfriend Michelle moved into a better apartment in Saratoga Springs. She is thinking about grad school in neuroscience, but in the delicious meanwhile she is an apprentice chef at a crepe restaurant. Daniel seems to be turning into a foodie.

I have been trying to work, spent most of August working on a draft executive order for a bunch of NGOs that we have submitted to the administration as public comment on the White House Open Government Initiative. September has been all about teaching and chairing a search committee. I have been trying to stay upbeat by going out to music and theatre with friends, our Lotus World Music Festival, a local production of Driving Miss Daisy...but the best thing is I am sitting in on a nighttime course called The History of the Beatles with our award-winning Music Prof. Glen Gass. It is a multimedia miracle.

Hope everyone is okay! What news?

Fledgling launched!

Victoria and Colleen, I can relate! I drove away leaving Ned at Cornell on Saturday - 11 hours straight back to Bloomington from Ithaca, returning to an empty house at 1:30 am. About 36 hours later, I returned to California for the week, but in the interim got a solid dose of empty nesting. It is totally weird. On the one hand, I feel much older - pushed into the expectant grandparent generation with no warning. On the other hand, I feel much younger - for the first time in 23 years I don't have to think of anyone else first. I am as free as I was at age 15 alone at my great-aunt Louise's cabin in the mountains of Idaho. As long as you don't look into the mirror, your age is what your head says it is. I don't have to be responsible anymore. I don't have to be anyone's role model. I don't have to worry about embarrassing adolescents in front of their friends in my very small town where their friends are everywhere. I can do whatever the hell I want to do, consistent with keeping my paid employment....This may actually be okay.

And I plan to play loud music whenever I want to, make as much noise as I feel like making, not cook unless I am in the mood, and travel even more insanely than I already do. So far, Missouri in October, Oregon, DC, and Wisconsin in November, Hong Kong in December and Indiana and California all the times in between.

The best part is Ned's status post on his Facebook Page:

Ned is at the BEST UNIVERSITY EVER where everyone is ABNORMALLY AMIABLE