An Evening to Remember

Photo
This was taken on the Ashuwillticook rail trail in northwestern Massachusetts. Click on the photo to enlarge and look at the clouds on the right. Doesn't it look like a person running very fast toward a football? Come on! It does too!

Peaberry’s Café
For the last few months I have wanted to get over to Peaberry’s Café in Simsbury, CT for their Artspeak event that is soft jazz and poetry. I finally got there last night!

Quoting directly from their promo piece, Peaberry's, a great alternative to the local bar scene, is a cosy (sic) little cafe that seeks to give local artists support, a voice, and a venue!

Poets, and lovers of poetry, this is a great place to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday night. Artspeak is offered the 4th Saturday of every month from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. This is a family place so the poetry you hear is not the off the wall, raunchy stuff (that I find offensive). It’s good clean fun.

Music accompanies the poets courtesy of a 3-piece band of two guitars and a sound-board (I don’t know what else to call it!) like nothing I’ve ever seen before. That alone, is worth a trip to Peaberry’s. These guys are good—able to match the content and mood of the poem.

They do a mean bump and grind accompaniment!
I had a mildly sassy poem, “Why Condo Associations Won’t Allow Clotheslines” and just for fun asked for some bump and grind. Did they ever. Words cannot convey how much fun that was with this 72 yr old being taken over by my alter ego (some might say my evil twin), doing justice to the poem and the music. I wish there had been a video running. I would love to see that one! My children would have most definitely been embarrassed. ☺☺

If you are so inclined, put the dates of July 26th and August 23rd on your calendar and get out to Peaberry’s, 7:30 to 9:30. Google “Peaberry’s, Simsbury, CT” to get directions. See you there in August.

PS: I think they have other open mike nights for strictly music every Wednesday night. Go to their open mike website for more information. Give them a call and tell them you saw it on my blog! And they will say, “Who?” ☺ and you will say, “the bump and grind poetry lady.” They will probably say, “Oh, yes! Now I know who you mean!” ☺☺☺

Transfer to Rehab Hospital

Good news!
Just got a call from the Hospital to say my mother is ready to be transfered to a local Rehab Hospital. She's been there before so it will fell like home to her. I will have to transport her myself because her condition does not warrant transport by ambulance. I've done this before, too.

A Treasured Bike Ride

Photos
Sunflowers – farm implement sculpture made into lamps to illuminate the end of the driveway. This is the best such sculpture I’ve seen in the town of Windsor.

Yesterday's bike ride
Yesterday Jessica and I rode my Four Windsors bike route. For any newcomers, this bike route is all on-road and covers all four towns that have Windsor as part of their name—Windsor, Windsor Locks, East Windsor and South Windsor. The ride takes one up one side of the Connecticut River and down the other side in a loop. Along the way there are many historical sites to take in if one is so inclined. If not, it’s just a nice ride.

I’ve done this ride a dozen times (at least), but for some reason, my back muscles from neck to tailbone hurt. I was very stiff after the ride. I have ridden this route at least once before since I had my bike-fit, so I don’t think that was it.

I will keep riding, however, until I can no longer get on a bike.

Jessica is my lucky charm
The universe handed me four Treasures along our 22-mile ride. One was a “farm implement sculpture” I had never seen before on a street I had never observed before. Windsor has several scrap metal sculptures, but this is the best one I’ve seen.

THEN at the Loomis-Chaffee school campus we ran into Fritz, a part-time groundskeeper who thinks he can put me in touch with the school historian AND get me a private tour of the Deacon Loomis house.

THEN while on the banks of the Farmington River (just resting in the shade) we got a chance to fill out a survey of how we use the Farmington River waterway. The survey will help with keeping the watershed pristine and scenic.

Of course the biggest treasure of the whole day was having Jess riding with me. I hope she enjoyed all the history lessons I kept throwing her way. I love riding through this segment of historic CT and, always the teacher, I love to share what I know.

Update on Mom

It's all good news!
My mother has had all tubes removed—no more suction, no more IV drips. She is on a liquid diet as of Monday night. To say she is in a better frame of mind doesn't even come close to her attitude now.

Rehab is next
It is expected she will go to a rehab hospital to regain her strength through physical therapy and to get all her systems stabilized. She can stay at the rehab for maximum of 21 days, but I think it will be less than that.

Price of Bird Seed!

Photo:
This is a stand-off. Click on the photo to enlarge and you will barely see the chipmunk in the grass. I put a white arrow pointing to the chippy so you could find it. It was not going to let that squirrel get anywhere near the pile of seed.

Squirrels! Yesterday there were at least eight squirrels and two chipmunks pigging out at the pile of dumped seed. Now that I want a picture of the gang dining, there’s not a squirrel to be found. I dumped another pile of seed hoping to get at least a couple of them. Gives new meaning to “squirrley!” I’m not sure if I’m referring to them or me. ☺

Bumper crop
I don’t know about you, but in my neighborhood there is an explosion in the population of squirrels. That is not good news. These rodents can’t seem to get enough to eat and can’t remember where they stashed the excess storage.

If you remember, about 3 or so years ago, we had no acorns to speak of. The scientific explanation I heard was that the squirrel population was out of control, so in order to bring things back into balance, Mother Nature ordered the oak trees to stop production of acorns. The following spring the birth rate was way down. Then the oaks resumed production.

It will be interesting to see what the acorn production is like this fall.

Lousy bird food
I went to Agway to get more bird seed. We get so much pleasure out of watching the birds that I gave in (I don’t usually feed the birds past May). The cost of the seed I normally buy (sunflower hearts) was up to $35 for a 20 lb. bag! Holy Moly! Last year it was $23 and the year before $16. No way was I going to pay $35. So I bought a different brand for $16.

You get what you pay for
I loaded the feeder with the new seed and within five minutes I had no birds. The goldfinch, titmouse, nuthatch, chickadee, wren and cardinal had all deserted my yard. I was left with grackles, blue jays and purple finch. Even the woodpeckers were not coming as frequently. I have nothing against these birds. I just like to see a little color and hear the beautiful songs of the deserters. Without hesitation I hustled my butt back to Agway and bought the outrageously expensive seed. The pleasure we get from the birds is worth it.

Now, what to do with all the seed my birds turned their beaks up at? I will be contributing to the increase in the squirrel population. The chipmunks are pretty happy, too. Both groups will be oinking by this time tomorrow.

News

Photo:
First Corn. It’s almost that time of year. I can’t wait!

Mom in hospital
My mom went to the hospital by ambulance on Friday. She has a history of intestinal blockage and this is another one. She is 95 now and I guess everything is just wearing out. If you feel so inclined, prayers would be nice.

Erie Canal, Rocky Hill Ferry and Celtics

Photos:
Left: “Horse” to commemorate the time in Lincoln’s life when he was a judge and rode the court circuit. Hence we still call some our courts, “Circuit Court.”
Right: “Lincoln meets Stowe” commemorates a time when Abe Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe met. They certainly had a lot in common, I would say.

I am going to go back to the exhibit and photograph the plaques that accompany each sculpture and post them together. That way you will be able to see the piece and read what it’s all about.

Canal, Ferry and Basketball?
What in the world could these possibly have to do with one another? They all played an important part in yesterday’s most enjoyable day.

The Canal
I spent the morning working on our bike ride on the Erie Canal bikeway this coming September. I have developed a unique itinerary document that outlines, as much as possible, what each day will entail. I have listed (on each day) where we will be starting from, what we might want to take note of along the way and information on where we will be staying the night. I will be able to make trail notes on these same pages as we travel. How often do we say, “Oh, I’ll never forget…?” and at the end of the day it’s gone. Tape recorded notes will also be made.

From there, I went to a spreadsheet I developed with all the information we’ll need regarding lodging. AND I made the last reservation. So now we know where we will sleep every night and where our bikes will spend the night. At B&Bs our bikes will either be in a garage, shed, or chained to a tree. Thank goodness the motels will let us bring them into our room. We will be fully loaded and having to unload, carry everything UP to a bedroom then reverse the procedure the next morning isn’t going to be fun!

Now. All we have to do is the ride.

The Ferry
I met my friend, Leslie, for lunch in Rocky Hill. Our restaurant of choice, Mitchell’s, has an extensive menu, good food, and not expensive. It is also not far from the Rocky Hill Ferry. We went from lunch at Mitchell’s on the Silas Deane Highway to dessert (ice cream) at Mitchell’s at the Rocky Hill Ferry dock and park. It was a comfortable, spectacular day to be sitting near the water. We chose a picnic table under the trees and talked and talked. We saw several bike riders taking the ferry across to Glastonbury just as Leslie and I had done last fall. That was a fun ride in spite of all the hills.

Meet the new NBA Champs: The Boston Celtics
I have to mention the Boston Celtics smeared the L. A. Lakers all over the parquet floor last night in Boston.

I slept so soundly last night! ☺☺