This Perfectly Imperfect Life

Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:03:04 AM Started Yesterday, 7/30/08 My mind is so full lately! (Writing wise and other wise!) Last Wednesday, I wrote about how a NY Times article led me to wonder what I’m trying to capture in all the photo’s I take of my flower’s and veggies! The article was about journalist/author/critic Janet Malcolm, who’s book “Burdock” comes out tomorrow, which is a new venture for her. The book is comprised of 28 photo’s of 28 different Burdock tree leaves and a 2 page essay introduction. Her editor, Ilene Smith, says they (the leaves) are Janet’s “ultimate biographical subject” and “are also at some level deeply autobiographical.” (Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/arts/design/20shat.html?scp=2&sq=Janet%20Malcolm&st=cse ) Later the same day, I also wrote about how I worry about my potted treasures (flowers & veggies) when I know there are nasty storms coming! (Silly, I know!) I recalled how I’ve been known to wildly run outside in the mid...

I don't think I posted this previously! The Knitting Circle: A Novel by Ann Hood My review rating: 5 of 5 stars I tend to shy away from books w/this type of subject matter (losing children) but for some reason, when I accidentally came across this book in a 'knitting' search at the library, I didn't shy away from it and I'm glad. Like the author Ann Hood, I too lost my daughter, though under very different circumstances and before Brianna was born. Ann's daughter Grace died suddenly at the too young age of 5. I had a very difficult time getting into the book though. I wasn't feeling any connection w/the writing. I wasn't feeling anything. Perhaps my knowing that the main character had lost her daughter caused me to steel myself against connecting w/what I was reading so as not to get upset. The end of Chapter 3 opened me up and I not only connected with Ann's writing, but was very emotional through the rest of the book! I w...

The tomato's are from my garden, the cucumbers and zuccini are from my brother-in-laws. I chopped the ripe ones up for cucumber and tomato salad to go with dinner. (Just drizzle with olive oil mixed with red wine garlic vinegar and balsamic vinegar and seasoned with pepper). Tomorrow I'll use the left overs mixed with bagged salad greens to go with dinner. Very satisfying to cook with ingriedients that you, yourself have grown!

Our mini drought ended today with much violent gusto! Started with a thoroughly soaking storm about 5am this morning. After 10am, the sky started looking odd again & it was hard to breathe, humid and hot. By noon it was storming again, this time with hail! We were at the laundrymat when I took this pic. It stormed for about an hour. Once we left, before 2p, it was nasty hot and humid again, but as we made our way down the highway back home, we drove right into wind and dark clouds! Shortly after getting the laundry and grocceries into the house, all hell broke lose! We lost power for over an hour. 3 people got struck by lightning on Sandy Hook and 1 died, not 5 minutes from here! It stormed strait until after 5pm! Sirens streaking by in different directions throughout. The air is very cool and lovely now, so at least I have been able to open all the windows! Strange, the storms seemed to have brought the crickets to the front and back yards! Unrelated thought: I am worried about o...

From left to right- My sis in law Annie, our Grand Niece AnnaBella (her grand daughter), our Grand Niece Emily (also her grand daughter) and our Nephew George (her son and Emilys father). Yesterday was Emily's 1st Bday party and getting to see AnnaBella was a bonus since we didn't know our Niece Alicia (her mom) had come up from South Carolina!

These are the pretty little girly dresses I picked out for our Grand Niece Emily and her 1st Bday party yesterday! At 1 yr old (last month) she loves dresses and books! All the ladies present loved the dresses, including her mom, so I did good!

I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that this beautiful little 8 yr old boy is gone! I cannot get the image of his grief riddled and stickened parents, our friends, out of my mind, especially his mother. I close my eyes and shake my head, as if the last 36+ hrs have been a devastating nightmare. These are good people, good parents! A good family! Good, normal, beautiful kids! Their daughter nearly died this winter when her strep infection went into her blood and lymph nodes! Now this?! Why?! How can this be justified? How can God justify this one?! I am sorry but there is no "Better Place" for a little boy than with his parents, siblings, family and friends. Last night was the wake, today was the funeral, burial svc and gathering afterwards. I am exhausted. And sad.

"There's nothing quite like a muggy rain on a July morning." I wrote that this morning when I discovered it to be raining when I woke up! I love when it's cloudy and raining! The grass & trees desperately needed it since it hasn't rained since July 4th, I don't have to water my gardens today, I can open the window to let some fresh (albeit humid) air in and it's wonderful to listen to! I sat at the table this am under the ceiling fan, eating breakfast and reading "The New Year's Quilt" by Jennifer Chaiverini with the patio door wide open, the rain providing a lulling backdrop. (Finished the book!) 2 cat birds and a lone squirrel have been hanging around, looking in, trying to use their Jedi Mind Tricks to get me to put out some cracked corn for them to eat! (And it worked!) Since I'm still battling fleas w/the kitties, I kept the corn far off to the right and left of the yard area, along the fence, where the kitties can still...

Took this with Hubbys phone while we were there last wk! Neat, huh?! (Yes, I sad NEAT!) Too bad I ran out of space on my cameras memory card by this point! What a beautiful pic this would be enlarged!

This is 1 of my favorite pics I took from this past weekend! It's now the background on our computer so I can see my beautiful PA mountain view anytime! It's not as good as the real thing, but it makes me smile, inside & out! Speaking of things that make me smile, a little while ago I stepped out back to pick up the bottom of our lantern that fell off incase it rains & floods the patio (as usual) and as I took a look around, the lightning bugs started coming up out of the grass, blinking, taking flight for the evening! I've only seen this happen once before and I hope to again because it's just amazing and wonderful!

Who, exactly, thought it was a good idea to drink a bottle of radio-active crap to begin with?! Seriously! Who the hell thinks that's a good idea?! With all the advances in medical technology, why in God's name do people still have to do this?! Thankfully, I don't have to since my bloodwork came back good! Otherwise, tomorrow @ 12:45pm, I'd have to somehow get down a "thick" berry flavored barium for cat scans (w/contrast) of my pelvis (gall baldder) and abdomen (appendix) w/a friggin iv of iodine running through me! Just the thought of it this morning made me so queasy I could only drink a cup of tea for breakfast! I haven't been on here much as of late, so I'll fill in about what lead up to this soon!

Long Wkend in PA! http://picasaweb.google.com/GardeningJo/LongWkendInPA

This is 1 of the last pics I took before we left the cabin this afternoon, the view from the kitchen. Sigh. I cried 4 the 1st time since this past Wednesday, on the porch, looking out at the mountains because I did not want to leave, not the cabin, not Pennsylvania. NJ is not home 4 me anymore. The grass is not greener in PA, but my soul is. My entire being has been at peace these past few days. Hubby promised we will go bk soon and if we cannot buy the cabin and sis-in-law sells it, we will find our own place that I will love just as much with views just as amazing.

Hubbys Marine Corps pic from when he was just 19 years old!

On our way out to the fireworks!

From the coziest place in our world!

It is SO beautiful up here in Susquehanna County, PA! My whole being is breathing a sigh of relief since getting up here last night, literally! You have no idea! I am so at peace here! No better place to celebrate the 4th of July!