Author Archives: mohawkvalleygirl

Scattered Saturday Stroll

First, to give a health update (although people who go on about their ailments are usually tiresome), I woke up this morning with no light-headedness but with a dreadful headache.

Still, I felt marginally better so thought to go for a walk to the post office.  I had finished a letter to a friend yesterday at the laundromat (so two useful results of the heinous part of the day) (I think I mentioned in yesterday’s post that it was a heinous part of the day).  I wrote three postcards, got ready and headed out the door.

It was cool in the shade but warm in the sun,  the beginning of a beautiful day.  I had on my crazy old lady hat and was grateful I was carrying my purse, which contained my prescription sunglasses.  As always, it felt good on my legs to walk.  For the first block or so I had the vague idea to return home, put on the proper gear and go running instead.  On the other hand, I thought, still ill, no running for weeks, maybe a longish walk would be better.

To make it a longer walk, after mailing my things, I walked towards Main Street then down Green Street.  I noticed the newspaper’s building, an old, interesting structure.  “Evening Telegram” stands out in stone letters on the front.  In fact, it moved to a morning paper some time ago and more recently merged with the Little Falls paper to become the Times Telegram.  I am actually quite impressed that the area can support a daily newspaper, three if you count the Utica O-D and the Rome Sentinel (in fact, we subscribe to the Times Telegram and the O-D, although there is some overlap in their coverage).

I thought it would be a good idea if I came down and took a picture of the building before they update the sign, if they ever do. After all, an elegant stone sign, why not keep it up there for the sake of history?

I continued down Green Street past the First Baptist Church, which hosts Cup with a Cop every month.  That is a chance to sit down and chat informally with our local police.  I enjoy it very much, when I am able to attend.  Unfortunately, this month it was last week, when I had to work.  I hope to be there again.  For one reason, it is usually good for a blog post.

Continuing on I came to the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal, a favorite place of mine to walk or run.  My legs were feeling a little tired by now, so I felt I had made the right decision not to run.  On the other hand, my headache seemed a little better.  I was setting a brisk, steady pace, which I have read is good for producing pain-fighting endorphins (why is my computer telling me “endorphin” is a word but not “endorphins”?).  That is one thing about not walking with a cute little doggy.  You can set a brisk, steady pace and not stop to let someone sniff every few feet.  That said, I would rather have my dog.  However, I do not mean to whine about my loss.

I continued walking for a little over a half hour, so I felt I had gotten some exercise.  My headache returned in full force almost as soon as I stopped walking.  I say this only to give an update, not to further complain (although I realize it may be difficult to tell the difference).  Later, after decongestant and a nap, my headache had gone to be replaced by the lightheadedness (again, UPDATE, not COMPLAINT! Sheesh!).

I did enjoy my walk.  I hope to take another one soon.  Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

Respectable but Silly

A few good things happened today.  My Saturday overtime got cancelled, so it really truly is a Friday for me.  My laundry is done (of course actually doing it was a heinous part of the day, but I’m being glass half full here).  It is Snapped night on Reelz, so I can continue to research my character of a woman who kills her husband (for that play I’m in, remember?).  And, it is Lame Post Friday, so I can write a silly blog post and not worry about it.

I know, this is just one of many silly posts I make these days.  In my defense, I’m getting sick again.  I spent the day in misery, wanting nothing better than to go home, lay down on my bed and watch the ceiling spin.  The highlight of my day was when I remembered about Snapped night.  I try to be grateful for any bright spot.

However, I did not start this blog post to kvetch.  I started it because, well, I like to post every day.  Oh, I know what, let’s have a continuation of Toot My Horn Tuesday by sharing a Facebook post I made On This Day a couple of years ago:  So I said to this guy at work, “I have a terrible hemorrhoid.  You can get a good look at it when you kiss my ass.”  Incidentally, that is what I could say to anybody who thinks I am making too many silly posts.  Then again, if somebody is actually reading me, perhaps I should keep it polite.  Any thoughts?

In the meantime, I’m over 250 words.  I call that respectable.  I have some murder television to watch.  Happy Friday, everyone.

 

Why Would I Lie?

I just checked, and it has been 20 days since I published a post whining about how light-headed and awful I felt.  You have probably guessed I checked because that is what I feel like making a post about today.

I actually started to feel pretty crappy at rehearsal last night.  I think I still got my lines mostly right.  As rehearsal lasted longer than expected, as will sometimes happen, I began to say to some fellow cast members, “I’m never being in another play again.”  I don’t think they believed me.  Do you?

Time did not pass too slowly at work, for one blessing.  I spent much of the day wanting to put my head down and rest, but I resisted the urge.  The day was further enlivened by my reading of a play.  I am looking for one to direct for Ilion Little Theatre.  The play I was reading was VERY funny.  I kept laughing out loud as I was reading.  Then I would go back to work feeling unable to wait till I could read more.

“This is the funniest play that ever lived!” I enthused to Steven when I got home.  No, I’m not going to tell you what the play is.  For one reason, I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up that we’re going to do it.  For another reason, I don’t want any rival community theaters stealing it.

Incidentally, directing a play is NOT the same thing as being in one.

 

Roxy Update

Rather than have Wuss-Out Wednesday, I shall provide a brief update on Roxy, the play being presented by the Herkimer County Historical Society at Ilion Little Theatre.  Full disclosure: as opening night gets closer this blog may become All Roxy All The Time.  For now we will content ourselves with an update.

For anyone who has missed my previous posts about the play, it is an original play, written by local author Jack Sherman, about a historical crime which happened right here in the Mohawk Valley.  In 1884 in the Town of Warren, Roxalana Druse killed her husband, Bill, with a gun and an ax.  She was later tried in the County Courthouse in Herkimer NY and hung in the 1834 Jail.

The story is set some 30 years after the murder.  Roxy’s son, George, all grown up now, is telling the story to his daughter, Florence.  It’s not like those old movies Steven likes to make fun of, where the whole thing is a big flashback.  Rather, the action switches back and forth between the past and present, with Florence asking questions and remarking on the events.  Sometimes within the past,  the action goes even further back; as a character testifies in court, the murder is re-enacted.

At our rehearsal last night things seemed to be going very well.  The transitions from present to past to re-enactment are getting smoother.  Characters are being developed.  It is beginning to feel like a play.

We have rehearsal again tonight and I fear I have not looked over my lines since yesterday.  I should perhaps hit publish and do that.  Roxy will be presented September 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20, at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, at Ilion Little Theatre, Remington Avenue, Ilion, NY. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students.  For more information call 315-866-6413.

 

Toot My Horn Tuesday

So there I was on Facebook, stalling starting my blog post, because I am feeling tired and stupid, and I discovered that three years ago today, I posted the following:

I don’t always have to kill two birds with one stone.  I have plenty of stones, although I rarely throw them on account of living in a glass house.

I was rather pleased with that.  It was not my favorite thing I’ve ever said.  My favorite thing I’ve ever said is, “I said that?  I’m witty.”  Reflecting on this, I shared my post from three years ago, adding as a comment the remark about being witty.

It is sad but true (and I’m really not sad about it) that I like my own writing.  Sometimes I come across something I wrote a long time ago, and I read it and say, “Hey, this is pretty good.  Why didn’t I finish this one?”  I don’t always think I’m wonderful, of course.  Sometimes I think, “Well, that’s an embarrassing cliche”  or “That’s pretty self-indulgent” or even “What the hell was I thinking?”  But a lot of the time it’s more like, “Hey, that’s OK.”

What does that make this, Big Fat Ego Tuesday?  Blow My Own Horn Tuesday?  No, no Toot My Horn Tuesday.  That has a little bit of alliteration.  You know much I love alliteration.  At any rate, it makes a break from whining about how I just can’t write a decent blog post today.  I hope to see you on Wednesday, when I hope not to Wuss Out.

 

Making Time on Monday

Sorry, folks, it’s Wrist to Forehead Monday.  Maybe Tired Monday, although that doesn’t really have a ring to it.  I’m too tired for either Mental Meanderings or Middle-aged Musings.  I have no reason to feel so tired, but there it is.

I think one thing that is making me tired is that I am not writing, and I am damn tired of not being able to write.  All I have written today is less than a page on a letter to a friend.  And I was not particularly witty or interesting on that.  I had some great ideas on how to progress on my novel on Friday but have had no chance so far to implement them.  Oh, I know, real writers make time.

OK, hold it right there. Nobody can MAKE time.  We all have 24 hours in a day.  All the time management in the world will not make it 25 or even 24 hours and 6 minutes.

However, one can TAKE time.  The time you were using to do X can instead be used to do Y.  No, I’m not going to list all the crap I’ve been doing instead of writing, but, yes, it does involve cable television.  I’m fond of saying “don’t judge,” but in this case I’ll say go ahead and judge me, because I have not taken the time to write.

The nice thing about Monday, though, is that is the beginning of the week. I have the whole rest of the week to change my evil ways and write more.  Will I succeed?  You’ll read about it here if I do.  Happy Monday, everyone.

 

Walk to Wrist to Michael Gambon

With a little bit of Severed Head Sunday thrown in.

It is another beautiful day in the Mohawk Valley.  Steven and I took a walk earlier.  It was sunny and warm but not humid. Actually, I got a little overheated in the sunshine, but I had on sunscreen and my crazy old lady hat.  It felt so good to walk!  We went to Smoker’s Choice so Steven could buy some butts.  Yes, yes, we did something healthy so Steven could indulge in an unhealthy habit.  Don’t judge.

We went on to walk up Main Street.  As we passed the wooden fence in front of where they tore down Glory Days, we talked about the local artist who is going to paint a mural there.  Of course I’d rather they cleaned it up and built something new there, but if they can’t at least it will be nice to have something better than an old grey fence to look at.

As we walked on we discussed our movie-watching for the rest of the day.  Lately we usually watch Snapped on Sundays, but we used to watch movies all day long.  We like movies.  Steven wanted to watch Being Julia, a marvelous adaptation of Somerset Maughm’s Theatre, one of my favorite books.  Gambon has the part of Jimmy Langtree, who appears as a ghost or memory from Julia’s past.  The character appeared in flashbacks in the novel, but in the movie his presence adds a lot to the present, if you see what I mean.

I said we should make it a Michael Gambon film festival, moving from Being Julia to Gosford Park then on to Sleepy Hollow, or as I like to call it, The Headless Everybody.

And that brings us nicely to today’s headline.  Only, really, it is not Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  We had a lovely evening yesterday, hanging out on our deck with a small group of family and friends.  Small gatherings are wonderful, because you can have real conversations.  It was a perfect evening for deck sitting.  I’m so delighted our brief period of extreme humidity has passed (oh, anybody who has passed or is passing through a longer and worser period can just quietly feel bad ass and not brag to me about it, please).

I am enjoying my Sunday is my point.  I hope you are enjoying yours too.

 

Sidetracked Saturday?

Good afternoon and welcome to another Scattered Saturday post (at least, I think my WordPress says it’s already Sunday, but whatever).  I worked this morning, as I believe I mentioned yesterday.  My first stop after work was the post office, to mail a package.  As I addressed the padded envelope and got the item inside, a young lady at the table questioned the city on the address of the package she was mailing.

“Croton-on-Hudson?”

“Near the City?” I said knowledgeably.  “They get fancy near the City.”

“I’m just from a small town,” she said with a laugh.

“I feel like a hick from the sticks when I go to Albany,” I admitted.  That, by the way, is a true story.  I lived in Norwood, NY, at the time, another teeny-tiny but charming village.  Some members of my family went to a hospital in Albany (Albany Medical Center?  Is there more than one hospital in Albany?) (just to sound really hicks-from-the-sticksy) (I bet you thought I was going to say “hickey”) (you know who you are).

It is a large hospital, so we asked somebody how to get to the area we wanted. The directions included the words, “turn left at the bank.”  We thanked the person politely and walked in the direction indicated, waiting till we were a few steps away  before looking at each other in confusion and saying, “Did they say turn at the bank?”  hoping that at least one of us had heard the right directions.  A few feet down the hallway, we saw the bank.

A bank in the hospital!  Who thinks of these things?  And that, dear readers, is how to feel like a hick from the sticks.

After that digression (which gave me my title, do you like it?), I continued on to the grocery store to purchase refreshments for a minor gathering on my deck this evening.

Oh dear, if any of my local friends are reading this and think I am having a fabulous party without you, I’m not.  It’s a strictly informal, small gathering, and if anybody reading this tonight wants to, well, just come on over.  Surprise me.

 

Win/Win or Lame/Lame?

Once again I have a Friday that isn’t really a Friday.  Yay paycheck, boo working on Saturday.  Well, one does what one must, after all, and one tries not to complain about it too much.

And here is a subject I like to talk about: when I say some things, I am merely expressing my feelings.  Why do other people always accuse me of whining?  Sometimes, of course, I do whine.  More often I like to think I complain or gripe, maybe even kvetch.  For heavens’ sake, what’s wrong with complaining?  If we articulate our dissatisfaction, we can potentially improve the situation.

In this case, the only thing that may improve about the situation is my own attitude.  Merely complaining is not enough.  I must go on to But Then Agains.  I don’t want to work, But Then Again I want to be paid.  I don’t want to get up at 3:30 in the morning, But Then Again, I’ll be done by eleven.  And Then Again, overtime is a win/win situation:  if I work overtime, I get money;  if I don’t get any overtime, I have time.

Anybody who is taking a breath to accuse me of rationalization, do you really have to be that way?  It is SO condescending to accuse others of rationalization.  I will complain about that all day long!

No I won’t.  It’s Lame Post Friday, and I rarely make a long post on a Friday.  I hope you’re all having a lovely start to your weekend.

 

Sitting on the Deck Seeing Bats

I am sitting on my deck, waiting for the thunderstorm we have been promised ALL WEEK  by those lying sacks that predict the weather (sorry, Bill Kardas).  Of course I am hoping it does not come right now that I’m sitting out here.  On the other hand, that was one selling point FOR sitting out here: I thought it might cause it to rain.

That almost obligates me to sidetrack into a memory.  Many years ago,  I made the observation that when I wore my raincoat, it never rained.  However, if I left my raincoat home, it rained.  I daresay others have observed this phenomenon.  A friend would say, “What an ego.  She thinks she controls the weather.”  For heavens’ sake, I didn’t say, “I don’t want it to rain, therefore I will wear my raincoat.”  Dammit, I loved my raincoat! I WANTED to wear it in the rain!

Well, all that is neither here nor there, but that is quite appropriate for Non-Sequitur Thursday.

We have just returned from a delicious dinner at Jamo’s in Herkimer, NY.  It is a fairly new restaurant, and this was our second visit. I attempted to write a blog post about it after our first visit but bogged down on my endeavors to describe the decor.  This time I tried to pay more attention but am not sure how successful I was.

It is open, it is airy.  The walls are blue and the ceilings are high.  We sat at the lovely black marble bar on chairs that are spindly but comfortable.  There are pictures of the City on the wall.  The word I want to use to describe the whole is “urban.”  Steven thinks that is accurate.

All that said, I do not feel particularly inclined to finish my post about Jamo’s today. I want to relax on my deck and enjoy what is left of the evening (must get to bed to be ready for work tomorrow).  Once again, for Non-Sequitur Thursday, I think that is not bad.

Hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday.