Dirty Pool

Hello World,       And so here we find ourselves, already after labor Day, and halfway through September besides, with only another 100 days or so standing between us and the end of the year, believe that or don't. (YIPES!!!) Of course, just because school is back in session, doesn't mean that the fun-in-the-summer-time is completely over, as they were quick to point out in our local newspaper recently. There's still plenty of interesting places to go and fun stuff to do, plus (Hurricane Florence notwithstanding) good weather to enjoy it all with, and they don't want us to give way to despair, and miss out on it all. For instance, they suggest Slide The City in Pearl River on 9/15, and which includes live music, food, and drinks besides beating the heat with splashing and water fun. At Playland Park in Rye, the pool and beach are closed in September, but the rides and arcade games are still open, plus all of that great fair food. If you still need a pool fix, you are invited to bring Fido to Spook Rock Pool in Suffern for Paws In The Pool, where you can watch your pooch jump, swim, or dog paddle in the pool from Noon to 3:00 PM. Take them home wet and tired, but happy. Then there's the Yonkers Riverfest also on 9/15, with live music, kids activities, hundreds of vendors, plus majestic views of the Hudson River to boot. The Blauvelt Sons of Italy Feast and Carnival Festival brings us four days of Italian food, music, rides, vendors and more, including casino games and raffles. There are two different 5-day events, including the Yorktown Feast of San Gennaro, featuring authentic Italian flavors, live entertainment, rides, games, and childrens activities; plus ArtsWestchester in White Plains invites us to their free Jazz and Food Festival, where you can enjoy great sounds, and grab a bite to eat in the fine city all week. Perhaps saving the best for last, Crafts at Lyndhurst is a 3-day craft fair featuring hundreds of artists converging on the historic estate in Tarrytown with a range of unique and hand-crafted goods, like jewelry, clothing, paintings, gourmet foods and much more. Bring the whole family to shop, enjoy live entertainment, childrens activities, and fair food, rain or shine. Whew! I don't know about everybody else, for as for myself, I would say that despair doesn't stand a chance.     It was nice to have a day off at Labor Day, although I (sheepishly) admit that The Flag Brigade forgot to put out the flags, as they normally would do. The weather was fine, although very hot, so there was no reason to worry about pulling the flags back inside just ahead of pouring rain, or worse - and The Flag Brigade has long since learned not to rule out Biblical plagues and other disasters, I can tell you that. On the other hand, Labor Day weekend is when we usually pack ourselves up and visit our friends upstate around Albany, not only to enjoy their company and pour money into the local economy with their widespread shopping opportunities, but also to revel in their lovely backyard pool, which is a special treat that never grows old, believe me. Unfortunately for us, one of these friends opted instead for a surgical procedure, thanks not, so we had to take a rain check on the pool weekend, and I don't mind saying, it really punched a hole in our regular end-of-summer plans. In fairness, I should point out that our friend is doing well after the procedure, and we will make other arrangements to go see them, but I would also be less than candid if I didn't regret the pool as being one of the unintended victims in this whole scenario.     Of course, this year is one of those times in our lives that the whole week after Labor day is turning into quite the busy and eventful time-frame, no matter how you look at it. The first Sunday on the 9th is not only Grandparents Day (God bless them!) but also the beginning of Rosh Hashanah at sundown. Then Monday the 10th is the First of Muharram, also at sundown, and naturally, 9/11 is now widely recognized as Patriot Day, so you can be sure there were plenty of events to mark the occasion, including parades, community activities, school projects, and whatever else. Besides all that, Sunday the 16th is Mexican Independence Day, and then suddenly it's Yom Kippur, of all things, on the 18th, beginning at sundown, so for all of those Mexican Jews out there, it's really a busy time, I'm sure. Also beginning at sundown is Ashura on Thursday the 20th, followed by (and here, I can only assume this is ironically named) Peace Day on Friday the 21st - and which I will say, would not only come as a huge surprise to millions of people all over the world, but to be honest, also a huge relief, and one I would certainly give my whole-hearted endorsement, that's for sure. In any event, it all wraps up on Saturday the 22nd with the first day of Autumn, believe it or not, and it's all downhill from there.     But at least in weather news, just in time, the outdoor conditions certainly turned cold in a hurry, and right about now, that would have to be considered a good thing. Normally, and especially in September, I would never consider it appropriate to describe temperatures in the high 60s or low 70s as "cold," but after way too many days and nights, one after another, and on and on and on, with wilting temperatures between 90-100 degrees, getting a break of 30 degrees cooler, definitely rates as cold, and I don't mind saying, I am unanimous in that. On the other hand, I can say that the resident birds, insects, wildlife, and house cats would not agree, and also were not a bit shy in pointing out their feelings on the matter. Our birds and squirrels broke out their ear muffs and scarves in force, while our hive of bees, usually perfectly happy outside, were busy looking for any possible entryways into the house, and more than a few succeeded, thanks not. Our (very sissy) cats were glad to be reminded that our new furnace has a handy feature that it comes on by itself when the living room thermostat reaches a certain low point, and it didn't take long before you couldn't find a single radiator upstairs or downstairs that wasn't already wearing its own cat adornment, as it were. Meanwhile, out in the yard, the alarming summer over-growth was basically cut down overnight, so that it actually looked like people lived here, once again. But let's face it, in a perfect world, we'd have a pool - and of course, the pool boy, it goes without saying. Elle

Rust Never Sleeps

Hello World,      Happy September! It doesn't begin to seem possible that the long-awaited Summer season is already behind us, and if your place is anything like ours, you'd be asking yourself, what have you got to show for it? I certainly hope that you were able to get a bunch of things done before Summer finally flew the coop on you, and made it a memorable one (I mean that in the positive sense, obviously) rather than one that shrinks from recall, like a bad dream. Around here, it seemed like Summer was never going to actually get going, with cool and clammy weather all through May and June and even early July, but it finally did warm up in August, with some legitimately torrid days and nights - and don't even get me started on the humidity! Of course, for us older folks, we remember going back to school in September and it was cooler after the long hot Summer, or at least, that's how I remember it. On the other hand, all the schools nowadays have air conditioning, so that's a whole other thing completely, and I don't mind saying, right about now, the dinosaurs and I are totally on board with the idea, believe me.     It was still August when one of our old guard of cats breathed his last, and suddenly we found ourselves in a house full of furry newcomers, that only went back as far as 2013, of all things. He was also our only orange tabby cat, among the thundering herd of felines underfoot, so now we're up to our eyebrows in nothing but solid black or grey striped, plus the occasional accent white in chins, tummies, or tootsies here and there. I may also add that one of our neighborhood strays (who is grey striped) just had a litter of 4 kittens in our garage, and since we already know the father (who is also grey striped on top, but with a white tummy and paws) you can believe me when I say that I didn't need Gregor Mendel to show up and explain that 2 of the kitties would look just like the father, and the other 2 would look just like the mother, thanks not. Frankly, it's getting a little demoralizing around here, tripping over a veritable houseful of cats all in the same depressing colors, and even if we bring in the new outdoor cats, it will still be all the same colors, alas. Ah, Rusty - it's all too true that you took the sunshine out of our lives when you left.     Also happening on the local scene, Bill and I had an unusual sort of mini adventure recently, and lived to tell the tale, which is always my favorite sort of adventure anyway. Apparently the fabled Jacob Burns Film Center in (relatively) nearby Pleasantville, living up to its film maven reputation, took it upon themselves to host the North American premier of "American Folk" a few weeks ago, and we headed on over there to check it out. I would consider this an interesting film, somewhat loosely affiliated with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City, and features a couple of indie folk singers that we have seen in performance. In fact, it was only in February of this year that we dragged a pair of our friends to The City Winery to enjoy both Amber Rubarth and Joe Purdy, and had an extremely jolly time of it, I can tell you that. They also brought along the creative force behind the movie, David Heinz, who described the movie to us, and also showed a clip besides. In fairness, the movie is actually more wide-ranging than a normal person might expect, but looking back on it now, the clip that was shown at the concert certainly would not have made anyone want to jump up and go see it, that's for sure. I will say that the whole event started out encouragingly for me, because first we went to the Pleasantville Diner, and I took the plunge on their fried ravioli, which were excellent. For a small place, this was obviously the busy part of town, where you cross the street from the Diner and walk through the train station, and when you come out on the other side - boom! - there you are, right at the Jacob Burns Film Center, just like that. We had to duck some of their DPW's road construction and other busy work going on, but it's still a lovely area, and we were glad to be there as first-timers. Even better for us, Amber Rubarth was also there for the film, and sang some of her songs for us all, and the JBFC arranged for a kind of scaled-back Q&A session on the stage as well. It was a different sort of evening out than we usually have, and it was nice to try something a bit off the beaten track.     In other local news, anyone around here can tell you that lately the temperatures have been so miserably hot, for so many days in a row, until you really just can't take any more of it, and I ought to know. At church, our part-time minister has a regular job in the education division of the Fire Department of New York, where I'm sure he is a great big help to one and all, and doing his part to make the world a safer place. He was telling us later at church about the previous week at the academy, when there were 5 ambulances all lined up, dealing with the new fire person trainees, who had collapsed due to the excessive heat and wilting humidity, and needed medical attention before things went from bad to worse for the poor kids. He said this set a new record for ambulances and collapses, at least all at the same time, and which he pointed out, was certainly not a record that the academy wanted any part of. Of course, way back in the 1970's, it was musician Neil Young who told us that "Rust Never Sleeps," but nowadays I tend to think that Smokey the Bear was more likely right that it's "fire never sleeps" instead. Elle