Thursday, August 31, 2006

Crazed and Confused


A simpler time for me.

OK This is the worst work week of the year. I just have to remain civil and keep my head from exploding. Smile, smile, smile! Don't drool too much and for Pete's sake, don't wet your pants.
I started today at 3:45 AM on one cup of coffee - worked straight through until 4:00 grabbed some ready-made sushi, then worked til 7:00, ate a small steak and a tomato. Went back to work until...5 minutes ago. A twenty hour work day with very little to show for it but the prospect of another one just like it tomorrow.
Everyone at Burpie... is under pressure to ready the school for the new year. It hasn't helped me that the maintenance staff, while performing their much applauded renovations disconnected nearly every computer and network connection in three buildings or that my network manager has difficulty staying on task.
But when the kids actually arrive, next Thursday, it will be fine. It always is.

Favorite moment of the day:
When our fearless leader compared the new PO forms to a glassine bag of crack.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

On The Beach



I took the "lunch at the beach club" option today. Reward was another celeb sighting – Uma and kids.

August Reading '06



My summer vacation routine is very predictable. I rise between 7:00 and 8:00, make some coffee and drink it, bike to the beach to check the water temperature and surf conditions and if both are to my specifications (neither too cold nor too rough) I take a dip and hang out there for a while reading. I come home for lunch then go back to the beach later in the afternoon where I read and plan dinner. Sometimes, instead, I walk a half-mile down the beach to mactech-in-law's beach club and eat lunch there and then stay for the afternoon. Not much reading gets done at the beach club as participation in local gossip or conversation about the articles in this month's Oprah magazine is expected.

Even so, I have been able to get through some books this month as well as study and recreate several recipes from the most recent Gourmets. Check me off, Unwellness, Here's my summer reading report.

Assassin's Gate George Packer has carefully fleshed out his New Yorker pieces into a detailed explanation of how America has gone about trying to change history in the Middle East. As complex and messy this situation is the book actually reads like a novel.

The Fall of Rome Martha Southgate's (my neighbor in Park Slope) morality tale of affirmative re-action is set in a fictionalized version of her own prep school.

Veronica Mary Gaitskill has written a novel-length poem on beauty, family, sickness and death. It's a quick and stunning read.

Everything Bad Is Good For You Steven Johnson, another Park Sloper (with three kids so we may see him at our doors in the future) does a fabulous job of arguing for the worthwhile-ness of pop culture – especially TV and video games. I love it.

Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan's exposé on the secret life of corn. Our American love-hate relationship with food is examined in fascinating detail in this book. It contains this quote from a cranky organic farmer in Virginia who only sells to locals, "Why do we have to have a New York City, what good is it?" (this is a must read for Youthlarge)

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Sail Away



It's been a spectacular week in the East End (of LI). The ocean has been the perfect temperature and color. Striped bass are running in schools so huge they appear as roiling dark shapes heading west in blue jello. The nights have been cool enough for quilts and the mornings hold enough of a chill that you need to seek a sunny spot to perch for your first cup of coffee.
Sister-in-Law-Mactech lives out here full time. She's a learning specialist in a public elementary school about a third the size of The Burpie Cow-Wow School. Her summers are non-stop fun and we get to tag along. Last week she suffered a slight set-back as the thwarted terrorist plot made necessary the cancellation of her plans to fly to London this week to see the musical, Billy Elliot with the other sisters-in law.
She didn't waste any time filling her dance card and so last night we got to participate in a dinner party on a 52 ft. boat in Peconic Bay. The boat belonged to a fellow-teacher and her husband. He grew up in a marina and understood how to deal with all that crap behind the door they called "below."
I loved the boat with its miniature bedrooms and heads. And I was astounded at how easy they made cooking and serving a dinner for 12 seem. Well, served to 10 of the 12 because two of our party spent the evening in the stern (is that right? The back?) silently staring straight ahead or leaning over the side doing some unanticipated chumming. Seasickness is pretty much identical to the nausea of pregnancy for those of you currently moving through that state. Everyone else was sympathetic as there wasn't one of us who hadn't been there - either seasick or pregnant. I remember a particularly bad ferry ride to Block Island. I wouldn't get back on the boat at the end of our stay. Mac-husband had to take me back by air in a puddle jumper and then we had to find a way back to our car at the ferry terminal in Point Judith.
The water on Peconic Bay was unusually choppy last night. The wind kicked up as a low-pressure front moved in. Today it is here in earnest and the skies have opened and poured out for the first time in about 10 days. So it's not a beach day. It's definitely a blog, listen to music, read and eat day.
I'm in my last two weeks of summer vacation. But I'm not going to feel bad about it ending. I'm having a good time now.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Summer of '73



The quality of this photo is poor but if you look closely you will pick up a certain heaviness. The chin needs support. The lips are pressed closed and the nose is crinkled – a miasmic protest against the normally bracing scent of the sea. I was probably about six weeks pregnant in this picture. It was my second pregnancy feeling lousy but not out of control awful. I was due in March and delivered a boy, the younger brother of Megan MacTech whose gestation brought me to my knees – in front of a porcelain bowl more tha once a day, and with nothing of substance in my stomach ( I actually grew afraid of eating food) only a bitter viscous egg-yolky blob would jet out.
This image of my face came to memory recently as I saw its exact replica on my daughter. She is due in February and she's just coming through the worst of this.
They say this aversion to so many foods and their smells is a protection – a preventitive against ingesting toxins that might be harmful to a developing fetus. That's pretty amazing when you think about it. As I told Unwellness, the pains of childbirth can be forgotten but this queasy sick fog that envelopes you for weeks (even months sometimes) is hard to forget. Long after the bundle of joy has been delivered you'll remember, like whenever a stomach flu grabs hold or the morning after a particularly celebratory night or even when you think about something you said or did that you wish had never happened. I wish I had morning sickness to steer me clear of those toxic moments.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Reality Check



I adore the above child, Grandbaby MacTech. So I volunteered to keep him out at the beach while mom, dad and "pop-pop" returned to work. I am not a stranger to the labors of childcare having raised a couple from scratch and spent the better part of my lifetime shepherding the lambs of others in a school setting – still the relentlessness of being alone with a two-year old for hours on end can be shocking even for one whose eyes are as open as mine.
He does not like me out of his sight and if I sneak into the kitchen to make a gin and tonic (after 5 of course) The "where nana go?" litany begins. He likes to vacuum, swiff and wet mop. (yes it could be worse, he doesn't set fires) The thing is he likes me to participate. "nana do it, too?"
He also enjoys zooming little cars and trains around the floor as he delivers bits and pieces of junk he missed in his vacuuming. This endeavor doesn't always go as smoothly as he'd like and when tracks come apart or carefully loaded cars tip over he'll start to throw things and groan loudly.
He cooks with a pretend microwave which goes crashing to the floor every time he slams the door hard, yet he will not consent to leaving it on the floor. It must be on the kiddie table (and nana must place it there, over and over again)
Every 30 minutes or so he stops, looks into the distance and exclaims, "tramp killed da rat." or "Ya 'member da naughty cats?" an allusion to scenes in Lady in the Tramp which I let him watch before bedtime every night, and no, he isn't having nightmares, he sleeps quite soundly until 5:45 or so when our day begins again.
His midday nap allows for the writing of this post otherwise I dare not open the computer as he takes over, slamming on the keyboard and demanding the Thomas the Tank Engine website. ( I can sing you the Thomas and Friends song by heart or "We are Siamese..." if you please.
Soon he will wake and I'll hustle him down to the beach where the surf has kicked up the past few days - the break water too difficult for a short person to broach with a baby in tow and so we'll have to stay in the white water, splashing and squealing, nana at a 90 degree angle to herself with a 35 pound "sinker in a floatie" tugging at her arms. We'll dig tunnels and make endless cakes for immediate smashing and find pretty shells for mommy. We'll eat pretzels and ice cream. I'll do my best to tire him out so he'll snooze in the car on the ride back to Brooklyn tonight. He'll wake tomorrow to city sounds and mommy hugs.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Summer – Why I Still Like It




There's been a lot of complaining about the heat this week prompting questions of "What do you hate more, NY summers or NY winters? So, it's been hotter than hell day after day (even at the eastern end of LI). Summer is better than winter. I will never get over my childhood crush on this time of year.
You can lie in bed in the morning for what seems like hours and when you get up it's still before 8:00 o'clock.
The local produce and fish are outstanding.
I actually drink less alcohol but enjoy it more.
I rarely, if ever, get sick in the summer.
Swimming in the ocean is theraputic.
Outdoor showers - the best.
It's often daylight when Mactech-husband returns from work.
Going out in the city on summer nights is always fun.
Air-conditioning makes sleeping possible.
The break in everyone's routine allows an amnesia to cover the fact of how bad that routine can become and make you believe things could change for the better.