Love your insurance agent

We can't seem to escape disaster this year.  First it was our sail boat rolling off its land stands in a big wind (update: parts are being ordered) and now its our rental property in Memphis -- that townhome we couldn't sell in the housing bubble burst back in 2009.  The house sprung a major water main leak of many gallons per hour somewhere between the street and under the house's slab foundation.  It's going to take a sonar search by a plumber on Monday to locate the leak and then fix it.  Can you envision digging a hole in the dining room through the slab to fix a leak?  Can you envision the dust, dirt, chaos and noise?

However, that's not all.  The third floor bathroom toilet intake valve was found leaking for the last 24 hours.  We now have damage all the way down through the walls to the master bedroom closet and down to the first floor dining room ceiling.  It's amazing how much pressure paint can take before it finally gives way.  It's stronger than drywall -- amazing!  The place is a mess. 

The insurance company authorized clean-up services last night (it's true - it was midnight, but they were on the phone with us).  Service master is on location this morning and we'll see what the repairs will cost in the next week.  I am a very strong believer in insurance.  Love your insurance agent.

By the way, did I mention that our air conditioning in the condo is out as well?  I'm writing in 80 degree air. The fans do help a bit, but really -- is this all really necessary.  All we ever wanted to do this summer was spend some time sailing.

Balcony Harvest

You would think that a balcony garden would be a scraggly little thing, but think again.  The May rain combined with June's great sunny days to produce a plethora of herbs and we're well on our way to several dozen tomatoes.  I give all the credit to John whose become quite the condo gardener.  It must be his Italian genes.  We have sage, thyme, rosemary basil and oregano.

The basil grew so fast that we had our first harvest last night.  We transformed the fresh herbs (we bought the parsley) into a garlic and roasted pine nut basil pesto-- about two pints of it.  The freezer is full and we are ready for winter.

Jersey Shore Coming Back -- one boardwalk at a time

Prior to the oldest grandson's graduation, we took a long weekend to visit the Jersey Shore.  It was a perfect -  two days on the beach, roasting gently to a golden brown and enjoying our family in their newly restored beach place in Seaside Park, NJ.  They were lucky.  They had the money to  repair and refurnish their cottage.  We kept the windows open to enjoy the evening breezes and even had to pull out a blanket or two.   

As we drove and walked around however, there is still much work to be done.  We saw huge ocean view homes and small cottages that had been ripped from their foundations and plopped down beside them.  "See all the empty spaces?" my daughter explained, "That's where they've cleared all the others away."  On the ocean side the peninsula, the houses were not flooded, but many were drowned in sand.  On the bay side, they were flooded, taking the fronts right off them.  In both cases, some houses survived and some were demolished.  "It's as if we had a whole bunch of small tornados cherry picking where to create disaster," said Kathryn as we finished up our disaster tour with the setting of the sun. 

The boardwalk is being rebuilt.  Down where we were the stores were open on refurbished boardwalk planks, but the rides will never return and restoration of the area to provide more beach instead of rides is taking shape.  There's only on grand carousel left. So much for Fun Town.  Even the pizza seemed a little sad this year.

Grandsons' Graduations

Coming to grips with wrinkling skin, bad memory and lumpy body is nothing compared to your grandsons graduating from high school (Jeremy) and middle school (Ian) all in the same week.  It was a proud but shocking moment last weekend when Jeremy marched across the platform to get his high school diploma.  If  you listen closely you can hear the announcement say his name.

 

The moment was even more prideful, because his mom, my one and only daughter, was able to present him with his diploma.  She had been on the board of education for many years and earned the privilege.  Ian, on the other hand, was just happy to get of middle school finally.  He's aching to grow up as I am sure he will. 

The shocking part is that I always think I'm about 42 years old.  Many colleagues at work are that age and we have much in  common (except maybe I have a bigger and more  retirement accounts).  At graduation, I looked  at my daughter who is 42 this year and I am quickly brought back to reality.  Everyone tells me "Old age is just a state of mind."  However, it's hard to escape when you can see it happening right before your eyes (and in your eyes for that matter). 

The Culture of Youth doesn't cut us any slack either.  Just this morning there was this New York Times article, "Republicans Paint Clinton as Old News for 2016 Campaign". My God!  She'll be 69 in 2016.  Such a scandal. My hope is that she runs and wins (Reagan was 69 when he won his first term).  I will ignore the hype and keep moving forward.  Forward to what is always the question!  Just ask Hillary.

New York City Adventure

It started out as a simple trip to NYC for the annual Friends of the Ground (FOG) party.  Normally held the first weekend in February, the party had been postponed until June 15 due to the death of one of Ed's very close friends, an original friend of the ground hog, I believe.  It was a great party for the 42nd or is it the 43rd time?  We're newbies to FOG.  We've only been attending for about twelve years.

Instead of just popping in for the party, we expanded our stay into a mini vacation.  The goal was to do things we had not done in some time or had never done before.  The adventure went something like this:

• Friday:  Arrived by train about 1PM.  Once settled in a hotel in the financial district next to South Street Seaport (we got on a great Priceline deal) and delighted in pizza and wine for
  
  lunch,  we walked over to the Staten Island Ferry for an after noon round trip ride.  Then it was off to Broadway for The Assembled Parties.
• Saturday: A morning walk of the High Line Park on the west side, then cross town and downtown to Little Italy and a first time visit to the Italian American Museum.  We took a break for a late lunch in Soho.  The pasta stuffed with lobster melted in our mouths.  It was memorable.  We met Diana and Bobby for drinks at 6:30 a their hotel in Gramercy Park, then walked over to Agave, a notable Mexican restaurant, in the Village for the FOG party.  We closed the place down.  Got Dan and Ed back to Ed's apartment before taxing back to our hotel.
• Sunday: Met the FOG survivors for brunch at noon back at Agave.  Took the subway from the Village to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to see fabulous exhibits -- the water colors of John Singer Sargent and the sculpture of El Anatsui, an African Ghanaian artist who works in
  
  Nigeria.  The man transforms metal trash such as tin can bottoms and bottle labels and tops into flowing and movable art.  We ended the day with dinner in Chelsea and a 2.5 mile evening walk back to our hotel.
• Monday: Began the day with a full course American breakfast.  John ate a mountain of Nova, cream cheese and whole wheat toast while I attempted consume bacon, two eggs over easy, a side of fried potatoes, and whole wheat toast.  At least the toast was healthy.  Then we hopped on the Lexington Ave subway to 103rd street and walked over three blocks to the Museum of the City of New York, one of the few open on Mondays.  Great exhibits.  Two hours later we found ourselves walking through the conservatory area of Central Park and down through the reservoir to 72nd street when the rain began to sprinkle down on us.  By the time we reached the 68th street station on Park Avenue, only the umbrella kept us from a good soak.  Once back by the hotel, the rain stopped and we found Fraunces Tavern in the Seaport area for a late afternoon cocktails with fresh oysters on the half shell and wild mushroom toast.  We did a quick change then took the 2/3 line to Soho for Ed's birthday dinner with Ed, Carol and Dan.  Another favorite Mexican restaurant, Dom Caminos.  Yes, it's Ed eating theme and it's the only time I eat Mexican -- because only  Ed picks the good ones.  No Tex Mex for that boy!
• Tuesday:  We woke to find ourselves exhausted, our feet achy from all the urban hiking and ready to come home.  So we passed on the trip to the Cloisters, packed up our belongings and taxied to Penn Station.  There, we changed our tickets for a mid day instead of late day departure, grabbed one last slice and hopped the train home. 

It was all very good time and the laundry got done by bedtime.  This morning, two days later, we leave for the Jersey Shore and our first grandson's high school graduation.  We need to retire.  Work is getting in the way!

 

Repairs can soon begin!

Joy to the world! We deposited a check for over $60,000 for repairs to Forte Vento.  Finally, repairs can begin.  John is organizing and becoming a project manager once again.  With luck, we'll get to sail in September.