Snow

I'm not a big azalea fan, but when this old-growth specimen blooms, I forget about the old knobby bones beneath the pure white canopy. When I catch this from the corner of my eye, especially from inside my house, I'm jolted by its resemblance to snow.

There's a fuchsia azalea out back, but it's not nearly as beautiful. It's a newer bush, and the flowers are smaller. When the azaleas start to fade, the astilbe will be shooting their pink flames into the air. I will subject you to this loveliness next week.

Turbo is oblivious to nature, but it makes a gorgeous back-drop for his highness.

New Yawk

Marty relaxes in front of the TV. He's pretending to be comfortable.

PJ doing what she does best.

Saint George's Chapel

PJ naps after taking too big a bite out of the Big Apple.

These pics give you an idea of what we've been up to lately. Yes, we now have a 212 area code, not much furniture, and Saint George's Chapel across the street, now the site of Moran's Pub. The apartment's small but nice, and we have lots of amenities: gym; concierge, roof deck with Statue of Liberty views. The apartment is very quiet because we are in an interior court yard on the 8th floor. The floors are wood/tile and the kitchen is nicer than the one I have in Rhode Island. We also have central air and two walk-in closets, plus a coat closet.

In the five days I was there, I had two interviews, saw a Broadway musical, went shopping with my son Mark, drove to Sullivan County to look at country properties, ventured into Brooklyn to find Fairway, the newest market in town. We natually got lost and had to make a phone shout-out to Jeffrey who patiently guided us to our destination. Then we drove to Sandy and Dianne's to pick up the Saab and park it in a garage in Manhattan. I never want to drive in Manhattan again.

Speaking of parking, we spent $145 to park the van near our building. Ka-ching. $200 monthly parking fee to house the Saab, a bargain. Ka-ching. $115 ticket for parking my van in an unauthorized zone. Double ka-ching.

I'm back in the land of free parking.

A Few of My Favorite Things

It will be hard to leave that exploding pink tree behind. The blooms last about two weeks and are painfully beautiful. It's a good prom tree if the flowers last. We think it's a crabapple because it blooms after the cherry trees do. Another beauty, and one of Marty's favorites, is the Japanese maple the boys planted in my honor several years ago. The variety is "blood good" and it looks like this ornamental comes from a venerable line. I like the shape of it. Most Japanese maples look a little lopsided and grow straight up. I like how ours spreads wide and is more or less symmetrical. Planting it was a challenge because the spot we chose had a boulder in it that needed to be crow-barred out. Such is gardening in Rhode Island.


Japanese andromeda is one of my favorite plants. It stays green all year and has a cascade of white flowers that last from spring through fall. They are very hardy and can take all kinds of abuse, such as cat urine.

I hope the new residents will enjoy these ornamentals as much as we have.

Many Words in the Woods

The house sale is boring me. I can only imagine what it's doing to you. I've been waiting for the crab apple tree to burst into bloom so I can post a photo. In the meantime ...

I feel like a writer these days. I try and usually succeed in putting in several hours a day. Some of this time I use for sending query letters to agents. This has been a frustrating task, not so much because of the kind rejections but because it takes me away from real writing.

My book is getting fatter as I add an essay each week. If I don't find an agent, I will self-publish and go from there. I'm trying one more ploy to find an agent by submitting a story I wrote about our dogs. The title is P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island) but as I was writing it, it became clear that it was a story about our five bouviers and life in general.

Now, where do I send it? Naturally I want to be published in something highbrow like The Paris Review but Yankee Magazine might be more suitable. I will do my research and see where I might be able to sell it. I've never received a penny for my published work. It's time I do.

My goal for the morning is to send out the story. Then I will have a massage to knead out the kinks and restore some balance to my crooked body. After that, who knows. Maybe I'll go through some of the boxes in the basement or return the shirt I bought for Mariel to go on her interview. She wore my dress instead and I gave it to her.

Carpe diem.

Turbo Sells the House

Today we had a showing, but I went to yoga. Rich said it was okay to leave Turbo home alone. Turbo served everyone coffee and was a perfect host. The clients showed interest in the house as well.

Even though Turbo is nearly 13, he remains spry and alert, especially at night when I'm trying to sleep. If he sells the house, I'll forgive him.

If you want to see a great house and an even better dog, leave a comment.

Woof.

Bid

Rich left a message on my answering machine. Don't tell me there's another showing. Nope. It was an offer on the house, a low one but from a serious and well-qualified buyer. We're countering, and also calling the other interested clients and informing them that now's their chance to act.

I'm Manhattan bound this weekend to look for an apartment so it's nice to see movement on the house. Harry and my neighbor will be holding down the fort so call for a showing.

The Great Flood of 2010

I lived through the Blizzard of '77 in Buffalo, NY. I survived a 6.8 earthquake in Costa Rica. Now I can add the Rhode Island Flood to my disaster portfolio. Lady Luck saw me through these natural nuisances. Once again we are unscathed.

It turns more of my immediate neighbors had water woes than I realized. Moosehorn was abuzz this morning, not with the sound of lawn and garden equipment but heavy-duty water-removing and foundation-shoring machinery. Shadenfreude is not a word that I use much in my writing (ever??) but I've been checking my pleasuremeter and although I don't think I'm deriving any pain from the misfortunes of my neighbors, I'm sure as heck joyful that my house is dry.

Do you hear that home buyers? My house is dry, has no damage and if it survived the Great Flood, is sure to do better than most homes around here. What with global warming, this should be number one on your priority list, right up there with price. Forget location. The new mantra is Dry Dry Dry.

Maybe we should raise the price.