New Life

I have a new life. I live in a lovely apartment which faces east and I wake with the sun in my face. It is peaceful as there are woods called Deer Run, there are several such runs through Long island. I have thus far seen two deer and many rabbits and though this is not a farm land we have a family of turkeys who on occasion rule our traffic. It is sweet. Two foxes have passed by my window, one in the bush of the woods another this morning its thin red coat prancing through the expansive yard in the deep snow blanket to which we awoke. What joy to see nature up close. I have permanently left my old cheap opera glasses on my desk so I can follow the creatures as they emerge.

My last car supported my comings and goings for almost 22 years. My new silver hatchback will do the same I hope. I talk to my cars, they know that they are loved, just like my kids and my cats and my friends.
I am hustling to get a job. The money received for the sale of the house must be put away to let it grow. Doesn’t sound quite right, just leaving it there all by itself. We could have so much fun together!

At least fifteen inches of snow fell out here in eastern Long Island last night. Yet, when I went to clean off my car it was a joy. I keep a shovel in the car and an adjustable broom. All I had to do was shovel two feet into the road. What a difference from when I started shoveling at midnight and kept going through the night to keep my 50 foot driveway cleared.

Life had changed. In some ways it is good. Call me grandma! Of course MY granddaughter is the most beautiful child in the world. And, I expect that my other daughter is going to marry a man she has known for over twenty years: a widower. Then I will have three granddaughters!

And I have discovered that I have a terminal disease.
It is called life.

checkin out for a while

Packin, movin, and settin up! I'll write when I am settled. Be well!

New Blog

Please visit my new blog:

http://hailsfromthebronx.blogspot.com/

This blog is reserved for my biographical stuff and my attempts at creative writing.

If you have been a follower you will recognize some old pieces-am trying to bunch things together.

Hope you stop by!

Thanks
Sugar

The last snow

I believe that it is safe to say that this will be the last blizzard I will see while living in this house. I have shoveled five times since 7 am this morning. It is now 5 pm. Yea, I know the blog time is ALWAYS wrong. I gave up on that years ago.

The trees are snow encrusted looking like floppy angles wings. But real heavy. I thought of putting up a picture but nothing could touch the beauty of this place for me now.

My arms are not too bad but my shoulders are killing me. My ribs are wrapped up due to sustaining several broken ribs a few weeks ago. That was supposed to be gone by now but I guess Mother Nature doesn’t know the six week rule. Not being the fragile type I just keep shoveling. It’s only three or four inches at a time and I have been doing this since 1987 generally on my own so I am used to it. Kind of makes me feel like a senior version of Super Woman whizzing through 125 feet of the front sidewalk.

I am actually kind of tearful. I have mowed this land, hand sawed branches, felled trees with an axe-no I am not a butch-I am the frilly type. But I was a daddy’s’ girl and when my dad died I inherited his ability to fix things, figure things out, paint, (I have painted this house several times on my own) mow, chop and……

I was going to buy a house but must move out so soon that there is just no time. Where will all of these wonderful talents go to if I am in a mere apartment? How will I honor my dad’s gifts?

Just needed to blow off some steam. The real blizzard is yet to come. We will not be clear until 6am on Thursday. I am drying my cloths on ladders, five feet of boxed books and lamps that are awaiting their new shades upon entering our new residence.

During the summer I bitched and moaned about mowing this gigantic piece of property and ordinarily I would be bitching and moaning about the snow but I now realize what I wonderful vehicle of physical strength this property has been for me all of these years.

I hope all of you fair well during this event. Try to enjoy it-be grateful that you have what it takes to do it. I am.

The house is SOLD!
Yup, can't believe it!

I am racing around looking for a new home. I also have plans for a new blog where I will publish the memories of a kid from the Bronx as well as my creative pieces.

I have not been very creative lately. I hope to get my juices going again when I settle in my new home.

It's all good!

Lots going on but I am Italian and quite superstitious.

Serenity

I walked along the ocean shore yesterday. Though only nine miles from the Atlantic I have not been there for too long a time. For years, I daily strolled along the magnificent shore with it's beige-white sand. The water was a crystal blue and the waves were uneven: Some were high, rough-white, ruffles of cream and lace.

In the past I arrived by six in the morning, even on the coldest days. I belonged to a club of diehards who never spoke and rarely nodded. The business at hand was different for each. Some whizzed by in their reserved bike lanes. Others sped by in their wheelchairs surpassing all others. If you want a definition of determination, look into the face of an athlete manually directing those wheels.

Though cold, the wind on my face was velvet and caressing. It was a coming home. There was pure peace, calm and serenity flowing through my being.

When blessed with such "peace that surpasseth understanding".
One is grateful!

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley