City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York, where summer has got us in a hot and humid grip. So far, that other dreaded summer addition, the yellowish sky with ozone alerts is waiting in the wings.

I think that we have gotten off pretty easily so far, and the following photo gives some evidence. I would never have begun knitting this woolly sock on a day like this.

What I might have done would have been to keep reading this biography of Isabella Blow by her husband. I do wish that she might still be with us, but after finishing this book I do understand more about why she did eventually succeed in taking her life. The older I get, the more I do understand about what life brings to us all. No one's life is exactly like anyone else's.

Those of us who are somehow granted more years, or choose to grab those years, know that there are always surprises in store. Some are good surprises!

So. It is very hot here. I do not like air conditioning, although I am often glad of its presence at my workplace. In this little apartment of mine, I really am so grateful for thick walls, that hold on to the chill of evening, cross ventilation from open windows, that I can enhance with my trusty fan. And cold water.

I grew up in Virginia, well before air conditioning was ever invented. I know how to deal with heat. However, heat in green leafy suburbs is quite different from city heat.

Even so, I still value city life enough to try to wind my way through July and August in New York.


Below you will see a pillow cover I knitted way back when snow was still on the ground. It has taken me until now to actually buy the pillow insert, and to crochet the sides of the pillow cover, and get those buttons (bought maybe ten years ago at Liberty's) sewn on. I do like the look of this pillow, but cannot quite bring myself to touch it until the temperature drops by at least 10 degrees.

Let's see, what else is going on. Ahhhh. Yesterday marked my ninth anniversary of being employed by my current employer. Those years have sped past, but I definitely still remember certain days that seemed to linger way past what the clock defined.

I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of dahlias, and actually managed to get some of that bouquet home in a live state, after a late evening trip on our efficient subway train system. The subway trains are very, very air conditioned, but those waiting platform areas in the stations are ... well, beyond hot.

Aren't those flowers pretty? Some parts of the bouquet just did not survive the homeward bound trip, but I am so glad to have these survivors. I think that there might be some gerbera daisies in the mix as well.
Here's a lovely close up view. I do love this color.

Yesterday, I was on the very late shift at work, and so was at home long enough in the morning to watch just about all of the Murdoch father and son hearing on cable tv. It reminded me of how I was such a regular viewer of our own Watergate hearings so many decades ago. It is very unusual to actually see powerful people having to appear in places that they would clearly much rather avoid, in real time.

Today I was lucky to have the day off, and to have the opportunity to get many errands done, have an appointment with my eye doc to check my glaucoma, and to rejoice when he told me that all seems to be under control.

And so, I was also able to have a relaxed afternoon, during which I finished sock one from the earlier photo, and went on to get sock two underway.

Whatever you all are doing in these final July days, wherever you might be, I send you best wishes, and again want to let you all know how much I enjoy reading your posts.

Stay cool!