cleaning out the freezer

I am almost beside myself with pleasure today and for the last several days because Kate and I are leaving in 5 days for Paris with her friend Lydia and her mom Anne. I don't often have this feeling of hysterical pleasure but I gottit.

In the meantime I got a hair cut, had my nails done, plan to buy some Euros which will be laughable because the dollar has no value. Also trying to tart up the apartment. New router for the computer so that Anne LaGarrigue and her family will have access to wifi plus we have a new printer which does everything including walking Miss Murray and buying flowers. Amazing. Painted Kate's room yellow and now of course all we have to do is put the furniture back into its proper place. My feet are hardly hitting the ground which is fine for me.

Went to see Spook work on Sunday after a brisk walk in the park with Miss Murray and then a quick trip to buy brioche. Specially staged parade on 5th avenue for the movie she is working on with Camels, pratorian guards of a sort, very idi amin dada and funny until they were kicked off the street at 10 by NYPD who let the cars back on the avenue with a whoosh. Spook, Melinda Sue and I had a quick lunch!

Then back to the house for me and doing nothing!!!!!

Transitions & silly bands

Silly bands are my most important topic of the day because they were a gift from Kate who presented me with a package of the ones that glow in the dark. We all have dumb stuff that we like and that's it for me!

Of course my other most important present was from my husband and that was an Ipad. It's been my tech days because I also have a new Mac computer at the office so I am trying to stretch the possibilities and make them all work for me. The Ipad is really a great gift and I've toted it to work in a great red cover for the last two days! Kool moi. Arnie came into town on Thursday night and we all set off early Friday morning for the pre graduation breakfast in the meeting house courtyeard that kicked off Kate's graduation on June 10th from 8th grade. Just writing it makes me tear up which luckily I didn't do during the ceremony. I've gone from never crying to always crying. I'm sure I could easily get a job when I retire going to people's ceremonies and crying. It's like being a professional keener. I could charge for the tears or for the time spent weeping copiously. Anyway Spooky is in town for three months!!! and not working on Fridays so she came and Grandma Dot looking quite devine also came. I am very sad to have said farewell to parents and kids that I have known and seen on a regular basis for the last 9 years. We all started together in kindergaarten and now here we are with grown kids. Almost. The ceremony was simple as is the Quaker custom and then we took off for a favorite french restaurant on the lower east side. It was there that Arnie upstaged everybody with his present to Kate of an ipad. Mine came several days later. So lunch was a great success. French fries and an Ipad. What could be wrong.

Other festivities included an party for the kids that evening. A moving up party...barbecue festival in Madison Square Park which was a scene out of a New York movie because the entire area of Madison Park was perfumed by barbecue smoke and the area was littered with people sitting on the curbs hunched over small paper plates of ribs and other goodies. Impossible to get any food if you were seriously hungry. Shake Shack was crowded and if you thought that Eatley would be a good bet, think again bunky. So we bought some food to create our very own Italian al fresco and on the way home bumped into the Hari Krishnas as part of a very loud pink and bright blue Krishna parade. Just a little bit of paradise.

We are back to normal now altbough Kate has no school and I am enjoying her vacation thorougly.

Frying in June

I am totally confused about everything these days except one thing: I am not deaf. And I know this because I took the time to actually go to the doctor and have my hearing checked. And if I am not deaf, then Kate must mumble...You can tell that these simple words cover a ton of backing and forthing in our house that start with: What did you say?
But gentle reader: I am not deaf and I am also quite superior because I started and finished a book about Madame Pompadour. I didn't even take months because actually it was quite good. But since I read all the time and mostly trash I am glad to send out a tweet saying that my last book was: Madame Pompadour and my current book is my Erik Larsen about an american family in Berlin during Hitler's rise. If I could remember the title, I would include it. But maybe I won't tweet it just in case my tweet somehow bumps into Congressman Weiner's twitter account. Is this the season of men who can't keep their pants zipped up both in practice and in cyberspace?

Arnie is coming to town tonight and tomorrow is Kate's official graduation from 8th grade at Friends. Many transistions here. I am on the hotseat for donuts for the official breakfast which will be early enough so that we don't all die from the heat. I was advised to take cold packs with me and just wrap them in a light weight pocket book. The Quakers may be wonderful but they have done nothing to make the Meeting House comfortable in hot weather. Spook is also in town and then we will all go off for a fabulous lunch.