How about a Doors title, Summer's almost gone, Summer's almost gone...*

I’ve been busy these last few months, or at least it seems so. I haven’t had the time to really write in the blog. I used to take some time during the first few hours of my work day and write. Lately I’ve been busier and it also seems like I’m taking greater advantage of my boss, so I don’t anymore. The company has started a new product line and I get to sell forklifts to people who then retail them to businesses. It can be fun. I’ve talked to people who have retired over the last few months asking them what they do to keep busy. I’ve watched my mom closer now than before and notice she does less, but she still does. She’s 90, so I guess whatever she’s doing I should copy. Most other people I talk to say things like everyday is Friday or if you want Saturday. They don’t have to even keep track of the days. Some people mentor younger people. I get all icky feeling when I say younger people. I don’t feel that old. I feel like a tired fifteen year old. I know I’ll probably retire, maybe sooner than I think, I just don’t know what I’ll do with all of that time.

Nastia is a girl who is acting like she is a girl with very little time left or someone who wants to experience it all as soon as possible. She’s kept her and her boyfriend Sean busy this summer. They were to the shore several times, she got hurt by a wave at Robert Moses State park on Long Island on the exact same day as she did last year. It’s becoming a tradition with her. She went to Maine with Sean to visit his friend. They’ve got to see every movie they could possibly see this summer and have eaten out at least once every week, most of the time twice. Now they are camping up just a little east of Roscoe New York at a campground just off of Route 17. They were very unprepared and Sean thought they might not go. He hadn’t checked his tent out and it was supposed to rain, so Nastia pushed through and he bought a new tent. They borrowed a battery operated lamp from Teri and I that has been dying to be used for over four years now. So off they went Friday night up the thruway into Friday evening traffic in September with all the other who are trying to get one last weekend in upstate before the weather changes and it becomes too cold to do it. THey set up camp, I’m assuming in the dark, but they had that battery operated lamp we lent them and one they or Sean purchased and oh, yes to get a little dig in, yes they are still saving to move out one day. I’ll have to change the lock the day before they do and put all their stuff on the front lawn before they do that. Well at least they are cooking for themselves, well or at least finding places to eat. They possibly have the privacy that Sean say they don’t get in our big old house with its thick old walls that an atomic blast in the next room wouldn’t be heard. I’m really not implying anything really I’m not. Wait, I can’t type while I snicker and laugh at the same time. We do really leave them alone. And yes every night they are tired and go to bed just after dinner. Those tired, tired children. They’ll be home tomorrow Sunday some time. While they are away I am replacing, hopefully finishing replacing the light/fan switch in their room. It was running slowly. Hopefully it is the switch, not the fan. Now Elena is still single. She still works part time at Caliper Tire and according to her mother still needs benefits. At the age of twenty-four who thinks about having benefits. She works Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, mostly. On her off days she sleeps in until her mother thinks it’s time for her to get up. Her and I are still working on the 1986 Corvette and yes I’ll admit it we are in over our heads. I didn’t think a 1986 car would be so complex. A list of the problems on this car would make a grown man cry as he parted out the car on Ebay. I could most likely make a profit on it if I did, but it’s a convertible. The first year a Corvette convertible had been made in years and there were only a little over 7,000 made and the way people drive and are parting out cars there can’t be too many left. We’ll both keep at it until, who knows when. I hope one day one of the hints I’ve dropped to people will take root and they will come over and solve one, just one problem to set Elena and I on the right track. Teri over the last year and change became one of the growing group of people forced into retirement. I’ve talked about how she’d get interviews over the phone or by Zoom and never that final would you like to come work for us phone call. She went as far north as Poughkeepsie to interview in person. She went to Long Island. Finally after a year she gave up. During the Summer, she finally decided to retire. We’d figured out how to live without her salary and her retirement money would now be just a bonus. A funny thing happened on her way to a nice relaxing retirement, she broke out in a rash. I don’t remember where it started but it would be on her hands, and feet, her back. She got a steroid shot and it mostly went away until it didn’t all the way go away. Now coming up on October it is mostly gone away. She still itches, it comes and goes and she’s been to it can come back. We are hoping the severity of it was only because of the emotional issues she faced this Spring with coming to the realization no one wants to hire a 60 year old. Even one that would make your company hum. I feel lucky when I think about what she’s gone through. I’m at a job making what I made twenty years ago, ooops, twenty-four years ago and I feel it could be worse. *I know, I've used it at least three times. Summer’s Almost Gone Song by The Doors Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone Almost gone Yeah, it's almost gone Where will we be When the summer's gone? Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be? Where will we be? Where will we be? Morning found us calmly unaware Noon burn gold into our hair At night, we swim the laughin' sea When summer's gone Where will we be? Summer's almost gone Summer's almost gone We had some good times But they're gone The winter's comin' on Summer's almost gone

The Great car restoration oops , the beach, another oops! and Maine

The great car restoration has had its ups and downs. A down day was when we had to bring it home because of the landlord at Caliper tire. An up day was finally finishing the brake on the front tire or having the short shaft and the knuckle in place and the rear right tire almost finished. One of the big lower points is when I knocked the Corvette off the jack stands, the car sliding towards the house coming up just short of hitting the new siding. It would have been the lowest of low points if I’d hit the siding. Another low point I was working on the fuel gauge, everything was going really well. Elena broke two of the screws holding the pump in place. No problem, I thought, I can drill them out. I purchased a brand new fuel pump, the old one was so rusted, it fell into two parts when I took it out. I managed to get all the rust out and I went to drill out the broken screw and I ruined the other holes by drilling the holes through to the interior of the tank. It can be fixed, but oops. The holes with the broken screw I managed to widen them. After talking with my brother, Eric, I purchased a new tank, fuel lines and straps. He said with brand new there will be no problem cropping up like the interior of ta 40 year old tank coming apart and fowling everything, Elena seems to only work on the car when I’m there, so this past Sunday we put all of the wheels back on the car and decided to get the engine going, which if we knew the car was going to end up at home we would have started with. During the last two weeks every time I turn around Nastia is going away. She went with Sean, Jessica and Elena to the Jersey shore one day, then she went to the beach with JJ and Nancy and maybe someone who drove better than Nancy or Nastia. After that she went to Robert Moses State park on Long Island where she got hit by a hurricane inspired wave and fractured her scapula in her shoulder. That was on August 21st, I believe. If that date sounds familiar, she broke or fractured her foot a year ago at a party in Orange County. And if memory serves back in 2009 when we went to Russia to pick up the girls Nastia had a cast on her arm. That was around September 10th when we arrived, she could have broken it on August 21st. So maybe she should wrap herself in bubble wrap and stay home on that day. After braking her arm at Robert Moses State park, and spending most of the night there, she and Sean came home and promptly headed for the great state of Maine. About an hour into the trip the car overheats. Sean says it has never done that and his father said he checked the radiator and he must have not secured the cap causing it to overheat. When Sean told me this, he paused. I think waiting for me to tell him to come home. I’d said they should come home earlier and that they should make a fresh start the next day, but I didn’t. I told him if he says the car has never overheated and he feels safe it can make it, it’s their decision. They made it there and tonight they make it back long enough to maybe use the bathroom and say hello before they left again to sleep over JJ’s house and go to the beach tomorrow.

Yankee Stadium,and the latest family taco dinner

Every year since sometime in the 1990’s I go to Yankee Stadium with my friend Mike. I think one of the early times we went with his brother Steve and it was the only game I ever went to that was rained out. I bought a hat that day and I think I still have it.

When Covid hit our yearly trips to Yankee Stadium stopped. It’s been about five years since we’ve gone. On the last few trips it seems Rob has had to deal with some issues his daughter has had. Most years he figures it out. This wasn’t most years. His daughter is in California working to be an actress. He and his wife flew out there to help her out. I don’t know the problem, but having two daughters I’d be on the flight to California, if they’d called and had a hangnail. So I really can’t blame Rob, it was just disappointing. It's been five years and it hit the three of us Friday night at Nanuet Restaurant, we’re not getting any younger and how many more years are we going to be able to do this?

All of the previous leads up to now, we have an extra ticket. Louie asks his sons, I ask Karl, Eric is a Met fan. After all of that I think, I’ll have to ask Nastia. I love her, but I thought she’d be a problem. She’d want food and not eat it, then about the fifth inning she’d get bored and want to leave, you know. I ask her and she agrees. She and Sean are going to the beach Saturday night, it’s a day game, so we’ll be back in time for them to leave.

I wanted to take the Mustang, but the three of us are old and fat and even Nastia would have problems fitting in the back seat. We choose confort, Nastia’s car over a stylish Mustang Convertible.Doesn’t matter, Mike and I will use it on Sunday when we go to Somerset NJ to see the Yankees double A farm team with what we hope will be a future Yankee star Spencer Jones. Nastia and I go pick up Mike at his hotel, we swing over to Louie’s just 90 mother’s house, pick him up and take a comfortable ride down to the Bronx. The whole summer has been scorching. We have the air running and everything is good. We park on the first floor of the Jacob Ruppert parking garage, a first and walk into from the garage to the park, across the street and onto one of several long lines. Nastia is uncomfortable in the crowds and wants to hold my hand. Her mother doesn’t like crowds too, I guess she inherited it from her. Yeah, I know, adopted and all, it must have been through osmosis or something.

We enter the Stadium and it is a give away day, a metal coffee cup. Mike will use it the next morning in a drip coffee maker. It will get hot and he will throw it away. Nastia is amazed they are giving something away for free. I don’t tell her the price of the tickets. She continues to hold my hand until we hit the bathrooms. She heads toward the ladies, I tell her where I’ll be waiting. She takes a while and I thinkI can sneak into the men’s. When I’m done, I get a little nervous, I've missed her coming out of the ladies and she will panic, I did miss her , but she doesn’t panic. We get online for some food. I bought two Nathan’s hot dogs, helmut fries and two sodas for only $55.00. At the Palisades Center it would cost around $20.00 minus the hat the fries come in.

It’s time for me to finally buy the Yankee hat I’ve been waiting for. Nastia comes with me. As we search for a Yankee store, she asks if I can buy her a Jersey. Forgetting we’re in Yankee Stadium, I say yes. She finds out Sean's favorite Yankee is number 99 Aaron Judge. I won’t say they hide the prices of things in the Yankee store, but they definitely don’t advertise them either. I pick up a hat,and we wander over to the jerseys in the women’s section. She tries on a small, it fits her great and I’m thinking, okay, two items, but I really want a hat that has pin stripes on it. Nastia, as she does, asks someone for help. I don’t like doing it mostly because when I’m done looking the person helping is still trying to help. She asks a passing girl who asks her boss, who radios down to the warehouse, I guess looking for the hat. I want to go, but we wait. Twice I want to go, but they are still looking. Finally it’s time to leave. I thank the people who tried to help me, we get on line and at the cashier, they couldn't scan the jersey. They ask me if I want a bag for my purchase. Two items, a bag will make it easier, I say, yes. The jersey won't scan. Finally they read the number off the tag and the price of the jersey is $218.00. I stammer for a second or two before saying, I’m sorry I can’t afford that. They take the jersey off, I ask what the dollar charge is. It’s for the bag, I let it go. At home later that night I try on the hat and for some reason there is a gap between my skull and the top of the hat. I look in the mirror and I look like a special needs person. Guess who wasted $50.00 on a hat.

Back near our seat, we hang out in the concession area until it is closer to the game. It is sunny and hot . Our seats are in the sun and will stay that way until the game is almost over. I sit next to Mike on my left, and Nastia on my right. I try to take a picture of all four of us, like I do every year. This year, Louie seems to hide in each picture and my arm is too short. Nastia, as Nastia does, takes the camera and asks the people next to us to take our picture. I never do that because I alway imagine the person running away with my phone as I stand there with a dumb smile on my face. The person takes the picture and doesn’t steal my phone.I guess the cracked screen protector is a deterrent. I’ve always worried Nastia would get bored at a game. This day she doesn’t, even though the Yankees get trounced 8-1. We wait for a while before we leave. No beer can hockey at our age in the parking garage any more. It’s a nice day. I enjoyed having Nastia there. I hope my friend’s did too. I don’t need a Yoko Ono situation here. Family dinner has alway been a special time for me with my family. I treasure it like the rare precious stone it is. I grew up with a father who did what he knew best, and that was to provide for his family, but not be at home for dinner. It is something he quietly did for the majority of his life. I only recently understood he abandoned us unnecessarily to provide for his family. I know it wasn’t malicious, it was what he learned and did as a child in an alcoholic family to survive. I sometimes find myself secreting from my family doing the same thing. Family dinners when I was young were regular, most every night, but were missing my dad. So when we gather around the table for dinner and a taco dinner, and on top of that provided by Nastia and Sean, well mostly by Sean, it’s a home run all around. I went out to buy some beer, the second beer in six weeks. Nastia came with me and we talked like we used to always talk before she got so involved with Sean. I know these visits will be fewer and farther between as time passes, so I treasure them and try to not sweat the details. We talk about things she wants to or just joke about nothing. Again I don’t sweat the details and I don’t get upset about whatever she says. Back home we sit down to tacos. Nastia and Elena talk over Teri and I talking about something. I talk louder and louder trying to out talk the girls. I ask Teri if it reminds her of growing up. She looks at Sean and asks him if it does. Both agree we were not loud enough. Usually conversations like this get a little raunchy. This one did not. I did throw some cheese at Nastia to stop her from talking, it worked. I stood up to get some cheese and used a back hand flip to land a small gob of nice yellow cheese on her glasses. She didn’t find it funny, but everyone laughed. Dinner clean up went quickly and everyone went their seperate way. Nastia, Sean and Elena went upstairs to play Zombies on Xbox, I think. Teri sat at the table while I wrote this every so often yelling in pain over her disease that has her hands and feet all dried out and the skin cracking, not fun at all.

Fishing in Moriches, the great car restoration update and the last fireworks for the fourth.

Life’s been busy these last few weeks. We were scheduled to take a fishing trip to Moriches on the 12 of July. In the past I’ve alway scheduled these trips for a Thursday. I used to have Thursdays off when I had my milk business. I’d go out to Moriches with my boat on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays during July. Of course, I didn’t have a girlfriend or wife at the time.

The tides were perfect for Friday, the weather looked iffy as early as the week before. I hoped it would clear up by Friday. On Wednesday, it said there was a 50% chance of rain. Slacking off late in the day. Twenty years ago, without a second thought I’d have gone, stayed out late and enjoyed the peaceful waters. Without a boat of my own, we’d have to have the 16 foot skiff back in by 4PM. Plus, I hate to admit it, but I’m getting stuck in my ways and if I haven’t done something in a while, I’m reluctant to do it. It’s been two years since we’ve gone fishing in Moriches.

I wake up at about six in the morning and check the weather. It’s still the same, 50% slacking off in the late afternoon. I let Nastia, Elena and Sean know about the canceled trip. Elena and Sean go to work of all things. I sit around the house trying to avoid a testy wife who is babysitting a rambunctious one year old KJ.

It was not the promised start of a rare three day weekend for me. Oh, yes, the day cleared up and was beautiful in Congers and in Moriches according to the weather service. The great car restoration is making slow progress. Elena seems to want me to be more involved in the car than providing money for parts. The Sunday after the failed Moriches trip I spent helping her put together the rear right knuckle and brake drum where the car was hit eight years ago. I noticed the rear strut, it might be called, I’m not sure was bent. When Elena noticed it I knew it was bent. So as soon as I know what it is called, I purchase the

replacement. She and I shared trying to figure out how to put the knuckle back on, even going as far as removing the tire from the opposite side to compare. So the right rear is 90% done.

THe last fourth of July fireworks were down the street held on the 14th of July, a Sunday. Teri and Elena didn’t want to come see them, so it was just Nastia, Sean and I. We sat near the VFW building, east of the FD and across the street from near the park entrance path. Bugs seemed to be out in force that night even with the citronella bug repellent I bought with me. It’s the circles that go in the clay burner. There seemed to be enough of a breeze that wherever I put it it blew under and away from us. One firework was shot off and we thought it would start. After it went off, the New City FD, not Congers, for some reason sprayed water on a couple lake facing rear roofs of buildings to prevent any possibility of a fire starting on them. They also sprayed people sitting on the opposite side of the building with water. I’m sure they didn’t do it on purpose. The fireworks started about 9:30 and were okay, the grand finale was not grand. They were done before 10. It was just nice to have them back. They hadn’t had them since before Covid.

I forgot my mom's 90th Birthday!!

It was my mom’s 90th birthday, the other day. It’s not often someone reaches 90 and I forgot to write about it. It was a small affair, just like last years party, except Eric and Lynn did everything. The scheduled it for Saturday the 22 of June about a week after my mom’s birthday. THey didn’t tell her and neither did they tell anyone else, so When I saw her on Friday the 21st and she asked me what I was doing on Saturday, I said I’m going over Eric’s. She asks why. Not being overly sharp, I just smile and leave as quickly as possible knowing she is not so quick these days and it would take her a few moments to get off the couch. I have to admit, it would take me just as long, if I’d been sitting.

On the day of the party the weather forecast said to expect late showers. Sean and Elena were working at Caliper tire until 4PM and they’d get there about 4:30. The party started about 2:00 Eric cooking up burgers and Ballpark Hot Dogs. I usually eat Nathans, but these were very tasty and it made me consider buying a bag. Everyone ate and sat around because it was too hot to do much else.Billy played water guns with Matt and Luke. My mom remembering how I used to play water guns with Cory and Ryan years ago encouraged me to get involved. I warned my mom anything that happened after this point was her fault. As luck would have it (for Nastia because all I wanted to do was squirt ice cold water on her) all the guns were taken.

Sean and Elena arrived and bought the rain with them. Soft of like God and Jesus arriving at a party. It started to rain lightly for about a minute or two then the heavens opened and everyone did a mental checklist of the supplies in their ark. It rained for a good half hour to forty minutes. About then God and Jesus decided to leave and took the rain with them.

Nastia had wanted to go swimming over at Harriet’s pool almost since she’d gotten there. She pushed me to go over because she didn’t remember how to get there. She and Wlwna went swimming over at Harriet’s in 2008, their first time and again when Leonhard and Annya were here. Leonhard and Annya were a second pair of Russian kids we were going to adopt a few years after the girl. They decided to stay in Russia. I wish they’d decided to stay because Leonhard is probably dead on some battlefield in Ukraine now.

We went over and I had to push Nastia into the water, it’s some kind of tradition or something. Sean, and Elena jumped in shortly afterwards and I took my time getting in. Maybe I was tempting Nastia to take revenge on me and try to push me. The water was like bath water after all of those 90+ degree days. I mostly lounged on the stairs at the opposite end of the pool while Sean leaned against the opposite side and the girls acted like they were eight and ten ago going into this exact same pool almost exactly 16 years ago when they came over. It was like a replay of their greatest hit from that time. Elena was the entertainment and Nastia the audience both being overly un-self conscious of what they were doing and just having a good time. Nastia notices me lounging over on the stairs and asks me if everything is alright. Now you can’t tell her what you just saw, it would ruin it all. Maybe I’m over-stating how they acted, but it was at least reminiscent of that time, all those years ago. There was a chicken fight with Nastia and Sean against Elena and I. They won both contests. At times like this I realize I’m not the man I was sixteen years ago when I could walk up the stairs in the house with both in my arms and put them to bed. In the game of chicken, my legs failed me when I tried to straighten up as Nastia got a hold of her sister and pulled her toward her. Sixteen years ago I would have straightened up and then moved back in and gone back on attack. This time I face planted into the water. For those of you future people who don’t know what chicken fights are, it’s an ancient game from back in the 1950’s or 60’s where people, usually teenagers, pair off and the girlfriend of just a female gets up on the boyfriend or male's shoulders. They square off and the girls usually get to go a little batshit pulling the other one off the shoulders of the other, it's empowering. The person on the bottom usually is just the legs moving around, you know just the horse in a joust. For the boyfriend it’s a time to do things together. For a 66 year old who doesn’t feel that old, it’s a blast, no wait, it’s a face first in the water of reality. When we got out of the water, most people had left the party. Those who remained sat around for a while talking and we were hom, I think before 6PM. It was nice to get together like that. Since COVID, I don’t get to see many people. Karl, Madeline, Kristen, Matt and their two kids. It was nice.

The Girls went to the beach and oh yes fireworks on the 27th of June.

The Girls went to the beach on Tuesday June 25th. Elena still working Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday was free Tuesday. Sean normally has off Tuesday and Nastia is on her two week hiatus before she goes back to work.

A couple of weeks earlier or maybe it was a long time ago, I’m not sure. I wanted Nastia to take some pictures of where she went. She crabbed about it, so I told her she doesn’t have to any more. She said she would, but she didn’t like doing it. So since then there have been no pictures of their trips to the beach and even less information about what they did and if

they had fun. I’ve even stopped asking Elena for pictures. I could recycle past pictures I guess, would anyone notice? I also use the pictures as a reminder of what happened. Like I’ve titled this piece, soon to be changed with the very original,

‘The girls go to the Beach’. Now I’ll change it to the equally original, ‘The Girls go to the beach, then we freeze at the fireworks’. A bit wordy, but to the point. And the only reason I remembered the fireworks is because I looked at the pictures I took that night on my phone. I know the girls obeyed rule number 1 and came back home alive. I know they ate something somewhere because they weren't hungry when they got home. Teri requested they not stay too late and they also did that. Beyond that..oh, wait they said the water was very cold. I tried to tell them just because it’s over 90 degrees, it doesn’t mean the water is going to be that warm. And that is all I know about their trip to the beach. I’ve added some pictures to make it seem like they took some pictures for me.

Now onto the freezing 27th of June fireworks. It was a very hot week up until Thursday the 27th. A storm blew through, I think the 26th, I don’t know, I didn’t take pictures. So it was a comfortable Thursday and I thought it was going to be a comfortable night.

In the back of my mind I remember that fishing trip I took with a friend, Jim, nephew Cory and myself one May evening, back about 18 years ago. It was another of those warm days when we decided to go fishing, I think it was for Blue Fish. We got down there in our short sleeve shirts with no jacket. We stepped out of the car and the cool wind hit us in the face. We knew it would only be worse on the water so we bought three sweatshirts. I gave Cory one that was three sizes too big on him. During our trip he quit trying to catch fish and went around the boat asking people if he could help them with their catch and he would hold the fish against the sweatshirt.. Needless to say I never wore that sweatshirt after that night. I have a picture in my head of him holding a fish. I hope I have it somewhere and I haven’t imagined it. It is a great picture of a great time.

We arrived at Felix Festa and parked across the street at BOCES. We’ve parked there every time we’ve gone to these fireworks and we’ve always gone to the left around the building. This time we follow people ahead of us to the right. I’m thinking, my first mistake, the people ahead of us know more than us, my second mistake. And of course I make this mistake walking to the fireworks with my freshly 90 year old mother walking beside me, my third mistake. I don’t know if you know the school, but we walk three quarters around the school to get to the fireworks. I’ve got three fold up chairs, my mom, Teri and Nancy following me. To everyone’s credit, no one complained about the trip and for some reason no one blamed me. I should have known better. Sean and Nastia take a separate car and park near us, but go the correct way. We meet up with Kimmy and some of her friends, who were also with Amanda and her son, KJ. Amanda and KJ would have to leave before the fireworks because KJ got overly tired. They had all managed to find Sean and Nastia. Elena stayed home, couldn't bother going, wanted to play more xbox. I bought two sweaters, one I gave my mom, a loose blue one that I felt was more comfortable, but didn’t zip up. I kept the green one that would have been tight I felt on her, but it zipped up. I didn’t think we’d need them and felt stupid for bringing them. Music started after eight, and it was pretty good.The warm slight breeze turned cool, then cold as the temperature dropped. It might have not gotten below 68, but with the 90+ degree days the previous it felt cold. My mom said her teeth were chattering at one point. Nastia gave her sweater to Nancy who forgot to bring one. Fireworks started about 9:20 and in the beginning they were boring, a pop here, a pop there. The grand finale was almost worth the wait. If it wasn’t so cold I would have called it a real fun night. At this point I couldn’t wait for it to end. Once off the field after it ended, it was warmer. And yes we went the right way to the car.

Revolations from the book of Elena and what was that latin phrase again...oh yes, et sic porro*

* I guess I didn't learn anything from my birthday post. et sic porro-and other things.

We were having a family dinner, you know that fabled state of existence all you future people hear your parents and grandparents talk about, you know the Camelot of their childhood. (Don’t tell me you don’t get the reference? We can go with the John F. Kennedy administration or the play or even the movie with Richard Harris, you know Dumbledor from Harry Potter’s early films.) Sitting around eating and talking. (At this table if you’re on your phone Teri will let you know to put it away.) This is the table where revelations are revealed or harebrained schemes are reviled. It is a place of love sometimes lacking in

respect. It is also the place Elena announced to all assembled that when she and Matt were in Atlantic City he was going to take her to Sunset Beach and propose to her. Back in a world several lifetimes away, someone getting engaged at 22 or 23 was normal. Children grow up at a slower pace these days. I’ve told both girls not to be in such a hurry to grow up. Life with few responsibilities is like the old song, ‘Toyland’ . There is a line in the song Once you pass it borders you can never return. Since I left it and several people will argue that point, you can only go back for short visits and those visits will just remind you this is not the place you want to remain and it’s not what it once was. A movie with Kevin Spacey, American Beauty where he is fired and decides to live life as he did when he was a teenager sounds like a dream, but I at least couldn’t do it. Elena in her typical cryptic manner didn’t elaborate on what happened that night. She said something about having a choice to go to Sunset Beach or this restaurant, I think. They ended up at the restaurant. Now the thought that they went to Atlantic City last year and they broke up in the spring and we are only hearing about it now. She didn’t even tell anyone they’d broken up for weeks.

It’s been really hot this last week, like in the 90’s. My blueberries are ripening two to three weeks early and after working outside for a little while tonight I came inside to help Teri make meatballs for dinner. She didn’t want to make them and we were debating what to do when Sean and Nastia walked in. I’m in the kitchen debating what to do and Nastia walks into the kitchen and asks what's for dinner? Without skipping a beat I tell her she is cooking and whatever she wants. She takes the bull by the horns, and goes downstairs. She came back with Pierogies and vegetables. Teri hears me tell Nastia she can make something with the chop meat Teri just bought. Teri says not to open the meat yet, she’ll make the meatballs. Nastia and her work together adding spices, while I watch from the door. I hear Teri say something and laugh. I think that is my cue to leave. While I’m writing this I hear Nasti say they don’t need to make test meatballs because they’re probably fine. A major mistake by Nastia, Teri allows to pass. Nastia makes the meatballs small like I do, this Teri can not let pass and tells Nastia so. You makea the meataballs big, nota like your fathers! I know, not funny.