Wordless Wednesday

Big Kitty hanging out by candlelight 'a la' Irene...candles work well when the power is out...more to come!!

The Gift That Keeps on Giving...

rock #1, front

rock #1, back

rock #2, front

rock #2, back

The sun is just a bit lower in the sky. It is starting to 'feel' like summer is slipping away, although it is still August, albeit, the 20th. Today was one of those days at the ocean which can only be labeled perfection. Not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze, the sun warm, not hot, the tide up most of the day, the beach rocks, laid out so perfectly along the mile or so stretch of shore. I am like a kid in a candy shop, eying the stones for that elusive stripe which goes all the way around, sometimes so very subtle. I look for pure white rocks, or textures and designs which 'pop' when I see them. I 'ooooh' and 'ahhhh' to myself as I drop these precious findings into my yellow bucket. 'Good one', I will say to myself, and then show Jimmy the really special ones when I get back to our slice of the beach. So, here are a few of today's amazing gifts from the ocean deep at Matunuck Beach. I was especially 'taken' with the 2 rocks which were so completely different on either side. I think, as always, 'How on earth did this rock happen, how did this come to be????"

Awesome, totally, awesome...

Wordless Wednesday

'The Hidden Staircase'

(Nancy Drew anyone??)
Narragansett Blvd, RI
August, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

Look what I found..an old photo of

baby girl at about 10 weeks old (2002ish), aka, Little Kitty, aka, Girl Whirl...

(and recent)

In The Garden...

The garden, my garden, my personal little jungle, has been a source of great solace for me this summer. With all the bad news we hear on a daily basis, I am so blessed to be able to go outside, and garden. I have tilled the soil and fertilized, I have planted many Roma and Cherry tomatoes, the most aromatic Greek oregano, I have watered and waited impatiently for everything to start to grow. I have put in bamboo stakes, I have gently/firmly tied the growing vines with hemp string (many levels of tying), I have given them plant food. I have lovingly tended to the garden everyday that I have been home. It is just within the past week that I have picked eaten my very first Roma tomato and the very sweet Cherry's are also being plucked off the vine...already making an appearance in some tomato sauce. I have cut, tied, hung and dried a couple of bouquets of the oregano, which I added to what was left of last years' haul. Right now, it is pouring rain outside, and I am grateful for all that water, as I look from my window at the garden, my garden....

'Awake, north wind,

and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden

and taste its choice fruits.'

Song of Solomon 4:16

Wordless Wednesday

Beach Rocks

Matunuck Beach, R.I., July 2011

Remembering Harvey...

Harvey & Rita, Nicole's Bat Mitzvah, 2007

The very first thing I can tell you about Harvey is that he was the slowest eater...ever. We would be into the next meal, and Harvey was still on 'yesterday'. He had the bluest eyes, which, if you really looked, were as deep as the ocean blue, leading to 'the heart' of his very soul. He was extraordinarily kind and patient. He adored my cousin Rita, and their wedding, 20 years ago, was truly one of the most joyous I have ever had the pleasure to witness. And then there is Nicole. Nicole is 17 now, a beautiful, lovely young woman. Harvey adored Nicole as well, but the way he fathered her is what we will all remember the most. It was that same patience and sweetness, his being so present, right there by her side, every step of the way, is what we trust and pray, she will remember the most. I recall, one summer were were visiting them, Nicole was about 5. It was a scorching hot day, (somewhat like today) and we went to the 'Y' to go swimming. It was a large, outdoor pool. Nicole was hooked on that low diving board, and about 100 times that day, she said to me 'Amy look, Amy look', as she gleefully, with all abandon, jumped into the cool water. Harvey, just looked on, with that glimmer in those very blue eyes, smiling on the inside, because Nicole was so happy.

Harvey lost his valiant, 19 month battle with pancreatic cancer this past Wednesday. My heart, our collective hearts are just broken. I know that the world is still spinning, and that life marches on, but right now, my love and thoughts are spinning, spinning, spinning around Rita and Nicole.

We pray comfort, so much comfort, and know, we are all the richer, so much richer, because Harvey made it so.