Gotcha!

Enjoying yet another nippy fall day at 50F and sunny, I caught my resident friend scampering from tree to tree. Hey family, I want a better camera than this, get my drift?

Tata for now..

Grande Flora

Species: Magnolia grandiflora. I love magnolias and while I'm learning from others about them, I'm far from being an expert, but I can tell you this "baby" here is newsworthy!

I had no idea magnolias of this cultivar bloom in autumn. The large buds, wrapped in a brown sheath are almost as long as the waxy leaves. Let's hope those squirrels don't cheat me of the fully bloomed white saucer or tulip-shaped blossoms. They seem to be in the attack mode these days even if they have plenty of acorns to stash away. Greedy little creatures, stick to your messy seeds! You have certainly buried enough so now we have baby oak trees sprouting all over. Shooo!

There were about 6 to 8 buds when I last looked, which isn't bad for its first year and I hope Raly will make it back from Israel in time to see this baby tree in bloom. She gave me this 3-foot tree in July which in turn I planted in the condominium courtyard for everyone to enjoy.

Where its at, the magnolia gets its full dose of the sun, rich soil and plenty of water. While we have our irrigation system, this sucker can really drink, so I've trained Andrew our security guard to keep an eye on the tree. Ferrying water to keep this plant happy may not be part of his job, but he sure has gotten the hang of it. Why him and not the gardener? I figured he does foot patrol and walks around the tree area quite often, it's just convenient.

It's fulfilling to be able to spread the gardening bug around. Two to three years from now this magnolia tree will be the center of attraction here when it has grown a wide canopy and in full bloom! You bet I'll be around to share those snapshots.

The Johnson's Zoo

Introducing Thomas Quentin (formerly Nonameyet), David and Peter of the Johnson's Zoo.

Nonameyet is Allamenow!

You’re absolutely right, the name Nonameyet suits you fine, only if you plan to stay as a cuddly baby all your life. Don’t get me wrong, the Quentin I know was an old man from my hometown who played the banjo and the violin in a local ensemble we call the Rondalla ; some of my good friends are named Thomas and they are perfectly normal earthlings. Alright, alright, I’m sold, 'gotten over it - you are Tom from here on!

Do you wonder how I met the soon-to-be-the-Brady-Bunch-of-Heidelberg family?

On Sept. 19th, my 6:00 AM coffee date with my laptop started with a hair-pulling experience while doing some edits on my drafts and the darn changes won’t update properly. Tweak and SAVE – Nada. Error-try again, I was prompted! Still Nada. What the heck! The SAVE function has gone haywire. What have I done, have I violated any of the terms of use that eBlogger had to punish me this way?

Suddenly it occurred to me that there is such a thing as the Help Center, duh! But there’s no guarantee that I’ll even get heard and since I’m not a member of the Help Group, what do they care. No matter, I tried anyway.

I had to comb through tons of threads and posts from irate users who were having the same issues as mine. It was a global problem, I was relieved; an astounding revelation that I’m not stupid after all. I stumbled on a message from an author of thejohnsonszoo. Catchy name, I thought and my “animal instinct” got me drawn to the blog site.

Hesitantly, I perused the site. What a find! The author is using the same template I have. I don’t usually make a habit of blindly surfing the web and scouring for blogs worthy of my time, but here it was - serendipity, I couldn’t stop reading the posts. Eureka! What an interesting family, the father tells it like it is, pokes pun at the kids and his wife, how much fun could that be? Their Ladder Talk is a segment of the blog I always look forward to reading.

Having some guilt feelings of “intruding” in this great family’s affairs, I decided to follow them privately. Tell me "following" is not synonymous to "stalking" or is it?

Thanks Papa Johnson for allowing me to post a picture of the kids in my site. Saves me the trouble of having to write you for photo credits and permission. No copyrights violated, promise. I’m sure my family and closest friends will be happy to “ meet” your lovely kids.

Goodbye.

Nonameyet who?

Nonameyet is his nickname before birth and we (his family and myself) have all been waiting for him to come out and so he finally decided to show up! Cute little one is the latest addition to the Johnson's Zoo somewhere out there in Germany. I will need permission to publish his photo, so the booties will have to do for now, okay?

Little does he know that in a country named USA, people panicked after something called the DOW, came tumbling down, probably at the same time that he was being scooped out of his mama's (Angie) belly! Isn't it some Jack or Jill who's supposed to be doing the tumbling part? Oh, let's not confuse poor Nonameyet he must have had a rough time inside while the doctors were trying their best not to snip any of his tiny parts as they perform what grown-ups call the C-section. Ouch, for Angie!

Today spelled RELIEF for both Nonameyet's mama and some of us here in the US of A. Angie's belly is lighter, no more of the bloating signs and for us here, the DOW did a "dead cat bounce". No clue what that means but that's what the financial experts call it. But I wonder if they're really experts; so why are we in all this mess now? Someday, you and I, Nonameyet will understand. But for now, take it easy - after over 9 months of being cooped up, just get used to your new environment.

Welcome to jungle Earth, Thomas Quentin Johnson aka Nonameyet.

What took you so long?

"Who is this baby now?", you asked.

I don't know him or his family. All I know is they live in Heidelberg, Germany and I've been following their blog anonymously. Papa Johnson is hilarious and his blog - very entertaining. Nonameyet has two brothers, David and Peter and it is such a fun family to "follow".

I'll be there for your updates, The Johnson's Zoo. God willing, I'll be able to watch you grow up like Davey and Pete. I prefer Nonameyet over Tom, so I'll call you that name. See 'ya later.

Les Parapluies de New York

Today is a soggy day in New York. Normally, I'll just curl up in bed and read a book until my droopy eyes lull me to Ceci-land. That is, if my gentle snorting doesn't jolt me. Instead I decided to trek to the city and claim the free tickets to a concert at Carnegie Hall, another generous invitation from the Mannes College of Music. I can not disappoint my friends, I offered them the tickets and with my forceful emphasis on the free part, they already accepted my invite! I can't afford to lose face here.

I received the post card notice yesterday and knowing how the lines can stretch blocks (I mean long NY streetblocks) away from the box office, my thought was, let me go there right away and maybe I'll be the only soul in line; with this clammy weather, you'd have to pay someone to stand in the rain for a freebie. But then I'll say have one's head examined if they're willing to pay $120 for 6 tickets to just give away to good friends. Not in this hard times, not even for myself.

So I got on the train without getting poked in the eyes by umbrella-toting commuters and after navigating the crowd that's getting off from the bus which came by 10 minutes late. Great - I got a seat on an almost empty car because this was past the rush hour stampede.

Yipee, you think? Hold that cheer! Peace and quiet that lasted only 2 minutes until the next stop. What happened? A guy sat next to me, ruggedly dressed in typical NY getup, and then he started talking and cursing loud. Not good, what's his problem?

Pretending not to be scared. I turned on my internal radar. Readings revealed no Bluetooth velcro-ed to his ear, no iPod earplugs or headset and since cell phones get no signals underground, that's out - oh crap (pardon my French) , he is talking to himself! This jerk must be a sick-o! Now my heart started racing faster than the speed of this R train, I jumped out at the next stop and with a Cosmo Kramer-esque move, I took the next safe(?) seat in the front car. Relieved that he didn't follow me, I rode on merrily. Readers beware, sightings of this sort are normal in NY subways, so always get your antennas polished just in case. Harmless he maybe, but why take a chance?

And the umbrella theme, you asked? Translated: The Umbrellas of New York. Relax, I'll get there -- - eventually.

Second in line, got my tickets and out of the box office in no time. Home, James? Not yet, first let's see what my camera can steal shots of. Soggy and windy so what else could be more fitting - umbrellas aka parasols, bumbershoot, parapluies (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). Being at the right place at the right time, that's exactly what happened here. Fantastic! I got lucky this time.

Look closely (you got it - click on the picture) and you'll see Lehman Brother's logo in the green umbrella on the left. Waiting in the rain not knowing what this man's fate is, after LB went belly-up, seems to be the subject here.

Next - a couple from out-of-town cozy up under a New York umbrella while watching the waterfall by Prometheus Ring. No amount of rain can dampen the spirits of these two; the tour must go on! Picture is a bit blurry, no, not from my shaky hands but from the wind - 'think it's time for a digital SLR, guys? (Hint: Christmas in Dec.)

Lastly, the infamous upturned umbrella that always ends up in litter baskets in every streetcorner in New York. If you gather all the broken umbrellas everytime it rains here, there will be enough for Christo to hang on a line and wrap around Central Park again. Or, ship them to the Philippines and you'll keep lots of happy faces dry (after they fix the umbrellas and that's a no-brainer where I came from).

Life should be so simple; if something's broken, fix it and it can be useful again sometimes coming out as good as new. I wish we could do the same thing with the economic crisis. Not so easy. Let's see what happens at the debate tonight, now they got me listening.

PS : Apologies to Catherine Deneuve for my having bastardized the title of the movie she starred in - Le Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), blazing cinematography and a great love story. Check it out in your local library, it's free!

Leaves of change

Change seems to be the byword these days, news of all sorts about the crisis have been more sobering of late while Wall Street is short of having a meltdown. There's enough chaos out there in the financial world, a mayhem that makes everyone jittery and since we don't have much control over that, let's not worry so much about it and let's just talk about our favorite universal topic: the weather. For sure, I can't mess this one up or I hope not to!

Autumn is in the air. It felt crisp and invigorating the last couple of days as I did my morning walk. When sweaters start getting yanked out of the closet we know that summer is on its way out. Worry not, early signs of autumn are a harbinger of more wonderful things to come.

Leaves will be turning their red, copper or yellow colors and soon it'll be time to take that road trip to watch nature boast its masterpiece of brilliant foliage. Some of the best sceneries and my favorites are the winding local routes in Litchfield, Connecticut ending up in Worchester, Mass.. It's a spectacular festival of colors surrounding beautiful country homes along the way. A jug of apple cider and some fall harvest treats usually fill up a basket for us to take home.

It'll still be a while before the summer plants shut-down for the season, some of the birds will hang around for sometime until it's cold enough to move on and the Greenmarkets will still bring the best harvest from their farms before the freeze. And my hairy friend the squirrel will stick around for as long as it can with the dropping temperatures, or will it hibernate? I don't know.

I love going to the Greenmarket at Union Square, my best picks are the Pennsyvania "broken pretzels" ( a bag of which you can fetch for a buck and taste as good as the unbroken ones) and the "bubble gum cheese" from the Amish farmers. I don't know if Marge just coined the term for the marble-sized balls of white farmer's cheese that look like they just rolled out of a gumball machine, but they sure are a fun thing to snack on. She used to bring us a bag of this cheese curds on her way from her subway stop at the Square for us to chow down while working at Bellevue. Good old days.

Some of the good wines are produced in the vineyards in North Fork on Long Island. Aha! I remember that trip to Cutchogue to the Pugliese Vineyard. I think I still have the calendar of his best shots of Lighthouses. Wendy got a kick out of that; she thought it was a serious crush, when actually, I just admired his photography which he published as a calendar. We met him at the autumn County Fair where he was selling his artwork and of course we later found out his family owns the vineyard. Poor Ralph. I don't even drink wine, so where is the connection, Wendy? Mother Pugliese would've had a heart attack. Oh, that happened eons ago. Will have to plan on some vineyard hopping this fall, that's always fun. This time I'll be the one to take photographs, ha ha ha!

Many of the birds have definitely gone to their winter retreats. Do you ever wonder about those migratory birds? They are lucky they can just fly out to the other side of the globe without having to worry about sky-high airfares, cancelled flights, lost luggage or lack of legroom while in flight. Do they also suffer from "jet lag"? Silly me.

It was about 54 degrees when I strolled around this morning. I can only wish for this cool weather to stay all year but that would be a miracle. Change is about to happen and that's what makes the four seasons interesting. Hopefully we won't have to deal with a harsh winter, but if we do we'll just have to live with it. Okay, okay, maybe I'm too old to move out and change!

Right now, it's sunny and cool and I'm just lovin' it! Hot apple cider and a book to read - let's seize the day.

First day of Fall

Fall Song

Another year gone, leaving everywhere

its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply

in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island

of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering

in that black subterranean castle

of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds

and the wanderings of water. This

I try to remember when time's measure

painfully chafes, for instance when autumn

flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing

to stay - how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever

in these momentary pastures.

~ Mary Oliver ~