Category Archives: 2019

7/7/2019 – lawn care, DOG, drinks at Swoon

Sunday

Listened to more of the Bag Man podcast about Spiro Agnew. Lots of things we have not known about before. Shopping at Walmart because Karen needed to pick up some pills. DOG gallery sitting. Mowed back yard with push mower for first time this summer. Perhaps I should look for an electric mower?

Drinks with David Drake at Swoon.

Received the following via WhatsApp from Jonathan on Thursday. He is in Vietnam.

I asked today where it is was taken. He replied “Nghia An, central VN. Starting point for Ho Chi Minh Trail.” Then he added the following story: 

Well, we’re at this goat restaurant in Nghệ An, we’d been there a while, maybe halfway through the meal when an at first faint and then progressively louder cry of a young goat was heard until it was dragged right past our table by it’s two front legs…. the goat knew what was up, we were within ten feet of the set up… it was really overwhelming… I cleared the fuck out of the restaurant for the last part… then they got to work on it, with the carcass but not the workers just slightly out of view …

He sent along these videos:

7/6/2019 – DOG, Bard, dance recital

Saturday

Breakfast at Bob’s. Went to post office to mail back 20 or so books from the 2018 Photobook show. Farmer’s market. DOG. Nap. Spoke with Harvey. He claims to be slightly better but still flat on his back in bed.

Went to Bard in the evening for a dance recital. First piece was written 20 years ago. Didn’t really care for the music and the vocals. No real vocabulary for the dance. Second piece, an original score for Mercy written and performed by Meshell Ndegeocello,was much more interesting musically.

7/5/2019 – Bantam, home, dinner with Esther, Rose, Dean….

Friday

Had a leisurely morning with coffee and breakfast on the porch at Bantam. Harvey stayed in bed. I chatted with Harvey for a while. Spoke of people who visit and yet never talk about anyone but themselves. Arrived back in Hudson after noon. Both colds still cooking. Sent text to Ted announcing no tennis until next Tuesday – time to rest the wrist. Took a nap.

Went to Bard for a dance recital. First piece was written 20 years ago. Didn’t really care for the music and the vocals. No real vocabulary for the dance. Second piece, an original score for Mercy written and performed by Meshell Ndegeocello,was much more interesting musically.

7/4/2019 – Bantam, Harvey & Betsy

Thursday – 4th ofJuly

Both of us have colds. Nasty little coughs. Left for Bantam at about 11am.

Arrived to find Harvey on his back in bed in great pain from his back and nerve problems. He roused himself after a while and slowly staggered to the porch and a new reclining chair. We chatted away the afternoon. Big topic was Lena’s mental health problems, most accute in the last few days. She was in mental ward at local hospital for a few days, now enrolled in a six week outpatient program.

Harvey was in continuous pain with no body position proving real relief. Took Vicodin and muscle relaxants.

Carrot Mushroom Loaf in the oven

We had brought a mushroom carrot loaf so we had that with some other veggies for dinner. I didn’t stay up for the fireworks. Got in bed and coughed for a while. Karen and Betsy went down to the dock to watch.

7/3/2019 – web project, work, tennis

Wednesday

Mostly worked on furthering the consolidation of old materials into this website. Lots more to go. Contacted Harvey about going to Bantam Thursday and Friday. OK.

Any scratches??

Went with Karen to Home Depot in Catskill to buy some shades for the back room. Ended up spending $800 for two bottom up-top-down room darkening shades from Levelor.

Brief meeting with Seth and a call to SOMML. They are already on vacation.

Checked out the correct grip size for tennis. Reduced my wrap by one layer.

Played tennis with Ted for 90 minutes at 4pm.  92 degrees, intense sun. Sluggish, perhaps yesterday’s 3+ hours of tennis has its residual effects. Still managed to keep ahead of Ted, though I called off the set early.  New wristband is a help. But this wrist problem may become disabling and require a rest period. Really tired at end of session.

Karen made her signature dish of chicken chunks with chopped cabbage coleslaw. Watched several The Closer.

7/2/2019 – work and tennis

Tuesday

UTMH team meeting. Meeting at NYRWA to move project to next phase. Invoice UTMH. 

Tennis lesson with Saif at 4pm. Lots of work on  ground strokes, especially proper follow through with arm. Wrist bothering me more especially trying overheads. Good work on tossing the ball higher on serve. Still have not found the grove.

Waited around until 5:45 for the first of the doubles guys to show up. Once again got stuck with George and Henry because they show so early. Dreadful first set. Last set was competitive. Ted and I against Joe and George. BUT, not so smart to schedule a lesson before two hours of doubles. I was dead.

Joe and Paul announced that Bill Zvoboda had entered hospice. We took a group photo to send to him.

(left to right) Ted Dewsnap, Kevin Kelleher, Bob Gegen , George Traver, Steve Horniak, Joe Capobianco, Mark Orton, Justin Misevcis, Paul Ambrose, Frank Rosa, Henry Congegrane, Chad Silver

Today’s doubles group started out with these four guys:

(Left to right) Bill Zvoboda, Marty Darling, Joe Capobianco, Paul Ambrose – circa 25 years ago

7/1/2019 – yard work, Russian translation for UTMH, shades, lamb dinner

Monday

Spent a good part of the morning weed wacking the back yard. Also trimmed rose bush. Also work on Russian translations for UTMH RPM app. Had to check lots of entries for current language common on the Russian web. How do you say PulseOx in Russian?

Went to Marigold Home in Rhinebeck to look into shades for the Sun Room which is now overwhelmingly sunny in the early morning. Hunter Douglas shades on display. Sales person worked up a quote for us. $450 of installation costs and more than $2400 for the shades themselves. This is obviously a no go. Next stop Lowes and Home Depot.

I found a container of roast lamb from David Drake in the freezer. Made up a version of roasted cauliflower and lamb curry. Karen declared it to be very good.

6/30/2019 – Tanglewood Brass Extravaganza, tennis, drinks with David Drake

Sunday

David Drake came by to pick me up for a trip to Tanglewood for a Brass Concert. Wew especially like the percussion piece and the Symphony for Brass by Malcolm Arnold. Musicianship was extremely high. Good turnout for a Sunday morning. Demographics – average age in the 50s. We were back in Hudson by 1:30.

Pauline Decarmo minded the gallery.

Tennis

Played wtih Ted. He got ahead in our set 4-1, then I got it back to 4-5 serving for the set at 40-love when a big downpour ended our play.

Drinks

Karen came home early from her trip to Lowell MA to meet with Soup Group. We had a drink at Swoon. Also an appetizer: Roasted Cauliflower …spicy lamb ragout, shaved pecorino, herbs. Very good. Worth emulating.

Evening sun on Warren.

6/29/2019 – Bob’s, HAL Gala

Saturday

Bob’s for breakfast followed by food shopping. Drop off a big pile of UPS boxes to return last Fall’s book show entries.

Went to library at noon to help with set up for Gala Party. Moved chairs, furniture, cooking equipment, plates etc. Worked with new board member Bill Stenehjem. Nice guy. Went back at 4:30 with 240 lbs of ice. Less than the 400 lbs Betsy Gramkow suggested. But seemed that 1 1/2 lbs per attendee should work. Then worked with Gary Sheffer and Betsy to put furniture out in the rear garden for outdoor cocktails. No sooner everything set up then a big thunderstorm drowned that plan.

Party was fun. Ted and Anne came as our guests. I spent quite a bit of time schmoozing the crowd. Had interesting conversation outside around cigarrette smoking ith Shanekia MacIntosh and Zia Anger, young staff and volunteer for tech programs for kids. When we left at 9:30 or so there were still 40 or more people hanging out including some dancing. Call for the Cause raised $30k in about 15 minutes.

6/28/2019 UTMH, work, house, music at Caramoor

Friday

Drove to Rhinebeck to go to Marigold Home to look at blinds for the sun room. Now that the tree has died, the sun is overwhelming in the morning. Hunter Douglas must be to top end. Almost $3000 for blinds for the four rear facing windows. Will look elsewhere. Lowes has items that will do the job for a couple hundred.

Troy Web telecon and Matt Almeida. Then long nap.

Left for Katonah NY at 5:45. Caramoor Center for Music and Arts   and a concert by Roomful of Teeth. Music was fairly interesting, excellent musicianship, doesn’t require additional exposure.

165 mile round trip. Arrived home at 11pm.