Journal: July 30. Glacier Blue Siding

Glacier Blue Siding on house in Fredon.

Another Friday. Another garbage day. Sam'leaves at dawn on Monday. The morning was devoted to cleaning out the garage, given both the limitations of curbside pick-up and the amount of recyclables we can squeeze into the car to take to the dump

The main task--a heart-breaking one--well--not completely heart breaking, but surely not pleasant was tearing the covers off of moldy books--the pages get recyled with paper, the covers with cardboard. The books spanned decades and generations. We filled too many black plastic bags with ruined books.

We took four bags and the big green moldy arm chair to the end of the road for Hampton pick-up--then loaded the car with cardboard, bags of paper and cans and bottles for a visit to the recyling center. A quick stop at the Post Office, then home to wait for Norma and Roger Lesser, driving up from DC.

Sam went off with his new machete, while I readied the house for guests.

As soon as they arrived--after 4, Norma and I headed out to go to Windy Brow to buy corn for dinner. Huge traffic jam in Newton distracted us--missed the turn. Trying to work my way back to Route 519, I turned into a housing development and stumbled upon a house that had the exact color siding I wanted. Just because i have not been writing about color choices, don't think for a minute that I have not been obsessing--I've just been trying to keep it under control. 

As evidence of my relative success,   I hadn't previously mentioned my color concerns to Norma, but there was no concealing it now.  I pulled over, and, due to problems of vision as well as an undeveloped sense of vinyl detection, I actually had to go up to the house to make sure it wasn't wood.  This tapping on the vinyl (for indeed, vinyl it was) alerted the resident dog, who alerted the residents themselves.  They, as homeowners usually are, were delighted that I had stopped to admire their siding and informed me that it was Glacier Blue (though gray it certainly looked) from Northwest Siding, a venue I was already familiar with.

So--the discovery of Glacier Blue was the triumph of the day which continued with a visit to Windy Brow where he bought peaches and plums, tomato and corn for dinner, returned home and grilled up a storm--the marinating chicken, corn, many salads, and then took a quick drive to hyper humus for a fine and civilized sunset walk.

Journal July 29th. Naomi and Sam in New York City. Museums and burgers.

Before I drove across country, I thought, and told everyone, that this house in New Jersey would basically be my New York City residence.

It has been a complete surprise that I have been here for so long (over two months) and barely ventured into the city.

Of course most residents of Sussex County rarely drive the 50 miles to Manhattan. They might go to a baseball game, but they don't hear the beckoning strains of the city that has been calling to me since my family moved to Jersey City when I was five years old.

But two months here, and I was reading the calendars of events in the New Yorker and the NYTimes as if I were still in Venice, California. No siren calls there.

But praise be, I was indeed in heaven in New York City today.

Began with most elegant and delicious breakfast of brioche French toast with bacon at Balthazar's with Jackie. Almost completely ignored (though not enough to avoid mentioning) how very expensive everything was--and truth be told, 'tho the bacon was done to a perfect turn and the maple syrup was genuine, the french toast itself while fine, was not Balthazar spectacular.

And any illusions of sophistication I might like to harbor were dashed when getting a call from Sam to plan the rest of our city day, I got up to talk outside (not sure of their cell phone rules, but I do have my own) and in the process of squeezing between tables managed to knock over and break a fine little balthazar pitcher (luckily I'd eaten every drop of maple syrup, so the mess wasn't major, and as it was cleaned up before I returned and I am nearing the age of perpetually failing memory, I could barely recall the incident by the end of our meal.

I'd mapped out a day of many museums and Sam and I had arranged to meet in the lobby of MOMA to see the Matisse.

planned to meet Sam at modern--but he popped right into my car on the number 6 train at the port authority.

We zoomed to MOMA, where we went through the Matisse show a bit too quickly (it's all about process--demanding a certain kind of attention that we didn't quite have--though enjoyable on the zipping through level as well).  The permanent collection dazzling as always.  Sam was wary of my ambitious itinerary-but he was willing to go along with it on the assumption that we were travelers in a strange land who would have to cram in as much as possible in a short time.

Sarah had been raving about the hamburgers at the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridian.  I'd never known about it...how could that be? as Sam had been there before (now that he's begun meeting meat after 20 years as a vegetarian--he hasn't met a burger he doesn't love), was ready to pass it up on sighting the line.  But we couldn't figure out another mid-town spot--and it had begun to rain buckets, so we got on the line.

First burger of day--focus on lettuce (oy)

I was ready to embark on prodigious research (big surprise--I'm happier reading obsessive debates about burgers than about siding), but have forced myself to stop before learning how this funky place exists in this four star hotel on 57th street.   In any case, the line moved quickly, the burgers were fine--I will not weigh in on their relative greatness--but it all felt like a perfect nyc experience.

By the time we left, the rains had ceased, and we walked through Central Park to the Frick where Sam had never been  (I have a memory, perhaps false, of taking him there when he was quite little, only to learn that he was too young to be admitted).

Being from another century--one that probably preceded the art at MOMA, he was completely happy there.  And then--because I can be a glutton--we continued uptown to the Whitney.  I'd wanted to see the Charles Burchfield show--I'd missed it at the Hammer--had not a clue as to what it might be.  Sam was more than ready to head towards New Jersey, but he humored me--and in fact we both thought it was pretty great.

Dave mowing in sepia, not moonlight

Then--back on the subway to Soho. I'd promised Sam a stop at Uniqlo where he stocked up on shirts and underwear, and I got a shirt as well--then back over the GW bridge.  We made a quick visit to Trader Joe's in Paramus, got lost a bit trying to turn ourselves around on Route 17, stopped for replenishment at the Tom Sawyer Diner.  Although the menu, full of  wraps and salads was not quite the classic diner fare we'd been craving, the food was surprisingly good.  Sam had his second burger of the day--and thought it held up well to the classic at the Burger Joint.  
Arrived home close to 11pm, and in the moonlight could just about see that Engineer Dave had done some significant mowing.

Journal: July 28th. More doors up, more trees down and off to the city

Carrie is flying to Milwaukee from La Guardia at 8pm tonight--Sam and I will drive her and have decided to spend the night in the city. Much discussion of how long it will take.

Spoiled by living minutes from LAX--and having been surprised too often by New York traffic (drive time is incredibly flexible--a half hour trip can take and hour and a half. ten minutes can expand to an hour, or--the trip you allot an hour for can take twenty minutes. You never know.

Dave Grommell, retired engineer comes by to fish. He's fished here for years. Was a friend of hank pittenger--who worked for my father---

the lake is public--but the public does not have permission (unless I specifically grant it--to drive down our road to the lake). Dave had come by two weeks ago, introduced himself--and I told him he was welcome to fish whenever.

This time, he asked if I would like him to come with his sit down mower to tackle the fields around the house that have outgrown the capabilities of my lawn mower (you will eventually be able to read about that in my as-yet-unposted report of June 18, 2010).

Others have made the same offer--somehow guys looking at the wildly growing vegetation around the house can't resist offering to mow it down--but it hasn't happened yet--so we shall see.

As I chatted with Dave, and Carrie and Sam packed up, George continued fixing the old doors--finding panels of screens, smooth and sanding all the warped and swelling edges fo everything fit snugly. Already the number of bugs in the house are markedly diminished--next week the new windows will be installed. It does feel like things are moving along.

Logan came again with his chain saw--he's removing trees between the house and the lake--guaranteeing we'll have our lake view for a while. George keeps muttering about the old dying willows--but we will have to wait for a bolt of lightning to get rid of them. In the meantime, from the backyard, we now have a lovely view of lake and swans (though yesterday, while he and Gabrielle were out in his boat, Logan noted that one of the adult swans had died--it was floating dead in the water. It's gone today--so our view just includes one parent (mother or father, we cannot tell) and the two teen-age cygnets.

After dropping Carrie at LaGuardia (it just took an hour and a half to get there), Sam and I found an excellent parking place on Chrystie Street on the lower east. There were cops everywhere. I thought they were there to give tickets to anyone causing gridlock--but it turned out that Obama was going to be driving through momentarily--en route from his lunch in Edison New Jersey to Anna Wintour's on Thompson street. We did not attend either event, which is fine--but we're especially happy we didn't get stuck in any traffic.

We had dinner with Sam's friends, Jon and Noah in Chinatown--the boys then continued their cavorting and I returned to Jackie and Andre's.

Journal: July 27. Doors, windows, and tree clearing

The crooked, yet tightly sealed dining room door.

Lots of activity on a hot day. Sam and Carrie working on Cambridge apartment rental--lots of scanning and mailing, Sam continuing with his Chekhov book chores, Logan arriving at 7:30 to chop down trees before the day got insufferably hot, and George working for hours on getting old doors to open and close properly.

Many of these doors hadn't functioned for years. When I arrived most doors were sealed with tape and plastic--I guess that was weather-proofing--but given all the smells and mustiness, the house cried out for ventilation. Once doors and windows were opened, holes in the screens (if there were screens) and big gaps between doors and sills made the house all too appealing for mosquitoes and other flying creatures. At first, because it wasn't all that hot, this wasn't a problem, but in recent days, mosquitoes have been happily swarming--too many bites, too much itching, not a pretty picture.

And not so easy to rectify. If you look carefully at the picture of the repaired door--you will have a hard time finding one right angle. Much trial and error before the door finally sealed properly. Each day the interior bug population declines--and the human residents become happier and happier.

We had been thinking of going to a minor league baseball game tonight, but instead saw Inception at the Historic Newton Theater. I had thought I might be completely mystified--but was happy enough with the visuals and cross-references, and thought I was even understanding the plot--but once we got to Antarctica--and started zipping through layers of dreams--I was on shakier ground. In the end, I wasn't sure if it wasn't just all a clever puzzle and our task was to discover the twists and turns of Christopher Nolan's brain. But it cannot be denied that a fine time was had by all--and it was a pleasure to go into another world altogether.

Journal: July 26th. Siding thoughts

original cedar shingles

current white vinyl siding

candidate for future siding

more gray siding--not too bad

From the moment I saw the dreadful white vinyl siding covering the original wooden shingles, I'd assumed the first thing I'd do, if I ever got the house, was restore it to its original (or relatively original) shingled self. But...George Roof, who as he says, "loves wood as much as the next guy," has convinced me that given the cost, given the maintenance, given the advantages of foam insulation (which you put on between the old siding and the new), vinyl siding is the way to go. Which means I will have a plastic covered house. So be it.

In meandering drives through the neighborhood, I have discovered that most houses are covered in vinyl. With my aging eyes, it was initially difficult for me to discern the difference between wood and properly installed vinyl siding. Now, after weeks of practice, I can usually distinguish wood from vinyl away--but that is perhaps irrelevant.

George counsels against white vinyl--it blemishes too easily. We find ourselves leaning towards shades of gray--the question is how dark should we go? Sam, Carrie and I spent hours driving around today looking at various shades of gray (George gave us a list of addresses he'd gotten from the siding store of newly installed gray vinyl). I took a slew of pictures of what I thought were different colors--but due either to tricks of light, or my photographic failings, they all look almost the same.
George later told me that there are other kinds of vinyl siding which are shaded in ways to look even more like wood--so perhaps the investigations aren't over--though I doubt I'll be able to get Sam and Carrie to head out on another siding outing.

Sam received the leather bound copies of his Chekhov book, delivered to my Augusta Post Office and spent the rest of the afternoon buying packing materials and getting ready to send them out. To follow his book efforts: http://www.shackmanpress.com/

Another dinner on the grill--marinated chicken thighs, eggplant, onions, zucchini and tomato, cucumber and onion salad--followed by a splendid walk through hyper humus (it was late by the time we finished eating--so in a break with all precedent and taking advantage of the new paulinskill-hyper humus wildlife management area which our acreage has now been added to, we drove to the little parking lot at hyper humus and walked until a swelling orange full moon was visible in the eastern sky. If we'd had money with us, we would have dashed to Dairy Queen, but instead drove home and made ourselves root beer floats for night caps.

Journal: July 25th. Quiet rainy Sunday.

Things must be taking shape. The frenetic cleaning of the past two months is drawing to an end.

Today, with a full house--Sam, Carrie and Sarah--the chores were not overwhelming. Sam and I drove to get the Sunday Times in the morning, then a quick stop at the Lafayette Farmer's market--a nice idea--but we bought only scallions and zucchini--we may have--hard to believe--had our fill of corn--at least for one day. Then a drive on the back road to Newton--where we stopped in the two(!!) Latino grocery stores on Spring Street. Sam, of course, takes Latino grocery stores in stride. He expects to find them everywhere in the world--but for me, remembering the Newton of fifty years ago, the influx of Central Americans, blacks, East Asians, is a continual amazement.

Then to Weiss's--the smaller supermarket next door to Shop Rite. We'd been disappointed yesterday--there had been a circular in my post office box announcing all kinds of sales--but when we got there, we realized the sales started today. So--this morning--we knew exactly what we were getting--the highlights--three family size bags of chips for the price of one (Buy One--Get two Free!!) and Ben and Jerry"s Ice Cream.

Back at the house, I gave Sam a lesson in using my splendid new self-powered lawnmower. He took to it like a champ--but his efforts were cut short--when the heavens opened--and the rain we'd been waiting for (the rain that promises to end the dreadful heat spell) poured down for a few hours.

As it rained, we had a splendid late lunch of many delicious left-overs--sliced steak, the bean salad, a new tomato and cucumber salad with lots of ice cream and pie for dessert.

Sarah had emptied the dressers upstairs, bringing the contents into the living room, where she and Sam spent some quality time sorting and organizing. Many beautiful old gloves and handkerchiefs, the light system my father used to take movies of us with his 16 millimeter camera, and a tiny minox camera. My father bought it in the late fifties and was thrilled with it for years. It's a three inch camera--I don't remember the pictures it took, but it is quite beautiful in a tiny leather case with chain in perfect condition. I quickly researched it--I am willing to sell all discoveries if they are worth five (maybe four figures)--but this particular treasure--a Minox B, a German made variation of a "spy camera" dating from 1958 thought coveted by collectors can be bought on e-bay for $139. The bad news is that we can't turn it into a solar heating system of new bathroom, the good news is we get to keep it.

The rain stopped. The heat broke. It was time to drive Sarah to the Lakeland Bus. We were trying a new stop in Sparta--which we're hoping will be a shorter trip (the report isn't in yet). As Sarah made her way back to the big city, Sam, Carrie and I drove around Lake Mohawk checking out colors and types of siding in the newly crisp evening air.

To-do Lists: To be completed before Labor Day 2010

Lists are not my natural habitat, but Sarah --she of many agendas--has formulated this list of household tasks for the next two months:

Kitchen: Maintain!!

Den: Sort All
Clean All
Decide on Furniture, Salvageable or not

Little Bedroom:
Sort Linen

Big Bedroom:
Keep Tidy

Living Rooms:
Sort All

Laundry Room:
Tidy

Upstairs:
Sort All
Move All except Beds and Dressers
Set-up rooms for guests

Outdoors:
Cut down more trees in back to keep view of lake open.
Buy outdoor table and chairs.