We arrived in Ithaca about 15 minutes ago. We're already at the library! PJ thinks he put the $ for the mtg payment into the wrong account so we better make sure! It's chilly with a high of 62 today. I forgot to look at what tonight will bring. I hope it doesn't get too cold as we're camping!
So today we'll go to a garage sale, a winery, maybe a hike, who knows. It's time to RELAX!!!

Last night our v-ball team came in 2nd place in the finals. We lost the first game 19-21, won the second game 21-18 and lost the 3rd game 16-21. We played the NASTY team, the A. J's. We beat them for the season. We came in 1st and they were second. We were so happy to even do that. Anything to knock them down a peg is good with us! We were missing 2 players for college and 2 players in the last 1 1/2 weeks each broke their hands. So we were very proud of ourselves to get this far. It was nice, the other Wantagh team was there cheering us on. They hate the A. J.'s also. After playing, the 2 guys that run the place asked us if we wanted to play against them... sure, 6 against 2. I do recall playing against them years ago and they killed us! And they killed us this time also! Then they split us up and we went on each side so now there was the same amount on each team. Our guy was teaching Alyssa and I how to set properly etc. I never do that because I stink at it. Well, after about 15 minutes, I was impressing myself!!! It was a lot of fun and that's what it's all about! So it was an exciting night and now I'm very sore!

I went to visit my Grandfather today on City Island. Last time I went to visit him,it was sunny out and it took 1 hr and 40 minutes to get there. It should normally be 35-40 minutes. Today I left in the rain. I was all set to be slammed in traffic again, especially being that it was raining. It was smooth sailing the whole way there! I got there at exactly 11, the time I said that I would. I think it's been 20 years since I didn't hit traffic on the way there.
Pops was asleep. I didn't want to wake him. He wouldn't know who I was anyway. David said that he wakes up for about 10 minutes and goes back to sleep and doesn't know who anyone is.
David and I chatted and then I left 20 minutes later.
I decided that being that last time I was on City Island, I went down Cousin Jeannie's block and took pics of the boats and water, that this time I would do the same with Cousin Dottie's block. There are all at the end of her block, about 4 or 5 houses away from her house.
Looking towards the Throgs Neck Bridge.

I had to take a picture on my way home on the bridge. There was NO TRAFFIC again and there was construction too!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Notice the blue sky. City Island, NYC etc was all blue shy. As soon as I got to Long Island, I was back in the rain. It rained until I got back in my door!

Yesterday I started a new job that has very flexible house. This way I can still sub. I was hired by a friend to "sit in the room and while 99 year old Aunt Mary sleeps, you just make sure she doesn't try to get up and end up falling out of bed. You can watch tv, read, whatever you want because she'll be asleep almost the whole time". Someone has to be there while she's in bed and the family can't handle it anymore. I was a bit leery because I HATE nursing homes but decided that it was a smart move.
So, I brought a book with the hopes of actually reading the whole book through the days, something I rarely accomplish. Aunt Mary's sons were there and they introduced me to her and right away she didn't want me there. She doesn't want her sons paying for someone to watch her. She kept saying "so what if I fall out of bed. I'm 99 years old. How long do you want me to last"? I had to tell her that I'm not getting paid and that I'm doing it to fill my day.
They showed me around and chatted for about an hour while Aunt Mary kept saying she doesn't need me. They both had to go so they wheeled her into the lounge area and left. Aunt Mary then was my new best friend and chatted with me NON STOP until I left at 4:15! She is one funny and spunky lady! We chatted about her boys, how she was married for 7 years with a 4 year old and pregnant with the second when her husband fell, hit his head and died. She had to bring them up alone and she worked extra to be able to provide extras for her boys... one was music lessons which ended up allowing that son to go to Julliard.
Later in the day her best friend Mary was at Bingo and wet her pants. She had to go back to her room to get changed. In the meantime Aunt Mary said she always wondered how the aides deal with the men that have those accidents because "you know, they have to touch their private parts. You know my husband died after I was married for only 7 years and I haven't seen one of those things since then. I wouldn't know what to do with it! I'd be afraid if I touched one I might make it fall off"! She grabbed my hand and we both had a good laugh.
Mary came back and Aunt Mary told her that her sons got some lady to sit in the room to watch her and she doesn't want the lady to be offended but doesn't want her (ME!). I said Aunt Mary, that's me. I'm only here to help them and to keep you company. She said she enjoys my company. Then she said "I think that other lady lives in the basement"! I really ended up have a fun day and I'm actually looking forward for tomorrow.

Last night was our Semi-Final Volleyball game. The wind at the beach was howling at 40 MPH with 50 MPH gusts! This was not the weather we thought we'd have being that we live about 7 minutes away from the beach and it was pretty calm at home! Another obstacle was that we were missing 3 key players. Two had college classes and the third broke her hand on Saturday. We knew we really had to put everything out there if we had a chance of winning these 3 games. We came in first place for the season but now needed to win this and then the Final to get the absurdly HUGE trophy.
The first game was a complete surprise of how close the score was back and forth. We'd be winning by one then the other team would be winning by one. You hit the ball one way and the wind would carry it in an entirely different way. Sometimes the ball would be ready to land out of bounds and the wind would push it back in at the last second before landing! It was bizarre! We ended up loosing the first game 21-19. That was pretty intense if I say so myself!
Now we have to get more serious for the second game. We had some pretty awesome plays. Whenever the ball would come to me all I could think was that I better hit it and do good because I don't want to lose on account of me! We were in the air, on the ground, diving in every direction. This was another tough, neck and neck game but we ended up winning 22-20.
OK so now we're on to the 3rd game. There was no letting go at this once we started. It was pretty close until midway when the other team cracked! We started gaining points and the more we gained, the more they messed up, thank goodness! We ended up winning the 3rd game 21-14! WE DID IT!!! We were all so happy and PUMPED! I never saw so much adrenalin from this team before!
We were so proud of ourselves. EVERYONE played their hearts out! We're so excited to play in the Final Games next week but we're not happy with who we're playing. They are known among the 16 teams as being the 'nasty team'. We've played them before and there are always problems. But that's next week. For now, we'll all bask in the glory that we won with our hearts last night!

PJ and I took a walk at Jones Beach this morning to see the aftermath of what Hurricane Earl created. We really didn't get rain here but the tides wrecked havoc.
Below is looking towards Field 6

Lifeguards at Field 5
Basketball courts
Towards field 5



Walking towards Field 4
Field 4
The main stairs leading on to the beach at Field 4
My favorite shack

The golf course looking towards the ampitheater
a bench in the basketball courts
walking towards field 6

I went down to Jones Beach this morning with Andrea to see what the beach looked like with Hurricane Earl off the coast of Long Island. There was a lot of people there but I was expecting more. We had a great time, mostly laughing at people as they ran away for the water as it would come up. These pictures have a lot of blue in them but in real life, it was mostly gray. We did have periods, short ones, where the sun came out. So far we've only had drizzle but out east in Montauk, I heard that they're getting pounded by rain. The winds are supposed to pick up later this afternoon.




Our chairs are just behind those 2 ladies. We started about 20 feet closer to the water but had to keep moving them back.

Yesterday was a fun day at the beach with the gals. Hurricane Danielle is passing by in the Atlantic and causing really bad undertows. We were very surprised that the water was like a sheet of glass.... very calm. A lady heard our comments and said "just wait".
Out of the blue, a few waves showed up and then went back to being calm. It was so strange because like 5 minutes would go by without a wave and then WHAM-O... you're pounded! Some of the waves were like 10' high and would even double over the one in front of it and then back to calm. At one point people started running when they saw the size of what was coming, including me! I happened to mention... tsunami! No kidding!!! Kris had to help people (while the rest of us stood in amazement) that were standing in ankle deep water that were pulled down and couldn't get up!

We were at field 6. For a Monday morning (we got there at 9:30), it was pretty crowded.
The people in front of us had their kids dig a trench to keep the water away from them. As soon as they left, we all jumped up and move our chairs! We claimed it as our own!
We had a fun day of catching up. I'll be back again today.

This past Saturday PJ and I went to Atlantic Beach for the Annual Cornell Friends Reunion at Stewart and Lisa's beach house. We had such a nice time chatting, laughing, catching up, laughing and did I say laughing?
PJ and Stewart chatting:
Hana playing with PJ's hand. Gabe looking on:
Lisa and Ellen:
PJ, Stewart and Phil enjoying the crisp water:
Bottom left going around: PJ, Me, Vinny, Jocelyn, Lisa, Ellen and Phil
Bottom left and around: Phil, Danny, Hana, Lynne and Gabe
We went back to the house for appetizers and drinks. Gabe wouldn't leave Laura and her boyfriend Miguel alone... for even a second! He would pop up everywhere! While he was doing that, Hana was over at the vegetable garden, picking the tomatoes while their parents were WATCHING and both remained silent! It really took a lot of control for the rest of us to keep our mouths shut. Gabe even rode his matchbox cars across Vinny's glasses that he was wearing!! Wait 'till those kids are teenagers!!!
We came in for dinner after we started getting eaten alive by mosquito's. We had a nice dinner. Stewart brought out his laptop and started showing us pics of everyone (except Ellen and I because we're the only 2 people that didn't go to Cornell). It was so funny to see everyone from back in the '70... long hair, wrinkled clothes, parties etc. NOW all of the stories started coming out! Very funny!
Back left: Lisa, Stewart (our host's), Phil, me, PJ, Vinny, Ellen, Lynne then middle front is Danny and front left is Jocelyn.

We had such a nice day. It was so good to see PJ laugh like he was back in college. GOOD TIMES!!

Is It Time To Hang It Up?

Last night was PJ's Over 40 All Star softball game. It started off on the right foot (pun intended) but didn't quite come off that way.
The announcer of the game was Mr Bo.... from our High School. He was the pitcher for the over 50 team which game just ended. It was fun to see him again.
PJ's first up at bat he hurt his foot running to first base! To make it worse, the other team got a double play off of that hit! He was laughing though, probably out of embarrassment! He didn't take the field until the 3rd inning.
The ball came to him...he stretched out to get it.... the ball tipped his glove and boom! Down he went! He pulled his hamstring! That was it for his contribution to the All Star team! We left in the 6th inning and our team was winning 22-2.