surprise

He was pretty surprised. Wolfen had organized a party at DJ-man's bar and was wondering how to suggest they go there, when he suggested it himself over dinner. There were presents and carrot cake and mulled cider, which I took down in a cab. The party got started kind of late and seems to be continuing (devolving into a sleepover, with Spogga on the couch) in the living room this morning

stone soup

The children prepare their own Thanksgiving dinner.

this year's thanksgiving lineup

Female: 11
Male: 6
Males under three: 2
Sets of twins: 1
LBGT: (that I know of) 2
Psychiatrists: 1
Under 25: 6
Big media employees: 2
Female car mechanics: 1
Chinese-Americans: 1
Latinas; 1
Gasner/Dowling clan members: 7
Aliens: 1
Parents: 6
Blonds: 6
Strangers: 1
Native Americans: 0 (though a possibility for next year)

We still don't know about the toilet seat mosaic artist or the high school friends.

staging

Movin on up. Wolfen's room looks like this (below), as we prepare for the feast and for her move.
And my room looks like that (right), because a gal's gotta

run her business from somewhere in the interim.

I can't describe how the living room looks. Suffice it to say that the Cub is packing, too.


And now, I will go buy a turkey.
And move the truck.

it's a miracle

Our Lady of Lourdes appeared on the kitchen table in New York City.
She arrived by post, having suffered a bit of fluid loss through her screw-on crown, with the result that the US Postal service is now holier than— well, certainly than thou.
J sent her hoping that she would cure my knee. I was hoping that she could find me some work.
Now that would be a miracle.

and the winner is. . .

OK, thanks for playing WHAT'S IN THE TRUCK?
As you can see, DaDa was correct about the banana. Actually, there were two bananas at the beginning of the trip and one and a half by the end, seen here. So that's 5 points for being right and a bonus of 5 points for being first.
Dada 10
Wolfen, too, scored on the banana issue, for 5 points. She gets an additional 5 for condiments, though she might have specified four different types of wasabi, two boxes of sea salt from France, a bottle of ketchup and several mustards.
Wolfen 10
CBA, hmm. She was right about the power tools (though actually it was just one screw gun and the girlie set of manual tools my sister gave me last Christmas) for 5 points. And I probably SHOULD have had an air conditioner and a few chairs, though I didn't, for 20 points. But CBA loses points because the question was not what was in HER truck (which she only bought because she was jealous of me) but what was in MY truck! And that is so outrageous that she loses 15 big ones.
CBA 10.
Dangerman was right about the beer for 5 points, but he had something of CBA's problem about Jimmy Hoffa in that I suspect he simply wished that I had Hoffa in my truck so that he could find the body and put it all over Fox News. Doesn't he understand that this question is about me, not about him? So I'll give him 5 for trying.
Dangerman 10
Certain Mother is wrong on one point. I DID have a lipstick, and a pretty fancy one that Desperado bought me at Jeffrey's in the Meat Market for going on TV. As for the girdle, that's outrageous. She get's 15 points for that suggestion, minus 5 for being WRONG WRONG WRONG about the lipstick.
Certain Mother 10
DR was right, I SHOULD have had those darned tomato-soup coffee cups. But I didn't have room when I finished loading 50 white dinner plates and 50 place settings of cheesy Ikea silverware, along with 15 wine glasses and 16 strands of fairy lights for that next big party. And BTW, DR, did you notice your vase in the tricked-out kitchen of the new place?
DR 10
Cowgirl. This girl was playing for real! Laptop 5. Tools 5. How-to books? Ixnay. I have very little left to do. Other books (a copy of The Marriage of Zones Three, Four and Five by Doris Lessing among them)5. Coffee maker? Nope. I had the last pound of Zabar's coffee, but at last count I owned two Chemex coffee pots, two electric setups and a Melita or two, so I don't travel with em. Camera, check, for 5. Underwear 5. Water 5 (you can see it in the Ozarka bottle above). Phone 5. deducting 10 points for the how-to book and the coffee maker, that still leaves Cowgirl the rodeo queen.
Cowgirl 25! Yippie ty yi!

None of y'all guessed the koa wood ukulele, the ham knife, the brass platter on permanent loan from 4th floor Web Guy, the bushel of apples, potatoes and onions, the cooler full of frozen foodstuffs including a lot of veggie burgers, the two pumpkins and the box of things to return to Home Depot, but hey, thanks for playing WHAT'S IN THE TRUCK? I look forward to your suggestions next year.

Oh, the prize. The prize for the 6 runners up, with 10 points apiece, is being able to stay in the New York apartment. Preferably NOT ALL AT ONCE. And the prize for Cowgirl? She gets to stay a whole lot longer!

point b to point a

Yes, folks, it's time for that semi annual game once again of
WHAT'S IN THE TRUCK?
It's harder this year because--yes--it's been raining, so everything is in garbage bags.
Still, I am sure there are things you could guess right--and some things you would never ever expect to find being carted from the island to New York City.
So, let's play WHAT'S IN THE TRUCK?

5 points for each correct answer
10 points for answers that should be correct
15 points for outrageous answers

Employees of Claudia's Surf City not permitted
Prizes to be announced

the other side of the story

house proud

If you could only see what the other half of the room looks like, you would understand photography as illusion much better. Let's just say it is not floored.

this just in

Here is a glimpse of a new earring collection by Wolfen at AZU. She says,
"This piece, 'Silver, Brass and Glass,' from the Hapless Collection, will be featured at the "Are You Nosi" Event in Providence on December 2nd.
Why hapless? We're nosi. And we want to know what they cost.

godzilla invades fjord

OK. So it's raining, and polyurethane takes longer to dry.

another triumph for geekdom

T-Shirt Turns Air Guitar Into Music

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Scientists announced Monday that they have developed a high-tech T-shirt that turns the strumming of an air guitar into music. The T-shirt has motion sensors built into its elbows that pick up the wearer's arm motions and relay them wirelessly to a computer which interprets them as guitar rifts, said Richard Helmer, an engineer who leads the research team from the government's Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

That would be "guitar riffs," however. And I think it might work better if the sensors were on the belly of the T-shirt.

perhaps you'd like to know. . .

We are reliably informed that the Fox News tower in midtown Manhattan has bedbugs. Dangerman reports that they originated on the VIP couch. . .La Otra Rubia has moved into the just-floored apartment she bought in Dolores's building. . . Angelina is in Georgia making everyone terribly jealous by pursuing the purchase of a large, loaded midlife crisismobile, a Chevy Silverado pickup to compliment her Tiffany diamonds. . . J returned to California in time to vote, leaving her mate in France attempting to install the new Viking stove in the under-renovation kitchen (photos upon request). . . The Block Island social scene has been etiolated (?) by the departure of Mr. Piss-on-the-ants and his bride, Ber-Ber. It will be further depleted by the desertion today of Wolfen and the Cub, bearing a cratefull of wedding gifts and much firedancing equipment, and leaving the Architect happy with a new portfolio of photographs and me with a new kitchen floor to be urethaned. My own departure next week will be the less mourned as I have decided to forego hosting further dinner entertainments.
Please post your own items below.

puzzled

doing floors

yay!

It seems that neither Rhode Island nor New York needed my vote. Shoulda moved to Virginia.

sold!

moving house

now what?

Faithful readers, I know I've been boring you lately.
There is the post-construction slump, the post-wedding slump and, perhaps most importantly, the this-island-is-too small factor which has led me deeper into vanilla prose and prosaic photography. I know you need a little hot sauce.
So what do you want?
Nude pictures?
More pet photos?
Gossip?
A return to the ascerbic?
Intimate details about the lives of people you may or may not know? Intimate details of your own lives?
Pictures of La Rubia's construction site?
A guide to feng shui?
The latest on the internet affair with the MTF Lakota?
The most recent installment in that continuing family saga, "East of Westchester"?
What's going on in Oaxaca?
The sociology of blended families?
Dangerman's latest health report?
Yesterday's beer count?
Or I could just pass my remaining days with the specific goal of not boring you and report the truth.
My life is in your hands, dear readers. Do you ever wonder whether your participation in this blog is just a little, shall we say, passive?

meet cute

Wolfen and the Cub were headed north along the Eastern Seaboard.
Angelina and I were headed south.
The twain, or rather two twains, met by the side of the road in New Haven for a few minutes of face time.

the boat

We're down to two or three boats a day. And today, I'll be on one of them.

happy new year

the way things are

This is the way things are:
The plasterers are slogging and slopping away.
My brother is packing up.
The window casings are done.
The doors are hung.
There are a few things left to do. Downstairs floor. Cleanup. Urethane. Cleanup. Painting. Cleanup. Fireplaces. Cleanup. These things will probably not get done until spring. The painting alone could take me a year (window casings, doors, interior walls, floors, stairway, exterior trim, railings).
I am going off island on Thursday to take my bro to the airport, then to NY to see the subway singer perform that evening.
Kathleen Mock will be at Makor, 35 W 67th Street at 7:30 on November 2, for those who wish to see her. www.mockmusic.com
Then I am coming back to the island to see how much I can get done before I have to shut down.
That is the way things are.
Superficially, anyway.

just one more

phototgraph by Donna Ferrato

but that was yesterday

The ceremonial lowering of the flag and raising of the fake flowers takes place on Neruda's last golden weekend on the island.
Today, we are expecting up to two inches of rain with gusting to 65 mph. The ocean is heaving and who knows if the boats are running.

here's ben!

Thanks to the groom, we found Ben.

getting plastered

There is some discussion about whether to paint or seal with a masonry product like Okon. Also about tinting plaster. Thoughts? Think quick. . .

venus in scorpio, avian style

The birds have gone crazy. They seem to think it's nesting season. They are flying around like nutcases (nuthatches?), flying into the house and out, around and around the house, through the porch. They're doing this all over the island. I mean, the apple tree started blooming and then the shad bushes and now this. I'm freezing my ass off. Don't these dumb birds know it's time to go south for the winter and not time to nest?

where's ben?

photograph by Donna Ferrato

point c to point b

Pulled myself out almost bodily from a dream (does everybody dream like this?) to realize I'm late starting to move stuff back to from where I moved it from the last time so as to make room for the plasterers to start work! Tomorrow! On this island, when a group of workmen say they have a week's availability, you jump on it, no matter how inconvenient. I have a bit more insulating to do as well, and Cowboy is finishing out the window sills and casings. Better get out to Point B so I can move stuff back to Point A!
BTW the leading contenders for names at this point are East and West (thanks Phil—so dignified, though the allusion to Frank Lloyd Wright seems boastful) and the somewhat less dignified Claudia's Surf City and Hannah's Beach Party or Hannah's Party City.
Whaddya think?

stairway as heaven

So, do we paint the railings white? aqua? leave them natural? We are going for the look of a waterfall of wood, here.

lights, action

What is this item, Mr. Li?
This very fine item came from China, touching down in a San Diego warehouse. I bought it on line based on a 2 x 2 inch photo, knowing very well that I was taking a risk. But it wasn't very expensive (a closeout sale, no big surprise), shipping was free and the thing was guaranteed for a whole while.
It was installed months ago, but last night I was able to treat myself to my first spa evening. Mind you, you can have lights or action, but not, apparantly, both at once. I also don't dare use the heater for fear of blowing the whole scene to kingdom come. But I was able to sit there in the bubbling rice bowl feeling like a cannibal's next meal. "All you need is some giant chopsticks," Photochild says. And I know I'm really asking for it here, but it seems like giant chopsticks are something Mr. li might stock.

moved out

All that's left is curtains, a linoleum rug or two and thousands and thousands of words.

proof sheet

photograph by Dorothy Reilly
The mystery photog provides proof of her baby-portrait skills.

naming

So I had this dream last night that when I was out to lunch (as ever, some might say), the ocean broke through the dunes and flattened my old house. The new one was still okay, but I cried because I had loved the old one. This dream could be attributed to guilt about becoming attached to the new place or about owning two houses at all but one thing it cannot be is prophetic, since the old one sits much higher than the new one.
Which brings me to the real issue: What do we call the two places? Not as in painting signs (how twee is that?), but for purposes of clarity in speech and writing. My bro-in-law's places next door are known as "Big Barn" and "Little Barn," but this nomenclature is way out of date, as Little Barn is not a barn at all any more, but a house. Likewise, in ten years, "New House" and "Old House" are not going to cut it. I have been calling the new house the Barn, the Site, but these are likewise no longer descriptive. The Sculpture might be more accurate. If this was Hawaii, you would call them the Makai House (for towards the ocean) and the Mauka House (for towards the mountain, or inland) but this is not Hawaii and naming things in other languages is kind of show-offy, I feel. We could go with the strictly true but counter-intuitive plat 3-6 and 3-1. Or we could go for the rather more straightforward fire numbers 109 and 110. Or we could call the old place, as I often do, Claudia's Surf City. Or the Mothership. Or CSC I and II. Or--but I give up.
Your turn.

hey, baby

I thought it was time for another baby picture. I can't remember who took this one. Kate? Doro? Oops. so much for photo credits.

off off and away

Looks like we're headed off island for the day to check out the property of E's dreams. Angelina is coming with us too—are you jealous?—and we will likely spend some quality time at Home Depot, buzzing back in time for the last boat at 5:00 pm so as to be here for the electricians bright and shiny in the morning. If it doesn't rain. Which it's supposed to.

the last barbeque

probably of summer, but certainly at Rosalee and Peruko's house. They have sold up and spent yesterday moving out, to spend more time in Peru and on the mainland. There goes the neighborhood, alas. We have had many a fine party at the Beach House and will miss the hosts with the most, not to mention their habit of wandering down the beach to our place.

sorry, another sunset

But wasn't it amazing? Last night.

PS
For Hannah and Chris's wedding announcement:
http://www.blockislandtimes.com/news/2006/0930/News/030.html

Sorry. No idea why this won't link properly, but if you cut and paste it will work.

when the frost

... is on the pumpkin, that's the time for [all in-laws finish rhyme here].
It's also the time for a touch of cabin fever, the type that makes one a trifle snappish with loved ones and filled with a great longing to get out of town. Or, in my case, back to town. Meanwhile, there's always making soup.

the redo

Not even done, and starting to do stuff over again already.
Urethaning floors, ok, understandable.
Moving pipes, though? Before we even have our inspection? My brother wants me to bring the water line in two feet away from where it is presently.
Unplumbing the rice bowl hot tub? Yeesh. Thanks to Wolfen howling at them, the hot tub people sent us a new electrical package so that hopefully we will be bubbling. Only trouble is, to try it out, we have to take the tub out (meaning that the plumber has to come over from the mainland), replace the electricals, put the tub back in and fill with water to check if it works.
It had better.

before

Cowboy contemplates his vision for the stairway. He designed and built the waterfall railings at his studio in Santa Fe. He is still seeking the perfect rock.

protest

Since the wedding, days on the island have been like a string of sapphires or topazes with full moon nights like—maybe I've taken this too far.
Anyway, after rain for the wedding there have been a lot of days that have made me want to set off explosives screaming, "Unfair."
Still, it's hard not to take advantage of a weekend like this one.

this is block island?

I saw a guy wearing fluffy angel wings jogging down Beach Avenue towards the ocean yesterday. What's next? Diversity?

For wedding pix by Keri Pickett, go to
www.christophergarrison.com/wedding

surfin usa

oddly

The apple tree has come back into bloom.

get back to work

We had to get the big items upstairs before the railings went on. That included the tub, the beds and a motherload of sheetrock, which arrived yesterday. The Cowboy helped offload it, then completed the porch railings. I, on the other hand, am still dogging it.

metaphor

Underneath one of those chairs on the left is the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly. The groom found it during his honeymoon (honeymooning with the moms? lucky moms) and took its picture. It was a beautiful green, with a jeweled necklace and buttons, more beautiful than any made by—oops, didn't mean to say that.
Anyway, the happy couple toured the island by motorcycle and as part of a tour given by three experienced Island taxi drivers, one of whom gave us a piece of info we hadn't had before, i.e. that Block Island was so called because town is a block long. We learned many other interesting things to0, and found on a historical marker a possible name for the couple's first born: Precious Spring.

After a week the honeymooners left. We kept checking every day, but the butterfly still hadn't hatched out. Yesterday, though, I found the tomb empty and the newborn on the ground, trying to find purchase on a blade of grass. I let it walk on my finger and conveyed it to more solid ground (the chair) to dry its wings and fly away.
I won't belabor the point, but I think it was headed for Mexico rather than Providence.

at the rehearsal dinner

Kids of all ages had a really good time.

undress rehearsal

Bridezilla rehearses the troops for the beach wedding that never happened and is not regretted.

just married

photograph by Lynn Johnson

what they saw

photograph by Unca John

gather ye rose petals

photograph by Keri Pickett

So the grandbaby thought that the thing to do was to sprinkle the groom's feet with flower petals. And it was probably a really good idea.

the grown-up world

photograph by Kate Stalzer
Bet you when she grows up she'll want to be a pretty princess just like Wolfen.