COCKS CROWING AND ICE CREAM STANDS

The neighbors here in Brewster got a rooster. It crows quite a bit during the day. I find it more amusing than annoying, certainly more pleasant than the siren that went off all the time in Long Island. Fewer car noises, too.

Emmylou and Albert had a moment this morning. Emmy was feeling generally affectionate, as she often does in the morning. After she had head-butted me a few times, she turned to Albert who was standing with us in the kitchen. She leaned her head into his muzzle a few times, but he didn’t understand what she was doing and went on play alert. Very cute. When he didn’t respond appropriately, she gave him a box (sans claws) on the nose.

Cooder mostly stays upstairs, although she did join me on the SIP (screened-in porch) for some petting. I just think she likes to interrupt my progress on The Charterhouse of Parma. Why doesn’t common knowledge inform us that Stendahl was very wry and drôle?

I did not make enough progress on my sorting and pitching the last two days so I needs get back to it. The spinach-toasted almond pesto was a success. After our gins-and-tonics and dinner on Saturday evening, J wanted to go see Guardians of the Galaxy. Getting me to agree took a bit of arm-twisting, but we jumped up and got to the theater just in time to miss most of the trailers (hurrah). And it was fun.

Afterwards, we stopped at the ice cream stand that has been there since J was a lad. (Although I had picked up some killer sea salt chocolate gelato from the Farmer's Market.) The movie theater was in Kent or Carmel. There was yet another lake or reservoir nearby. This one was Lake Gleneida. It's where there is a statue of Sybil Ludington.

The vibe is pretty much the same as it ever was.

Healthy Smiths

Jason Bredle

Every few months my friend and I get together


to talk about “what we’re doing” vis-à-vis


“the perceived goal of our dual attempt


to become masters of wordsmithing


in the face of insurmountable opposition.”


This is what I’m doing, we say,


compared to this person we don’t know


who does something similar


and is wildly more successful than us.


Powdered lips and lip powder


are quite the opposite


to anyone who’s ever powdered their lips


or shaved flakes off of their lips


in that great and violent kitchen of our beings.


Is it true, we wonder. Are our life-fates locked


aside from random pratfall, victim


of crime or illness? In twenty years


you’ll look back at this moment and go,


“whoa, weird,” but you’ll feel the same way


you feel now as you stare into the crisp,


dark city and say to yourself,


“whoa, weird.” I’m just trying


to get through this like the rest of us,


you used to think, with dextrose, maltodextrin,


malic acid, calcium stearate, carnauba wax,


blue 2, red 40, yellow 5,
less than 2% corn syrup and possibly egg


on my tongue. Who knows what could happen


to my lips. They could be powdered, shaved,


or ripped completely off my face


in one, impressive motion.

Okay, and just one more thing for those of you animal lovers who don't read the New York Times regularly. There was a beautiful article about animals and companionship, A Man and His Cat.