kukla_red: (Default)
David and I saw Tom Paxton perform on Saturday night.  He was a huge part of my growing up years - I can't count how many times my parents took me to see him in concert, and then I started going on my own.  It's been a while - he's been living in England and hasn't been here as much.  I am so glad we went.  It was the end to a perfect day.  We went out east to the North Fork of Long Island, had a wine tasting at a biodynamic vineyard that makes wine I can actually drink (!).  Then we went to some farms stands and an apple orchard, got some apples and cider and then started to meander back west.  We ended up at a fabulous BBQ joint in my former home town and then went to the concert.  It was a great day.

Tom sang this song, which I had never heard before.  It brought me to tears and was an incredibly moving moment during the concert.

The Bravest

The first plane hit the other tower, right after I came in.
It left a gaping, fiery hole where offices had been.
We'd stood and watched in horror, as we saw the first ones fall,
Then someone yelled "Get out, get out! They're trying to kill us all!"

I grabbed the pictures from my desk and joined the flight for life.
With every step I called the names of my children and my wife,
And then we heard them coming, from several floors below,
A crowd of firefighters with their heavy gear in tow

Now every time I try to sleep, I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs, while we were running down.

When we met them on the stairs, they said we were too slow.
"Get out, get out!" they yelled at us, "The whole thing's gonna go!"
They didn't have to tell us twice, we'd seen the world on fire.
We kept on running down the stairs, while they kept climbing higher.

Now every time I try to sleep, I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs, while we were running down.

Thank God we made it to the street; we ran through ash and smoke.
I did not know which way to run; I thought that I would choke.
A fireman took me by the arm and pointed me uptown,
Then "Christ!" I heard him whisper, as the tower came pounding down.

Now every time I try to sleep, I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs, while we were running down.

So now I go to funerals for men I never knew;
The pipers play "Amazing Grace", as the coffins come in view.
They must have seen it coming when they turned to face the fire.
They sent us down to safety, then they kept on climbing higher.

Now every time I try to sleep, I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs, while we were running down.





www.youtube.com/watch
kukla_red: (Default)
Just when I had gotten myself worked up into a full bore grump last night over the whole "But it's Friday night and they want me to work late and it's the night before my birthday, and it's NOT FAIR!" whine, David comes along and with one sentence, changed everything.  "So you'll work from home Babe and then we can go out to dinner".  Um, I really should have thought of that myself!  D'oh. 

One of the nicest things about my job is that we do have the option of working from home, pretty much whenever we want to - as long as you don't have to go to a client site.  So I will work from home and be done by 6.  David won't even get back from the city until at least 6:30 or 7 and then we will just meet up with our friends as planned.  I guess I was just so tired yesterday - and more than a little annoyed that a client would thoughtlessly request training at a time which they KNOW is unreasonable - that I couldn't see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

I feel better now. :)

Work has been incredibly busy again, after a lull of a week or so.  This is good for the company and good for me too, since I don't like being bored.  Hopefully it will also mean that we will get bonuses at some point.  Money is always appreciated.  We didn't get any bonus money in mid-March when we were supposed to get our annual reviews.  Didn't get reviews either, actually.  We did get rather minuscule raises, which is better than nothing.  Hopefully if we hit some good numbers they will spread the wealth.  In the meantime, at least I am gainfully employed and paid pretty well for what I do.

So it is Friday, we have a great weekend lined up and hopefully, work will not be so insane today.  We're going to see this on Saturday.  And we're going to see the Sabres play the Devils on Sunday.  We also really need to shop for a suit for David.  We have 2 weddings to go to this year (NO Tal, one of them is NOT mine!) and he has literally nothing to wear.

Have a great weekend, all!  And thanks for all the words of support and encouragement yesterday.  Matt, I might take you up on that someday!!
kukla_red: (Default)
Just when I had gotten myself worked up into a full bore grump last night over the whole "But it's Friday night and they want me to work late and it's the night before my birthday, and it's NOT FAIR!" whine, David comes along and with one sentence, changed everything.  "So you'll work from home Babe and then we can go out to dinner".  Um, I really should have thought of that myself!  D'oh. 

One of the nicest things about my job is that we do have the option of working from home, pretty much whenever we want to - as long as you don't have to go to a client site.  So I will work from home and be done by 6.  David won't even get back from the city until at least 6:30 or 7 and then we will just meet up with our friends as planned.  I guess I was just so tired yesterday - and more than a little annoyed that a client would thoughtlessly request training at a time which they KNOW is unreasonable - that I couldn't see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

I feel better now. :)

Work has been incredibly busy again, after a lull of a week or so.  This is good for the company and good for me too, since I don't like being bored.  Hopefully it will also mean that we will get bonuses at some point.  Money is always appreciated.  We didn't get any bonus money in mid-March when we were supposed to get our annual reviews.  Didn't get reviews either, actually.  We did get rather minuscule raises, which is better than nothing.  Hopefully if we hit some good numbers they will spread the wealth.  In the meantime, at least I am gainfully employed and paid pretty well for what I do.

So it is Friday, we have a great weekend lined up and hopefully, work will not be so insane today.  We're going to see this on Saturday.  And we're going to see the Sabres play the Devils on Sunday.  We also really need to shop for a suit for David.  We have 2 weddings to go to this year (NO Tal, one of them is NOT mine!) and he has literally nothing to wear.

Have a great weekend, all!  And thanks for all the words of support and encouragement yesterday.  Matt, I might take you up on that someday!!
kukla_red: (Default)
So, I said it was a busy weekend but then I didn't elaborate.  How rude of me!

We did have a busy but very enjoyable weekend.  Friday night was the much-anticipated Renaissance concert.  For those of you who do not know this band, have a look see here.  You'll need a MySpace account, I think, to see everything, but possibly not.  If you can't see it, check this out.  The lead singer, Annie Haslam, has an amazing 5 octave voice.  Yes, I said FIVE octaves.  She's incredible.  Gorgeous music soaring in a lovely setting and a great dinner before the show.  Who could ask for more?

We got home around midnight and I fell asleep almost immediately.  I didn't stay asleep, but that seems to be the norm lately.  We made a rather lazy Saturday morning of it and then finally got our collective act together in the afternoon.  We went to Ace Hardware and bought an electric hedge trimmer and then I attacked the overgrown bushes that surround the house.  David mowed and trimmed, I trimmed and raked and by the end of it, the yards front and back looked 150% better.  We had some of David's excellent meatballs and sauce with pasta for dinner.  I love making food ahead and freezing it for later.

On Sunday we got up early to do our duty as stunt grandparents for the lovely Charlotte, our stunt granddaughter.  She is the daughter of my friend Laura and we've adopted her so we have a grandchild to practice on.  Laura asked David to be the event photographer, a duty he took very seriously.  You can see some of the results here.

We came home in the afternoon and I made a big pan of lasagna using Muir Glen Cabernet tomato sauce.  O so yummy!!  Had enough for dinner (David had seconds) and still froze enough for 4 more dinners.

Now I have to drag my sorry butt to another meeting and then - I hope - go home.  Do not feel well.











kukla_red: (Default)
So, I said it was a busy weekend but then I didn't elaborate.  How rude of me!

We did have a busy but very enjoyable weekend.  Friday night was the much-anticipated Renaissance concert.  For those of you who do not know this band, have a look see here.  You'll need a MySpace account, I think, to see everything, but possibly not.  If you can't see it, check this out.  The lead singer, Annie Haslam, has an amazing 5 octave voice.  Yes, I said FIVE octaves.  She's incredible.  Gorgeous music soaring in a lovely setting and a great dinner before the show.  Who could ask for more?

We got home around midnight and I fell asleep almost immediately.  I didn't stay asleep, but that seems to be the norm lately.  We made a rather lazy Saturday morning of it and then finally got our collective act together in the afternoon.  We went to Ace Hardware and bought an electric hedge trimmer and then I attacked the overgrown bushes that surround the house.  David mowed and trimmed, I trimmed and raked and by the end of it, the yards front and back looked 150% better.  We had some of David's excellent meatballs and sauce with pasta for dinner.  I love making food ahead and freezing it for later.

On Sunday we got up early to do our duty as stunt grandparents for the lovely Charlotte, our stunt granddaughter.  She is the daughter of my friend Laura and we've adopted her so we have a grandchild to practice on.  Laura asked David to be the event photographer, a duty he took very seriously.  You can see some of the results here.

We came home in the afternoon and I made a big pan of lasagna using Muir Glen Cabernet tomato sauce.  O so yummy!!  Had enough for dinner (David had seconds) and still froze enough for 4 more dinners.

Now I have to drag my sorry butt to another meeting and then - I hope - go home.  Do not feel well.











kukla_red: (Earth Heart)
Wow, when Mother Nature wants to put on a show she really does it up right.  We're having massive, scary thunderstorms here in NYC with tons of lightning, hail (HAIL!!) and a deluge of rain which is falling at an angle.  I am very glad that I am not outside at the moment.

We had a nice weekend, not too busy which was good.  We went to see the 40th anniversary tour of Jethro Tull at Jones Beach on Saturday night.  It was, as always, great to see Ian and the band but I have to confess I was a little disappointed.  This is the third time we've seen him in as many years and each time it seems the concerts get shorter and the play list gets a little weirder.  I would be perfectly happy if I never heard Aqualung and Locomotive Breath again in concert.  Been there, done that.  Ian, who is getting on in years (as are we all) is trying to save his voice - which I perfectly understand.  But he's developed this strange sort of half singing, half talking and altogether nasal style of performing his songs which I find irritating and not up to snuff.  I would rather he do an all instrumental program than attempt songs like My Sunday Feeling in this way.

In fact, David and I came up with a plan for him.  He should tour with an all acoustic program - he never really wanted to do a lot of hard rock in the first place.  He could keep the lovely string quartet that's been touring with the band, add some backup singers to help him with the vocal chores and delve into his extensive acoustic catalog of songs, even adapting some that were not originally acoustic (Songs From the Wood) to an acoustic arrangement which would work quite nicely.

Sigh.  I might write to him though.  Why not?

The rest of the weekend was baseball watching, taking in the Olympic opening ceremonies and some of the action.  Who knew there was that  much interest in beach volleyball?  The opening ceremonies were very impressive, but I found them to be a little scary.  Especially when I saw that the incredible box formations were being done with real people in the boxes.  That really freaked me out.

I wanted to BBQ in the backyard yesterday but the weather killed that idea so I made some nice tilapia on the stove and we had a huge salad and cous cous. 

Aaron had a good time at his Comic Con in Baltimore over the weekend.  They came home in one piece and although tired, none the worse for wear.

Sarah had a disappointing social weekend - so many of her friends are rather flaky when it comes to making plans.  And she is not too pleased with her father, again.  That man just does not seem to  understand that his time with her is limited and he is blowing it - big time.  Not my problem really, but I hate to see her come home from seeing him hurt pretty much every time.

Now starts the count down to our next vacation.  We leave on August 23 and I can't wait. 
kukla_red: (Default)
Wow, when Mother Nature wants to put on a show she really does it up right.  We're having massive, scary thunderstorms here in NYC with tons of lightning, hail (HAIL!!) and a deluge of rain which is falling at an angle.  I am very glad that I am not outside at the moment.

We had a nice weekend, not too busy which was good.  We went to see the 40th anniversary tour of Jethro Tull at Jones Beach on Saturday night.  It was, as always, great to see Ian and the band but I have to confess I was a little disappointed.  This is the third time we've seen him in as many years and each time it seems the concerts get shorter and the play list gets a little weirder.  I would be perfectly happy if I never heard Aqualung and Locomotive Breath again in concert.  Been there, done that.  Ian, who is getting on in years (as are we all) is trying to save his voice - which I perfectly understand.  But he's developed this strange sort of half singing, half talking and altogether nasal style of performing his songs which I find irritating and not up to snuff.  I would rather he do an all instrumental program than attempt songs like My Sunday Feeling in this way.

In fact, David and I came up with a plan for him.  He should tour with an all acoustic program - he never really wanted to do a lot of hard rock in the first place.  He could keep the lovely string quartet that's been touring with the band, add some backup singers to help him with the vocal chores and delve into his extensive acoustic catalog of songs, even adapting some that were not originally acoustic (Songs From the Wood) to an acoustic arrangement which would work quite nicely.

Sigh.  I might write to him though.  Why not?

The rest of the weekend was baseball watching, taking in the Olympic opening ceremonies and some of the action.  Who knew there was that  much interest in beach volleyball?  The opening ceremonies were very impressive, but I found them to be a little scary.  Especially when I saw that the incredible box formations were being done with real people in the boxes.  That really freaked me out.

I wanted to BBQ in the backyard yesterday but the weather killed that idea so I made some nice tilapia on the stove and we had a huge salad and cous cous. 

Aaron had a good time at his Comic Con in Baltimore over the weekend.  They came home in one piece and although tired, none the worse for wear.

Sarah had a disappointing social weekend - so many of her friends are rather flaky when it comes to making plans.  And she is not too pleased with her father, again.  That man just does not seem to  understand that his time with her is limited and he is blowing it - big time.  Not my problem really, but I hate to see her come home from seeing him hurt pretty much every time.

Now starts the count down to our next vacation.  We leave on August 23 and I can't wait. 

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