The Autumn

I was driving around the Hudson Valley yesterday and just enjoying the perfect fall weather that we have been having.  The leaves are almost at peak and the air is crisp.  Fallen leaves crunch underfoot; the crisp air and toasty scent of the fallen leaves perfumes the air.   Yesterday morning, the sky was stacked with rows of dark gray clouds but persistent slashes of sunshine broke through.  As the day went on the clouds broke up and sailed away leaving a calm sea of blue sky.  One of my most vivid flashes of memory throughout my life is that same blue sky behind gorgeous splashes of oranges, yellows, and reds.

I feel in perfect harmony with the Hudson Valley.  I have found where I belong.  She and I are sisters; like the slashes of sun breaking through the clouds, I had the realization that melancholy does not mean unhappy.  I accept that it is part of who I am, but isn't sadness, it is simply melancholy--pensive and thoughtful.  I now delight in the ever changing air and weather here where when I was younger, it used to affect me profoundly in a different way.  I used to let those days with no sunshine and low gray clouds sweep over me until I felt the same way.  No more.  I am grown now and am beginning to see myself again; it is easy to get lost in life and forget who you are, but I was always in there chafing against the confines of what my life was molding me into, instead of who I was.  I could never really just let me be me and be comfortable with it.  I always had to hold my tongue, or suppress my feelings, and had no one to share ME with, except ME.  That is not a good way to live, no matter how much you love someone.  That love is true and strong, but there is always conflict and struggle because that love doesn't see the whole person.  It doesn't see the person who has changed who they are and how they act to fit into that love, not be the person they really are and loved for that.  Love comes in many degrees and infinite ways,  but love alone cannot sustain a person.  When big parts of a whole person are left unloved and misunderstood, it cracks the foundation and that love falters.

Dear dear friends of mine were blessed with a new life this week.  I don't know if they had a boy or a girl, but I pray that their baby is healthy and so is my friend.  I wish them all of the happiness and blessings that their life can hold.  God bless you Barbara and Anthony and your beautiful new baby.         

Flat Friends and Terrorizing Rhinebeck

I am proud to announce that we have a new product:  Flat Friends.  Flat Friends are stuffed animals without the stuffing and are made out of 100% pure Australian sheepskin.  Each Flat Friend is a different animal that is endangered, many of which are indigenous to Australia.  We will be carrying the Saltwater Croc, Grey Wolf, Sea Turtle, and Harp Seal Pup.  I am so excited about Flat Friends!  Sheepskin is such an under-used natural product here in the United States.  In Europe and Australia sheepskin is known and used for its soothing and healing properties.  It is widely considered to be hypoallergenic which means that it won't cause or inflame allergies.  It also soothes and heals sensitive and irritated skin, can prevent and heal bed or pressure sores, and stimulates circulation.  Because the fibers are aerated, sheepskin also regulates body temperature and wicks away moisture.  Naturally occuring lanolin in sheepskin is similar to the oils produced by our skin and acts as a balm.  When hung out in fresh air, lanolin also acts as a "cleaner" for the sheepskin and naturally repells dirt and bacteria.  I got my son the Grey Wolf--stay tuned to see how he (and I) like him!

If you have been following my blog you would have read my post entitled "Tantruming Around Town."  So far my son has managed to terrorize Pleasant Valley and Millbrook and we can now add Rhinebeck to the list.  Luckily for us and the entire town of Rhinebeck, this tantrum was localized and brief.  I had to buy work shoes for my newly secured job as baker for a local market.  I told my son that if he could behave while we were in the shoe store, we would go into the little toy shop there in town.  Well, for the whole 15 minutes we were in the shoe store, he just couldn't do it.  Not only would he not listen to me--he wouldn't listen to his Grammy either and got fresh with her.  So out of the store to walk the streets of Rhinebeck Grammy went and Gav was---horror of all horrors---stuck in the store with just me and all of those boring shoes.  Needlless to say,  we did not go to the toy shop and so Gav decided to fight my fire with his fire (right about now would be a fantastic time to substitute "shwartz" for "fire"  OMG!  I just proved my hypothesis that there really is a quote from Spaceballs for every situation in life!!  The forever immortalized Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet says to Bill Pullman's Lonestar "I see your schwartz is as big as mine" ).  Gav decides that he can't get into the car.  I've been down this road soooo many times and just didn't feel like stuffing my kicking, screaming, and biting 50# 5 year old into the open door of the car.  So Grammy and I get into the car and put our seatbelts on and I give him a chance to get in.  No.  So then I put the car in reverse and roll back maybe a foot and the screaming escalates.  I put it in first and roll forward and get out of the car to see if he wants to go with us--he says no.  I said, ok, you go sit on that  bench over there, Grammy and I are going.  Back into the car I go and do the whole seatbelt/reverse shtick again.  A lady in her 60's walks by and looks pitiously at my son and glares at me and asks us if he belongs to us and we nod.  This  time the ruse worked---I looked at my mother and told her that little weasel was going to make me back out of that parking space before he gave in.  Luckily I didn't have to because he didn't seem to want to chance the idea that I might leave him there.  I really think that he is beginning to get the idea that I really do always follow through on my threats.  Like the day I took him to school with no shoes and almost no shirt.  Yeah.  We're both lucky he got as far as the clean pull-up and pants, because he was about to arrive at school fashionably late and unfashionably clothed in his pajamas.


So, according to the website that lists municipality information for Dutchess County, there are 20 towns, 2 cities, and 8 villages in our fair county.  The running tally for the newly entitled prospectus: "Tantruming Our Way Around Dutchess County" is:

Gavin:  2 villages, 1 town
Dutchess County:  6 villages, 19 towns, and 2 cities

Right now DC is coming out ahead but there is no telling when our schwartz's will get twisted again.