I scanned a lot more, here are a sample:

October 15, 1961, my Christening day. I was several weeks premature (5)? So I was small for a month old.

 It's funny, because most of the time on my birthday -- both as a child and adult -- I have a homemade cake, and that's my preference. But for my first it looks to be store-bought.

 This is at St. Francis DeSales Church in Phoenicia. 

I got the three above in the memory shadowbox my mother gave me for my birthday.

This is Bresee's Health Bar in Oneonta. I'm so glad I found it. Sadly, the Health Bar is no more. Lots of good memories from this place, including lunch there being the last time I saw a friend who died a week later. But that's hardly the only lasting impression, I ate there nearly every day and twice on Thursdays, when Main Street stayed open late. It was the site of many deep college-inspired discussions, also coffee was 25 cents a cup and two homemade cookies were another quarter -- or was it only fifteen cents? Even in the early '80s, that was dirt cheap. They had cream cheese on banana bread with a side of peaches as a daily sandwich choice. Our favorite waitress was named Grace, a tall, thin, aged, sturdy, lovely and kindly Otsego County lady, and she'd worked there for 40 years. RIP Bresee's!

 I liked getting my master's on this campus. Maybe because of its roots as a normal school? Was that a harbinger that eventually I would be teaching?

I have a few different views of Bishop's Falls, including a large framed photograph. This was the spot where they started the Ashokan Reservoir. Wish I could have seen it in the real world!

I tried to witness the meteor shower. Everyone else was asleep after midnight on Saturday, but I figured Sam would be willing to go out with me and wait. No such luck! After about 2 minutes he wanted go back inside. Meteor showers are not like Aurora Borealis - you have to be patient, willing to stay out there maybe an hour...certainly more than five or ten minutes, which is all I could manage. The skies were clear and the constellations easily visible, but no meteors. Oh well.

During my calm before the storm I am doing a little scanning. Here's the Watson Hollow Inn.

Warm and cozy near the fireplace, having hot chocolate. And we're getting our hour back! This is one night when it doesn't matter that much, though. I am hardly even tired. Whatever, happy to go back to real time nonetheless. Hoping to see the meteor shower tonight. There is very little light pollution here, so it is a good place to see it.

What a gorgeous day! Also a good one in that I have a brief lull -- caught up with everything (lots of epapers come in next week, also presentations start) - the calm before the storm so to speak. I finished the midterm marathon. One of those semesters where they were OK overall. OK means that there were only a few stunning ones; the majority were B range. A few were terrible (not due to skills but due to effort, it was so clear) and unfortunately the last one I read was the worst - almost made me mad. But, glad it wasn't the first one I read or I would still be procrastinating on that task.

So today I was able to catch up on minor details I have been putting off while I was absorbed elsewhere -- good old poop patrol and what may be the final weed whacking of the season, requesting my winter session blackboard class, trying to figure out how I can get CBS on the roku (the surface answer is you can't, but if there's a way, I will find it), organizing the emails that relate to my research in a separate folder, scheduling the last real-time chat with one of the groups in the online class.

I wore the the ankle brace part of the day on Wednesday while I was home, and all day on Tuesday and Thursday while I was on campus and elsewhere away from home. I don't like putting it on in the morning, I don't like how it slows me down when I walk (yesterday on the way to my afternoon class all I could think was "I really must look like a weird lady," but I do like that it takes away all the concern I have over twisting my ankle again, and I also like how my ankle feels as the day wears on: very good.

We had about 25 trick-or-treaters. It was very busy until 7 and then tapered off. Early on I started to get worried we would run out of candy, but our neighbors turned off their lights and then the flow slowed to a trickle. Also, my ankle brace came. It is very sturdy. It isn't too heavy or bulky and it fits in my shoe, but it is hard to walk fast while wearing it. Still, I will put up with the inconvenience and wear it as much as I can.

Not that I have the time! But I have been making such good progress that as a reward I scanned some of the pictures I got for my birthday.

This is Mimmie, my maternal grandmother when she was ~17 in ~1921.

My mother and me on my first birthday in 1962.

A postcard of West Hurley, which is where Mimmie grew up. This village is now under the Ashokan Reservoir. The postmark says 1909.

I didn't get this on my birthday. It is from an uncle's album, and unlabeled. However we believe it is my paternal grandmother, who died in 1933.

First birthday again

I decided to check Elwyn's diary to see what the weather was like in other years. I checked 19 years from 1917 to 1975. The two most common types of weather were "generally bright and sunny. Clear still frosty evng. Typical colorful tingy autumn weather" (1959) or "a rough day, strong south westerly winds, mostly cloudy, rain squally evng" (1934).

It was not uncommon to have the first killing frost, the first flurries, or the first snowfall on the mountains. "Rained hard during night & rained this forenoon. Snow squalls on mountains. Tops of mountains white – colder" (1920). Occasionally it was really warm. In 1946, it was "brisk southerly winds. Partly cloudy Starlight evng. Real summery weather - Katydids chirping." In 1938, it was "continued warm shirt sleeve weather. New York City temperature 10 above normal." In 1936, that week was record-breaking cold: it was "coldest Oct 27 New York City ever recorded."

Sometimes something else jumps out, nothing to do with weather. It seemed to be a day he often went to the movies. On October 29, 1951, he "saw a most interesting patriotic film in color and musical feature Wait Till The Clouds Roll By." In 1947, he "went to Phoenicia evng - Interesting picture program feature film Treasure Island in cinecolor." And on October 29, 1940, "the nations first peace time national draft lottery opened at noon in Washington. First number drawn was 158, 2nd 192, 3rd 8239, 4th 6620."

Quite a storm! Will have to check Elwyn's diary for this date to see if he recorded anything remotely like this. (I know the television weather speaks of records, but it is really something to read someone's words from the time.) The maple trees in the yard have barely turned color yet. They are always the last to drop leaves. The branches are snow-covered and looking very droopy at the moment. Hang in there, my friends!

I have some other things besides Elwyn's diary to post here, pictures I got for my birthday. Just haven't had the time for scanning, but I will. Eventually. I've been very on task, worked on my research all day. That was what I had on the To Do list for the weekend. I figured we might lose power, so I didn't want to procrastinate until tomorrow. I hope any outage we do have doesn't go into the week - I am hoping to get the midterms graded. But, if it does, not a biggie (except for students, who are eagerly waiting). I'm almost caught up so I am not really in a panic. Also we have an adapter that plugs into the car as an energy source, so we will be able to charge cell phones and maybe even plug in the laptop and modem now and then. So I still might be able to get some work done regardless.

Bob has been cooking! Yay! Smells delicious.

Who would have thought we'd be shoveling again so soon? (I think he will be helping this year.)

The storm reports have become quite serious, so it looks like no Samsonville this weekend. Not really because of the roads, but because of the risk of losing power - which happens there routinely. The air feels like snow (as it did yesterday too). I told the students in one of my classes that and they looked at me like I was crazy. Do people not have a connection to the natural environment, an ability to detect the feel of an impending storm? Or did it just seem too early in the season?

I broke down and bought myself a brace for chronic sprained ankle that will fit in my SAS shoes, work with my orthotics and not be too bulky. There is no way it will stay good otherwise. With my other foot problems, turning my ankle and falling is inevitable. I should have done it one or two spills ago! Hopefully it will arrive in a few days. Until then, moving very carefully.

Last night we played Scruples in my evening class, as part of the moral education material. As usual, after initial reservations, once they got going, they loved it. Every semester a few tell me they want to buy the game and try it with their friends. My original from ~1990 is long gone, but I bought one on ebay because it didn't seem to be made any longer. Now I see it has been resurrected by a different manufacturer, tweaked (sort of like Quintessence LOL) and is called Scruples Millennium. (Sort of implies Y2K, but I am not sure if it is newer or came out then.) Retails for anywhere from $50-$70 if you can find a copy in stock. I doubt any student would be willing to fork over that much! The old versions seem to be widely available on ebay, though, for $15.

Fell again, and re-injured my ankle. Nothing like the original, of course, but still. It seems I stop being neurotic on stairs when it is improved ~ big mistake. Talk about being blue! :-(  Now where did I put that cane? The "weird lady" is back!

Looks like a big (for this early) snowstorm might be coming this weekend?

And, we had our killing frost last night. Bye spices, impatiens, coleus, and zinnias.

Wow - it feels like snow!

Which reminds me, Elwyn wrote in his diary that the return to "real time" took place on September 30 in 1951. I looked it up and we are not falling behind until November 6! I remember not that long ago it was much earlier in the fall; you don't have to go back 60 years. I don't care if it is dark at 2 PM - I hate getting up in the dark. It feels like it is the middle of the night when the alarm goes off.

I thought the reason for this stupidity was so that kids don't have to wait for the school bus in the dark in the spring. That is what is always said when moving daylight savings time to earlier in the year is questioned. Hello! They are waiting for the school bus in the dark right now.

I want my hour back now!

On another subject, sort of related only because someone in government decreed it, the subject of the metric system came up recently when we were visiting a friend. We all remembered lengthy units every year in elementary school where we learned it. We were told that we were going to convert to it someday and that was why it was important. We were scolded that it was a better, more sensible system that the rest of the world used when we complained. The insinuation was that only provincial morons who were stuck in the past would resist.

Well, guess what? It was a failure and we never switched. All that instruction was a waste of time. What makes it worse is that we never learned anything about the supposedly inferior system we use every day - acres, miles, quarts and bushels were completely neglected. That information had to be taught to us by our parents. Today I know people who struggle with how many pints are in a quart.

Who couldn't have predicted that outcome? I feel it was culturally insensitive to teach us that crap and ignore the English system.

Amen.

On Tuesday, I was feeling "blue." That's my preferred word choice, because "depressed" is too clinical and it implies something serious. I lost my bifocals, lost my sunglasses, dropped an earring and had no time to look for it. I rushed out without a coat, had to take the bus, and was freezing.

I knew as I was turning over my dismal attitude in my mind that the real reason I felt down was because I am over committed. That led to the usual beating up of the "I'm such a jerk because..." variety.

On the walk to my office, I found the nearest place to walk inside (since it was drizzling and I was cold), and it struck me that just a year ago, I couldn't have done it. I would have had to use a cane, and even at that, the floor would have been too slippery, and I would have been in a panic that I might fall. I would have had to walk outside, very slowly and carefully. While freezing and feeling sorry for myself. My ankle is so much better!

I arrived at my office, and there they were in my chair -- both my bifocals and my sunglasses! It suddenly turned into a good day.

By the end of yesterday, I was starting to see daylight on the workload. Another good day.

Did the storm tear the town apart or did people come together? It's an interesting question. I think it did both. Environmentally, there is no question: it did damage; it literally tore the town apart. Politically, it awakened dissent. Why is that a bad thing? I suppose it could be pessimistically charactized as "tearing the town apart," but pluralism is healthy and free speech is our birthright. Finally, a community of private citizens turned out; they came together and helped their neighbors without hesitation. The only bad thing I see was the storm damage itself.

Watched the 60 Minutes hatchet job on Steve Jobs. Bleh. I don't like apple products but had no opinion of Jobs, even weakly agreed about the "visionary" stuff when admirers were gushing after his death. But this segment was worse than the facebook movie in terms of painting a nasty picture, and in this case the awful aspects of his personality, value system and behaviors are verifiable, the product of taped interview, and are in an authorized biography. Ugh. Why did they bother? He's dead, let's move on.

I am up to my eyeballs at the moment which translates to little posting here. Silly me, yesterday I committed to yet another project!

On Wednesday, we made a round trip to Long Island to visit my MIL in the hospital. She came through surgery OK. Bob has some concerns and so do I, but once again, it isn't my story and so I am not going to write many details. We took the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry, which is how we have been getting there since the "ILs" moved "out east." It was a very rough day on the sound, but turbulent water is better than driving all the way around NYC to get there.

I used my oldest brother's gift for my birthday to buy the other thing on my amazon wish list (the first being a Kindle): a Roku player. I think my mother was amused. She had advised me to get something I would look back on someday (everyone except me asserts that I will live to be 100) and say, "my brother gave me this for my 50th birthday." I know in her mind she pictured jewelry. Maybe because I gave my brother's granddaughter an heirloom bracelet for her 8th birthday recently, I had received it for being flower girl in his wedding when I was a kid. Or maybe because that's what she would buy.

She told my brother her idea, and he said, "yeah, don't spend it at the supermarket or something" which I guess must be my M.O. So I didn't - I got something frivolous. But not jewelry! And not something that will last a decade, much less 50 years. A piece of technology! Also my M.O. I hooked it up yesterday and it is AWESOME. Highly recommended. Why would anyone pay $250 per month for cable television?

A guy came today and fixed a gutter that had been ripped down during a storm. Took him less than a half hour! Amazing. I was glad it was so fast, as the dogs barked their heads off the whole time.

Yesterday, I went to the Sheep and Wool Festival with my mother. It was a much nicer weekend weather-wise than I expected. It's the third or fourth time I've gone to the festival. It gets bigger every year. For anyone interested in natural fiber yarn, sheep, goats, llamas, rabbits, alpacas, knitting, crocheting, felting, spinning, weaving - it is heaven.

Computer problems in Samsonville (again). I thought I might have to bring "old faithful" down there (my first nice computer, old, but still high end and very usable) or buy a new laptop and bring the current one down there,  but I managed to get an older computer I already had there working and networked. Crisis averted for now. (I joke that if I am ever without a job, I could start a computer business. Not something I want to do, supporting my own household is more than enough ~ but it would be better than a lot of other options.)

Today, an interesting new university-wide (and by university, I mean system) "service" opportunity presented itself! It's been a decade since I've seriously considered the issue in more than an arms-length way, but it will be fascinating to draw upon some skills and knowledge from earlier in my career, and to do some networking (while consuming salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing a la Marriott). I'm so incredibly busy -- but can't turn something like this down.

My MIL is having surgery today. Kind of an edgy day as a result.

This column is so true, and that point was driven home after Irene. And the older gentleman with the bamboo pole taking charge reminds me of my father, it's exactly what he would do. Except that it wouldn't be a can of bug spray, it would be a flaming rag drenched with accelerant! I wonder if that's what it was in this case, too, but John decided to avoid the angry sound off calls from people mouthing off about how dangerous that is. It's doubtful a can of bug spray would make a dent in a basketball sized hornet's nest. A torch would work like a charm...

Got a weird phone call tonight. The caller identified himself as "Chris" and asked for me by name. When I got on the phone, it was a woman, very giddy, possibly drunk. She made some obscene remarks, punctuated by hysterical laughter and some background talking, very garbled. I hung up. The call didn't register on caller ID, but I think I know who it was. Not either of the speakers but I suspect there was someone with them who I know, a very troubled person who used to be a big part of my life, but no longer is. I can't be sure, of course. Regardless, it was very unsettling. If the guy hadn't used my name it wouldn't bother me as much.

My goodness! So much to comment on tonight. (Still Tuesday to me.) First Suffolk, now Albany, next...the rest of the state! Hooray!

The answer to this question is no, it's not.

Good. And you know what else? Schools should have athletic trainers. (Full disclosure, my nephew is an AT.)

I've carefully considered this subject, and I don't have a problem with memorials, whether roadside or ghost bikes. I find them fascinating, in fact. It is a (relatively) recent phenomenon. A new kind of ritual. Because of the increasing popularity of cremation, meaning that their often is no cemetery plot? Because the spot where someone dies as a result of the bloodbath we call transportation is special somehow? I don't know the answer, but it is fun to speculate.

However, I have a big problem with the statement in this article, attributed to "the activists."

Sometimes people express irritation the ghost bikes are never removed.
The activists say the same question is never asked of other roadside memorials to crash victims.
"Along the highway, you see these crosses," one said. "There are no time limits on those. Why should there be one on a bicyclist?"

Why isn't the speaker clearly identified? Why didn't the writer of this story investigate whether that claim was true?

I call BS. People complain all the time about roadside memorials to crash victims. Some people don't like them because they consider them a distraction, or a road hazard. Some say they are little more than litter and don't belong on public property - or private property that is not the memorial creator's. Others, in my opinion, are in death denial, and don't like the reminder. I always think, when people complain about memorials -- they are tacky, etc. -- why can't people be more compassionate and less judgmental when someone is grieving? I am not suggesting grief is an excuse for all sorts of bad behavior but if the display isn't harming anyone then be kind.

But I suspect this unsupportable assertion was slipped into the story without attribution because of the word "crosses." The speaker (or article writer, as far as I'm concerned, being unsourced, it may as well be made up) is implying people are more tolerant of a traditional religious symbol than they are of a new age one.

That's a bunch of crap. It's a false equivalence anyway. Roadside memorials are almost never as permanent as the ghost bikes; in fact, they are often removed after a period of time.