Indian Summer, with a vengence

You know, this past summer was one of the most beautiful in years and it never was too hot or humid for too long. But this past week has been swampy and yesterday was 88 degrees and sticky, a record in Central Park and also at Yankee Stadium, where the Cleveland Indians advanced to the ALCS, to which I have no attachment as I was raised National League.
Many in NY are downcast, but I am gleeful. The Yankees loss takes the sting out of the Mets losing too. And the Cubs and the Phillies. Uncharitable and mean-spirited? But yes. And, I was both stunned and steamed that there was absolutely no baseball on TV this weekend, it was only on TBS cable. Rat bastards! I will root for a Rockie or a Diamondback altho' it's strange to me - Arizona is too hot for play baseball and in Colorado the air is too thin. But, at least I can enjoy the post-season without an emotional attachment. Possibly.
Today, the temp has dropped 30 degrees. This weather gives me a headache and fall is generally making Caramel nutsy from too much wildlife activity. Today,when we got back from the park she was crazed from too many thwarted squirrel-catching attempts. We were finishing our book (TC Boyle: Drop City) on the porch and I forgot to put the gate up. Along comes a long-haired female dog, (Caramel does not like females) and she flew off the porch afttrying to bite her fur. The girl walking the dog freaked and started yelling and I had to scream over her to make Carrie stop. Thankfully, she only bites fur not flesh and she always responds to "stop". The doggie was OK but it took an hour for my heart to beat normally and my throat is raw from yelling.
The rain they have been predicting for a week has yet to arrive- I feel like I'm in a state of flux but I will solder, er, soldier on.
I read that the Oxford English Dictionary (the small, 2-volume version) is eliminating 16,000 hyphenated words. Another sign of the apocalypse. I am quite fond of the hyphen and will mourn, as I did for Planet Pluto, it's loss.
But, I will not be party to such-like and will continue to use the hyphen as profusely and incorrectly as I have always done.
Some usage will be retained so we can tell the difference between a slippery-eel salesman and slippery eel salesman. Snake-oil hawker and snake oil hawker.
Which reminds me of the disappointing Democrats who, not wanting to appear "soft on terror" may approve extending wiretap powers to the NSA.
Soft on terror? What an idiotic phrase, what the hell does that even mean? Now I am disgusted with both the administration and them.
But now that the globe is warming and summers are longer, my tomatoes are just now ripening, (and I will have 100 of them- but all at once) we have zillions of mosquitoes, and my plants are really thriving. The top pix are the front porch, these are the backyard.
What do you think?

Cleveland Rocks

Our 'puter has not been well lately but Steve has worked out the kinks in my laptop so I finally bestirred myself to download ( by popular demand!) some pix of our trip to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, a very cool little city itself.
The building, by I.M.Pei, is right on Lake Erie. It's surrounded by rings of these giant individually painted guitars. There were some great exhibits in the museum, artifacts like suits from The Temptations, the Miracles and James Brown, dresses from the girl groups from the Shirelles to the Supremes, etc. There were wonderful audio-phones to sample music styles from different eras, but not nearly enough phones. I was thrilled to find Symphony Sid, a NYC radio DJ who played Latin music in the 60's. Proper respect was shown to the originators of R&R and the early years but I was stunned by the omissions and a little disappointed in the commercial and political aspects of the place. Almost an entire floor is a gift shop and record store. Do they call them record stores anymore? Do they even have them? Anyway, this one had no Warren Zevon, a particular fave of mine and an important rocker for many years. When I questioned an employee I was told there are many other people missing ( he cited Chicago and the Moody Blues) that warrant inclusion but aren't in because it's a very political process one based on profit more than art. I questioned several employees and got the same answer every time-it was a bummer, man. The Baseball hall of Fame is more inspiring and egalitarian, that's for sure. I can't really speak of baseball at this time, I am presently in mourning for the death of the Mets' post-season. But we had a wonderful time anyway- we took the Rapid which is like a cute tiny subway, to Tower City, a huge restored railroad station that's now a very grand mall.
I'll post more later but right now, Dancing with the Stars is on and I've got to go!

I'm wearing white after Labor Day!!

Yes and don't try and stop me! Ugh, I haven't been feeling well and life has just been too boring. Sometimes it's hard to work up the energy to be interesting or interested , you know? We just lazed around the long weekend, mostly on the porch. The weather has been amazingly gorgeous, in the low high 70's. My plants are doing well and the trellis full of hot-pink Mandevilla is blooming like crazy. A neighbor stopped to compliment me and said: your flowers are beautiful, they look so real! Ha, nature imitating art? If only I could download the pictures to my laptop! So, Stinky BBQ'd, ( leftover BBQ'd onions, corn and zucchini with pasta for dinner tonight) we watched DVDs: 4 episodes of Deep Space 9, The Merchant of Venice****and Lemony Snicket*** and ate cake. (strawberry short) We had baseball tickets Sun night but I wasn't up to it. Why does everyone treat Labor day as the end of summer? There's 2 1/2 weeks left! I'm trying to maintain a mellow state and not cross the dreaded line into Grumpyville. Happily, we are planning a short trip elsewhere. For the High Holy Days we are going to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland Ohio, where else? Holy is as holy does. We are driving the scenic route, across mostly Pennsylvania which should be green, lush and rolling. I'll see Lake Erie again. I've never been to Ohio-it's the Midwest! My only prior exposure was Minnesota in winter and that was great. I'm psyched.