Sis

My little sister came to live with me last month. A while back she asked me if she could move in for 6 months or so in order to save a little money, start a nest egg for her future since after her divorce she really had nothing. She'd move up from Atlanta, and use the upstairs for her bedroom and home office. She works from home on her computer and monitors. How could I refuse? Besides, it could be fun.
And it has been.
She's a great cook, we grill, play board games, do puzzles, haunt yard sales, go the beach.
But there's a "but":
It's all been way, WAY too much of an emotional trial for her.
She left her 3 grown kids, all her friends, the city she knows like the back of her hand...only to come to a place where she knows no one but her brother who's not there a good chunk of the time.

About a a month before she was to come here, she had panic attack in a public place. It was so disorienting EMT's had to be called to deal with her. That incident has haunted and put a pall over her ever since. What if it were to happen again? In public. Where she doesn't know anybody. The fear of that is too much.
She has body vibrations, a "buzzing" that travels around her body. Sometimes dizzyness, sometimes headaches. It's affecting her whole personality and her job. And I feel helpless. It's heart breaking. I talk to her constantly, as does my mom and her friends, nothing helps.
The only solution I can think of is for her to go back to Atlanta, but that opens up a whole new set of problems to tackle, not the least of which is shipping her car back and finding a new apartment.
So we take it day by day.
But to complicate things, she had a tick bite scare a few weeks ago. She went to two clinics and got a mega-dose antibiotic. She thought she had two more bites (that was a scary night) but luckily they were only plant splinters.
The following week, the internet went out for FOUR days. Not fun. She needs the internet for her work. Thank God she found out she could go to the Sag Harbor library, but it was nerve wracking nonetheless.
And this week when I was in the city on jury duty, she had more panics and ended up with shingles on her face around her eyes. A midnight trip to Southampton hospital ensued. She got some Xanex and they help but she's afraid to get hooked on them.
So it's one thing after another and she's not getting any better. The irony is that she's in one of the most beautiful places in the country...and she's miserable. Somehow she'll get through this but I fear it will get worse before it gets better. Stay tuned...

And then Jaws opened a bottle

The only person more obsessed with sharks and "Jaws" than me is my friend Ron. Recently he gave me a little house gift that's too adorable, a cast metal bottle opener in the shape of a shark head that you mount on the wall. I decided the best place was a column on the porch. It sort of looks like mini trophy, LOL.

Yard sale finds

Who doesn't love a good yard sale? This past weekend I found two great items. An older couple was selling the entire contents of their house over on Phoebe Scoy Road (who was Phoebe Scoy anyway?). They sounded Scandinavian and most of their stuff was junk. But I did find this cool puzzle for only ONE DOLLAR. The pieces are oddly shaped. This'll be a good summer time killer.

And then at another sale, still in the Northwest Woods, a mom and daughter were having a garage sale. I found this little wooden side table in a contemporary shape that I thought would work well on the porch. It seems like it's hand made. The cognac color wouldn't work with the color scheme out there so I painted it sage on the outside and a nice teal on the inside. It looks great.

Joe's Big 60th

My good friend Joe is turning 60 this week. He's having a big bash this Saturday at the newly revamped TWA terminal at JFK airport. Obviously I wanted to bring a gift but being so strapped for cash I decided a handmade one would be appropriate. I find that people cherish handmade gifts more anyway. Besides, they're fun projects for me to do.
I decided that a cutting board/cheese board would make a good gift, especially when I envisioned what it would look like.
I thought the letters of his name would work well in one of my favorite fonts of all time, "Baby Teeth" by designer Milton Glaser from 1964.

I painted the sides in a color that I think will work well in his city kitchen. And I did modify the "E" so it would give more cutting service than Glaser's "E", otherwise I think it turned out well. I hope he likes it.

She's baaaack!!!

It was a great week for Sag Harbor. The beloved Sag Harbor Cinema sign was going back up and there was a lighting ceremony last night. They've started work on the interior of the building but have a ways to go yet. They aiming for a re-opening this Fall. In the meantime, it's so wonderful to have our iconic village symbol back where it belongs. I snapped this picture the day it went back up. Stay tuned for a pic of it at night.

I heart yardsales

I had brunch with my friends Robert, Marcia, and Dani yesterday. We had a lovely meal at Wolffer Kitchen on Main Street. Afterwards they had plans to hit a yard sale here in the village and wanted to know if I cared to tag along. But of course! Who doesn't love a good yard sale? It was right near me on Hempstead Street, the street you cross to get to Haven's Beach.
The sign on the street was hilarious:

I had my eye out for a lamp for the porch. I had tried a new arrangement of the furniture out there just the day before. I brought in the curved little teak bench that had been in the front yard for years. I think it looks great. I put the little side table with the drawer next to the front door and that's where I thought a new lamp would look good. Well, at this sale I spotted a dusty one covered in seashells that would do the trick. It hadn't been used in years. The girl running the sale wasn't sure if it even worked. There was what looked like bird seeds in the light socket! I asked how much she wanted. "I dunno, $10? $5? $2?" "Well," I said, "if it's $2 I'll take it! If it doesn't work I'll re-wire it myself." So, done and done. I got it home, found a light bulb, and what do you know? It worked! I dusted off the shade and glue gunned some apple green grosgrain ribbon around the trim that works nicely with the colors not he porch and...VOILA! The perfect addition to the porch decor...and it only cost me a measly TWO DOLLARS! I love a bargain (and an easy craft project!) :)

The death of Bambi

A couple of days ago I woke up and looked out my front window. My neighbor from across the street, Robin, was in my front yard with another woman. She was on her cellphone. I looked closer and at their feet was a baby deer, a fawn. Rather than go out there in my robe, I gave it a rest...I was also afraid it might be something concerning the vacant lot next door. Were they questioning all the leaves and branches that have been dumped there?
An hour or so later I looked out again. The ladies had left but the mama deer had showed up. As I opened my front door to take a picture the mama took off down the street. The baby could barely move, she/he had a hard time even standing on it's legs. My friend Jan told me that for the first couple of days after they're born fawns don't move a lot. I snapped this pic. It was cute I must say.

Later I got a call from my OTHER neighbor, Dan, from next door. The fawn was now in my BACKYARD. It had gotten there from the space between the house and the side gate. He suggested opening the gate in case the mother wanted to find her baby. Ok, so I did that. Later that afternoon they were both gone. Case closed, right? Not so fast.
The next morning I woke up to see the baby DEAD in the front yard. Great. Now what?

I called Animal Protection and told them I had a dead deer in my yard. The lady said "if it's on your property it's YOUR responsibility." Fabulous. She said I might want to put it out on the street and maybe the garbage men would pick it up. Yeah, right. That's not gonna happen. We don't have town garbage service, it's all private contracts (as is mine). They wouldn't touch a dead animal if they didn't have to. So I decided the best plan of attack would be to bag the deer and leave it for my garbage men. The problem? It was Friday and they don't come TIL WEDNESDAY. Ugh. So the dead animal would be fermenting in my garbage can for FIVE DAYS. I put it into two thick contractor bags along with a bunch of leaves to (hopefully) quell the smell if there was any. My friend Tony says that it wouldn't decompose in that amount of time, that it takes a lot longer. That made me feel better. But still. Just knowing that there's a dead body in my garbage can is unnerving...kinda putting a damper on my Memorial Day Weekend. It's always something, right?