#50 - Buffalo Guys & Gals at Work

Well, the storm of 2006 saga continues here at the Cozy Cottage.

Jerry and Little Bear have been on the road for almost two hours now looking for any place that still has some bottled water in stock.

Nothing so far. Jerry headed south about an hour ago and let's keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime I continue to boil, boil, double, triple boil and then nuke the stuff.

Elderly aunt and in-laws are going to move into a hotel for awhile.
I think our little space is just too little for them so they are opting for the luxury of running water, with no pets and hyper cabin fevered seven year olds to deal with.

My 81 year old mother is on the ground floor of her eight story apartment complex policing the laundry rooms and scolding the "water hogs" who are actually doing laundry during a water ban.

Yep.

That's my mom.

She grew up through a Great Depression, WWII (that ended the life of her only brother), raising a kerjillion kids and more hurdles than anyone can imagine...

and not one complaint out of her.

I think she slipped into Civil Defense mode with the laundry room today.

I keep offering to have us stop by with supplies or whatever she needs and she gets annoyed.

"I can walk, can't I? I'll go to the market myself if I need something."

Sister Peg got her fireplace going with those duralog thingies, they bought a generator in Pennsylvania last night, and I think they found the basement floor.

Other sis still without electric, and doing the boiling water gig too. Tons of downed tree junk on their property and my nephew (who is a volunteer firefighter) is comatose right now after working himself into exhaustion with all of the emergency calls.

Yet the other sis, who is a medical professional, is back on call and darting to the hospital to help out on her day off.
This is why people hang around Buffalo.

Our economy stinks, our weather leaves something to be desired several months out of the year, but we stay put because of family.
And good neighbors.

Last time we had a major chunk of tree falling down weather, Hubby and I lost three giant trees simultaneously on our property.

Our neighbors were over to our house with their chainsaws before we even knew the trees had fallen down.

A few weeks ago, our community looked terrible on the headline news during the Ralph "bucky" Phillips manhunt. (We live about 15 minutes from where the chase was going on). And, of course, there were a bunch of yahoos helping Bucky hideout and griping about the State Troopers tying up traffic and what not.

They're a very small group in this area...

and they got all the press because well, heck I don't know why...

because they were behaving like dingalings.

The national news failed to mention that people were baking and bringing fresh hot meals to the troopers at their main headquarters during that manhunt.

And during this storm, some good neighbors cooked hot chicken and brought it over to our elderly aunt...

after snow ploughing three feet of snow from her front door.

In the city of Buffalo, good neighbors are hiking to the markets to buy groceries for elderly and shut ins, checking to make sure everyone is okay.

And there are relief stations with hot food cooked by volunteers.
One of our major shopping malls is shut down for business and is being used as headquarters for all the electricity guys coming in as far away as from Boston.

They are handing out free supplies to people in the community who are going to be without power for a long stretch of time.
Reports are now saying maybe next weekend.

My husband gets a call this morning to get the trauma counselors out and about. His agency provides such services...

they were there for 9-11, Katrina and Rita.

The problem this time is that the trauma counselors are trapped in the middle of the mess, but other folks step up to bat.

And that's why folks stay put in Buffalo.

When Katrina hit last autumn, the hospital my sister works for emptied out a whole floor to take in Katrina survivors. Our city was ready, set to go immediately with emergency teams and such. There was disappointment all around when FEMA and the powers that be did not accept our city's offers to help.

Same with September 11th, our volunteer firefighters, paramedics and mental health counselors were there promptly.
Buffalonians come across as gruff, probably a bit backwards, blue collared, and not too warm fuzzy.

But, we get the job done.

#49 - Friday the 13th in Buffalo (originally posted MySpace 10/14/06)

So it snowed last night.

YES!

S-n-o-w-e-d.

And being a Buffalo gal I was rather blase' about the whole thing.

Unlike my southern born Honey.

He's bantering on about a snowstorm!

A snowstorm!

Yes, right... okay sweety... calm down.

We sit down to watch the late night news, and all local reports are going on about a massive power outage and trees falling and ice and snow and...

I say the bad luck thing you should never say 15 minutes before the clock strikes midnight to Friday the 13th:

"Good thing we still have power."

We hear a clunk and immediately are thrown into toal darkness.

TOTAL can't see your hands in front of your eyes darkness.

poop.

Light some candles and realize that this is going to be a bad one.
First of all it is freezing cold outside and without electricity we have NO HEAT!

And no SNORE MACHINE for Hubby who saws the wood at night like a lumberjack.

I state that I am taking the futon you go sleep in the other end of the Cozy Cottage.

Several candle trips, flashlight checks, goodnight honeys, and many quilts...

I tuck in on the futon surrounded by the kitties and Tilly the Wonder dog.

Tilly?

She only snuggles up like this during a thunderstorm...

and then BLITZ!

Bright blue flashes outside.

Snow lightening.

Trust me it is a sight to see...

especially out here in Cozy Cottage ville where there is no ground light.

So I sleep for a few hours.

Power comes on, power goes off again.

But, no complaints here.

My guys got to stay home.

We had a stuffed animal throwing contest. The best ever.

Little Bear built a fort under the dining room table and all was good here.

A ton of time spent on the phone making sure family members are tended to.

We are the only ones with power we discover.

So I relay the news reports to everyone else and we try to figure out how to get our elderly aunt out of her northern Buffalo home with all the travel bans in force.

My sister, Peg (who also happens to have lupus) is bailing out her basement as it floods. All the trees on her property are no more. She refuses to stay with us... insists on bailing without our help.
Tough gal she is.

:)

Other sis is doing okay.

Trees crashed into her front porch, but she's a Buffalo Gal too...

you take these things in stride. No heat, but plenty of doggies and feeling confident about no heat for the night.

Another sister MIA. No power, no phone. Her cell phone service is out and so is her MEDICAL pager service. She should be fine. Her household is good with weather crisis.

My elderly Mom whose retirement apartments get priority got power by this evening while my elderly in-laws have a possibly live power line lying across the driveway.

But, more news comes rolling in...

WATER EMERGENCY.

I have been chugging tall glasses of tap water all afternoon.

Should have watched the news.

We now have to boil the dink out of the water and conserve.

Latest news report is that we probably won't have water for much longer.

Water shortages have started as there is no power to pump the stuff.

My mom has no water now, and here it is a little after midnight, and I am boiling what water is left.

HAPPY FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH.

We're fortunate, because we have electricity.

Over 380,000 folks in our area are doing without.

We watch the news and see one of our Buffalo theater cronies and his wife hanging out at a local shelter. Good old Les, figures he would nab a photo op out of this mess!

Aieeya!

We probably will have houseguests by tomorrow.

We are hearing that there will be no power in some areas until next week.

Well, then...

life is never dull around here.

And I'm off to boil more water.

Hope I got enough cookies stashed around here to keep Winga out of our hair.

#48 - My Birthday Thus Far

When I was young I never really thought much about life in my 40's.

I had some vague notions of being a published author and living a cozy life with a Hubby and child to dote over.

But, you know... never put a heck of a lot of thought into it.

I am 44 today.

A palindrome year.

And now I am officially older than my best gal pal, Ellen. She died last autumn of ovarian cancer.
I miss her everyday. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh, and every now and then I still scold her.

Like today.

She was always supposed to be the one who was a few months older than me.

Damn it, Ellen.

I think a lot about her right now. We hit the one year anniversary of her dying...

and when someone that close to you dies...

trust me the shock doesn't even begin to wear off until the first anniversary bounces on by.

I keep thinking of picking up the phone to chat with her.

Heck, I even miss our bickering.

It's her fault that I'm blogging.

She would not stop pestering me about it.

"Have you read my blog?"

"Did you start Winga's blog?"

"Blog?Blog? Blog?"

So I did start a blog just to get her to shut up about it...

and well, she had cancer..

you do things less grudgingly when someone you love has cancer.

So everytime I blog away...

I feel closer to her.

And in honor of Ellen's free spirited ways...

I had Oreo cookies and coffee for breakfast.

Mom came by...

in time to catch me with Oreo crumbs all over my face, in my mismatched fuzzy clothes with the kitty socks, watching reruns on television.

She brought me flowers and sweets.

I swear I am going to put myself into a diabetic coma!

She kept telling me not to tell her how old I am.

I am the "Baby" of 7 girls.

So I make everyone feel old.

Must have slipped because I told my 81 year old mother this morning that I am now 44.

"I'm so sorry Mom... so sorry about that."

My Mom is tough.

She can take it.

She is my hero.

After that visit, I danced around the kitchen singing to myself and have been playing on the computer ever since.


Rather liberating it is.

Oh!

I got TWO letters from our sponsor child today!

He lives in Thailand and I just love hearing from him.

The post is screwy though. It takes months to send a letter to him and hear back again.
The poor kid was sick and in hospital in July. I wish I had known!

He wants us to come visit his village and his family.

And we so want to go.

Damn.

I need to get rid of this stinking lupus. I'm not even supposed to be around people, let alone leave the country.

(The drugs knock out my immune system).

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Whiner rama bama.

Heck... I'm old.

I get to do what I want.

What I REALLY want is to feel good enough for the next few hours to have fun with Little Bear and Hubby.

They have a ton of little packages wrapped for me, they ordered a cake (MORE SUGAR!) and I know Little Bear is going to be running around the Cozy Cottage today doing his version of decorating.

Well, the bus should be pulling up in just a moment.

Gotta go!

Oh!

postscript:

If you can afford $25 a month... please consider sponsoring a child. The need is intense and they actually do an incredible job with your support.

Christian Children's Fund

#47 - My First Middle-Aged Dream

Okay...

I think I am officially middle-aged now.

I dreamt last night that I was a Cub Scout den mother...

in tract housing...

chasing after a mob of screaming kids with Clorox wipes...

and...

baking cookies.

Lord, help me!

#46 - Thoughts on Turning 44

I have more lovely lady lumps than Fergie.

Nyah, Nyah!

Oh... that's just middle aged spread.

Never mind.

#45 - T.I.F.F.: Yoko Ono at The U.S. vs. John Lennon Premiere

I am probably repeating myself here, but this year's Toronto International Film Festival was chock full of pleasant surprises.

We had arrived relatively late for lining up to see the premiere of The U.S. vs. John Lennon. So we were at the tail end of a line that wrapped around a huge city block.



Such lines are no cause for worry at the Film Festival. We were going to be seated at the Ryerson Theater which is on a college campus. The seats are not the most comfortable, but this screening would provide plenty of balcony space which is prime spot to view movies here... and also about the last place that most audience members go for seats.

As we were the last of the group to herd into the theater we had the incredible joy of seeing Yoko Ono on the red carpet who would be present for the premiere of this refreshing documentary about her husband's commitment to peace.

Here's a picture that Jerry was able to nab as folks were supposed to keep walking and not stop to see Yoko san, so it is a tad blurry:

I am sorry but the photo will have to go up at another time. I am having a problem with Blogger today. :(

More surprises in store after we were seated.

Michael Moore was a guest to the screening and we spotted him before he was introduced to the audience. Jerry (my hubby) got a little too excited (being a HUGE Michael Moore fan) and yelled out "Hey Michael!" from the balcony. At which point the whole theater got dead quiet for a brief pause. Michael Moore stood up and turned around waving at the two of us to resounding applause from the audience. Jerry happily waved back as I tried to sink deeply into my seat turning three sheets of red.


Viewing this documentary with John Lennon's widow in the audience was a shocking experience.

I mean you can view these types of biographical work with a detachment. But, having Yoko Ono present for this screening... I felt the pain as never before.

The interviews offer fresh insights into John and Yoko's advocacy for peace. They address some of the very criticisms that I had held about how they were going about drawing attention to peace activism.

I just never really thought about why they did "bed peace" or "hair peace" or many of their other approaches.

But, seeing them on film as the couple they were and also as strong individuals, the answer became quite apparent.

They are artists, and art is their voice of expression. How could we expect them to do anything else?

To truly "get" Yoko Ono, I think you have to experience her art in person.

I had the pleasure of visiting one of her exhibitions in Toronto about four years ago... and the "Aha" moment came across loud and clear.

She touches on that facet of life that we often miss... that life is supposed to be fun.

ENJOY.

Humor is a gift from the Divine... embrace it.

And I can see the appeal between her and John Lennon.

He had the most incredibly sharp sense of humor, and his mind was so unique that no one has filled the space that he left behind when he was killed.

Among the interesting interviews you will find in this documentary are clips with G. Gordon Liddy, and George McGovern singing "Give Peace a Chance" a cappella.

You should give this film a chance.

I left feeling inspired and primed to find ways to be a better person... to bloom right where I have been planted.

Here is a link to the Film Festival Information about this film:

Toronto International Film Festival

ENJOY!

POSTSCRIPT: As we were making a mad dash to our next film screening we stumbled across a pile up of security. Lo and behold, Yoko Ono and Michael Moore were sneaking out the back of the theater so we had the chance to see them up close and personal.

Yoko Ono is incredibly beautiful close up. She truly is, and she was so gracious as people reached out to her requesting autographs or a handshake. I found her composure overwhelming considering the circumstances of her life.

Immediately following was Michael Moore (whom I will write about more in another entry). But, it is important to note that we discovered that Michael Moore is actually an incredibly shy person. This was evident as he approached the small gathering that had lined up at the exit. He did shake Jerry's hand, but he did not speak to the crowd.

There are many reasons for this which, once again will be explained when I write about an Evening with Michael Moore.

#44 - T.I.F.F. : Confetti

Jerry & Confetti Director, Ms. Debbie Isitt

WHAT A HOOT!

CONFETTI is absolutely hilarious and well worth a look see.

You can read the synopsis via the links at the end of this entry to get more film details.

This was the last film of our trip, but I wanted to put the word out quickly because Confetti opens in US theaters this Friday, September 15th.

There was a Q&A after the screening of Confetti at the Paramount theater.

Director, Debbie Isitt, answered audience questions about the making of her second feature film.

Here's the Scoop:

The whole film is IMPROV! No script. The actors were given detailed relationship backgrounds and information to develop character. Other than that, this movie was filmed in real time (6 weeks) the same length of time in which the story takes place.

Casting took six months... which was longer than the actual filming. And the cast is perfect.

The couple who played the wedding planners for Confetti have actually started their own wedding planning business.

One of the featured couples of the film are nudists, or more aptly termed "naturists".

Yes, they perform in the buff for the film.

Ms. Isitt reported that in order to be fair to her poor cast doing the naturist scenes in the nude, all of those scenes were directed with her in the buff as well!

There are musical numbers in the finale, and surprisingly... no professional dancers were used. You'll have to see the film for yourself to find out why this is such a surprise.

Here's a clue though... think Busby Berkeley.

One of the delights of the Toronto International Film Festival is that the makers of the film are accessible to the general public. This is one of the few major film festivals that allows such contact.

We had the opportunity to meet briefly with director Debbie Isitt.

She is quite friendly and gracious. She was interested in the fact that I have been a church musician for hundreds of weddings. Jerry and I told her about the "Phantom of the Opera" wedding that we sang a duet for.

Chuckle, chuckle and back into the huge crowd.

If you enjoy Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, this movie is definitely going to be a favorite... just as long as you don't mind seeing folks (normal everyday run of the mill folks) in the nude.

ENJOY!



Read more about Confetti here: http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=81

Opens in US cinemas this Friday, September 15th:
http://movies.aol.com/movie/confetti/23379/main?date=20060912&uid=5532

#43 - Hello From the Toronto International Film Festival!

Loretta & Jerry hanging out at the Friar & Firkin after Hula Girls at the Paramount


Hello Everyone!

I'm sitting in my fuzzy clothes trying to rest up (and warm up) after a spectacular three day vacation to the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jerry and I agree that this has been the BEST film festival experience we have had to date. Every film was either a world premiere and/or featured the director/cast/writers.

Lots of pictures and lots of fun.

Hang around for more information.




OFFICIAL SITE : http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/home/default.asp