Sitting on the Deck Seeing Bats

I am sitting on my deck, waiting for the thunderstorm we have been promised ALL WEEK  by those lying sacks that predict the weather (sorry, Bill Kardas).  Of course I am hoping it does not come right now that I’m sitting out here.  On the other hand, that was one selling point FOR sitting out here: I thought it might cause it to rain.

That almost obligates me to sidetrack into a memory.  Many years ago,  I made the observation that when I wore my raincoat, it never rained.  However, if I left my raincoat home, it rained.  I daresay others have observed this phenomenon.  A friend would say, “What an ego.  She thinks she controls the weather.”  For heavens’ sake, I didn’t say, “I don’t want it to rain, therefore I will wear my raincoat.”  Dammit, I loved my raincoat! I WANTED to wear it in the rain!

Well, all that is neither here nor there, but that is quite appropriate for Non-Sequitur Thursday.

We have just returned from a delicious dinner at Jamo’s in Herkimer, NY.  It is a fairly new restaurant, and this was our second visit. I attempted to write a blog post about it after our first visit but bogged down on my endeavors to describe the decor.  This time I tried to pay more attention but am not sure how successful I was.

It is open, it is airy.  The walls are blue and the ceilings are high.  We sat at the lovely black marble bar on chairs that are spindly but comfortable.  There are pictures of the City on the wall.  The word I want to use to describe the whole is “urban.”  Steven thinks that is accurate.

All that said, I do not feel particularly inclined to finish my post about Jamo’s today. I want to relax on my deck and enjoy what is left of the evening (must get to bed to be ready for work tomorrow).  Once again, for Non-Sequitur Thursday, I think that is not bad.

Hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday.

 

The Meal Before the Storm

I believe I mentioned that the reason I did not make my blog post prior to Wednesday’s storm was that we went to dinner at Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner in Herkimer, NY. Today I thought I’d give a shout out to that fine establishment.

Steven and I are well known fans of Crazy Otto’s. In fact, the cast of Dirty Work at the Crossroads, the play Steven recently directed at Ilion Little Theatre, had given him a gift certificate as a closing night present. For anyone saying, “Waaait a minute,” yes, I was in that cast, yes, I chipped in for the certificate, and yes, I benefited from it. These things happen sometimes in community theatre.

For anybody who missed my numerous previous posts about Crazy Otto’s, it is an authentic old diner in an authentic old trailer. As Empire Diner it has been around for years. Crazy Otto took it over and added his name fairly recently. You can read all about the history of Crazy Otto’s and the Diner Wizard on their menu or their website, http://crazyottosempirediner.com/.

They’ve restored the trailer without losing any of the old-time diner atmosphere. The decor makes for a lot of interest while you’re dining. The walls and ceilings are covered with movie posters, old-time advertisements, movie star pictures and license plates from around the country. As usual we located our Georgia plate, which we gave them a couple of years ago (how the time flies). The tables were new since we’d last been there, bright red with advertisements of local businesses.

Steven ordered a club sandwich with french fries while I got a grilled chicken on sourdough with chips. I had forgotten they were homemade chips. Yummy! It was a delicious meal.

I looked over a card with fancy desserts pictured, but we really had not saved room. I suggested we return at a later date, perhaps midway through an afternoon, for just desserts (that’s one of my favorite expressions).

It poured rain while we were eating, but seemed to have stopped by the time we left. Who knew that it was merely the prelude to the big storm which my two previous posts were about. Steven later found out via Facebook that Crazy Otto’s was without power for a while. He commented that we had eaten just in time.

Crazy Otto’s is located at 100 W. Albany St., Herkimer, NY. Phone number 315-866-8801. You can also like them on Facebook.

The Mortification Lingers

So there I was, perusing the newspaper while waiting for the computer to boot up (ours takes about ten minutes). A storm raged, or at least agitated, outside. The lights flickered. I hoped that was all they’d do. It was not.

“Son of a bitch!” I heard Steven expressing himself upstairs.

This was, indeed, a heck of a note.

My blog post! “I’m going to the library,” I said. “They’re open till seven.” Basloe Library has saved my blog before. I looked out the window. The rain was coming down in sheets or buckets (pick your metaphor). I couldn’t even see all the way into the backyard. “Maybe I’ll stay in the house,” I amended.

After a while I reconsidered. My blog is important to me. Steven had found our lantern. It is a cute little battery-operated thing, really more of a decoration than a source of illumination. We had purchased it for a prop for Dirty Work at the Crossroads, the play we recently put on at Ilion Little Theatre (just had to sneak in another reference to that). Steven had thought it might be nice to have on our deck this summer. It worked perfectly well in this situation, too. After all, one hesitates to light candles when one has a rambunctious pet.

I decided to call the library and see if they had power before I got myself soaked getting there. This necessitated groping around in the dark for my flashlight so I could look up the number. No answer. That saved me a trip.

I sat on the floor and played solitaire by the light of the lantern. My eyes didn’t like it very much, but it worked. Steven sat on the loveseat and petted Tabby, who of course was not liking the thunder. We marveled at all the things you can’t do without electricity. No TV, no computer, no light to read a book, don’t dare open the freezer and eat ice cream. I couldn’t help feeling I ought to have more imagination and figure out something more fun to do. Still, I like to sit on the floor and play solitaire.

At last the storm stopped. The sun came back out. I turned off the lantern and waited for the electricity to come back on. I looked out the window to see that the rain had completely stopped. I suggested we take Tabby for a walk, to pass the time till power was restored.

The rain had temporarily washed the humidity out of the air and cooled the temperature. Everything looked clean and fresh in the sunshine. Lots of people were out and about. Well, sure, why sit in your house with no electricity? We walked up to German Street and started toward Prospect (Tabby wanted to go that way).

When we turned down Prospect to avoid a couple of dogs on German, we discovered the cause of our electrical woes. The entire top of an electrical pole had broken off. It lay in the middle of the street, wires drooping in a forlorn fashion. Part of a large tree in front of the synagogue was down as well. Branches from other trees lay here and there.

“We’re not going to have power again tonight,” a woman predicted.

“My blog post,” I lamented.

“Our supper,” she worried. At least Steven and I had already eaten.

They clearly did not want us walking by the downed power lines, so we turned around and headed back home. I saw a young lady reading on her front porch and suggested we follow suit. It was fortunate this happened at a time of year when it stays light till almost nine o’clock.

Sometime in the middle of the night I woke to see that power had been restored. I suppose a really dedicated blogger would have leapt out of bed and rushed to the computer to make that post. And here we come to the ugly truth about me. I rolled over and went back to sleep. I didn’t even look to see what time it was.

I had spoken with my parents on the phone earlier. Mom was of the opinion that this didn’t really count as missing a blog post, because it was circumstances beyond my control. And yet the mortification lingers. If only I had made my post before going to dinner. Well, as I have observed many times, one can’t foresee everything. To put it another way, shit happens.

I’m Mortified

I wrote a post while at work yesterday (BEFORE work started, of COURSE) (I always point out that it was before work or on a break. Do you suppose people believe me? Some always jump to the most unflattering conclusion) (you know who you are).

Where was I? Ah, yes, NOT missing a day of posting my blog. I wrote it. I worked. I went to exercise. I got home VERY hungry. Steven was hungry, too and suggested we go to Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner for something to eat. What a good idea (and worth a future blog post). I could always make my post later.

Well, one can’t always plan for every contingency. We got a thunderstorm. How bad could that be? Bad enough that we lost power. And, you know, I’m going to write a blog post about our activities during that, but right now it’s morning. I have to eat breakfast and get ready for work. I don’t have time to write a blog post. In fact, I’ve said too much already.

I had meant to write three sentences explaining yesterday’s absence of a post, in case anybody noticed (I hope SOMEBODY did, but perhaps I flatter myself). So here it is. I’ll write more later. I do hope you’ll stay tuned.