Another Kayla list:
Ash day
Dinner with Angel and Christian - time?
Call Caitie Corbett
Call Brit Lee ***
Rach F. - give her presents
Call Janelle back
Text Velvet
Get Dr. Kneispel appt. asap
Schedule new P/T with Kate
Make hair appt - Newtown
Mani/Pedi
(date unknown, probably in March 2011 sometime)
Short Synopsis: Kayla is in limbo right now. She is stable and the doctors like what they see. Waiting for the temperature to track down completely and get the pneumonia to resolve itself. Planning future tests - possible scans of the chest area and the brain.
You cannot even go outside with the driving rains, unless you want to get soaked. No one is on the streets. Kayla is asking about the weather. She now writes haltingly with a pen on a board with paper. Her letters are illegible but occasionally a letter or two looks familiar. She is desperate to communicate.
Everyone is happy because Kayla is now with us. Sarah comes to see Kayla again. She lives across the city, not too far away. A bus, a subway - it's easy to get over to the West side from the east side.
- - - - - - - - - - -
I am following the New York City red-tailed hawks. There is the famous "Pale Male," who has lived up on the 12th floor Fifth Avenue ledge address from since the 1990s. A tony address for sure across from Central Park. He lost his life-long mate, Lola (she was with him from 2002 to 2010,) and is not forlorn in the least. He has quite a few girlfriend hawks (Ginger, Pale Beauty, Lima) who are coming and going. The burning questions are which female will be his new mate and will she have young?
There is plenty of food - it's just a dive-bomb-down to the street to grab up a pigeon from a flock or a rat scurrying by. Lord knows, there are millions of both in New York.
There are competitions for donor hearts alongside competitions for the most interesting resident red-tailed hawks!
The other pair is Violet and Bobby. They built their nest downtown near Washington Square at New York University, also up on the 12th floor (is there something magical about 12 stories for this breed?) outside John Sexton's president's office. This pair is ahead in the game of propagation. They have three white eggs that Violet is sitting on and they are predicted to hatch in just a few days. And blessedly, there is a web cam mounted for the world to watch this!
I log on several times a day to catch the latest. Me and over 1,000 others! In a few more days, I predict the number of viewers will increase dramatically. It's much more interesting to watch hatching and feeding chicks than it is to watch a mother just sitting and incubating.
We are on pins and needles!
This morning the wind is fluffing up Violet's feathers. She is patient and quiet. She turns her head this way and that (nytimes.com/cityroom - red-tailed hawks video cam - livestream)
I wonder how the pelting rains affect this bird family. There must be an overhang. North Carolina had over 47 tornadoes so this storm is a doozy! I cannot even walk out the front door of the Milstein Building. The rains are too hard. I step back and ask the security guard if I can go down to lower level 3 exit and leave the building on the south side. This would cut off the corner and save walking two blocks in the rain. I would be able to just cross the street and get to my car parked up on Riverside Drive.
"Just be sure to close the door behind you," he says.
When I step out of the building, there are rivers of tan water cascading down 165th Street, rushing and rolling toward the river. I have to jump across 3 feet to prevent soaking my feet in four inches. The air is fresh and wonderful. There are a few people out running to get somewhere dry.
Only fools are on the darkened streets. Fools and devoted mothers.
The Saw Mill Parkway is flooded and one can hardly travel north. There are areas of deep water that splash up in high streams as cars move at a slow speed of 30 mph. I am barely able to get back to Tarrytown.
It takes 25 minutes to get there, following the Hudson River due north. The Tappan Zee Bridge is the bridge north of the George Washington Bridge. This is the widest point of the Hudson with Tarrytown on the New York side and Nyack on the New Jersey side.
My original family has a home up on the hill overlooking the river. I sleep on the big over-sized maroon couch in the living room. I have sheets, a blanket and pillow, tucked neatly behind. I pull it out and put together a make-shift bed. I save a lot of energy sleeping in Tarrytown a few nights each week.
I come in and do my routine - make the bed, get on pajamas, brush my teeth, read for a few minutes and off to sleep. In the morning, I wrap up the sheets and put them behind the couch again, ready to be used the next time. I have a great hot shower with forceful water that is delightful. I spend time with Talon, Deirdre's young son, who is 8. Sometimes I help a little bit with Cole, who needs assistance in getting up for the day. Sometimes, I start a laundry or clean out the cat litter. I am off quickly to get back to the city.
In the morning, it is impossible to get back to New York on the Saw Mill. I have to find an alternate route and choose Route 87 down to the Cross County Parkway and then back onto the Hudson River Parkway, across the short, tall Henry Hudson Parkway bridge and down the west side again.
For many years, there has been no incredible engineering feat that has combated the flooding problem that occurs every torrential rain, affecting the Saw Mill. There are three rivers there and they come right up....no place for the water to go but up.
I look at Blue, the Tarrytown Russian Blue cat that was abandoned recently and picked up readily by my sister's family. Every bedroom door is shut - no one wants Blue to sleep in their room. He nuzzles your face or plays in the middle of the night, unacceptable if you want a uninterrupted night's sleep. It doesn't bother me. I have three cats in Ridgefield and they always disturb me, every night, no exceptions....
Blue welcomes me in the living room each night I am there. Many times, he is already sleeping in a special depression designed for him out of a blanket up at the top of the couch. He has rolled himself up in a ball and is still. He doesn't bother me at all, never. He is my precious companion as I rest in my Tarrytown home.
I go around and turn off all the lights....
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