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July 29, 2007
Connecticut is Burning
I have returned from my whirlwind trip to Massachusetts. Intact.
Robbi did not join me on the trip, mostly due to the fact that she had a lot of painting to do for Volume 9. She looked like this when I left her at noon on Thursday.
And the house looked like this.
The state of the household could not be described as "thriving" at present.
The drive up was an ordeal, though it started out with such promise. I had no problem with the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the New Jersey Turnpike or the Cross Bronx Expressway through New York City.
The problem, my friends, was Connecticut, perhaps, after Texas and Florida, the most loathsome state in the union. I drove the first 15 miles of i-95 into Connecticut in exactly 93 minutes. I was completely demoralized, shuttling back and forth between despair and rage.
Iggy did her best to look cheerful, trying anything to pull me from my brooding funk.
To no avail. There is nothing that enervates me quite like traffic. All seemed to be lost. I was almost certain to be very late in picking up my sister at the Hartford airport. I had just resigned myself to long misery when...lo!...Connecticut redeemed itself by catching on fire.
"Serves you right, Connecticut," I said, driving past the impressive plume. Moments later the roadway cleared as Connecticut, defeated, allowed us to drive freely once more.
As I may have mentioned, I was driving north to visit my sisters and mother. Alas, I only saw one sister, Lindsay, who surprised me greatly by being married, and recently so.
Lindsay, who lives in Portland, was back in Massachusetts to be a bridesmaid in one of her friends' weddings. Hence the little coral number she is wearing in the pics.
The dress was a bit long. Fortunately, my mother is like a samurai with a sewing machine and removed three inches in no time.
Which created an opportunity for Iggy.
As people do when weddings have just happened, we took many combinations of photos.
Mom, Lindsay, and Me
Dean and Mom
On the way back home on Saturday, I had no problem with Connecticut, still reeling from its recent defeat.
I did pause to feel sorry for this church. I don't go to church much, but I feel bad for this one having to be situated right next to I-95. And to have to be in Connecticut, to boot.
And while we're railing against the way of things, does it seem appropriate that we drivers of cars should have to occupy the same road as trucks? At one point I was so literally surrounded that it was like I was trapped in a small room. A room that happened to be moving at 70 mph.
Home again, and we're putting the finishing touches on volume 9, which will be sent out later this week. Volume 9 has a lot of pages, and so we had to spread them all out and have a look this afternoon, trying to figure out what should go where.
Eventually, I think, we got it right.
It's the kind of book in which the order of pages is not a given. You will see. Unless you aren't a subscriber, and then you won't.
In which case, perhaps Connecticut is the best place for you.
Posted by bogenamp at July 29, 2007 11:35 PM