i keep a diary

September, 2017

The September Roundup

Here are all the photos I took in September 2017 that didn't end up in their own entry! Whoa, coming in at a hefty 189 photos this is a double entry. Usually I break these bad boys into two-parters, but now that bandwidth isn't really a thing, why not?

Friday, September 1st

Woke up to a gorgeous September morning up at the cabin!
cabin ˆ scenic overlook ˆ swings
Grant and I hit nearby Lumberjack's...
grant
...to pick up coffees and breakfast sandwiches.
breakfast ˆ coffee ˆ food ˆ lumberjacks ˆ grant
Yesssss. Place makes my favorite breakfast sandwich. Has bacon, sausage, egg, cheese and MAPLE SYRUP DRIZZLE.
breakfast ˆ food ˆ lumberjacks ˆ sandwich
eunice, grant
Grant & Eunice
eunice ˆ grant
After breakfast, we took the Wolverine down to Steve's garage...
wolverine
grant
...to load up all the cabin-warming presents that had been delivered from the list that Grant put together and sent around to all my friends. Thanks, Grant! <3
gift ˆ wolverine ˆ grant
We had to make like 4 trips!
gift ˆ wolverine
me
Some anti-mosquito lanterns
gift ˆ thumbs up ˆ me
eunice, grant, jane anne
Getting ready for our present-opening party!
cabin ˆ gift ˆ eunice ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
me
Here we go!
excited ˆ gift ˆ me
Ok, here are some photos of me opening gifts! Thanks to everyone who got me something! Mason jars!
me
BBQ cooking tools!
bbq ˆ gift ˆ me
me
Picnic blanket!
blanket ˆ gift ˆ me
me
Telescopic hot dog roasting sticks!
gift ˆ smores ˆ me
me
First aid kit!
gift ˆ me
me
Cast iron cookware set!
cooking ˆ thumbs up ˆ me
me
A set of tiki torches!
gift ˆ me
eunice, jane anne
Jane and Eunice got to work...
hammock ˆ eunice ˆ jane anne
eunice, jane anne
...building out...
hammock ˆ eunice ˆ jane anne
eunice, jane anne
...two excellent hammocks!
hammock ˆ eunice ˆ jane anne
I got new memory foam mattresses to replace the old bunk bed mattresses!
bed ˆ bunk bed ˆ cabin ˆ gift
eunice, grant
So many boxes!
box ˆ wolverine ˆ eunice ˆ grant
All four Adirondack chair built!
cabin ˆ chair
eunice, grant, jane anne
After working up an appetite, we headed over to Man of Kent for dinner.
man of kent ˆ restaurant ˆ eunice ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
Omfg, Man of Kent rules. The fried Brie with cranberry sauce and a Blue Cheese Wedge Salad for starters.
cheese ˆ food ˆ man of kent ˆ salad
Dig this 50s reproduction trailer. Took a pic because I wanted to look into how much they cost.
rv ˆ trailer
On the way home, stopped at Home Depot and bought a lawn mower and some supplies for the fire pit improvement project we planned for the next day.
cabin ˆ lawnmower
Made it back to the mountain just in time to watch the sunset!
scenic overlook ˆ sunset
Got a fire doing to start burning the crazy amount of cardboard boxes we'd piled up from all the gifts!
fire
eunice, grant
Pretty nice lil Friday.
fire ˆ eunice ˆ grant

Saturday, September 2nd

grant
On Saturday we were up early to work on our Firepit Improvement Plan!
weedwacker ˆ grant
grant
Grant used my new weedwacker to trim the long grass.
weedwacker ˆ grant
Next, we laid down our tarping.
construction ˆ firepit
grant
Then it was time to spread the gravel!
construction ˆ grant
grant
So satisfying!
construction ˆ firepit ˆ gravel ˆ grant
grant
Turns out we'd severly misjudged the number of bags of gravel we'd need so we...
construction ˆ firepit ˆ gravel ˆ grant
eunice, jane anne
...bid these two farewell...
cabin ˆ eunice ˆ jane anne
grant
...headed BACK to Home Depot...
gravel ˆ shopping ˆ grant
...and picked up 12 more bags and a new firepit!
firepit ˆ gravel ˆ shopping
grant
TWELVE MORE bags of gravel later, we'd finally gotten the firepit coverage we were looking for.
construction ˆ firepit ˆ gravel ˆ grant
jane anne
After we'd finished, we woke up the hammock-napping ladies...
hammock ˆ jane anne
grant
Had our first fire in the fancy new....
fire ˆ firepit ˆ grant
eunice, grant, jane anne
...and had some homemade bacon egg and cheese sandwiches!
cabin ˆ food ˆ sandwich ˆ eunice ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
...firepit I'd picked up that day! We tried out our new telescopic roasting sticks. First with hot dogs...
fire ˆ firepit ˆ hot dog
...then we got our s'more game on!
fire ˆ smores
jane anne
Ta-da!
smores ˆ jane anne

Sunday, September 3rd

Rainy Sunday! We piled into the Wolverine....
...and then drove a few miles to Bennington, Vermont to check out the garlic festival.
grant, jane anne
Bag of Kettle Corn and a Box o Fudge!
food ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
By the time we got back to the cabin, more packages had been delivered and we had to load up the Wolverine again.
After unpacking a bit...
cabin ˆ firepit ˆ scenic overlook
grant
...we rolled the old fire pit back up the hill so we could...
cabin ˆ firepit ˆ scenic overlook ˆ grant
grant
...start burning the cardboard from all the packages!
fire ˆ thumbs up ˆ grant
me
One of the new packages contained this giant bag of pancake mix!
cabin ˆ cooking ˆ pancakes ˆ me
grant
Grant got busy in the outdoor kitchen.
cabin ˆ grant
eunice, jane anne
Jane and Eunice waiting for pancakes.
cabin ˆ eunice ˆ jane anne
grant
Chef Breakfast-for-Dinner on the case!
cabin ˆ cooking ˆ pancakes ˆ grant
grant, jane anne
Cabin pancake dinner!
pancakes ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
grant, me
After dinner we...
fire ˆ gun show ˆ grant ˆ me
grant
...continued to get our pyro on!
fire ˆ grant

Sunday, September 3rd

grant
On Sunday morning, Grant drove the Wolverine all over my property....
wolverine ˆ grant
...and made several trip gather flat rocks that we could use to...
wolverine
grant
...ring the edge of the new fancy gravel-circle fire pit!
firepit ˆ grant
Ta-da! All done! Thanks for all your help, Grant. Looks great!
cabin ˆ firepit ˆ scenic overlook

Tuesday, September 5th

maddy
Back in NYC! Thai dinner...
couch ˆ thai food ˆ maddy
maddy
...and couch cuddles with my lil buddy.
couch ˆ cuddle ˆ maddy

Friday, September 8th

A Guided Tour of Hell - I like reading about people's experience of the afterlife in different near-death experiences. This one is upsetting! Spend your time here wisely! ;)
book

Saturday, September 9th

Writing this caption in the spring of 2022 (!!!) and I still really miss Odessa. These days I have to walk an extra 2 avenues to Veselka if I want some Eastern European diner comfort food.
french fries ˆ lunch ˆ odessa ˆ sandwich

Sunday, September 10th

On Sunday I dug out my old paint cans from my closet...
e9th apt ˆ kitchen ˆ paint
maddy
...and decided to finish painting the trim in my hallway!
e9th apt ˆ hallway ˆ paint ˆ maddy

Monday, September 11th

On Monday afternoon, I went into Voray's offices for a bit.
flux capacity ˆ voray ˆ work
maddy, meredith
Later that evening I went over to Meredith's for a hang!
maddy ˆ meredith
meredith
She modeled her new, blue, vegetarian-leather jacket! Cute!
jacket ˆ meredith

Tuesday, September 12th

Tuesday afternoon hangs in my messy living room.
e9th apt ˆ living room ˆ mess
tyson
Met Tyson for dinner later that night!
tyson
Frozen-foam topped draught beers at Ippudo. Mmmm.
beer ˆ girly drinks
Pork Bao deliciousness.
food ˆ japanese food
gaby, matt, tyson
Went back to Tyson's hotel and hung out with Gaby and Matt before...
hotel ˆ gaby ˆ matt ˆ tyson
caiti, matt
...heading out for the evening!
caiti ˆ matt

Wednesday, September 13th

On Wednesday I took Maddy to the vet to have her teef cleaned
maddy
Post-toof removal and sleeping off the anesthesia.
sleepy ˆ maddy
me, tyson
Went out that evening and met up with Tyson at...
me ˆ tyson
...McSorely's Ale House.
bar ˆ mcsoreleys
Gotta get a burger.
burger ˆ food ˆ mcsoreleys

Friday, September 15th

On Friday morning I awoke to the sound of the Parks department cutting down my favorite Willow tree in La Plaza Cultural.
la plaza cultural ˆ tree ˆ willow
The tree's roots had been damaged by salt water when the neighborhood flooded during hurricane Sandy and they were worried about it eventually falling over and hurting someone.
la plaza cultural ˆ tree ˆ willow
I was at work at Voray later this afternoon when I got a call from my parents interrupting a meeting. My dad had just found out the vertigo he'd been experiencing was caused by a cancerous tumor in his lung that had metastasized to 14 different tumors in his brain. (He would eventually succumb to this illness and passed away Sept 8, 2018, one-week shy of the 1 year anniversary of learning that he was ill)
la plaza cultural
I went across the street to collect some clippings of the willow tree.
la plaza cultural ˆ willow
Despite the bad news about my father, I drove up to the cabin later that evening because I had planned for a bunch of my friends to come up and see the cabin for the first time that weekend.
cabin
shawn m
Chef Shawn cooked all the first night guests and amazing dinner.
cabin ˆ cooking ˆ grill ˆ shawn m
shawn m
Serious steak situation.
cabin ˆ cooking ˆ grill ˆ shawn m
Lining up for chow.
cabin ˆ food
amanda, amy l, craig, danny, grant, jane anne, shawn m, soli
Lovely outdoor dinner!
cabin ˆ food ˆ amanda ˆ amy l ˆ craig ˆ danny ˆ grant ˆ jane anne ˆ shawn m ˆ soli
cynthia, grant, jane anne, shawn m
Evening hang inside Cynthia's amazing pop-up tent she got for Burning Man.
cabin ˆ tent ˆ cynthia ˆ grant ˆ jane anne ˆ shawn m

Saturday, September 16th

Woke up to a lovely foggy Saturday morning.
cabin ˆ firepit ˆ fog
amanda, grant
Everyone that camped outside in tents...
cabin ˆ camping ˆ fog ˆ tent ˆ amanda ˆ grant
amanda, grant
...was waking up to stretch and have some coffee.
cabin ˆ camping ˆ fog ˆ tent ˆ amanda ˆ grant
amy l, craig
Shawn fired up the grill again....
cabin ˆ grill ˆ amy l ˆ craig
cynthia, jennifer, shawn m
...and made everyone breakfast steak sandwiches.
breakfast ˆ cabin ˆ fog ˆ porch ˆ cynthia ˆ jennifer ˆ shawn m
Took Maddy for a morning hike and marveled at a huge, dew-jeweled spider web.
cabin ˆ hiking ˆ spider
Nice job, buddy.
cabin ˆ hiking ˆ spider
jennifer
Afterwards, Craig, JJ and I took the Wolverine joyriding through the woods.
wolverine ˆ jennifer
craig
Much to his dismay, Craig drove the Wolverine right into a boulder that was hiding in long grass at the trail edge and popped a front tire!
best ˆ wolverine ˆ craig
me
We were freaking out a bit, because we needed the Wolverine to shuttle all the soon-to-be-arriving guests up and down the mountain...but luckily a quick trip over to Ronnie's Cycle across the state border and the tire was fixed and the Wolverine ready to run again! Yay!
best ˆ thumbs up ˆ wolverine ˆ me
Danny and Grant loading up water and groceries.
jane anne
Jane Anne showing off our collection of groceries.
cabin ˆ food ˆ groceries ˆ jane anne
catrinel, dreiss, maddy
Catrinel and Dreiss!
dogs ˆ wolverine ˆ catrinel ˆ dreiss ˆ maddy
jane anne, meredith, originals jeremy
Jeremy, Meredith and Jane.
jane anne ˆ meredith ˆ originals jeremy
amanda, fatty
Amanda and Dave.
cabin ˆ porch ˆ amanda ˆ fatty
By the mid-afternoon all the guests had arrived and we were enjoying the fire pit together.
best ˆ cabin ˆ firepit ˆ scenic overlook
cynthia, shawn m
Shawn & Cynthia.
cabin ˆ firepit ˆ cynthia ˆ shawn m
jennifer, originals jeremy, sarah h
Jeremy, Sarah & JJ.
cabin ˆ jennifer ˆ originals jeremy ˆ sarah h
maddy, meredith
Dog in a bag!
cabin ˆ dog in a bag ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
marina, meredith, swing
Marina on the porch swing.
cabin ˆ porch ˆ marina ˆ meredith ˆ swing
grant, jane anne
Jane and Grant in the hammock.
cabin ˆ hammock ˆ grant ˆ jane anne
shawn m
Shawn grilled pineapples along with dinner.
cooking ˆ grill ˆ pineapple ˆ shawn m

Sunday, September 17th

dreiss, maddy
Sunday morning hike with Maddy and Dreiss.
cabin ˆ dogs ˆ hiking ˆ dreiss ˆ maddy
tents
Love coming back to see all my friend's camped out on the property in tents!
cabin ˆ camping ˆ tents
dreiss
I'm writing this in May of 2022 and I'm sad to report that Dreiss just passed away two weeks ago. RIP, buddy! You were such a good boy!
cabin ˆ dogs ˆ dreiss
fatty, grant, marina
By 1pm on Sunday we'd finished driving the last of the guests down the mountain and then we cleaned up, packed and headed back to NYC. Thanks for coming up to celebrate the cabin with me, everyone! It was nice to be surrounded by people I love to process the bad news about my dad.
wolverine ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ marina

Monday, September 18th

Signs up on the La Plaza fence saying farewell to the willow!
fence ˆ la plaza cultural ˆ sign ˆ willow

Tuesday, September 19th

me
On Tuesday morning, I headed down to Florida for a week and a half to see my dad in the hospital and spend time with the fam.
airplane ˆ flying ˆ me
florida
Florida from the air.
flying ˆ florida
Plane was delayed at Palm Beach because Trump had just flown in.
airplane
dad
Got to the hospital...
hospital ˆ dad
chris b, mom, uncle bruce
...and was relieved to see my family there hanging out....
family ˆ hospital ˆ chris b ˆ mom ˆ uncle bruce
dad
...and my dad holding court in good spirits despite his recent, terrible diagnosis.
hospital ˆ dad
After spending the day in the hospital, was weirded out to watch a tv show that night that featured an almost-identical looking hospital hallway.
hospital ˆ tv

Thursday, September 21st

See? Back at the hospital the next morning.
hospital
brett
After a few hours in the morning, Brett and I went out to grab lunch...
breakfast ˆ food ˆ brett
brett
...and then headed over to Best Buy...
car ˆ nintendo ds ˆ videogames ˆ brett
brett
...where we bought each other NintendoDS so we could play in the hospital and kill some time together.
nintendo ds ˆ videogames ˆ brett
dad
Got back and got a health update from dad.
hospital ˆ dad
mom
If you're going to spend a lot of time in the hospital, might as well have a nice ocean view.
hospital ˆ mom
brett
Brett and I got to unbox a videogame system together for the first time since the early 90s! lol
hospital ˆ nintendo ds ˆ videogames ˆ brett
brett, dad, mom
Cute moment catching...
hospital ˆ phone ˆ video ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ mom
brett, dad, mom, sam
...my parent's video conferencing with newly arrived baby Sam back in DC.
baby ˆ best ˆ hospital ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ mom ˆ sam
dad, mom
<3
best ˆ hospital ˆ dad ˆ mom

Friday, September 22nd

After the hospital on Friday morning, we took my mom to get a much needed massage!
Afterwards, me brother came with me to the Toyota dealer to buy a new truck!
shopping ˆ truck
Since I bought my cabin upstate, I'd been renting Zipcars to go back and forth but decided it was finally time to buy my own vehicle! (I haven't owned a car since I sold my VW GTi back in 2002!)
shopping ˆ truck
brett
I had originally planned on just buying the truck outright, but my brother told me that I should apply for their 4-year, 0% financing. I have never had a credit card and don't have much of a credit history, so my brother offered to co-sign with me!
car dealer ˆ shopping ˆ brett
I thought I would be able to just walk in, hand them a check and leave with a car....
car dealer
...but the whole ordeal ended up taking almost 5 hours!
car dealer ˆ contract
brett
Thanks for coming along with me, Brett!
car dealer ˆ shopping ˆ brett
Rolling off the lot with 11 miles on the odometer! I has a truck!
driving ˆ truck
chris b
Drove over to Chris and Jen's house for dinner...
steak ˆ chris b
chris b, lila, lucy
...and to celebrate Chris' birthday!
birthday ˆ cake ˆ chris b ˆ lila ˆ lucy
brett, steve b
After dinner, the cousin's headed to the excellent Florida stripmall bar, Harpers, for drinks....
bar ˆ harpers ˆ shuffleboard ˆ brett ˆ steve b
brett, steve b
...and some heated shuffleboard!
bar ˆ harpers ˆ shuffleboard ˆ brett ˆ steve b
brett, chris b, me, steve b
Props to the Uber driver who had to pick up our rowdy drunk asses several hours later....
security ˆ taxi ˆ brett ˆ chris b ˆ me ˆ steve b
brett, steve b
...when we were feeling like this.
drunk ˆ taxi ˆ brett ˆ steve b
me
Oh you know, buying hats...making friends!
drunk ˆ hat ˆ strangers ˆ me

Saturday, September 23rd

Hi, can you tell I went truck shopping in Florida? Lol.
truck
Drove to the hospital on Saturday morning.
brett, chris b, dad, me, steve b, uncle bruce
My dad's brother Bruce and his two sons Chris & Steve all came to the hospital to visit my dad. All the Battjer boys in one place!
best ˆ family ˆ hospital ˆ brett ˆ chris b ˆ dad ˆ me ˆ steve b ˆ uncle bruce
brett, mom
Set up to hang with my dad.
hospital ˆ brett ˆ mom
Later that evening, we all went over to Bruce's house...
brett, bruce
...to play some VR!
virtual reality ˆ brett ˆ bruce
bruce
Bruce is my role model. When I'm his age I can only hope I still have such a vibrant love for video games, gadgets...
virtual reality ˆ bruce
...and other remote controlled toys. Love that his dining room table has been converted into a workbench for RC cars.
remote control ˆ table ˆ toy
brett
Brett showing off his moves in Superhot VR.
virtual reality ˆ brett
brett, dexter
Dexter trying to get a puff of that sweet vape.
dogs ˆ vape ˆ brett ˆ dexter

Sunday, September 24th

On Sunday morning...
driving ˆ truck
...I drove to the beach to catch some much-needed Florida sun.
beach
Really in love with my new truck. Every time I walk to the parking lot I'm like, Oh shit - that's mine?
truck
brett, dad
Later that afternoon, I picked up Brett and we went to hang with Dad in the hospital.
hospital ˆ thumbs up ˆ brett ˆ dad
Next, we picked up mom and went over to visit her mom in her nearby assisted living community.
My grandma is such a boss - she was 92 at the time and was still in such great shape.
She wanted to show us an old photo album and stood up, walked over to the shelf and then got down on one knee to retrieve it.
We were all pretty impressed!
aunt barb, aunt elaine, aunt sue, grandma, mom
Love these pics of Grandma and her 4 daughters! Clockwise from upper-left: Barbara, Elaine, Stephanie (my mom) and Sue.
family ˆ nostalgia ˆ photo ˆ aunt barb ˆ aunt elaine ˆ aunt sue ˆ grandma ˆ mom

Monday, September 25th

A peek into my Monday morning foam rolling tools! lol. Luckily my mom is also a foam-rolling maniac so she has a whole library of toys to augment the ones I brought down with me.
foam roller ˆ living room
me
I spend like 20% of my waking time on a mat.
foam roller ˆ me
Afterwards I took a post-stretch swim!
pool

Wednesday, September 27th

Lots of sandwiches and books.
book ˆ food ˆ sandwich
I can't go very long without Thai food. Luckily my parents have a bomb restaurant right down the street from their house.
restaurant ˆ thai food

Thursday, September 28th

food ˆ salad

Friday, September 29th

dad, mom
My dad was discharged from the hospital after a scary two weeks. Nice to have him back home!
food ˆ dad ˆ mom
Connected my phone to my car and was surprised to see that my texts come through on the screen. I guess cars have changed a lot in the almost 20 years since I've owned one!
driving

Saturday, September 30th

dad, me
On Saturday I packed up and got ready to drive my new truck back up to NY. My mom took these lovely pics...
dad ˆ me
dad, me
...of me saying goodby to my dad. <3
dad ˆ me
me, mom
It was an emotional farewell.
me ˆ mom
Hit the road a little after 2.
house
me
First driving selfie in the new ride!
driving ˆ me
Made it South of the Border about 10 hours later and decided to call it a night. (I'm writing this Memorial Day 2022 and enough time has passed that I loved looking back on this bittersweet month.)
driving