She's Home

Annie Says Goodbye to Road's End

Here's a little home video I put together last night for Annie. Turn up the volume, a little higher on the second part, and sorry for the low resolution, I'm not sure it can look any better than this on the blog. xoxoxo

Friday

I spoke to Annie on Wednesday, today she is going to ride her horse bareback while it swims in the lake. What an experience that will be.

Tomorrow David and I make one more trip to New Hampshire to pick up our baby girl and bring her home. We'll stay the night and return Sunday. Blog resumes Monday. Love, Katie

Quote

“Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.”

~Ludwig van Beethoven

Kaite's comment: I think it should bring tears from the eyes of men as well.

Me and the "Stang"

Here I am at 17, but I look too refined in this picture; I was usually much more unkempt looking, sun burnt skin and messed up hair, especially during the "Mustang Period."

The Lioness Roars

For her birthday she received phone calls and emails from faraway friends, and from her family. She was embraced by her husband, by the Korean grocer, the women at the beauty salon, and by a stranger on 23rd Street. She ate steak and salad and drank champagne late into the night on an 80-foot sailboat while quietly cruising the river past the Manhattan skyline. She is loved and satisfied and she gives thanks.

Tai Sent Me This Picture...

...for my birthday. Thank you Taitita!

Heil Kitler

"Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he's going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like "Sieg Miaow"? If so, this is the website for you."

Tai forwarded me the link to this unusual site, and I'm sure she'll remember my own childhood cat, Caboodle (pictured here). Thankfully, he was just a mere runner-up for a Hitler look-alike and not the real deal.

Click on title or go to: www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com

Kitchen Window Papparazzo

When you live in New York City you see a lot of things. Buddhist monks driving SUVs, old men climbing trees to rescue wounded birds, and ladies in stiletto heels pushing poodles in baby strollers. Outside my kitchen window, on any given day, I may see psychosexual therapist Dr. Ruth strolling down the street, or actor Lawrence Fishburn heading to the corner health food store. I will also inevitably witness the drummer from Blue Oyster Cult shuttling his drums back and forth from the apartment to the car.

I was never a big fan of the band, and I don’t make a habit of snapping photos while cooking dinner, but come on, who didn’t rock out to “Don't Fear the Reaper” just once?

Quote

"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams."

~Jeremy Irons

Happy Birthday!

To Gracie Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Mick Jagger, Kevin Spacey... and to me.

Don't worry, I'm not blue on my birthday, just looks that way.

I'm Telling

First kiss: 14 years old, Hollywood, California, "It Keeps You Running" by the Doobie Brothers on the stereo.

First kiss in a car: 14 years old, in front of my house in Los Angeles, "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees on the radio.

First kiss with a foreigner: 14 years old, in the back row of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. while "Star Wars" was showing.

First kiss away from home, 16 years old, “Camp 6, ”Yosemite, California.

First kiss with a rocker: 17 years old, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, California, Chaka Khan was performing.

First kiss with a union man: 17 years old, Furnace Creek Ranch, Death Valley, California.

First kiss in water, 19 years old, Catalina Island, California.

First kiss out of my teens, 20 years old, Delaware Street, Santa Cruz, California.

First kiss with a university student, 20 years old, Jesse Street, Santa Cruz, California.

First kiss with a jazz musician, 21 years old, The Village Vanguard, New York City, NY.

First kiss with a Spaniard, 21 years old, Malaga, Spain.

First kiss with a world-famous chef, 22 years old, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California.

First kiss with the father of my child, 25 years old, Broadway and 81st Street, New York City, NY.

Quote

“The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - and never knowing”

~David Viscott

Some Beauty for My Birthday

Quote

"It bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It's not. It's feeling."

~ Bill Evans

On July 26th...

1952 Mickey Mantle hits his 1st grand-slammer

1848 1st Woman's Rights Convention, Senecca Falls, New York

1964 Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud and conspiracy

1992 Rocker Paul Stanley (Kiss) weds model Pamela Bowen

Where it All Began: From Baby to Blogger

I was born in the New York Hospital, that white building on the East River.

And Then...

...We moved to St. Marks Place on the Lower East Side. Since we all need a good, "We were so poor" story, there was no money for a crib when my parents took me home from the hospital, so I slept in a dresser drawer.



When I was two, we moved to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn near Coney Island. In the summertime, when it was too hot to sleep, my mother would take me to the playground at 4 a.m. and push me on the swings for hours.

Listening to at the Moment ...

Changing Lanes

Life has changed so dramatically for me in the past months, and although it is, at times painfully uncomfortable, I suppose if one allows it, it is what happens. When I was 25 I was focused solely on romance, when I was 26 it was about partnership and marriage. When I was 32 my life became about the loss of my father, and at 34 it was about being a mother, and that's all I wanted for a very long time. But when your only child gets to an age where she can bathe herself, sleep away from home and write her own poetry, if you weren’t paying attention to your life before, you have no choice but to pay attention now. Well, I suppose you have a choice, but eventually the knocking gets so loud that you either ignore it, or you open the door to see what’s there. I'm looking, and my God is there a lot to see.

Listening to at the Moment ...

My new favorite CD. Beautiful, stunning, alive, deep; it's what I call, "Crack me open and leave me on the floor music."

Celebrity Crush

Ed Harris

From "Overheard in New York..."

Conductor: "All right, people, there are six hundred feet of train. Let's try to use more than one door, please."

Tourist: "Well that was rude." --Downtown F train, 42nd St

Katie's Comment: And where might these tourists be from that they would find this rude? I know, Santa Cruz! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

City Picture

Is it Me or Marilyn? Hard to Tell.

Check Back Later, But In the Meantime...

My Girl

When I pulled up the driveway at the farm, I saw Annie running toward me from the top of the road. Her hair was a mess, her arms were covered in bug bites, her legs scratched and bruised and she had a layer of dirt over her entire body. She looked happier and more beautiful than I've ever seen her.

Filming from the Dashboard

Here's something I put together this morning from my recent trip to New England. Volume up.

Happy Birthday!

To my little brother Danny, pictured here with his beautiful wife, Jennifer.

I love you brother!

Solcircle Tonight in Santa Cruz

I know there's at least one reader of this blog from Santa Cruz, but if there are more, then to all of you, check out Solcirlce tonight and every Monday night through August at the E3 Playhouse. Tell the sax player I sent you and receive a gift from the "Half Note." It should be some seriously Special Fun.

Click on title for more info.

Weekend

When Annie and I arrived at the bed & breakfast in Brattleboro, VT., I put her in the big bathtub and bathed her for almost an hour. Because of our 2 weeks apart, and because we had nothing else we needed to do, the bath became a time for us to connect and just be with each other. It reminded me of when she was a baby, when all of my focus was on her and nothing else in the world mattered.



Her bunk



With friend & counselors



Post bath at the B&B.

Oakley Speaks

It’s too dark to see, but listen to Oakley's reaction when I come into the barn after leaving him for about 12 seconds. I like to believe he loves me, but the truth is, he's just co-dependent. Make sure your volume is turned up enough to hear, but not too high or the obnoxious baby voice I sometimes speak to him with may damage your hearing forever. (I try to control it, I really do.)

Just Can't Wait

Oakley Waits 4 Me

One way Oakley and I are alike is that we both love attention and if we aren't getting it when we want it, we become agitated and impatient. Since I don't have a video of myself in this state, here Oakley demonstrates my point.

Celebrity Crush

Dermot Mulroney

Quote

"If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone."
~John Maxwell

Thursday Morning Sunrise

Happiness!

I spoke to Annie yesterday and she was wonderful! She was joyful and loving and adorable and funny and expressive and I am just so damn in love with that kid!

Last week, as I mentioned before, we received several heart-breaking letters from her as well as one phone call that began with a wave of homesick tears. But week two in New Hampshire has been a great one for Miss Annie. She's made a bunch of friends and has learned to canter on her horse, a huge step since she has, up until now, been a rather timid rider. On the phone yesterday she had only glowing things to say about her experience, and it lifted my spirits like you wouldn't believe. This coming Saturday is visiting day for parents whose kids are staying longer than 2 weeks, so although David can't make it, I’ll drive up myself, hang out and watch her ride, then she'll spend the night with me at a B&B, and on Sunday morning I’ll drop her off at the camp and head back to the city. (And I won't have to listen to David's Glitter Rock CD!)

I can't wait to see my little girl. I can't wait to take her to dinner, give her a bath, curl up in bed, cuddle with her, turn on a movie, read to her, sing to her, watch her fall asleep, whatever. I can't wait.

Equine Art

Leo Horoscope for July 20th by Rob Brezny

The Hebrew word "shalom" is both a hello infused with a goodbye and a goodbye leavened with a hello. That's why it would be wise and fun for you to make it your word of power in the coming days. You'll be spinning through a transitional zone in which it won't always be clear which direction is up. You'll be coming and going simultaneously, embarking on new journeys and ending old ones. Whenever you say "shalom," whether it's a greeting to someone else or a mantra uttered in solitude, you'll remind yourself that the threshold you're in is pregnant with a thousand possibilities.

Listening to at the Moment ...

American V: A Hundred Highways

Gotta Fly, Literally.

The past week has been terribly hot and yesterday the temperature was over 100 degrees. The horseflies are relentlessly chasing Oakley, leaving him exhausted and covered in sweat. I'm off to give him a soothing bath and a dose electrolytes. Poor baby.

Happy Birthday George McGovern

Sugar & Spice

I didn't want a conventional birth announcement when Annie was born, and since I always thought that having a baby inside me was a mysterious and rather alien occurrence, I thought it fitting to have Dr. Frankenstein spread the news of her arrival. I like the graphics from the old monster movies, and I think David did a pretty decent job with his freehand. David is a big Warner Brothers cartoon fan and it was his idea to have the card open to reveal a cute little baby peaking out from a blanket, an illustration by one of his favorite animators, Chuck Jones. Click to see.

From "Overheard in New York..."

Girl #1: "Oh my God, that guy just dropped his iPod under the train!"
Girl #2: "He's not even crying!"
Girl #1:" He must be in shock. I would be!"

--Penn Station, LIRR