Just then

So,

her best friend asked me

and I told her,

just as I've told all of you,

that I was in love until the last moment,

that I never gave up on L.,

that I never gave up Love,

that I got up to go to work

on the morning she was leaving

and looked at her sleeping in my bed

and I said,

"I said 'Goodbye.' "

Just then and just then,

as the goodbye slipped out and down,

my love died.

I hardly felt it go.

Maybe that's what death feels like,

one moment here,

the next breath,

gone.

But no pain,

just then, just then, just then.

Pain isn't due to arrive with his bags until night falls.

I like to think upon that last moment of love.

She looked so small,

there upon the mattress,

the covers needing a fluffing,

a cat asleep near her furthest foot.

Love breathing her last shallow rhythms,

her last shining feelings,

the last few grains of her time,

then just then, gone.

Photography Night

Make up your own captions.



It will be better for everyone that way.

Joe

The Queens Half (Marathon, that is.)

Okay.
Clock didn't go off.
I woke up anyway.
Checked the radar for excuse.
No rain.
Actually laid back down and had the following conversation with myself:
Screw it.
What are you going to do instead?
Sleep. Now shut up.
Are you going to run later?
Yeeees. (pounds pillow)
How far?
I'll do about 10 or so.
Sooo, you are going to sleep now instead of getting up and going to the Queens Half so that later you can run almost the same distance.
Arrrrrgh.
(gets up, gets dressed, grabs bag and gatorade and big piece of toast. Out the door in two minutes flat. It's 3:52 am)

=I just got home. I'm showered and I had a nice lunch and now I'm going to lay down for an hour=

The race was fun. I met several really nice people, especially a (too young) Michelle whom I rode over from Manhattan to Queens with, sat and talked with for two hours while we waited for the start and ran with for about the first three miles. No, I didn't get her last name (she's too young, remember.) But I think I will see her again, we run about the same speed (when I am not two days after a roto-rooter expedition.)

I did really well I think. The procedure did take a lot out of me. Har har. but seriously, I brought along three Energy Gels and took one just before the start, one at six miles and one at nine and half miles and, I think, they really made the difference for me today.


I was about fifteen minutes slower than usual but that was as good as I could do.

I am taking myself out for a drink and a steak tonight.

Joe(two hours, twenty three minutes and fifteen seconds)Nation

Sometimes If You Run Too Fast

A nine mile ramble

SOMETIMES if you run too fast you will miss many many things that are all around you.
Hanna took down this tree, but it provided in it's last day on earth, a photographic bonanza for hundreds of folks. I passed this downed tree at least three tines and each time there was a family or a group of friends having their pictures taken in the frame of the tree.

Further on the cops and the fire department were on the scene of a stupid accident.
One idiot (got a dollar was on a cell or had the music up so LOUD he couldn't think straight) ruins a perfect Sunday for someone.

Trotted along the path for awhile and then got just the right postcard shot under the George Washington Bridge.


Really a beautiful day



There were whole families doing multiple fire barbeques. There were shirtless guys, off their bicycles, enjoying the sun and the breeze. There were thousands out in this perfect September Sunday air.

I ran about nine miles in about two hours. I did a lot of stopping. I did a lot of looking and liking, what a great city this is.

Joe (can such air be bottled?)Nation

The Fellow I Live With

Fellow I live with is funny.
He got up early to go on a long run yesterday,
but then get involved in changing the beneficiaries on some Life Insurance.
That took some looking up of addresses and emails
and getting the scanner to actually scan.

So, he didn't go run, but that was good
because his son called
and they talked for over a half hour.

And he did the laundry,
vacuumed,
filled and ran the dishwasher,
washed the dust layer off of the radiators,
cleaned the A/C filter,
put the dishes and the wash away,
moved the living room furniture around (again),
got the mail and read the Co-op monthly report therein,
put a Yew shrub to be placed in the front of the building on his credit card,
met the grocery delivery guy at the door and then put away the groceries,
made a large martini,
made and ate dinner,
got a second phone call from the son
in which they decided some things for the future
while he spread a coat of floor polish over the entrance area of the apartment,
packed a bag of gym clothes and a lunch to take to the race in the morning
and he still felt bad about not running.

He said as he drained his glass, "I was lazy the whole day."
I said, "No, think back."
He said, "No, you think back, I'm going to bed."

Top Ten Things I like About Living Alone

10: No empty ice cube trays.
9. The magazine in the bathroom is right where I left it.
8. I can have plants.
7. Dinner is always on time.
6. There is always a Diet Coke left.
5. I don't have to be anywhere.
4. I get any pillow I want.
3. No paying attention.
2. No sorting of the mail needed.
1. The tv clicker mine mine mine.

Ten Things I Don't Like About Living Alone
10. The Silence
9. Not having anyone to gripe at for the crap everywhere
8. Making one omlette
7. Trying to think of enough STUFF to order from the grocer.
6. Still thinking a cat may appear.
5. The Silence
4. Every once in awhile the whole thing sinks in, that's never good/
3. Being chipper during conversations with neighbors.
2, The middle of the bed is a vast uncharted sea.
1. Realizing that this condition is one that might last until the end of your life.

Joe(until the 12th of Never) Nation