Dreams do come true you know

 

A few months ago Emily and I heard news that a beautiful soul would be blessing us with a performance at Radio City Music Hall. After feeling the drop of our hearts, there was no question in our mind that we would be sitting in that crowd hearing the voice of an angel that has given us much hope. When times get tough Florence reminds us, "Oh my dear, dear child, I hear you. And you'll be just fine, because I've been there too." It is people like Florence that I know we will be seeing more of in the future.

 

 

 

Emily captures a Florence connection

If you haven't, I only wish that you will feel the feeling of experiencing this woman's presence. I was not on earth when I was in that theater, but in a safe and soft beautiful heaven protected by the strength of Joan of Arc.

We love you Flo.

Protect us St. Joseph

This morning grandma and I buried a St. Joseph figurine upside down in the front yard. Her intentions are for him to help us sell the house, but when she read the prayer that comes along with him, it felt like he'd be watching out for us too. After the prayer, Grandma held him in her hand staring at him and asked "St. Joseph...are you listening to us?". Then we both gave him a little kiss, and put him in the ground.


Sharon is always giving little gifts, and she just gave me a tiny needle holder she made with a tiny little bow. I love hand stitching and it inspired me to hand quilt a quilt I've been making for a very handsome little baby boy that was just born. It was just the thing I needed to make the process even more special.


-Lexi Lou

An adventure for Jane and Carl

Yesterday morning was a little surreal. I felt like I was watching life happen from somebody else's body. Grandma and grandpa had an old family friend who is a real estate agent come over to take a look at the house. After 46 years of living in this house, their going to be moving to one of my favorite places, North Carolina. Yes, it's really happening, and I'm here to tell you I'm witnessing this transition. It was never a thought in my mind, or anybody else's that this day would come, so it is very strange to be experiencing, but I am thrilled and excited for this new beginning for them.

Understandably, Grandpa did not take the idea lightly at first. He has lived his whole life on Long Island. He is a Cancer, and Cancers are homebodies, as Grandma has reminded me numerous times. His home is his sanctuary.

To my extreme surprise one morning, he was wide open. Maps were spread all over their bed, and he was asking me to help him research homes on the internet, "Lexi, tell me about google..". Instead of sweeping it under the rug and avoiding this small fear of his, he was embracing it. I was floored. This was very inspiring for me to see, and I was finding a new kind of respect and love for him. It is a beautiful courageous thing to see somebody walk into fear. If grandpa could embrace and do this, then there is much hope for a lot of things.

When I woke up yesterday, although it was a dreary rainy day, all the lights were on in the house, and It felt warm and cozy. Grandpa was putting her on display and you could feel the care that had been given to every nook and cranny of this lady. This is a strong house that stands beautiful today because of all the love it's been given through the years. When something broke, it was tended to and fixed, when updating needed to be done, it was done, when room was tight, they made more space. It shows me what caring and loving something can mean, the effect it can have, and how important it is to take care of what matters to you.

Their real estate agent is an old friend of my dads, aunt, and uncles. Its a comfort to them and I'm sure to the rest of the family, that he's selling the house, because he understands the care that has been given to this house over the years..he knows how precious it is to grandpa, that it holds many of his fondest memories. It's hard to believe this is all really happening, but seeing how excited and ready they are makes me very excited, and happy for them, and their new journey.



Much love..and happy birthday Aunt Robin!
-Lexi Lou

Dont let the weeds get ahead of you

Something that really mellows me out is country music, so I like to listen to it while I work. I listened to it while working hard weeding out the garden beds last Thursday. It just makes me think of big open spaces, summertime, square dance halls outside, string lights, crescent moons, lots of smiling nice people in jeans and cowboy boots laughing, just letting it all fly with not a care in the world.

When I came into the house really quick I found grandma ironing her heart away in her bedroom. I was saying I forgot how intense weeding can be but it felt nice like I was "returning to nature" as grandpa had said, and she commented "this really is all exhausting work, but could you imagine if we had to be in the hunger games?" We both have curious minds that are often on the exact same page, and I've imagined it a number of times.

When grandpa and I sat on the porch admiring the work we'd done and the unbelievably beautiful weather, he told me "the best thing you can do when it comes to weeds, is to never let them get ahead of you, because if you do, you'll just find yourself in a big mess kiddo."

Spring Adventures

As Tuesday was the first day of Spring, there is a lot to clean out and prepare for. I'll be weeding the garden and sweeping the garage today. Once a job that was taken by my brother, now passed on to me. My very good friend Sharon is going to be moving to NYC and will be staying with us for a few days, she arrives next Tuesday! I feel like a little bunny prancing around I'm so excited. It's going to be fun to have a partner in crime out here.

We realized the other night that we have the same initials as Laverne and Shirley, so I suggested we start initialing all of our cardigans next week. She has a wonderful blog and lots of beautiful quilts and things to look at over at thefieldbarn.blogspot.com ..I'm sure you'll start catching some references of her experiences on Long Island starting next week. The daffodils are blooming, and like that one little dandelion in the field, this is our sign that spring is a springing.

Babysitting Grandpa- Jane Returns

There was a lot going on in the city this past weekend, so I left grandpa to his own devices again. I rushed home tuesday morning because I knew grandma was going to be home by 2:30 and I didn't want to get into trouble for leaving grandpa alone..or other things. I woke up bright and early to catch an early train but when I called grandpa to ask If he'd be home to pick me up, he said "sorry babe, I'm playing cards". I couldn't stay in the city a minute longer, I needed to get back. I was also starting to feel hungry because food is scarce around 20 something's in NYC..In my heart I knew the cornucopia awaited me not so far away. I decided to just take the earlier train and compromise the 7 dollars I would have spent on breakfast and coffee, for a Lindys Taxi ride home from the station..It's a good thing I was told to always follow my gut.

When I walked into the kitchen I could see crumbs on the counters, the floor, the table, the stove..big ones. The meals I prepared for each day, he ate none of them. Instead, he made peanut butter and jellies and tomato soup. His laundry was the size of a small hill. Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa.

I tidied up and cleaned out the refrigerator. The door opened at 12:30, and it was grandpa getting his hat before he headed to the airport, I knew our special time was coming to an end when he ran past me and said "see ya later turkey, I'm going to pick up my chick!"

It was beautiful outside so I drove to the beach before they came home. I was getting excited to see grandma. When I got back, there was my lady reading her newspaper on the couch. I felt a nice comfort like our tripod had gotten its third leg back. Mama bird was back at the nest. I was glad I sacrificed the 7 dollars to take the early train home and clean because she took notice of my efforts. I'm making a point of observing that woman with even more careful attention, because now I really know the hard work and time it takes to be a successful Jane Paladino. I am reminded when grandpa tells me that there is one word I need to remember for the rest of my life, "anticipate", that my training is not over.

Days 9 & 10- Babysitting Grandpa

We've been pretty busy around these parts of town! I felt like pampering myself yesterday so I did something grandma would do, I called up my girl Ruthie at Spa85 and got my hair done. Grandma likes to make her appointments ahead of time but I'm what Ruthie calls a "caller". I like being a caller with self pampering things because when I plan them, It's not usually as enjoyable. Everybody prefers a certain thing to put their money towards, some prefer jeans, some prefer bags, some prefer fancy drinks.. I prefer a really good hair cutting experience. I like to look for a few things, laid back, clean, excellent bang trimmer, good music, nice smelling shampoos, cutting into the ends of the hair at the end of the cut, and a little silliness. Ruthie's got all this going on. I felt like a brand new little chick hatching from an egg when I walked out of there, and that's exactly how you should feel when you walk out of a spa, or a salon.


Im really beginning to feel like this is more of a preparation for The Hunger Games, rather than taking the place of Jane. Every time I take a seat grandpas got a brand new story to tell me, and a lesson to follow. We make pretty good partners. Yesterday we saw a robin in the yard and he told me "robins are the blue collars of birds, they're always working hard and digging for worms." I'm not a bird expert, but he has a great point.

When we pulled into the driveway from dinner tonight grandpa started singing a line Debbie Reynolds sings in Singin in the Rain, "heeeere we aaare! Sunset Boulevaaahd!" A little bit of him is definitely in me.

Day 8- Happy St. Patricks Day Grandpa!

When I was in Kindergarten, they used to do something at every snack time that repulsed me. They would dye the milk. I decided this would be a good trick to play on grandpa for St. Patrick's day. So last night I snuck into the kitchen and dyed the milk green.

He woke up like a ray of sunshine pretending he was tap dancing into the kitchen, and singing a little jig. We were discussing the weather when he discovered the "blue milk". Heheheheeee. He was laughing and calling me a turkey.


We spent a good part of our night chatting in the rocking chairs on the front porch. When I walked into the garden beds to take a picture of a flower, grandpa yelled to his neighbor Jimmy "Hey Jimmy! I got a new trophy wife!". Oh goodness..Then I started to feel like I was really becoming Jane when I left for the store and he called me "babe"...I'm the turkey..grandma's the babe!

Two pieces of advice grandpa gave me while we were having our cup of green coffee, and watching Cash Cab this morning.. 1- "remember, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future" and 2-"..take the money and run Lexi." He might be grandmas Jeffery, but maybe I'm Katniss, and he's my Haymitch.

the famous Pin Oak grandpa planted when they first moved in 46 years ago.

Day 7- Babysitting Grandpa

It was sadly my last day nannying today and I'm gonna miss my buddy. We were lucky to have a beautiful day, so we took advantage and spent it with some seagulls on the beach. I thought grandpa and I might have a drink on the porch when I got home, but to my surprise he said "we're celebrating! Go put on your lipstick! I got my tax return!" We'll save the porch for tomorrow.

We went to the clam bar by the ferries in Bay Shore, one of grandpas favorite places. He was wearing a beautiful blue shirt I complimented him on last week but forgot to take a picture of, I got him this time. Then he asked to take a picture of me. My dad and his brothers used to be clammers in their summers home from college, and grandpa and grandma love to reminisce about this. I like to hear their stories because it reminds me where my desire to be by the water partially stems from. When we got back to "the ranch" I taught grandpa how to do laundry, he took thorough notes and did a great job when I had him do it on his own. My favorite part was when he wrote out the description of a dryer sheet "freshens clothes and removes static electricity".

Babysitting Grandpa-The weekend

On Friday morning I came downstairs and caught grandpa before he was leaving for "the office" which is code for, playing poker at the country club. He told me he had to make money to take me out to Captain Bills, and he sure did! He won 14 dollars. So he took me out, and It was a pleasant surprise when we ran into my aunt and uncle. As soon as we sat down he got ketchup on his sweater vest, and compared it to a Seinfeld episode. My aunt advised me to look elsewhere if I wanted to waitress, so I took her advice. After dinner grandpa joked around and asked me if I wanted to go dancing, I said of course! He thought I was joking..but I really wanted to.

I felt I was taking a risk but I spent Saturday in the city, I know he's his own man and he can handle it for a day. When I walked in the door Sunday afternoon he told me he had something important to show me. He took me to his desk and showed me a hand written letter to decline a wedding invitation. It was a beautiful hand scripted letter, but I wasn't sure what his point was. Then he pulled out a lined piece of paper, which he had gone over the lines with a sharpie pen. What a clever trick, he places the blank stationary paper over the sharpie lined paper and uses it as a guide. This is all part of his "training program", if your lucky one day, you may be invited personally by him to take part in it. Afterwards I checked around the house and everything looked in its place, but there were a few extra crumbs on the counter..Jane wouldn't have liked this..

It's going to be in the 60s here all week, which means we might be taking cocktail hour to the rocking chairs on the porch, this is classic Jane and Carl and the little Southerner in me loves it.

Day 3- Babysitting Grandpa

Grandpa and I both had nightmares last night, so we got a late start on our day. He told me he was so terrified, he couldn't wait to wake up, me too, I dreamt my eyeball fell out. He played golf, and I ran around town running Jane errands all day. As soon as I walked into the grocery store my mind went completely blank. Im positive I walked around the store in circles 5 times. But then I got a phone call from my pal Sharon, and she helped me regroup. I think it turned out to be a successful trip, I made sure I checked all the expiration dates and ended up being there for an hour. I'm pretty sure people thought I was a mom because I was driving Grandmas Bonneville and I had a baby seat in the back of the car. I was going for "young Jane in her 30's".

As I was carrying the groceries from the garage to the house, I heard Grandpa calling my name. I was getting confused because I didn't see his car. I turned the corner to see him sitting on the porch bench with his face in his hands and his shoes off, when he looked up at me his face was bright red. My heart started beating faster and I immediately starting thinking somebody beat him up. He looked at me and said "..The car got stolen............I'm jus kiddin!".....Wow Grandpa. It turned out he got sun burned on the golf course. He was dropped off because he realized he'd left his wallet at the house, and he didn't want to risk driving the half mile home without his license. He is definitely a "better safe than sorry" kind of guy.

Grandma has been calling in to check in on us. Grandpa told me at dinner "oh Janey, she's so cute, she worries about us". We had a very passionate conversation about organization, and how it can change your life. He pointed out two very good benefits of organization, 1) it eliminates stress 2) it gives you more time, and time is precious. I couldn't agree more.


Little Jane

Day 2- Babysitting Grandpa

Grandpa has actually been very sweet to me. I think he senses my nervousness. When I saw him all calm and cool while I was trying to get dinner on the table by 6:15, I put the pressures of being Jane on the back burner for the night. I realized, this man is on a schedule, and my most important goal should be to stick to that schedule. So I'm sticking to the schedule. While we were having a conversation at dinner I couldn't stop thinking that he reminded me of a gentle silver back gorilla.

If you ever catch the Fire Island ferry in Bay Shore and you pass Garden Park, that land was going to be apartments, but grandpa led a petition for two years and got the county to buy that land. He calls it "His Park", and we're taking a field trip there tomorrow evening. We ended the night watching our favorite movie, Singin in the Rain. We couldn't decide on our favorite scene because every one is so amazing. But I really think his is the classic Gene Kelly Singin in the Rain number. He told me a little trivia that Gene did that in just one take, that impressed me. I'm hoping he'll want to watch it again, because I already want to.



*ps! Merci for all your sweet comments, I'm glad you're enjoying lil till! Thank you to my brother CJ for letting me use his beautiful picture of a ballerina in the street! ;)*

Day 1-babysitting grandpa

Grandma woke up bright and early this morning. I woke up kind of nervous, seeing grandpa run around the house like a riled up chipmunk was making me anxious. I finally felt more docile once grandma got dressed and put her bags in the car. I asked her to give me three final tips before she left, which were: 1- Grandpa doesn't like cabbage, or cauliflower, so don't give it to him (I already know this) 2- If he gets annoyed, just ignore him 3- Keep it cool. Perfect, easy peasy. The rest of the day was pretty calm, Grandpa spent most of it exploring La Guardia airport and delivering a baby gift, so I got some work done and went to a yoga class. Not very Jane like, but she digs it, so it's cool. And she said keep cool. Grandpa tried to make me have dinner at 5, but I told him that was extremely too early. We agreed he'd eat at 5, and I'd eat after my class. We had leftovers.

I don't know why but I am so nervous about this cooking thing that i'm starting to feel nauseous. I just want to close my eyes and give him peanut butter and jellies all week. I was so relieved he wanted leftovers today. I know how to cook, I love to cook, but Grandma is his Ina, and he is her Jeffery. I can't live up to that yet.

neatly organized, very lady like. I love it.

Becoming Jane..

Grandma Jane will be escaping town for two weeks to visit our family in the south. This makes me officially in charge of babysitting Grandpa, and taking over the role of Grandma for two weeks. This is great, because this is finally my chance to prove to Grandpa I'm a real woman now, and to everyone else, that being an old lady is awesome. Here's a list of some typical Grandma things I'll be doing..

-wearing moo moos (I already tried these on Saturday)
-3 hour ironing/steaming sessions
-cooking..apron on at 5 o'clock sharp
-making Grandpas cocktail at 5:30pm (usually a martini or Rob Roy)
-taking disco naps and reading Barbara Kingsolver novels on the couch
-watching Barefoot Contessa
-standing in for Grandma at mahjong
-keeping on top of leftovers in the fridge. Grandmas mantra, "I hate wasting food."
-asking to look at strangers babies in public places
-shopping at Macy's
-checking expiration dates on all food consider buying at grocery store

Grandpa and I already have a date at the Captain Bills Thursday night for cheeseburgers, says he knows a lady at the bar that can get me a waitressing job. I know I'm going to kill this. My goal is comfort, while working hard, so i'll be wearing stretchy pants both weeks.


Love,
Little Jane

A family dinner

A great creation was instagram, and so was the iPhone camera, I've been taking full advantage of this lately. Here is some documentation of our small Paladino family reunion last weekend..

Grandma Jane-"I feel like im in China! We're all eating from the same dish"

Cousin Sydney falls asleep in public at the dinner table, as would any Paladino.

This little lady Kristen was our reason for reuniting, she just returned from serving on a ship abroad for a year, she missed CJ very much.

Our family stylist, Tosh the Scottish Terrior (Grandpa arranging car assignments in the background, very important business.)

Aunt Laura in a happy moment.

Here is Uncle Scott waving from the balcony, he switched our tickets so I could sit with the rest of the family. He is one of the sweetest guys I know. When we were just wee little lads and lasses he used to tell us ghost stories.

happy birthday mom! and happy leap day!

xoxo

Lexi Lou

Sweets

I love sweet things. There are way too many bakeries here for me to deny myself of them anymore! Sometimes I can just look, but most of the time I have got to go inside and get just a little sample.

Going to get something sweet is special, and I like that. And whether you're by yourself, or with someone who shares your appetite for delight, you're going to feel special. You choose your desert, then they put it on a nice little plate, and off you go to sit at a tiny table to enjoy your sweet treat..maybe you're feeling extra excited and order a cup of coffee on the side, that's always nice.

One of my favorite sweet things I had this past weekend was the French Toast at Frankie's on Clinton Street in the East Village. I have never had French Toast as amazing as this. Make a point to go to Frankie's at some point in your life, I am sure you will not regret it.


Lexi Lou

"Mom! I got a ticket to the science CENTER."

This past weekend we got real adventurous, and took the train to Hoboken. Beyond this charming village, we took the light rail to the Liberty Science Center. As soon as we got to exploring we lost my brother..which is strange because usually I would get lost first. But he decided to have a pizza with the kids and take a nap in the IMAX. Let me tell you, this place is pretty on top of their stuff when it comes to IMAX screens, because it's the biggest on this planet. I don't know how they did it, but the perspective they created made me feel like I was not experiencing real life in there.

After waking up from Tornado Alley, we did a little bit more exploring, because this place offers an array of interactive activities. CJ proved his strength over children, holding himself up for 1 minute, Emily spent some time in the "Touch Tunnel", and Timmy and I figured out how to make 4 triangles out of only a few sticks.

Before leaving, we caught an important presentation on balloons and science. A great day of learning we had together. We left excited to see where our next adventure will lead us.

Why you should re-watch The Tree of Life

A few people have mentioned to me that they, or somebody they know, have disliked Terrence Malicks "The Tree of Life". I can understand, it's a pretty heavy movie in the beginning..but just fight through it and see the beauty in this film. I hope I might convince you to give it another chance, or to see it if you havent. I have been thinking about summer a lot lately, and its making me remember vivid moments from growing up. It makes me think about this film.

The film begins with Jessica Chastain, a mother of three boys, quoting "The nuns taught us, there were two ways through life - the way of nature, and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow." Through the film we see her son struggle with a battle going on inside of him of which path to take, he has a mother that is living life through grace, and a father who is living life through nature. I love how this film captures the beauty and importance of everything that surrounds us when we experience the little moments in life, the smells, sights, feelings and sounds all gather up to create our whole memory. It captures everything that surrounded us in that simple moment.

Like when I think about going to the pool in the summertime as a little girl, when I remember it, I barely remember the actual pool, but I remember the walk from my house to the pool, my towel wrapped around me, blonde hair wet, barefoot, the color of the gravel and feeling on my feet, brother five strides ahead of me arms out pretending he's superman, sun setting through the trees, and so on and so on. That was a simple moment, but when I see gravel, and the sun setting through tall trees, and warm air, I am taken back to this moment. This film captures the gravel, the tall trees, the arms out pretending your superman.

It is a reminder to me of how important it is to just slow down for a minute and realize and appreciate what is surrounding me, what is happening in the present moment. There is so much detail and beauty to find in everything around us, every little place we go.

Coast to coast

Instead of illustrating an adventure I have had, I'm mixing it up a bit and illustrating an adventure my sister is having. Both of us have yet to visit the west coast. On Monday morning she called me to tell me she had bought a ticket to California for the weekend, and asked if I thought she was crazy..I said hecht NO sistah. GO! Sometimes when the sun ain't shinin, you gotta get up and go find it.

It's opposite because you should actually be the one sending me a postcard, but this is my postcard to you Lia, because you know I'd rather you catch some rays then waste your time in a souvenir shop, hello!

Love,
Lexi Lou