I arose to a bright, new day; sun shining, less humid, a warm summer breeze. We live near Chicago and everyone knows that around Chicago, if you wait fifteen minutes, the weather will surely change.
We are hustling and bustling and bumping into each other – an amusing sight to behold, I am sure. We are hosting a large get-together tomorrow night, here on the cutoff, and then preparations for our soon-to-be arriving house guests comes next.
Isn’t life grand?
So, if my posts aren’t as regular or my thoughts not cohesive, hang on, please don’t let go, I’ll be back.
I promise.
I can rise to any occasion.
Really!
Of course you can! I have a great 1950′s style postcard with a woman on it juggling loads of different things and it says ‘Smart women rise to the occasion!’ – totally true! You’ll be just fine – enjoy the hustle and bustle and I hope all goes off spectacularly!
I love the picture of the postcard your words suggest to us. That was a decade or two before the women’s rights movement hit full speed here. When you move to New York and settle in, Rachel, you will need to take a ride to Seneca Falls, New York in the Finger Lakes region and see the women’s museum there. It is a beautiful little spot and is also the inspiration for the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, my favorite Christmas movie.
Back to work!
What a glorious photo of your window and view.
Have fun organising, anticipating and enjoy every moment of your get-together Penny.
Thank you, Marilyn. This is what we wake up to and it was so lovely this morning. Last night, the moon, close to full, was peeking in and out among the clouds but I was too tired to try to capture it. It will be a good gathering tomorrow night. Thank you. Penny
Gorgeous window and stained glass piece! I love stained glass.
Isn’t it wonderful when the humidity leaves and you feel energy returning! I always figure the worst of the weather Chicago has to offer only makes us appreciate it more when the better shows up!
Thanks, Janet. It seems to work well hanging in our bedroom window.
A perfect way to describe how I feel when the humidity leaves. I don’t mind the heat so much as the humidity; what we have to endure for the better weather, as you say, and the change of the seasons that I would truly miss.
I love your window and stained glass. Doesn’t a day like this make some of the other days worthwhile? I don’t know if you can see it from your neck of the woods, but around here the moon is glorious tonight.
Have a nice gathering of friends tomorrow.
Such a wonderful day as yesterday does make all the ones that aren’t so great seem worthwhile. We can understand why Curly from Oklahoma sings so grandly! I did see that glorious moon last night. There it was, peeking through our bedroom window, shining through the stained glass like the brilliant idea it is for just a short time before announcing “lights out” and off I drifted into slumber.
Thanks, Janet.
Oh I love that window. Have a lovely time at your gathering!
Why is it called – the cutoff ?
I was wondering when someone would ask, Joan, and you are the first.
Once upon a time, the road we live on went further, into a larger town. The area was rural. As time went by, an interstate highway was built and cut into the road, separating it at one junction. Some uninspired city planners decided to just keep the name of the road and add “cutoff” to it. We tried cutting the “cutoff” off our address when we moved in, only to find our mail floating around for several days in another suburb before it finally reached us, so, use “cutoff” all the time now.
When we first moved in, seemingly amused by our road’s name, our daughter Katy referred to our road as “the cutoff” in a letter home. It stuck in my mind and when I needed to christen my little blog, it just simply became life on the cutoff!
Thank you for asking, Joan. I just realized with all my wordiness in my answer that I could probably have made it into a post. Have a good day.
Oh thank you for telling me about The Cutoff ! I have always wondered and I love the story behind it. You could still do a post about it.
The street adjacent to my street runs from the water tower down the hill to the courthouse. There is now a small motorway running across it cutting the street in half. The street name remains unchanged although there are now two streets.
I have had visitors confused when they find the lower end but no sign of my street.
It is an Aha day for me today! I now know what The Cutoff is!
You’re welcome. Maybe I will do a post one day about it.
That’s interesting about your street, Joan. I would be the one confused, but, doesn’t it make for an interesting story?
But does Joan know, that you are really “Cut Off”, if 5th Ave. bridge caved in, you are stuck, one way in and one way out. Guess you could climb over the wall in the back and walk down the expressway…..take good care of that bridge….
Ah, but Sharon, don’t you know, we would just follow the deer path out! (Actually, there is another way out, but, I’m not telling. )
One of our guests this evening grew up in our house and he had some interesting bits and pieces to tell us about what it was like growing up in our little neck of the woods.
I just read Sharon’s last comment! How exciting escaping by the deer path…and even another secret escape route..how exciting is that!!
Thanks, Joan. Always find a way out of the box. ha! Penny
I have been meaning to ask you about ‘the cutoff’ too as it intrigued me so have enjoyed reading the story behind it.
Thanks, Marilyn. Not a very classy name for a street, but, a little bit of story to tell. Penny