You go Mr. Byrne

Kate was fully dressed with a bowl of half eaten cocoa puffs on her desk when I staggered into her room at 6:30 to say good morning and announce my departure on the Dog Walking Tour. She was also listening to music. Really loud and unrecognizable music. But that's because I am a parent. And
I wondered if my parents felt the same thing when I was a teenager constantly listening to Evis etc. But my thought is that we need a day of silence in our house when there is no television, computer, texting, blackberries. You name. It is banished. I'm working on it.

Last night Kate got slammed with homework but the majority of her evening's labors were a punishment assignment from her English teacher who noticed that Kate failed a vocab test and hadn't done the proper flash cards for it. You go Mr. Byrne because you certainly got Kate's attention and she will never do that again. Kate rated that experience a Grrr. If it were less tough she would have characterized it as Pitouwie. But the 4 page essay was Grr.

My day so far is approaching a Grr.

The Michael Jackson ploy

It's all about the Michael Jackson drug Protosomething which I not only can't spell or pronounce. but I've had! For me it's really a miracle drug. Not that I'm such an expert on these drugs but I've had this one twice for recent surgeries or almost surgeries and the plus for me is that I don't wake up and immediately throw up. This time I felt like the star of the tv program ER with people swirling around and large pieces of lighting equipment focusing on me and I was deliciously witty and all of a sudden it's several hours later and you're waking up. Michael Jackson used this drug to sleep but everytime I've had it the result is that I am there chatting up a storm and all of a sudden I'm out and not around for some kind of operation. You're there, you're out and then you wake UP. No, I said, I want to sleep more. But no these people are ruthless and turf you out of your cocoon to struggle home so that you can re-cocoon yourself.

But of course I was hungry. So Arnie and I had a picnic in bed and dined on absolutely delicious fried chicken from the new Hill Country take out place. Yum. They've had some bad blogger reviews but for me it was all good, greasy and tasty. It's all been down hill from there because that dinner in bed was just a harbinger of no mobility, boring and nutritionally PC meals, no swanning around the city or even walking around the apartment. Nada.

Thursday was my last day of full mobility but since I couldn't eat or drink for the 8hours prior to the operation, I was unable to indulge one of my great pastimes which is LUNCH. But this day I had a fake lunch. They ate and I watched. Carefully.

We are in the middle of researching high schools for Kate and in New York it ain't simple. You don't simply walk your child to the high school on the corner and enroll them. This system has more bells and whistles than a cammel auction. I am consulting with parents who have been through this process and so we swapped tales of getting into high school over a small cafe tables at Union Square. Actually this woman I met with works in PR at the New School so it was thoroughly enjoyable on several levels.

Home and then off to the doctors for this dreaded bunion/hammer toe operation. It was fine. A big success and my foot is still attached to my leg and I am back at work and feel tired. I'm not taking the subway to work at all because of the distances and stairs and so it's all about Taxis.

It;s fall

I went off to work today dressed in my palette of winter colors. Black, grey and more black. Gone are the days of pink and green skirts and pink shoes. How did this happen so quickly? And why do the grey/black days seem to last forever.

I am facing foot surgery and feel that I have to take full advantage of every day and do as much as I can because after my Thursday operation I will be outfitted with the dreaded boot and lose alot of freedom to go about when and where I want. Nobody really understands how time consuming the recovery is for these foot operations....ok,I'm whining.

Sunday we went to see the new Mario Batali food halls as I like to call them and had a great time. Amazing food in a spectacular setting that seemed to stretch for miles. We all want to go back every week.

The New Beginning

I love September because it always means new beginnings. It's my birthday but it's also the start of the school year and we're off on a totally new adventure. I must have been 3 or 4years old but I can still remember having breakfast with my Grandfather in Roanoke, Va one bright September morning and hearing the Jay birds calling to each other as groups of children walked down the hill from Avenham Avenue on their way to school. The air was crisp, the sense of anticipation was palpable and it was all so new. It's the new year with new classmates, new shoes, more grown up clothes bought just for school, pristine notebooks and textbooks.

Kate started school this morning and so for me, too, it was the end of a somewhat laidbck summer when i could just go straight to the office. But now I am into the routine where I take Kate to school and then circle back uptown to the office. We hauled all her new notebooks and stuff down to school and then I had time to walk through the Union Square Greenmarket on my way to the subway. But I became very emotional about beginnings and endings because we've done this same routine now for 9 years since 2002 when Kate started in kindergarten at Friends.

Labor Day Weekend

Monday was Kate's birthday so I took that day off making this a very short work week for me which made the whole re-entry process far less painful. Friday night Kate and I went off to the local Sephora make up shop with a gift certificate burning a hole in Kate's pocket. I think the reality of all those products with a squad of heavily made up young woman threading their way through the aisles was a show stopper for Kate. She suddenly looked like she wanted to escape and so after we made a comprehensive but quick tour of the entire store, we found a wandering make up artist to advise us about what the best kind of eye liner and mascera to buy. Apparently blue and green eye liner were what the make up doctor ordered and that plus a mascera constituted our ill gotten gains that night. I have to say that it was rite de passage of me going with my daughter to explore the world of make up. Several years ago after watching me put on my make up, Kate finally figured out that she doesn't have to wear same kind of make up. I think that was a big relief to her. And it was a big relief to me to say No make up at school and have her nod a quick assent.

Saturday was my birthday -- I am 105 years old -- and so I didn't have to do the first dog walk this morning although we did take her to Central Park for a fast romp through the glades. I consider that trip an investment in keeping her occupied so she doesn't eat this carpet too. Then I got to read until my afternoon massage at Tiger Lilly in Chinatown and dinner with Kate and Arnie at David Bouley's Bowery restaurant. While have always liked the food there, I have always hated the staff who are unbelievable difficult. This time I may have worked my way out of loving that restaurant. I mean, why do people try and seat you practically on top of the kitchen. I know someone has to sit there but it's not going to be me.

Kate went on an outing that afternoon with Dyan which included some new and very pretty earrings for her as well as a trip to the Guggenheim. I could never have persuaded Kate to set one dainty toe in an art Museum but that is what friends are for, I'm thinking.

Sunday we rented bikes in Central Park and spent about an hour making the loop from Columbus Circle up to 110 Street and back and then took Kate to see Jersey Boys which was just as wonderful as it was when we first saw it 4 years ago. A quick dinner at a Chinese restaurant capped off the day and Monday we had a traditional lunch at Bar Pitti with John and Lucy Sheftall who had just driven McKay and Lucy from Georgia to their respective institutions of higher learning. That's quite a road trip.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Well, the good news is that I can talk about how I spent my summer vacation because I actually had one. We've had a surprisingly good summer with a kick off trip to Mexico. Who knew that a return trip to Mexico would be on next year's wish list. We bookended the June trip to Mexico with an August trip to Maine.

We drove home Sunday from our annual family trip to an island in the Casco Bay, where for the second year family was defined as our wonderful dog Miss Murray, Kate, her friend Lile, Grandma Dot, Arnie and me. The weather was a little iffy at the beginning but then turned gorgeous which in Maine terms means hot enough to go without a sweater but not so hot, for me anyway, that I feel compelled to brave the incredibly cold water.

Our car trip up took a record breaking 5 hours and had plenty of time for an unrestrained shopping spree through Whole Foods which just sets up the entire vacation mood for me. I play house and mostly do all the cooking. Then onto the Standard Bakery which is a devine local bakery run by aggressive vegan types who seem to really resent their customers plelasure in their delectable brioche bread and gingerbread cakes. At this point we stagger gratefully onto the Casco Bay Line for the last leg of our journey. The boat makes stops at Cliff Island, Diamond Head and Long island before it docks at Chebeague and we pile into the Island Taxi. Home please.

And suddenly we are there with Miss Murray running around the grass looking for the perfect place to pee.

Spaghetti Bolognese is always the de rigeur first dinner and this year we had a real reason to light a fire. No flies at all but plenty of September-like weather. The next day we went out to get our bikes which on this island means a trip to the Byccyle Man who lends bikes to one and all but you have to be very, very polite and also manage to get there when he is open. One year we had to make several trips just to get our hands on bikes which is our only transportation. The girls love these bikes and from the moment that they have a bike, they are gone. It's a wonderfully independent moment for them and I feel super safe with their biking all over the island. Because this a super small island, everybody knows what is going on and we heard about sightings of the girls every day which makes me feel very secure.

Our big discovery was the outdoor shower. Oh my gosh. The plumbing would only allow a very stingy trickle of water in the one shower so when I siddled up to the outdoor shower and thought that I would just quietly try the water...I was stunned when it gushed out immediately with full force and plenty of hot water. So I jumped in. And was ebullient when I jumped out. The girls and Arnie all snickered about my new obsession until they too tried it. Lets hear it for outdoor showers.

And my second BIG discovery was that 5 people are quite capable of eating 15 small gingerbread cakes in 5 days.

Need I say more?