Working backwards

well my biggest "news" is that I tripped on the street last night and slid into the pavement on 86th Street & Madison Avenue. No sprained ankles or wrists but everything went flying and as I went along like a bat, somehow the road came up to meet me. Eureka. I look like a victim of domestic violence or you could ask how the other person looked. I scarped my face and was bleeding profusely. so many really nice people helped me to move out of the way of the number 86 crosstown bus , gave me kleenex to staunch the profuse bleeding and made sure that I wasn't just left on the street. I took a cab up to Island Restaurant to meet Jill and as I was waiting there a man came by to ask if he could help. All so very nice. i had no idea how ghastly I looked until we got to her house. Kate was initially pretty kool and then I think she worried. How could her indomintable mother be dumb enough to trip and rip up her face. And of course today I look increasinly ghastly and have to be at work because we are doing a huge TV shoot for a pilot called Ringer that has the usual crew of 75 plus 240 extras. Pain in the neck but fun.

Kate and I spent one week of her spring vacation in Key West where the weather was 80 degrees and sunny. Oh, so sunny. And Kate has another week of spring vacation which she is spending here in New York where it is raining again. Last week it was cold and snowy. I was thrilled that I was there and not here for that. We rented bikes and toured around all the back streets of Key West and actually I found some areas especially around the Cemetary that I had never seen. I'm thinking 6 months every year in Key West would be great.

The beaches aren't great there and in fact they are man made but by the time we lugged our books down to the water, settled in our beach chairs, we were very happy campers. Every morning we biked to a new breakfast place and then back to the hotel where we installed oursevles by pool or the beach. Kate read 5/6 books on this vacation and me, too. I read all of my books and some of hers. All great. We stayed at the Casa Marina which used to be avery dumpy hotel with dumpy people but it has morphed into a really nice family hotel where all the women of a certain age appear on the beach in one piece black bathing suits while younger women wear bikinis. Made me laugh after I saw the pattern.

But most of all I was glad to get away from the office where I continue to do a Munch silent scream.

Breakfast, actually

I know that all the good nutritionists and their sober sided brethren rabbit on endlessly about the restorative power of breakfast but it is certainly a meal that I dislike. What to eat? What not to eat? Should it be taken in a leisurely fashion under a speading oak tree as you watch the clouds shift in the sky? Lucky you. Or do you need to eat a cold piece of toast standing up in the kitchen as the dog sniffs around your foot in a most hopeful fashion? Actually even if you sit down and make the mistake of watching Today Show that alone will make you feel sick as you watch the endless recitation of world wide horrors. Ok. And then to add injury to insult or is it insult to injury you probably need to feed your children. Or child. A little cereal my darling? No, isn't there something really delicious for breakfast? why yes: corn flakes. NO. How about toast?
Again? ok how about the black beans and rice that you didn't want to eat for dinner?
Great. GREAT

That's actually my favorite breakfast when you can create a backwards day and serve up dinner for breakfast. Steak, hamburgers, not cold Pizza and a coke but certainly black beans and rice make it a good breakfast day for me.

City scapes

My next couple of weeks are overflowing with doctor appointments which means, I think, that I'm healthy. Skin doctors, foot doctors, dentists and the obligatory and but always yuck making mammogram. But this morning's visit was to the foot doctor where I have been a regular visitor for several years now because I seem to have lousy feet. I'd like to be able to tell my mother that wearing those awful lace up brown oxfords didn't save me from having bad feet and that not only could I have worn loafers with no negative effects, I could have eaten white bread too.

But this morning's casual conversation was with my Doctor about how expensive I thought air fare are to Europe. And had he noticed? Not at all, said my doctor, immediately firing up the computer in the examination room. Lets check out fares, said he, bringing up aumber of cheap fares to Europe. Made me laugh to see him totally forget my foot and begin talking about affordable air fares to Europe. I thought it was a great way to start my day.

Kate dissected a crayfish

that's all. Just posting about her new scientific foray.

Maybe not an addiction but a source of great pleasure

we're still talking the Japanese on line comics Manga here. It was suggested to me that this is a return to an earlier stage of development and that the fantasy part of Manga may be ok. Providing it doesn't become wildly kinky. So maybe my objectiton is the amounttime spent on the Internet. Unlike my growing up where the most prized possession you could have was a phone in your room, not an extension but your own phone and separate tel #, for these kids it's all about the internet. In fact last night Kate turned on the ping to alert her when she got a message on facebook from the kool boy in her class. Yikes. Maybe we are there.

Anyway the good news for me is that there was no 6:30 am request to go on line and read more Manga. But then maybe it's because I staggered out of bed at 6:30 in the spirit of Christmas Past annoucning that I would not be up until 7:00 am. Then staggered back to bed before I walked Miss Murray on what I would call a Chicago kind of day. You know cold where the eyepiece on your glasses gets cold and your skin crinkles....In the spirit of Oscar Wilde, the rumors of spring are way overrated.

However this weekend Kate and I are going to sort through our spring/summer clothes in preparation for some time in Key West. Did we say that we were excited. Not an addiction but a source of great pleasure.

addictions

Arnie came in town for a 4 day weekend and we kicked it off with amazing dinner at Jean George on Thursday night courtesy of the folks from Ugly Betty. Actually I realize that we have been saving this gift for about 2 years which is how long we must have been waiting for something to celebrate. And now we have it.

I cooked all weekend long which was fine with me because my regular roster of weekly menus would leave most people screaming in boredom. Kate and I eat roast chicken, dumplings, home made Italian meat balls and our favorite orchiette with veal on a regular basis. Actually that doesn't sound so bad to me. I take it back. My menus are sublime unless I flatly refuse to cook, of course...

We are such a hip technological family now especially since Arnie introduced an IPad into the equation which sent Kate into a jealous fit because she does know how to use it and alledges that he doesn't. Save your money has become my mantra to her. I could care less, at this moment, that is. I keep waiting for some kind of techno lust to strike but somehow I am protected. The other addition we are now experiencing is Kate's new love of on line Manga which is a Japanse comicbook with some curious story lines. One of her friends, also addicted to this on line comic book, introduced her to Manga. I should remember that this friend has introduced her to several other time consuming on line games. This morning she tried to go on line at 6:30 am to read more Manga and I had to step in and details on limits loud and clear.

It's an addiction for sure.