Like a bolt out of the sky

Went to Boston to see Spooky. Doesn't that sound like a children's book. It was the weekend after I went to Vancouver with Arnie....because Vancouver was wonderful but what's not to like when you stay in an amazing hotel, have 4 sunny and cloudless days and don't get sick on an endless and rough whale watching trip. Told Arnie that was it for me and these damn fish.

Then I was off to Boston via the super cheap Bolt Bus to see Spook and it turns out that I haven't seen her in almost 2 years. The bus took forever and the seat slanted so i felt that I was always sitting in somebody's lap. Took 5 hours. Came home by Bolt Bus which also took 5 hours...but this time the AC died. A whole of drama about whether they would send another bus, wouldn't send another bus, whether the air from opening the vents was toxic or not. Who cared? I just wanted to get home and home I got right in the middle of a demonstration about Trayvon Martin which totally tied up midtown traffic. Ugh. and then customer service at Bolt Bus reared its head and sent me a note that they were refunding my money for the Boston to new York trip because the AC died. Nice, very nice.

Kate is tucked away in france which sounds like a good place to be to me. Even when its not Bastille day

My hometown

This is what makes New York City an unbelievable place to live.

Neither rain nor sleet nor snow, nor dark of night can deter this dog and her owner from making their way around the block every morning at about 5:30 or 6. Way before 7:00 am when the trucks start to choke the street and backfire like continuous farts.

Except today at 6am  when the sky was blue and the traffic really light, a truck backfired really loudly this morning which made Miss Murray jump. But then the truck driver leaned out of the cab and apologized for scaring Miss Murray. She's a house dog, right? Right. But still, he said, I am so sorry. Bye doggy....

springing intop summer umbrella firmly in hand

Saw three grey haired men driving convertibles today...red convertibles. Clearly i saw them on a day when there was no rain but for now it's like living in Seattle without the Pike Street market.

What I'm Reading

Actually that should be What I'm Still Reading...

I'm still reading about Winston Churchill but he and I have moved on to the years between 1932 and 1940.  I cannot beleive how stupid and timid the British government was during those years. And I wish my Dad who was the head of the BBC here in the US right after the war  was still alive to chat with me about his experiences. Unfortunately We all wish to go back to the source too late.

And I'm kinda reading some other book...can't even remember but will check in with the title tomorrow.

Went to Nashville for the weekend and swopped out incredible New York heat for iffy mid Tennessee weather and then came back to LaGuardia on Sunday night with the threat of thunderstorms hanging over all airports. No storms until around mid night....Had a nice time but I gotta beleive that Arnie and I can find a decent restaurant in Nashville. By decent I mean good food, menu that is interesting and a relaxed environment that is either is kinda upbeat but not a place for screamers. F. Scott's is probably the best but it is so totally Nashville country club that it just makes me laugh because of the pretensions. Then there is the down and dirty Vietnamese place which I love on occasion...So what else? Yeah, I know Merchants and it is my fave....

It's almost the end of the year and soon I will be free of the summer stormlet that is in residence.

Had a quick call from Lucy Banks who was en route to LAX with Danny who is flying into New York today.TODAY?! Omg, i thought it was Wednesday but not to worry because he has found another place to live....

I am a glow worm

That quote is taken directly from Winston Churchill who was lementing the brevity of life and that we are all worms. But wait, he said, I am a glow worm.

The City is gorgeous today, this week with Linden trees in full bloom with white blossoms on many many streets. The air is heavy and the whole atmosphere yells Spring. We've all been yelling for Spring. Where are ya Honey?  Well apparently it's here now.

The kids in the elementary and middle school where my office is located are all locked into their classrooms for testing. Apparently this ritual goes on for two weeks. Can you imagine?  Some parents are refusing to have their kids to take these tests and bravo to them.

Bummed about Boston

I cannot even begin to explain how bummed I am today...Kate made me turn off the television last night before I sank into the morass of sensationalized reporting about the Boston Marathon bombing. We still know nothing.

But I do know that the ashes of 9/11 are not far from the surface. I don't mean to sound maudlin but the reverberations from that day are loud. Still loud. There is no smoky air or frantic posters going up around town but it's all there. And if you were in New York during that time then you know what I'm talking about.

Everybody in the gym was feeling bad this morning and so that made me feel better. And I had hot water this morning which is always my idea of life affirming. Then the sun came out and it's relatively warm.

A girl could go on living. Or not.

We went to London to see the Queen and I am hoping she was warmly ensconced on the Costa Brava

T'was brillig in the slimey trove where gyre and gimbel...ok I'm sure I've wildly misquoted the only part of Jabberwocky that I pretend to know...but that's how I felt it was in London.

We arrived with snow coming down and for the next two days it snowed, rain and was damn cold and uncomfortable....We had a good flight out on Friday and on Saturday morning we whizzed through the Heathrow essentials so quickly that we had to kill some time when all of us wanted nothing as much as a warm place to park our gear and a nap. We got to our airbnb apartment at the appointed time. Actually the owners were incredibly flexible and enabled us to get into the flat by 10 when they could have made us wait until 3. Impossible thought.

The flat was right off the Marylebone High Street which is a neighborhood that was a total cipher to me. Very twee and upscale with some ok restaurants and a really good Waitrose supermarket. All in walking distance of the Wallace collection. And the flat was enormous. A split layout with a large living room with lumpy furniture covered in bedspreads...it's like being in grad student digs. But it was super warm -- you can easily tell my obsession -- and very light and airy. The kitchen was also doable. Not filled with such high tech gadgets that I was paralyzed.

I would say that the trip was an enormous success with the requisite ups and downs. Too cold...learning curve for Arnie and for me about how to use our phones to reach the states...the oyster card for the Tube which kept running out of money at the most inconvenient time...and I returned home with my trophy hot water bottle. I just wanted one.

We saw a little bit of everything. I made everybody take the Big Bus Hop on Hop off tour which would be wonderful in warm weather but I didn't care. Oh, the warm downstairs is full, well let's go up stairs and sit outside in the snow. It will be good for you. Well it was certainly cold...

We went to Oxford one day and saw the Bodelian library which was one of my goals for this trip. It was a great success and Kate and Lydia both loved Oxford. They also saw a small Science Museum which Arnie had picked to see and it was an incredible cabinet of curiosities. My other goals went right out the window...Stone Henge and Stratford on Avon. We didn't even get to the Globe Theatre. Too cold. Even though we did go on the London Eye which was pretty swell.

Additionally I had told Kate that there would be some great shopping in London. I lied. What we saw was mostly fusty and old fashioned. And, of course, I was trying to keep her out of Agnes B which does have some great shopping and clothes that actually fit her!

We saw Billy Elliott, ate at a Turkish restaurant, a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown where I had never ever been during the time I was living in London, sammpled an inferior Italian restaurant, and then a wildly spicy Indian restaurant. All good.

In the end Kate didn't like London. but who cares. She absorbed more of it than I think she realized.

And this weekend we took a mini trip to see Princeton and the first thing the student tour leader said was that it was modeled on Oxford!

Very satisfying to me.

An adventure!!!!!

OMG it's been a nighmare...the organizing of this trip to London which I thought several times along the way I should cancel. But now: It's all in place. And I'm excited. Which is a wonderful new feeling!

We've had a one bedroom apartment with sleeper sofa, rented in South Kensington, since December and after some iffy dealings last week with the owner/host/whatever was cancelled. He cancelled because I think he found me difficult. And knew that when we arrived and the flat was not as advertised...I would complain fast. The cancelling e-mail arrived at 4:19 on Monday. I was really shaken and yet, not so surprised that sometime was skanky...And so we were forced to make other arrangements -- fast -- which I think will work out better. More expensive but since I believe that you get what you pay for...We will be living in London for 9 nights and stepping over each other would be difficult. This flat should be large, spacious and give everybody way more privacy. Also it has, so I am told, a well equipped kitchen and since the girls are not exactly foodies and leave half their food on their plates...what the hell. Specially since London is so expensive.

Fact: Ireland is more expensive and we are not going there!!!

Kate asked me this morning not to schedule things, activities the way we did in Paris. Well, that works for me because it will give Kate and Lydia sometime to hangout like apprentice grown ups and give Arnie and me some time together.

An aventurra! Book me.

STWR

Lost a post somewhere in cyberspace and it's just like riding a New York City bus:  Ya gotta have time. Where is this post? Could be anywhere...

Kate was in a much better mood last night, in other words really jolly.  The day before when we went to visit Dr. Otsuka and his minions, she came home as mean as a snake. Hates hosptials, hates doctors, hates meds. Should live in the 12th century. But she doesn't hate the right people as far as I'm concerned. She should hate the really stupid unpleasant people that we all deal with everyday. This visit to Dr. Otsuka's clinic for children and called something fancy was amazing. People were on time, polite, smiling and helpful. I liked that alot.

Today I interviewed a 4th grade student at the Magnet School for Technology and Communication whose water color shownin a local art show had received some recognition and praise. An Adorable kid who clearly adores his art teacher but has never really been to an art museum...His parents don't speak really good English and this morning I was working up to a rant about children with restricted options. But then I met his parents this afternoon and they dont speak great English. But the Dad turned up with the grandmother, mother and older brother for a photo session and interview with the Daily News. They are clearly warm and loving people who support his older brother who plays basketball and their youngest who wants to do nothing more than draw.

Oh, what is STWR:  Sledding the Wrong Way. Diagnosis from Docs in a Box complete with misunderstanding of silent W

winter, winter, winter

The media went crazy, snow blowers and industrial salt was at a premium and the stores sold out of milk, and all the other necessary junk food to see us through the impending snow storm. It was not as ferocious or as catastrophic as I think we all secretly hoped, but it did make it possible to go sledding down the Central Park hill at 72nd & 5th the next day. Kate and I took our wonderful plastic sqashed cherries and went up and down the hill to Miss Murray's delight. All was good until kate crashed into a cast iron post. Home jeeves. No brioche and then no school for Kate for the next week. No broken bones but she had no energy and a small trip to hang with the tribe resulted in extreme fatigue.

Kate has gone to school this morning and I am hoping for the best.

And now I am back at work too. And dealing with the fact that I just learned that funding for my postion is in jeopardy of running out at the end of June.
VERY FUCKING CRANKY

Even Yankees Get the Vapors

it's snowing and cold today but there are 6 very plump robins chirping away happily in the tree right outside of my window. Who are these foolish birds and why aren't they in Fla where I want to be?

Yes, no, dither, dither. Finally Kate turned up with two school friends and said yes they would stay for dinner. So I cooked and actually it was more fun than cooking for her because as I've said so often she eats virtually nothing in terms of quantity and variety. So I cooked away. Roast chicken, rice and then for me the piece de la resistance was trying a recipe for some sauteed cabbage with fennel seeds and lime juice. Very indian and very yum. I went on and made a red bean curry thing. I was cooking with gas. Literally

And that's probably when Kate stopped eating for the weekend because I don't always insist. Maybe she had a slider on Saturday which I forced her to finish. How much food is in 3 oz of beef? Yikes I eat breakfast and lunch and then I don't care a whit, whatever that measure is, about dinner. So last night after a long and langerous hot bath Kate fainted dead away in the bedroom and just barely missed taking her eye out on the drawer knobs of the desk. She has a pretty red bruise between her eyes which should become violet and blue quite quickly. Why did she faint. Well, I'm not getting mother of the year awards today and probably because she had two little brioche buns for breakfast and some bok choy for lunch. That's it. But the issue is that she doesnt feel hunger.

I suggested this morning that she was like those people who don't feel pain and can seriously injure themselves with this lack of feeling. She has to eat at least twice a day, even if she doesn't feel hungry.

Last night I pumped a peanut butter sandwich and high protein shake into her. No words that she felt full.

See it's not just southern bells who have a case of the vapeurs...

Animal life

Sunday night Kate looked me squarely in the eye and complained  that Miss Murray didn't love her and she was lonely, so she wanted a pet that would be hers and hers alone.

"I want a rabbit."

A rabbit?

It took me a day to work through that request. I know it should have been an instant, Hell, no not a dirty stinking rabbit but sometimes I try and be accommodating, however,  it never works out the way I imagine it.  Besides I read that they live for 5 to 10 years which just might be longer than i might live.

Well, at least a cat, she said because I don't want a ferret, a gerbil, guinea pig, or hamsters. They die. 

Well yes, they do. 

So what about a cat, Mom?

So I consulted with Corinne on introducing a cat to Miss Murray and to our household.  I hope she doesn't write back immediately.

It's been damp and foggy here with crazy temperatures around the country. It was far colder in Los Angeles this morning than New York. It's the new weather but  I often feel as if I've stepped into a scene from Blade Runner however the smells right now are of crushed Christmas tree which makes everything really wonderfully pungent.

Kate and I went to an open house yesterday at the Carlysle Hotel for her Summerfuel language immersion program in Nice. Oh, my god, her July is going to be so golden and every adult who knows about the program just starts salivating. I think she began to understand that it isn't going to be Maine in french when we stepped into the lobby of the Carlysle. Now she worries that everybody will be rich and snobby. I reminded her that in some circles she might be considered snobby...if not rich.

Went out to lunch today with some folks from the Middle School downstairs which was one of my first purely social outings..We went to the Jerusalem cafe which I knew would be small but I had no idea it would have only 8 seats and they would all be taken which made it imperative that we sit at the counter or run back to the school and try to find a quiet place to eat. Hummus, hummus and more baba ganoush. Everything that I like but eat so rarely. And why is that?

Christmas past and Christmas future

I was seriously fretting about Christmas this year, the weather, the plum pudding, oh forget the lies,  it was all about the personalities. Mostly I was worried about Kate's experience with her cousins. Arnie had decided to approach the visit as a visit to a movie set with appropriately deviant characters and because of that, I think he had a good time. But for Kate the ages were all wrong this year. Lucy Banks is 22 or 23,  Mckay was in Europe leading the high life which left Andrew closest in age to her at 18.  We deliberately shaved a day off our trip and  arrived when the cast of characters was assembled and waiting for us to make our entrance.  Lucy Banks came in from Los Angeles where she is struggling to be ACtress which is all fine and good. Unfortunately she has also become a militant vegan which I think is an oxymoron. And Andrew who is now a freshman at Mercer College in Macon, Ga is turning out to be a very nice looking albeit tongue tied guy. well, tongue tied unless his parents are out of the room and it's all very kick back.

We made a stop in Atlanta for lunch and then arrived in time for supper to be followed by The Brunch the following day, Christmas eve gumbo dinner and church which I bailed on this year in spite of my love of christmas carols. Big Lucy and I have agreed to go to the Family/children's service next year.When we first started going to Columbus for Christmas, Kate was  4 I think and they made a huge effort to included her in everything including the Christmas Pageant. Kate outfitted in white gowns and wings or some other costume always looked adorable but oh, my god, you really got how homogenous the crowd is and  she was the only non blonde in the crowd.

Columbus is a relaxing place for me and I often wonder how my father became the man I knew  growing up there.  But I understand  why he left pretty quickly and never went back. I like afternoon napes punctuated by the sound of the train whistles, random dogs barking in the night and this time I had a replay of a childhood experience: I got locked in the bathroom. Every grandchild who visited Mothers' parents in Roanoke, Virginia got locked in the bathroom. I don't know why but it was a rite of passage with a worried parent kneeling in front of the bathroom door trying to stay calm and coax a crying child to follow directions and take the key out of the lock and slip it under the door. This happened  in the middle of the brunch so I knew someone would have to use the bathroom and luckily when I knocked, there was someone there to rescue me.  John Sheftall's friend Tom King.


We left the day after christmas and had another one of those trips back to New York. Snow in New York which slowed down LaGuardia..planes backed up at Atlanta..cranky...could only get 1 seat on the earlier plane so that wasn't an option...kept hoping that we wouldn't end up in Harrisburg, Pa. god help us and then  have to take the train into town. That was disaster thinking at its finest. We got back with only a 4 hour delay. When she was good she was very very good but when she was bad she was horrid. Well, the same could be said of plane travel.