Rainy Day in Baltimore

Highline, West Village, East Village, Union Square

Walking Shoes

First on my shopping list is a good pair of walking shoes. I am walking miles and miles each day, and I can feel the solidity of the asphalt on the soles of my feet and in my calves and my thighs and my derriere and my back and my neck. I regularly underestimate the distances and convince myself each time that the walk is not worth the $2.50 subway ride. I am sure there must be a way to get reduced fares, but I have not discovered the secret method yet, and my metrocard requires reloading almost daily.

On Thursday I retried the route to the Loews movie theatre near Union Square. I had been terribly lost on Monday when I used google maps to look up the best way to 3rd street instead of 3rd avenue, arrived almost at my destination, then opened my iphone and got turned around and found myself further and further away. My effort to save the $2.50 metro fare resulted in a $10 cab ride. I am not sure how I got turned around, but managed to find my way back home easily Monday and this time it was a straight shot down Broadway to the movie theatre and back. I discovered that 27th street was full of gardening shops with gorgeous plants and wonderful smells. I need to get back there and choose some plants for the apartment. The movie was 'Cycling with Moliere', a hoot of a French movie about two French movie actors on an island in France rehearsing 'The Misanthrope' and arguing with each other. Later, Maya and I walked up to the Highline to the end and then through Chelsea back home. We chose cupcakes at Ruthy's bakery in the Chelsea Market on 9th to try in our tastetest, but the red velvet failed terribly and the vanilla buttercream was little better. We passed several cupcake establishments along 9th, and made plans to return for further purchases and tasting events.

Friday's morning task was to walk from the apartment on 29th to the Special Music School on 67th to deliver papers for Maya's application to the school. She had been originally scheduled to do her audition May 10, without a chance to get in; suddenly her audition was moved up to May 1 with a chance to make it, so I wanted to be sure her application was complete. I stopped at Grom on the way back to pay for our ice creams we had bought the day before and could not pay for with my Amex. They were surprised I actually came back to pay; I wanted to be sure we could return for delicious ice cream again! I stopped at CakeBoss for more cupcakes for our tasting project. They worked out well, got higher scores than the others from all of us; there was too much frosting and not enough cake, but altogether the tastes were better than expected. Our cupcake evaluating journey will be an ongoing event. My movie Friday was nearby, on 28th and 8th, so the walk there and back was easy.

Today Maya had an early violin lesson at Holly's home on 91st street. We walked Eric to the Bolt bus on the corner on 7th and 33rd and then took the subway from there. He is in Baltimore for the weekend getting the house ready for the renters. Maya's lesson lasted two hours. I walked to the nearby Starbucks for a leisurely New York Times reading, and found myself interacting with other guests. I agreed with the man to my right that reading the Times was so much more fun on paper rather than online; another ragged looking fellow approached me with a request that I tell another woman nearby that she had toilet paper hanging out of her pants. I did not want to but thought better of it and found her very thankful and humorous in her response. Whew. New Yorkers are friendly and funny and entertaining. 

Maya and I walked from 91st down Broadway enjoying the hustle and bustle of the Saturday shopping crowds. We stopped at Teavana to taste tea and bought the smallest amount we could (our original request cost $60!) and Sabon to get our hands washed and oiled and to buy essential skin care items. We smelled all the scents in Occitane and had gelato at Grom near the Lincoln Center. There were protesters with pink placards at the plaza in front of the theatre. Maya did not want to walk all the way home, but we slogged through the packed sidewalks to get there. Later we walked to 33rd to get the subway to her ballet studio for a pointe class and walked again the five blocks to and from the metro stop to the studio. Our evening was another walk to Times Square (too many people, I guess we are becoming New Yorkers, already a bit disdainful about the tourists). We were tourists again when we bought theatre tickets at TKTS. We walked up to 50th between 8th and 9th to see 'Peter and the Starcatchers', which delighted Maya; she loved the books and we laughed and laughed for the two hour show. We walked home again down 9th, passing dozens of restaurants and more crowds of people out for the spring evening.

My feet hurt so very much! I imagine my callouses will harden and the rest of me will adjust and soon our regular 5 and 10 mile strolls will feel easy and effortlless. And it will be so very good for us.

Tribeca Film Festival

Anonymous

Cupcakes

Diana Krall, Central Park, Rigoletto

65 Blocks

Macbeth and Terror

I like Big Baths

Back Home

Knowing my Neighbourhood

Magnolia Trees

Economics!

Coming and Going

I was eager to return to New York and settle into our apartment on Sunday. The rest of my week in Edmonton was  painful (watching my mother struggle with her memory and my father confined to his bed in isolation) and resulted in an unassailable lethargy. I could get nothing accomplished. I brought all my documents with me to complete my taxes and never opened my briefcase. I had courses to finish online and only just completed an exam ten minutes before the deadline. I did not bother to write the paper for philosophy or finish the exams (this is an online coursers course and auditing the lectures is just fine). I found myself taking care of my mother from the moment I woke up until the time she settled in front of the television to catch up on news or any program that was on. I would retreat to my bed to read a book of catch up with Downton Abbey or check the news and then sleep at least eight hours. My mother woke up after 9, so I sometimes had a couple hours in the morning to occupy myself much as I did the night before.

I left my parents alone for a few days (my sister arrives Thursday) and almost missed my flight to Minneapolis. I arrived a minute past the deadline, but was able to smile myself onto the flight and was bumped to first class so I could have cheerios and a muffin for breakfast. The best part of Edmonton was the incredibly bright sunshine that cheered me up every day. The mounds of snow shrunk from twenty feet high to only little bumps, and the roads were no longer icy when I left. When I arrived at the chaos that is LaGuardia, the sky was grey and heavy and uninviting. Eric and Maya were lost finding me at my arrival terminal, but we connected and were on the jam packed roads quite efficiently. How was it possible that so many people were driving around Easter Sunday afternoon?

The apartment was in less turmoil than when I left, and again it was bigger and smaller than I remembered. I spent the evening trying to plan and rearrange furniture to make it work for us. Maya and Eric had worked on organizing what they could, and it was homey and welcoming and wonderful. Maya entertained me with violin practice while Eric cooked Easter dinner. Maya and Eric had decorated 30 plus eggs and there was lots of lots of chocolate. Dinner was salmon with teryaki sauce and potatoes  with rosemary and asparagus with lots of butter. Chocolate of course for dessert.

I was happy to be home again, albeit for  short visit. We were on the road early Monday morning. Eric had booked movers to work with him on the garage and the storage unit. Maya and I bought new ballet pointe shoes for her audition in New York next week. The saleslady recognized me and was relieved that this time I was with my daughter and not asking the impossible of her,  as when I bought ballet shoes for friends in Ecuador without quite knowing sizes or styles. Maya worked on her schoolwork the rest of the day while I started in my office. Maya and Eric returned to New York with the truck today and I stayed to see patients, plan a coup d'etat for my board meeting and finish my taxes. Again, I would much rather be nesting in our new apartment in New York, but  that will have to wait another week. Moving to New York is not happening fast enough!