A nice day with RQS, taken down a bit by medical news

 

No, I didn't eat any Hot Dogs today.  But I did eat some Chinese/Shanghainese Meatballs with RQS today. And then we went to Governor's Island for Open House NY and the Billion Oyster Project.

But first, I'll start at the end of the day.....

On our way home, I received a text message from my niece once removed (we're of the same age, give or take a few years.)   She told me that my cousin has pancreatic cancer, and that he will be moved to hospice in a few days.  This was not good news for many reasons, one of which was that I intended to get information from him regarding our mutual grandparents.  (I guess this is the least important thing now.)  So I will switch my ID from my female wallet to my male wallet and drive to Poughkeepsie to see him one last time.  

So now, with the better part of the day....

I got up early and dug out one of my fall/winter dresses from my closet.  Given that the overnight temperatures were in the 40's around here, I had to dress for two seasons - and neither of them that well. Luckily, I had a small day pack, in which I could stuff my denim jacket in case I needed it.  Yet, even with this dress, I felt a little bit warm - especially later when walking around Governor's Island.

RQS and I met at a Michelin rated Dim Sum joint near Penn Station: Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao.  We feasted all too well - both of us were stuffed by the time the last of our 6 dishes arrived.  As much as I enjoyed the Soup Dumplings (their specialty), I enjoyed their udon noodles even more.  This is a great place to eat, and well worth the money we spent for the meal.

Our next stop was Governor's Island.  We took the 7th Avenue local to South Ferry, and made it to the Governor's Island ferry in time for the 2:30 shuttle to the island.  While waiting in line, both of us noticed a large number of Orthodox (and some Ultra Orthodox) Jews taking a day trip to the island.  Both of us commented in our own ways - are you sure we aren't on the ferry to Williamsburg?  (I also made a comment that I was reminded of J.H.Marx's (Groucho Marx's) reputed remark (which he denied) when chatting with a woman with 10 children - "I like my cigar too, but I take it out once in a while.") 

Once on the island, we walked to the Billion Oyster Project, (one of the places listed in this year's OHNY open houses) where the guide was describing their organization's function and telling our group about their efforts to restore oysters to NYC's marine habitat.  Although they will not be eaten, due to the pollution in our waters, they will help the region clean up its waters.  Unfortunately, the guide wanted to lead the group to the other side of the island - and we gave up after a 1+ mile(s) of walking.  At that point, we returned to the ferry and returned to Manhattan.

All too soon, our day ended.  I'll have to make preparations to see my cousin now, because he may not be back when I return from my upcoming cruise.

A return to the Norman Rockwell Museum

 

This past Saturday would be a long day with my brother.  We had tried to get together on a weekend for a while for a road trip to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  Since I've seen the exhibition before, I figured that I'd look at things I didn't look at before, and let him wander around the place while I sat and took a load off my feet.

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I set my alarms to wake me around 8 am, so that I could be at our meeting place by 10:30 am.  It's hard to believe that I was early for a change, but I arrived at the parking lot around 10:15 and killed time waiting for him.  Unfortunately, he hit a lot of traffic, and didn't get to the lot until 11 am.  (It also didn't help that Google Maps gave him bad driving instructions.  But I digress.)

Once we were on the road, it took us a little over 2 hours to reach the museum.  (We were careful not to feed the bears.  We passed at least 3 "Smokeys" handing out citations on our way up.)  It was the perfect day for such a drive: traffic flowed smoothly and fast, there were no clouds in the sky, and it was the perfect temperature to drive to the Berkshires on an autumn day.  Eventually, we made it to the museum, and we went inside.

My brother took in all the exhibits slowly, while I picked and chose what I wanted to see next.  I didn't try to take everything in on this visit.  Instead, I looked for the exhibits that interested me most, and took some pictures before sitting down to ease my back pain.  Once we were done, I went to their shop and bought a couple of books related to the art of Mad, and then we departed the museum to find some lunch.

Once in Stockbridge, it was hard to find a vacant parking spot.  But we got lucky.  However, we did not find much in the way of open restaurants that weren't crowded at the time.  Yet, after a little bit of walking, we found a place to sit down for lunch.  (I won't mention where the place is, but as Arlo sang, "it's just a half of a mile from the railroad tracks.")  Sadly, Alice left the building many years before, and its current proprietors serve good food with mediocre service - so I will look for other dining venues when next in town.

After our late lunch, it was time to drive home.  I shared some of the driving duties, as my brother needed to nap a bit.  Boy, does he saw wood!  This wasn't as bad as I made it sound.  But he was tired, and he'd still have 90 minutes of driving ahead of him when he dropped me off at my car.  I was home by 6:30 or so, while he got home by 7:45.  (Again, he hit a lot of traffic.)  I was home in time to do laundry, but I didn't bother with this.  I could do it on Monday when I have some time.....

Odd Stuff Going On Here!

 

As I write this, it's 2  weeks before Election Day.  No matter what happens, I expect to see some serious problems resulting from the election.  Did the Orange Cry Baby Win?  Did the Orange Cry Baby Lose?  Right now, it looks like he's doing his best to undermine election results if he loses, and is trying to rally his cult members to do what they feel they have to in order to put their cult leader in charge of this country.

One of my Facebook Friends (a loose acquaintance at best) has drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid.   She loves to post anti-Democrat memes, even when objective evidence is all against her.  No amount of evidence can prove to a cult member that their view of the world is wrong - something from inside must trigger the self transformation.  The older one gets and the stronger a belief is held, the harder it is to see objective reality.

Why do I mention this?

In the case of the Orange Cry Baby, I worry that we'll see a repeat of the theme of January 6, 2021 - force the election to the house, and the GOP will put the Cry Baby in the White House.  I pray that this doesn't happen.

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Now that I've gotten my worries out of the way for now, I'd like to mention that I picked RQS's luggage up from her house, so that she need not schlep it on the subway and then onto Metro North to get here before our second Bermuda cruise together.  We had a nice meal together, and then it was time to leave.  Her neighbor was in the hall, and I was dressed as Marian, so I chose to wait a few minutes before leaving her apartment.

Just before leaving, DCD called - and I returned his call while on the road.  He's finally got my old car on the road, and it is enabling him to go to work.  No, he isn't earning that much.  But the car is doing what I wanted for it to do for him - have a way to get to work and start rebuilding his life.  We talked about a lot of things, and he was a little embarrassed about the mistakes he has made in his life.  I told him NOT to live in the past.  He can't change it, and dwelling there is not a good thing.  Instead, focus on today, and let tomorrow take care of itself.

When I got home, I found that I couldn't make reservations at the restaurant that RQS and I wanted to go to for Thanksgiving.  So I hunted around and found an acceptable place (a steakhouse) that is serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Hopefully, this place will be as nice as the place we wanted to go to.  And if a place opens up at Hudson House, we'll drop the old reservation and make a new one there.

I finally saw the sequel. It was pleasant, but....

 

I had planned to go out as Marian today, but my lethargy got in the way.  However, I started packing my suitcase for an upcoming cruise (as Marian), and then decided to go out to the movies to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

But first....

As usual as of late, the sun woke me up.  This is not always a good thing, as I still am unable to fall asleep until well after midnight.  Although it could be caffeine related, I don't remember drinking any caffeinated soda after 6 pm. If anything, it was because I was watching a documentary about San Francisco's exotic dancer, Carol Doda.  Who'd have thought that this woman could have gotten so far just by taking off her clothes?  (Watch the film on Amazon Prime.  It's worth the time.)

So, this morning I woke up early, and took it easy most of the day.  Around mid afternoon, I started to pack things I'd need for my upcoming cruise.  Packing underwear and hosiery is easy.  Choosing dresses I can wear in Bermuda is something else.  Although the weather in the NYC suburbs ranges from a low in the 30's to a high in the 60's, Bermuda is warmer at this time of year.  So, one has to dress for weather that is 10 to 15 degrees warmer, yet be prepared for cooler weather.

Now that I got started with packing, and inventoried what I will likely need on a 7-Day cruise, it was time to take care of other things for a while before getting dressed.  Since I would be going out as Mario tomorrow (my brother and I are going to a museum), I figured that I'd go out as Mario tonight to both get a bite to eat and see a movie.

The first thing I did when out was to gas up the car, and I had an overflow that got on my hand.  AARGH.  This would get in the way of getting a bit to eat on the way to the movies.  Instead, I had to rush to the taco joint to wash my hands before ordering anything to eat.  Once I was done, I needed to kill some time before the late show.  So I took a drive, did an early chat with RQS and then went inside the theater for almost 30 minutes of ads before the movie started.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a pleasant sequel to the first film, where there are a lot of references to the first film to help people interested in the film.  If you liked the first film, you will like the second.  However, don't expect it to be as good as the first.  Additionally, you will see a setup for a third film at the end of this film.  I just hope they don't do it.

We made a decision (a short post)

 

I can't go into details yet, but we have decided to replace one of my co-op's important vendors. In my opinion, they did a crappy job, and I'm glad that we started the process of switching vendors.

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For some reason, I woke up at 7 am, 3 hours earlier than planned.  So I was worried that I'd be sleepy by the time I met my friend for lunch.  Of course, I needn't have worried.  At 10 or so, I got showered, made up and dressed, to make it to lunch at 11:30.  One problem - the restaurant didn't open until noon.  My friend met me at the restaurant, and we ended up driving into town to go to another restaurant that we knew was open.

We sat down for lunch at the local Italian joint, where I ordered a sandwich and she ordered a slice.  And then we caught up on each others' lives. I mentioned both my Philadelphia trip and my Bermuda cruise, and she talked about her son away at college.  I was a more relaxed conversation than usual in spite of the noise that made it hard to hear each other.

All too soon, lunch had to end.  We set a date for next month, and she was off to pick her younger son off at school.  So, I dropped off my early voting ballot off at the post office, then went home to rest.

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The co-op board meeting started at 7, and lasted 90 minutes.  We reviewed recent developments and then cast our votes.  We decided to replace the vendor.  Not much took place after that, save to review what would be covered at our upcoming meetings and when they would be scheduled.   I will say more about things as they become public knowledge.  Until then, watch this space....

A meetup on a weeknight for a change

 

Lately, there haven't been that many dining meetups held on weeknights.  Since I am booked most weekends, it's been a long while since I've been out to eat with any of my groups.  So, tonight was a refreshing change of pace.

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Since RQS had stayed over until Tuesday morning, I decided to cancel attending Monday night's meetup with this group.  So I figured that I should get off my butt to attend tonight's gathering.  Only one problem - I was tired, and could have used another couple of hours napping on the couch.  But I made myself get up then got showered, made up and dressed to go out around 5:30.

Luckily, the meetup was in a restaurant 20 minutes from home.  Although parking wasn't hard to find, it wasn't as close to the restaurant as I'd have liked - the lot is shared with commuters, and they don't start clearing out until 6:30 pm.  So I had to walk a little more than I wanted to get inside.

As one can see from the picture above, there is a caboose on the left and an old coach car on the right.  The former Valhalla railroad station between them is the main body of the restaurant, with both non-mobile pieces of rolling stock now being used as dining areas.  Once inside, I looked to the left and saw my meetup group inside.  It was nice to be wearing a dress to dinner, as it will soon be too cold to dress as feminine as I'd like.

After greeting my fellow diners, I perused the menu to see if there was something interesting I'd like to eat.  There was, but I made a mistake in choosing it.  It's October, and the restaurant had Oktoberfest specials to choose from, and I selected the Wiener-schnitzel with a side Caesar salad.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger instead.When the Wiener-schnitzel arrived, the server didn't even know what it was, much less how to pronounce the name of the dish.  So the dish ended going back and forth between our table and the kitchen until someone realized that the waitress didn't know what the specials were.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger.  Not only was the schnitzel leathery and overcooked, but the potato pancakes served with it were devoid of moisture and flavor.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger!  But the Cookies and Cream ice cream truffle was pleasant.  Too bad I didn't go for the cheeseburger first....

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Once done with dinner, it was off to the supermarket to do some shopping.  While on the way, I chatted with my brother, confirming a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum this weekend.  It'll be nice to spend the day with him, although it would have been nicer for me to spend the day with RQS visiting a few Open House NY sites.  Well, maybe next year....

A pleasant surprise from distant friends.

 

The 2023 Chicago Girls' Trip.  This is where RQS and I got the chance to meet our Texas friends in person.  We all agreed that we didn't spend enough time together on this trip.

But first....

It's been a year since we were all together, and we've hinted to our friends that we should get together again soon.  For the most part, it's gone over like a lead balloon, but that's OK.  We'd still be friends, and chalk up their reluctance to factors beyond our control.

Tonight's conversation took a different path than usual.  Usually, RQS gets on quickly.  But tonight, I had to try calling her - with no response.  I was concerned that something might have happened to her.  She does live in NYC after all.  But no, all was OK.  She took a nap, and didn't wake up when her Alexa's alarm went off.  She has gotten in the habit of telling her device to let her sleep for 15 minutes or so, and does this while semi-conscious. So, around 8:30 pm, she came into the chat, and she told the story about her doorway being replaced.

After RQS joined us, I showed off some pictures from our Bermuda cruise, and then the chat shifted towards other trips.  (I won't go into detail here, as it is not my story to tell.)  And then I was asked: "Why don't I come to Texas, when I'd go to New Orleans."  I mentioned that New Orleans was a LGBT friendly island in a deep red state, while Texas doesn't protect my rights.  However, I noted that Texas didn't make me going to the loo a criminal act as it would be in Florida.  So I might end up spending a day or two in Dallas one of these years.  But first, people like Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott must be voted out of office.  Who knows, there may be a New Orleans trip in the cards for us in 2025.

And then we all had to go.  But we made plans to have another Zoom call between Election Day and Thanksgiving.  Hopefully, we'll have good news to celebrate that week....