48 hours in NYC

We walked! I hit Manhattan around 1:00 pm on Friday, and by the end of the day, we had walked about 6 miles (that's not a guess), eaten lunch at Quotidian (black hummus and tunafish sandwiches), taken in one museum (International Center of Photography; one whole room of Robert Mapplethorpe), and dinner at a Thai restaurant (when they say hot, they mean hot).

On Saturday, we took a bus to the lower East side and signed up for one of the tours at the Tenement Museum—two apartments in a tenement building that have been untouched for about 60 years, with the history of the families who lived there.

On a mission to avoid chain stores, we had coffee at a neighborhood spot (NOT Starbucks!!) where we talked with the "owner" of this dog (the canine version of the mayor of the neighborhood), waiting patiently under the window for his walker.

Then back to public transportation (my personal tour guide)

and over to Soho, where we visited the Purl fabric and yarn stores. If you read the blogs, visiting these stores is kind of like having a seat for the Super Bowl.

In actuality, yeah, they are nice, but no bigger than our living room. I think the Washington area has spoiled me.

Then over to the Chelsea neighborhood, where we stood in line to buy a cupcake at Magnolia.

This bakery has had a lot of press and hype. We were hoping for one of their red cupcakes, and that it would equal the cakes that Dorothy used to make for birthdays. But these cupcakes were dry, the frosting was about 1 inch too high, and they were way overpriced. My advice? Make your own.

We finished off the evening by seeing the movie Atonement (see it, but don't blink or you'll miss something important) and having dinner at an Italian restaurnant within walking distance of Bridget's aparment.

General observations:

I've never seen so many fur coats as I saw this weekend.

New York City public transportation is fantastic. We almost never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, older passengers with wheelchairs and walkers had no trouble getting on the buses, and the trains are clean and fast (even if a little bit confusing to someone who has never ridden them).

the Vamoose bus company knows what they are doing. Both on the way to New York and on the way home, the buses left on time and arrived a few minutes early. There are no frills, but the buses are clean, there was one rest stop both ways, and there certainly isn't a problem with lost luggage.

Bridget runs a fantastic bed and breakfast. Even Zoey

cooperated by letting us sleep until at least 7:00 am.

mother's birthday, a little late

Thanks to Ed for the picture of mother at 7 months. It's a lovely shot. Neither mother nor her mother looks silly or frivolous. Both are waiting for the photographer (imagine John setting up the tripod, checking the light, counting down) to finally push the button.

Note the hairdo, the handknit blanket, the sense of control.

For those of you who are dealing with snow, here's mother at three. A lot of class in that outfit.

Maybe it's time to bring back muffs.

eat your hearts out

We (I say that loosely—Tom is the master in the kitchen) have been trying out some recipes from an Indian cookbook I borrowed from the library. The salad: carrots with mustard seed and raisins.

On the stove, pork vindaloo. And next, some green beans with garlic and mustard seed. I'm all in favor of this hobby.

There are seasonal lights and there are seasonal lights (check out John's blog). We are not in a hurry to take down our display.

Eileen and Roger sent us these snowmen, powered by a solar battery, to install along our garden path. Thank you, Bridget, for the photo.

It was good to talk to everyone who was sitting around the living room at 413 Fair Oaks on Friday night. A little bit of carousing is good for that house.