Staycation with Friends

Once in a while I have out-of-state guests come to the mountain. It is always a highlight when you live far from everybody and everything. I love having people in my house. (Hmmm, maybe I am a frustrated innkeeper.) This week I have friends here from Minnesota. I have known Cindy for close to 10 years.

In an effort to entertain them, I have planned their time to the hilt.

We have eaten home-cooked Indian food; have been shopping in cute boutiques; lunching at outdoor restaurants in quaint river towns;

saw the Manhattan skyline from the speedboat the Beast and even took in a Broadway show.


I have dragged Cindy to visit other friends and made her schlep across the bridge from Lambertville, NJ to New Hope, PA in the almost pouring rain. (Thank you Peter for driving us back to our car.) The only place we have not been is to the shore and that is simply too far and crowded in August.

While Cindy and I have had time to talk about life, love and the pursuit of happiness; her daughter has been able to re-connect with friends she has not seen in two years. It has been wonderful and exhausting for everyone.

How are you spending your staycation?

Fire!

We had just started on the made-to-order guacamole at the Sombrero Restaurant on 48th off 8th when we heard the approaching sirens of a fire truck. Not paying it much attention, I went on dipping my chip until the fire truck turned the corner and inched up to stop in front of the restaurant. Sitting outside, we watched as the firemen jumped out of their vehicle and ran toward us. We looked at each other. Was the restaurant on fire? Do we need to evacuate? We did not see or smell smoke. Some of the firemen dashed into the building, while others milled about in the street looking up at the floors above us. Was the building on fire? Not being able to stand the suspense, I got up to walk across the street to scan the upstairs windows. Sure enough there were wisps of smoke escaping out of a third story window. No one seemed to be overly concerned. The firemen came back out and stood in the street talking with each other; occasionally casting glances in the direction of the window. The smoke stopped. They climbed back in their big red truck and roared away. The gawkers shuffled off and we started on our entrees.

Ah, life in the big city.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

In all these years I have never seen the Chinese New Year celebrations and parade. So, I decided that this year, I would brave the blinding snow, plunging temps and 40 mile an hour winds to go see what it was all about. I somehow convinced 3 friends to go with me. I first went up to 65th street to the China Institute for their Lion's Dance. There were abut 100 people waiting on both sides of the street. First out the door were the drummers to scare away the evil spirits, then the lions came out to dance. The lions cavorted, jumped over each other and bowed to the crowd. (If the lion bows to you, you will have good luck for the coming year.)



Then I hopped on the 6 train down to Canal Street. Unlike the Macy's Day Parade, the Lunar New Year Parade travels up and down all the streets of Chinatown. The literature said it would attract 400,000 people. And I would say there were at least that. The narrow streets were packed.



We stood for 2 hours scrunched together with throngs of other parade watchers while confetti and streamers rained down on us. There were bands, floats, and marching cultural organizations. There were martial artists, clowns, a stilt walker and of course, what we had come to see, the lions. Just when I was starting to feel a little cold, bored and hungry the golden dragon roared down the street to everyone's delight.


I loved it. If you are ever near a Chinatown during Chinese New Year, I recommend going to the parade. It was loads of fun. And there is the dim sum and green tea in crowded steamy restaurants to round out the day.



Gung Hay Fat Choy. Happy New Year.

Wordless Wednesday

The walls have eyes

Down below Ground Zero at the Chambers Street/World Trade Center station in New York City the walls are fabulous. Oculus (Eye) was created by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel, and it comprises 300 different mosaic eyes based on human eyes taken from photographs. I love the eyes, I love that they are watching, and I love the meaning. They are spectacular works of art. There are lots of mosaics all over the subway system but I am drawn to these.