A Monster Calls....really, really well done. My husband was quite emotionally choked up by the end.
Susan Sarandon and Liam Nelson, Lewis MacDougall and Geraldine Chaplin star. It is the quality of movie rarely made any more it seems. If you get a chance, give it a lookie see.
The movie deals with death and dying through the eyes/story of a pre-teenaged boy in the UK. It is a serious movie for children and families but with lots of good wit and humour thrown in. We didn't have high expectations as we knew nothing about it ahead of time, but it proved to be an excellent watch. There don't seem to be many movies made like this any more, with such mature wit, telling a child's story but without pandering to children as if they are too stupid to understand such weighty topics. The quality of the acting, script and cinematography were all superb. The movie takes children as seriously as it takes the topic of death. We particularly enjoyed that aspect of it.
Children all ready know that decisions have consequences and that there are dangers in the world. To treat them as if they must be protected from these facts is to patronize them and make them less than the bright minded creatures that they are. At the same time they need to be able to utlize childish imaginations and fantasies to deal with the realities they don't yet have the life experience to understand fully. Just sayin'......
To quote C.S. Lewis:
Since it is
so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least
have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making
their destiny not brighter but darker.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Now, If He Just Had One More Month of Holidays....Sigh.....
Although my husband is still getting over a dopey brain from his recent cold, after a month off work he is relaxed and motivated enough to get some home projects underway that have been waiting for a long time for this burst of energy. Yesterday morning be decided it was time to tidy up the basement, vaccum all the flooring down there and remove the cobwebs again from the floor joists above. WOW! It looks great down there. It took him all day but his energy never flagged. Canoeing and camping gear he has been ignoring since last August's trip is finally put away properly. The desk and table tops are tidied up and the food and tool storage shelves are organized so well. He has refused to let me do any of it, assuming he would get to this project far sooner than his health in recent months has permitted. Today he has pulled hundreds of books off the shelves in his home office and is sorting, organizing, preparing to get rid of, tidying....it is amazing!!
In the last month he has taken exactly three of his Zantac meds. He has been so relaxed he hasn't needed the help digesting his food and controlling digestive acids. He has not taken his sleeping aid meds since the end of the first week off work.
All this is telling me that he is indeed going to benefit next spring from the upcoming employment changes. I am encouraged that he has been able to travel and do home projects even with a bad cold. His energy level in New York was amazing. All concern that we would spend most of our time in the hotel room while he slept and recovered from the last of his recent CFS episode were allayed as he bopped around the city with me and our son.
I think God is trying to let us know that the changes we are facing CAN have excellent results once again, despite the stress of change and uncertainty for the future, once again. 'Twas ever thus. Each time we have faced a life crisis God has walked with us through the initial stresses, brought us to peace and trust in him and given us the ability to wait on his direction while we seek the next project in life. At this point we have just moved from the intial stress to the beginnings of peace and trust in him for the future. It is a good place to be!
In the last month he has taken exactly three of his Zantac meds. He has been so relaxed he hasn't needed the help digesting his food and controlling digestive acids. He has not taken his sleeping aid meds since the end of the first week off work.
All this is telling me that he is indeed going to benefit next spring from the upcoming employment changes. I am encouraged that he has been able to travel and do home projects even with a bad cold. His energy level in New York was amazing. All concern that we would spend most of our time in the hotel room while he slept and recovered from the last of his recent CFS episode were allayed as he bopped around the city with me and our son.
I think God is trying to let us know that the changes we are facing CAN have excellent results once again, despite the stress of change and uncertainty for the future, once again. 'Twas ever thus. Each time we have faced a life crisis God has walked with us through the initial stresses, brought us to peace and trust in him and given us the ability to wait on his direction while we seek the next project in life. At this point we have just moved from the intial stress to the beginnings of peace and trust in him for the future. It is a good place to be!
Some of Eli's Newer Art Pieces
Having been so terribly embarrassed for so many years about not being able to post photos and having so many asking to see what Eli is up to with his more recent works, now I can finally show those of you who are interested. Not being an artist I can't comment on any of them. Sorry about that. Here goes:
Now I'm Just Practising This "New Tech Skill", hahaha!
Another view from the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Never Too Young To Start Your Cell Phone Skills
Another View From the Brooklyn Bridge
Us Guys at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Manhattan
The International shipping lanes in St. George's Bay/Hudson River
My husband by the torii gate in Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
Flying Home from Pearson International After a Long Week!
Nearly home to Regina
Thanks for your patience as I FINALLY learn how to load photos and captions onto this blog.
At least I THINK I figured out how to put in the captions....guess we will all find out when I press PUBLISH....right now...here goes.......
More Photos from NYC
Since the first photo came up okay, I will attempt to add a few more to this posting! There is a view from the Brooklyn Bridge, the new World Trade Centre building, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Mom and son in Central Park, Dad and son on Staten Island ferry, the Statue of Liberty as seen from the Staten Island Ferry and our son with his seafood pizza at Il Porto.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
My Dear Parental Unit
This week's visit with my parents marked the third visit in as many months...highly unusual for us to be able to see them that often even in the good spring and summer weather. I am glad it has worked out better this year.
In the month since I last saw them, they have both slipped considerably. Dad is nearly completely blind at this point, although he can still read the largest of large prints in books IF he uses his magnifying page from CNIB. We have to read restaurant menus to him and he finds that annoying and embarrassing. We took some photos of his grandson to him and we printed each shot on its own 8x11 sheet of paper so he would have some chance of seeing his grandson's face. Dad has lost his balance pretty much most of the time, absolutely has to use his walker or cane for every step he takes or he falls down. He won't admit it but his hearing is starting to fail and he is becoming more easily confused. He has asked us to pray that he could die soon and go to be with God in heaven, a place where his physical and mental frailties will be gone. At this point, other than for medical appointments, he rarely goes out, except for attempting to help Mom with the grocery shopping once a week...an endeavor that makes the whole excursion far more difficult for her and for the fellow who drives them to the store. Seeing him now I am even more grateful for the wonderful year he had between last March and this April after he kicked his morphine drugs. We knew it likely wouldn't last long and that unforuntately has turned out to be true. He tries to be cheery, because he is not capable very often of sharing his real thoughts and emotions, but he was more honest with my pastor husband when they talked alone and thus came the request from Dad to be set free from the bondages of old age. He has suffered a lot physically in his life and just can't handle much more of it.
Mom is quite depressed, understandably. She tries to perk herself up by putting on a nice outfit and make up every day, but she rarely goes anywhere on her own now because she too is getting too tired and frail to go out of the facility much by herself. She spends too much time sitting alone reading, playing solitaire and doing puzzles, when she knows she should be meeting more friends down in the social room and partaking of more of the offered activities, but she feels like she can't be bothered right now. She misses who my dad used to be before all these ailments took over his body and mind and conversations. She misses the social life they had once again when he was feeling better for so many months. The other morning she came out of her room after getting dressed and made up for the day. Her liquid makeup was streaky, she had some rubbed into the sides of her hair, her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in a month, her one stocking had a run....sigh...it completely broke my heart.
We managed to get them out to do a few errands: they rode in the car while we drove across the city to donate dad's old walker to the Red Cross and we drove them to the store where they bought their bed last month, to arrange for a different one that is more pillowy on the top. We helped them strip down the old mattress for being returned to the store and we put all the bedding on the new one when it was delivered. We helped them do laundry and my husband fixed a few minor issues in their suite that the resident caretaker hadn't had time to repair yet.
I know Dad had to force himself out each of the 3 days we were there in order to go out for lunch. He wanted to go out so desperately, as did Mom, so we pretended we didn't realize he was too tired for the excursions and away we went! They wanted to go to the Olive Garden and they REALLY enjoyed their meals there. The amounts in the small dishes of pasta were just right, they thought their minestrone soup was like a stew because it was so full of "goodies", the never ending rounds of breadsticks were terribly exciting to them and the mini desserts were a great favourite! I think they ate four or five of those between the two of them. I wonder how on earth they manage to eat lunches when we are not there and we suspect they are not eating enough of the somewhat unappetizing dinners provided at their facility, because when they go to restaurants with us they eat like little piggies and love every single bite. Mom said at each lunch: "This is living!!!" I struggled to share her sentiment at the Olive Garden, but my husband and I were not there to complain about the fast food pretending to be real Italian/Greek food, we were there for them to have the time of their lives. They certainly did that. We took them to their old favourite, The Lemon Garden for huge plates of Chinese food. They used to be regulars there when Dad was still driving and the waitress remembers from visit to visit what their favourites are, plus gives them twice as much per plate as the other patrons, so they can take some home for lunch the following day. She is a sweet, sweet lady! I love her for the way she treats all the seniors who eat there. We also took them to The Villas, the nice little place my Mom and I discovered on my last visit there. Dad hadn't been before. He dug into his meal with a flourish and enjoyed it so much (seafood crepes) that he ate the entire meal! Mom took home half her chicken caesar wrap for the next day, but Dad polished his crepes off completely! He is SO tiny...where did he put all that food?? And then he had a creme brulee for dessert! hahaha Dessert is a big part of their meals out! They will take home huge portions of their entrees so they have room to eat a dessert. It is hilarious. (By the way, The Villas is one of the only places I have been to recently that actually knows that wraps are to be heated and browned before being stuffed with the filling ingredients. They are NOT to be served right out of the bag, cold and chewy! WHY do restaurant chefs/cooks NOT KNOW THIS??)
So, the next few months are going to be difficult, for all of us. My parents are having their 65th wedding anniversary in July and there isn't a thing we can do to celebrate it that they are capable of enjoying. Dad has decided he is going to take Mom in a taxi a few blocks to a favourite restaurant for dinner, "instead of eating the crap they serve here on our special anniversary", but I am wondering what on earth I can do for them. I will be looking for something very special to send them, something edible likely, a new outfit each as well...sigh....I can't figure out a way I can be there in person, but you never know what could happen by then. Maybe I can get there and surprise them or something. Dad was in hospital in agonizing pain on their 55th, he was desperately ill on their 60th....now it looks like they will be celebrating alone on their 65th.....argh...this is when being an only child really sucks!
So, each day brings new challenges at this point in their lives. I am among the thousands of adult children who do not live close enough to their elderly parents to be of much use a lot of the time. I hate that but it cannot be helped. It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming months..........thanks ever so much to those of you who have told me you pray regularly for my parents...as if you don't have enough of your own family prayer requests to deal with, I am sure. Bless you all!
In the month since I last saw them, they have both slipped considerably. Dad is nearly completely blind at this point, although he can still read the largest of large prints in books IF he uses his magnifying page from CNIB. We have to read restaurant menus to him and he finds that annoying and embarrassing. We took some photos of his grandson to him and we printed each shot on its own 8x11 sheet of paper so he would have some chance of seeing his grandson's face. Dad has lost his balance pretty much most of the time, absolutely has to use his walker or cane for every step he takes or he falls down. He won't admit it but his hearing is starting to fail and he is becoming more easily confused. He has asked us to pray that he could die soon and go to be with God in heaven, a place where his physical and mental frailties will be gone. At this point, other than for medical appointments, he rarely goes out, except for attempting to help Mom with the grocery shopping once a week...an endeavor that makes the whole excursion far more difficult for her and for the fellow who drives them to the store. Seeing him now I am even more grateful for the wonderful year he had between last March and this April after he kicked his morphine drugs. We knew it likely wouldn't last long and that unforuntately has turned out to be true. He tries to be cheery, because he is not capable very often of sharing his real thoughts and emotions, but he was more honest with my pastor husband when they talked alone and thus came the request from Dad to be set free from the bondages of old age. He has suffered a lot physically in his life and just can't handle much more of it.
Mom is quite depressed, understandably. She tries to perk herself up by putting on a nice outfit and make up every day, but she rarely goes anywhere on her own now because she too is getting too tired and frail to go out of the facility much by herself. She spends too much time sitting alone reading, playing solitaire and doing puzzles, when she knows she should be meeting more friends down in the social room and partaking of more of the offered activities, but she feels like she can't be bothered right now. She misses who my dad used to be before all these ailments took over his body and mind and conversations. She misses the social life they had once again when he was feeling better for so many months. The other morning she came out of her room after getting dressed and made up for the day. Her liquid makeup was streaky, she had some rubbed into the sides of her hair, her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in a month, her one stocking had a run....sigh...it completely broke my heart.
We managed to get them out to do a few errands: they rode in the car while we drove across the city to donate dad's old walker to the Red Cross and we drove them to the store where they bought their bed last month, to arrange for a different one that is more pillowy on the top. We helped them strip down the old mattress for being returned to the store and we put all the bedding on the new one when it was delivered. We helped them do laundry and my husband fixed a few minor issues in their suite that the resident caretaker hadn't had time to repair yet.
I know Dad had to force himself out each of the 3 days we were there in order to go out for lunch. He wanted to go out so desperately, as did Mom, so we pretended we didn't realize he was too tired for the excursions and away we went! They wanted to go to the Olive Garden and they REALLY enjoyed their meals there. The amounts in the small dishes of pasta were just right, they thought their minestrone soup was like a stew because it was so full of "goodies", the never ending rounds of breadsticks were terribly exciting to them and the mini desserts were a great favourite! I think they ate four or five of those between the two of them. I wonder how on earth they manage to eat lunches when we are not there and we suspect they are not eating enough of the somewhat unappetizing dinners provided at their facility, because when they go to restaurants with us they eat like little piggies and love every single bite. Mom said at each lunch: "This is living!!!" I struggled to share her sentiment at the Olive Garden, but my husband and I were not there to complain about the fast food pretending to be real Italian/Greek food, we were there for them to have the time of their lives. They certainly did that. We took them to their old favourite, The Lemon Garden for huge plates of Chinese food. They used to be regulars there when Dad was still driving and the waitress remembers from visit to visit what their favourites are, plus gives them twice as much per plate as the other patrons, so they can take some home for lunch the following day. She is a sweet, sweet lady! I love her for the way she treats all the seniors who eat there. We also took them to The Villas, the nice little place my Mom and I discovered on my last visit there. Dad hadn't been before. He dug into his meal with a flourish and enjoyed it so much (seafood crepes) that he ate the entire meal! Mom took home half her chicken caesar wrap for the next day, but Dad polished his crepes off completely! He is SO tiny...where did he put all that food?? And then he had a creme brulee for dessert! hahaha Dessert is a big part of their meals out! They will take home huge portions of their entrees so they have room to eat a dessert. It is hilarious. (By the way, The Villas is one of the only places I have been to recently that actually knows that wraps are to be heated and browned before being stuffed with the filling ingredients. They are NOT to be served right out of the bag, cold and chewy! WHY do restaurant chefs/cooks NOT KNOW THIS??)
So, the next few months are going to be difficult, for all of us. My parents are having their 65th wedding anniversary in July and there isn't a thing we can do to celebrate it that they are capable of enjoying. Dad has decided he is going to take Mom in a taxi a few blocks to a favourite restaurant for dinner, "instead of eating the crap they serve here on our special anniversary", but I am wondering what on earth I can do for them. I will be looking for something very special to send them, something edible likely, a new outfit each as well...sigh....I can't figure out a way I can be there in person, but you never know what could happen by then. Maybe I can get there and surprise them or something. Dad was in hospital in agonizing pain on their 55th, he was desperately ill on their 60th....now it looks like they will be celebrating alone on their 65th.....argh...this is when being an only child really sucks!
So, each day brings new challenges at this point in their lives. I am among the thousands of adult children who do not live close enough to their elderly parents to be of much use a lot of the time. I hate that but it cannot be helped. It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming months..........thanks ever so much to those of you who have told me you pray regularly for my parents...as if you don't have enough of your own family prayer requests to deal with, I am sure. Bless you all!
Not So Crappy After All
I thought I had booked us a dud motel in Red Deer for last night's stay. O how delightfully wrong I was. The Comfort Inn and Suites on the city's north end is in the process of serious renovation and we were assigned to one of the newly renovated rooms. What a treat. It was as neat and clean as the hotel in Mount Royal University and it was three times the size. The only things it didn't share with Mount Royal's room were a bar sink and a two sided magnification mirror on the bathroom vanity. It was very nice and their bagels in the breakfast room this morning were surprisingly fresh and tasty.
For dinner last night we had a rather nice meal at the restaurant across the street from our motel, Mohave. It features its own fennel sausages, which my husband enjoyed thoroughly. I had the lemon/herbed salmon which was a tad overcooked, but not dried out and actually a big overcooked is just the way I most enjoy salmon, so it was fine. My husband had herbed mashed potatoes that were creamy, I enjoyed some latticed yam fries and we both got a HUGE portion of mixed green beans, yellow beans, orange carrots and yellow carrots. What a great sized portion of healthy veggies and they were not overcooked. In some ways the food was a bit average perhaps, but those veggies made up for a LOT. SOOOOO tasty and prepared in a healthy manner, not swimming in salt and butter!
Tired as we were last night we had an excellent sleep until 6:30am, when the Bach tune my husband has as his alarm ringer started playing. We were checked out of the motel and well fed by 7:15am and I arrived at the bone densitometry lab rather early. My goodness it doesn't take long to have those tests run. My appointment was for 8am, the technician took me early and I was out at the car by 8:10am. My results should arrive at my specialist's office here in Regina in about a week's time. Here's hoping my meds are working.....
We had a very relaxing drive home today. The weather was cooler than it has been since we left home on Sunday, overcast and comfortable both inside the vehicle and out. We meandered home slowly, taking secondary highways and back roads so we could enjoy all the greenery, ponds, rolling hills, pasture lands and low traffic volumes we could find. It took us many hours, but what a great day. We are sick nearly to death of the usual two routes we take home from south and central Alberta, as they do not encompass the best of what central Alberta and Saskatchewan have to offer for scenery. Not that much of Saskatchewan is actually true prairie and we enjoyed the evidence of that today as we drove along to the east. Such a lovely drive....it was a perfect way to end our holiday travels for the year.
For dinner last night we had a rather nice meal at the restaurant across the street from our motel, Mohave. It features its own fennel sausages, which my husband enjoyed thoroughly. I had the lemon/herbed salmon which was a tad overcooked, but not dried out and actually a big overcooked is just the way I most enjoy salmon, so it was fine. My husband had herbed mashed potatoes that were creamy, I enjoyed some latticed yam fries and we both got a HUGE portion of mixed green beans, yellow beans, orange carrots and yellow carrots. What a great sized portion of healthy veggies and they were not overcooked. In some ways the food was a bit average perhaps, but those veggies made up for a LOT. SOOOOO tasty and prepared in a healthy manner, not swimming in salt and butter!
Tired as we were last night we had an excellent sleep until 6:30am, when the Bach tune my husband has as his alarm ringer started playing. We were checked out of the motel and well fed by 7:15am and I arrived at the bone densitometry lab rather early. My goodness it doesn't take long to have those tests run. My appointment was for 8am, the technician took me early and I was out at the car by 8:10am. My results should arrive at my specialist's office here in Regina in about a week's time. Here's hoping my meds are working.....
We had a very relaxing drive home today. The weather was cooler than it has been since we left home on Sunday, overcast and comfortable both inside the vehicle and out. We meandered home slowly, taking secondary highways and back roads so we could enjoy all the greenery, ponds, rolling hills, pasture lands and low traffic volumes we could find. It took us many hours, but what a great day. We are sick nearly to death of the usual two routes we take home from south and central Alberta, as they do not encompass the best of what central Alberta and Saskatchewan have to offer for scenery. Not that much of Saskatchewan is actually true prairie and we enjoyed the evidence of that today as we drove along to the east. Such a lovely drive....it was a perfect way to end our holiday travels for the year.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
What? No photos? Um, I’m Sorry.....
Yup ya’ caught us out. We really did not take many photos in New York. To be honest, other than a few family pix, we have no photos of note. We weren’t in the mood, I guess, to set up shots and fiddle around with so much as the cell phone cameras. I took zero photos and my husband took a handful of blurry shots of nothing very interesting.
This coming weekend I will post a few shots that did turn out....sort of....I promise.
This is our final morning with my parents before we head up to Red Deer. We have one night in a crappy hotel there, my tests are early tomorrow morning, and I am praying that God will give us some of those old fashioned ”journeying mercies” so that we will have the strength to drive all the way home tomorrow. We want to get home prior to the worst of the long weekend traffic if possible. It would be good if my husband had the full weekend to complete his recovery from his nasty cold before returning to work next week.
Next Friday I am supposed to be getting the second last crown that must be done on my upper molars this year. How I hope I can continue to stave off the cold my husband is suffering from so I don’t have to rebook. So far I am fine, hallelujah!
My husband is preaching and officiating three Sundays in July. I think I only have to go with him for one of those when he drives the farthest distance away, nearly to the Manitoba border. In August he is Commisary for the final month of the Bishop’s sabbatical, then the usual gruelling schedule for September begins. The Bishop returns, schedule planning for the fall and winter has to be finalized, committee meetings are in full swing, my husband is flying to Ontario for a week to be chaplain for the clergy conference for a missional diocese under the Diocese of Toronto, followed immediately by our own Diocesan clergy conference, and on it goes......
I will be looking for new ways and means to keep myself busy and have some ideas to check out.
Just like that, thoughts of summer have all ready fled and we are planning for autumn and winter, into next spring...whoa....summer is all ready short enough.....
This coming weekend I will post a few shots that did turn out....sort of....I promise.
This is our final morning with my parents before we head up to Red Deer. We have one night in a crappy hotel there, my tests are early tomorrow morning, and I am praying that God will give us some of those old fashioned ”journeying mercies” so that we will have the strength to drive all the way home tomorrow. We want to get home prior to the worst of the long weekend traffic if possible. It would be good if my husband had the full weekend to complete his recovery from his nasty cold before returning to work next week.
Next Friday I am supposed to be getting the second last crown that must be done on my upper molars this year. How I hope I can continue to stave off the cold my husband is suffering from so I don’t have to rebook. So far I am fine, hallelujah!
My husband is preaching and officiating three Sundays in July. I think I only have to go with him for one of those when he drives the farthest distance away, nearly to the Manitoba border. In August he is Commisary for the final month of the Bishop’s sabbatical, then the usual gruelling schedule for September begins. The Bishop returns, schedule planning for the fall and winter has to be finalized, committee meetings are in full swing, my husband is flying to Ontario for a week to be chaplain for the clergy conference for a missional diocese under the Diocese of Toronto, followed immediately by our own Diocesan clergy conference, and on it goes......
I will be looking for new ways and means to keep myself busy and have some ideas to check out.
Just like that, thoughts of summer have all ready fled and we are planning for autumn and winter, into next spring...whoa....summer is all ready short enough.....
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
A Happy Hotel Experience in Calgary
My parents’ facility guest rooms were full by the time I got around to calling about a reservation for this week. Poop! Getting decent hotel accommodation in Calgary anywhere near my parents is nearly impossible at the best of times, so I was concerned about how far from them we would end up staying.
My husband went online to see what he could find. Happily he came across a website for accommodation at Mount Royal University Resident Hotel. For only $98 a night we are very pleased with this little gem. The room is the cleanest we have stayed in a long time: no inch wide border of built up dust, lint and balf sucked old candies along the baseboards from the cleaning staff not being given crevice tools on the vacuums! The Egyptian cotton linens and plush towels make us feel pampered. There is a half kitchen (meaning no oven or stove top) with a bar sink, cutlery and dishware place setting for two with enough cloths, towels and detergent to clean them properly, a good sized microwave and bar fridge with a freezer compartment, actual glass wine glasses and corkscrew, iron and board, blow dryer, an assortment of hair and lotion products, a large computer desk and tv, modern side tables and headboard, also decent quality. The rooms are small, but there is lots of closet and other storage space for clothing and luggage. Central air conditioning has made the warm nights comfortable for sleeping. We can use our parking pass in several different lots at the university, but have had lots of parking close to the building so we have’t had to haul our luggage and food bags all across the campus. I hope we can stay here next time we visit.
If you ever need somewhere to stay in Southwest Calgary and the Grey Eagle resort and casino is either booked up or too expensive, give this place a try. I love the Grey Eagle. It is my favourite hotel in Calgary, but it was completely booked for both our nights here. What a nice find the university hotel turned out to be, the price being the icing on the cake!
My husband went online to see what he could find. Happily he came across a website for accommodation at Mount Royal University Resident Hotel. For only $98 a night we are very pleased with this little gem. The room is the cleanest we have stayed in a long time: no inch wide border of built up dust, lint and balf sucked old candies along the baseboards from the cleaning staff not being given crevice tools on the vacuums! The Egyptian cotton linens and plush towels make us feel pampered. There is a half kitchen (meaning no oven or stove top) with a bar sink, cutlery and dishware place setting for two with enough cloths, towels and detergent to clean them properly, a good sized microwave and bar fridge with a freezer compartment, actual glass wine glasses and corkscrew, iron and board, blow dryer, an assortment of hair and lotion products, a large computer desk and tv, modern side tables and headboard, also decent quality. The rooms are small, but there is lots of closet and other storage space for clothing and luggage. Central air conditioning has made the warm nights comfortable for sleeping. We can use our parking pass in several different lots at the university, but have had lots of parking close to the building so we have’t had to haul our luggage and food bags all across the campus. I hope we can stay here next time we visit.
If you ever need somewhere to stay in Southwest Calgary and the Grey Eagle resort and casino is either booked up or too expensive, give this place a try. I love the Grey Eagle. It is my favourite hotel in Calgary, but it was completely booked for both our nights here. What a nice find the university hotel turned out to be, the price being the icing on the cake!
Monday, June 25, 2018
Overeating!
The last eight months have been incredibly stressful and I have been overeating. Since my blood sugar has not gone up simultaneously with the weight gain, I have been able to stick my head in the sand and ignore it for the past few weeks. As of late this afternoon, I can ignore it no longer!
I brought along a new dress on this trip, one I have been saving for just such an evening as our dinner out with special friends tonight. A few minutes ago I happily put the dress on, then looked in the mirror and blanched! While I have only gained 8 pounds, it has all gone on around my middle! Every wretched pound is hanging off my stomach and this lovely dress is nicely contoured to fit me perfectly, but from before the extra weight gain! Sigh.... I look nearly as bad in my pretty new dress now as I did in all my old fat clothes before I lost the 70 pounds!
So far I have managed not to cry, but the temptation to break down sobbing is intense! I can see every roll that has returned to my tummy. I can see where the top of my underwear is creating a bit of a tummy bulge, even with a full length slip under the dress and that is not something I have seen for a very long time. Waaaaaaahhhh!!!! AND it is all my own darned fault too. I can’t blame the diabetes. I can’t blame a lack of exercise. I can’t blame anything but my own overeating! Double waaaahhhh!!!
Fortunately I did bring along a spare dress in case I spill food on my clothes during this trip. It hides the excess fat very well. I am now wearing that dress and preparing to leave the hotel to meet our friends...and eat! dinner. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I brought along a new dress on this trip, one I have been saving for just such an evening as our dinner out with special friends tonight. A few minutes ago I happily put the dress on, then looked in the mirror and blanched! While I have only gained 8 pounds, it has all gone on around my middle! Every wretched pound is hanging off my stomach and this lovely dress is nicely contoured to fit me perfectly, but from before the extra weight gain! Sigh.... I look nearly as bad in my pretty new dress now as I did in all my old fat clothes before I lost the 70 pounds!
So far I have managed not to cry, but the temptation to break down sobbing is intense! I can see every roll that has returned to my tummy. I can see where the top of my underwear is creating a bit of a tummy bulge, even with a full length slip under the dress and that is not something I have seen for a very long time. Waaaaaaahhhh!!!! AND it is all my own darned fault too. I can’t blame the diabetes. I can’t blame a lack of exercise. I can’t blame anything but my own overeating! Double waaaahhhh!!!
Fortunately I did bring along a spare dress in case I spill food on my clothes during this trip. It hides the excess fat very well. I am now wearing that dress and preparing to leave the hotel to meet our friends...and eat! dinner. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Down For the Count
So....here we are in Medicine Hat. Quite a day, haha!
We got off to a terribly slow start, diddling about over breakfast and packing until the last minute, forgetting we promised my parents a few family photos from New York. We remembered just as we were about to leave our house. My husband picked up the flash drive the photos are on and we drove over to his office to use the photo printer. Seemed like a good idea at the time....
Got the printer fired up with no problem, but then my sinus congested, cold induced muddle brain husband realized his computer was buried in the trunk of our car under the rest of our suitcases, bedding bags, (I was unable to reserve rooms with two beds due to an influx of crews into all the available hotels along our route this week so my ill husband brought his own camp bedding to flop down on the floor bedside the beds. He doesn’t want to be breathing germs in my face all night, bless him), snack bag, freezer pack cooler, picnic pack dishes, etc., (we do not travel lightly). So, he tried starting up one of the other staff computers. Since he is in charge of the entire communications system, he has all the passwords, so it should have been easy peasey.
It wasn’t.
First of all he couldn’t get any power coming on with any of the MANY office computers...nary a one. Huh? Some investigating ensued. Turned out someone had shut off the main power source, but a flick of the switch got the machines going. He went to the one closest to the printer, plugged in the password and....the computer refused him access. Huh? He is the person who set all the passwords. He tried a second password and a third. No dice! Eventually, muttering something about the “stupid bloody technology “ under his breath, he climbed the long flight of stairs to his own office, retrieved the password folder paper copies from his file cabinet, then returned to the snooty, inaccessible computer and tried again. This time he found a password that worked....one that should not have worked on that particular computer...huh....but checking glitches in the system was not the point today. He inserted the flash drive into the USB port and....the computer refused to recognize it. Huh? He tried the other port and still no success. Sigh....this is not a happy scenario at the best of times, but today his head was thick with the cold and he was not happy. Finally he yanked the mouse from its port and inserted the flash drive. This time the machine recognized it and, thankfully the next space he jammed the mouse into made the mouse work! Success!
He clicked on the appropriate boxes for printing the photos, checked to ensure the printer was set to print on photo paper, clicked on PRINT and, mercy of mercys, the photos printed up beautifully....on regular printer paper! Huh? I grabbed the photos from his hands just as he was about to shred them in frustration, told him they were good enough, he shut all the machinery down and we fled the building before anything else could go wrong.
We spent nearly an hour in the office instead of the ten minutes budgeted! Sigh....
As we drove away we realized that driving all the way to Swift Current for lunch was going to too long a wait for my diabetes, but we felt it would be anticlimactic to stop back at home for lunch, so we drove to Moose Jaw. The places we planned to eat were both closed so, in the interest of time, we stayed close to the highway and ate at Montana’s. Sigh.....have to say though that the pot roast soup was delicious...like a stew with huge chunks of beef in each bowl. The rest of the meal was dreadful enough to defy description, so I won’t bother. At least it was cheap!
My husband was feeling rather delirious, probably from fever, so he blathered non-stop all the way from Moose Jaw, sharing his every passing thought, idea, supposition, proposal, you name it. If it passed through his brain, it came out of his mouth. hahahaha It was quite hilarious and bonus: it kept me awake during the long drive. Usually I cannot drive that many hours without falling asleep!
My husband crawled into the backseat just before we got to Swift Current and fell asleep. He had finally talked himself out, haha.
Tonight we walked from our hotel to the Thai Orchid restaurant for a fabulous meal! My chicken salad was loaded with grilled chicken, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, romaine, red onion, shallots, cilantro and spicy fish sauce. Major YUM! My husband thoroughly enjoyed his bowl of tofu, cashews, fresh mixed veggies, and brown sauce on a bed of sticky rice. I had a small creme brûlée and he enjoyed a cocktail of champagne, gin and pomegranate juice with fresh, bitter lime, for our desserts.
By 7pm my husband was asleep in his camp bedding and I pray he will be on the mend at least a little bit by tomorrow morning. Prayers for him would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
We got off to a terribly slow start, diddling about over breakfast and packing until the last minute, forgetting we promised my parents a few family photos from New York. We remembered just as we were about to leave our house. My husband picked up the flash drive the photos are on and we drove over to his office to use the photo printer. Seemed like a good idea at the time....
Got the printer fired up with no problem, but then my sinus congested, cold induced muddle brain husband realized his computer was buried in the trunk of our car under the rest of our suitcases, bedding bags, (I was unable to reserve rooms with two beds due to an influx of crews into all the available hotels along our route this week so my ill husband brought his own camp bedding to flop down on the floor bedside the beds. He doesn’t want to be breathing germs in my face all night, bless him), snack bag, freezer pack cooler, picnic pack dishes, etc., (we do not travel lightly). So, he tried starting up one of the other staff computers. Since he is in charge of the entire communications system, he has all the passwords, so it should have been easy peasey.
It wasn’t.
First of all he couldn’t get any power coming on with any of the MANY office computers...nary a one. Huh? Some investigating ensued. Turned out someone had shut off the main power source, but a flick of the switch got the machines going. He went to the one closest to the printer, plugged in the password and....the computer refused him access. Huh? He is the person who set all the passwords. He tried a second password and a third. No dice! Eventually, muttering something about the “stupid bloody technology “ under his breath, he climbed the long flight of stairs to his own office, retrieved the password folder paper copies from his file cabinet, then returned to the snooty, inaccessible computer and tried again. This time he found a password that worked....one that should not have worked on that particular computer...huh....but checking glitches in the system was not the point today. He inserted the flash drive into the USB port and....the computer refused to recognize it. Huh? He tried the other port and still no success. Sigh....this is not a happy scenario at the best of times, but today his head was thick with the cold and he was not happy. Finally he yanked the mouse from its port and inserted the flash drive. This time the machine recognized it and, thankfully the next space he jammed the mouse into made the mouse work! Success!
He clicked on the appropriate boxes for printing the photos, checked to ensure the printer was set to print on photo paper, clicked on PRINT and, mercy of mercys, the photos printed up beautifully....on regular printer paper! Huh? I grabbed the photos from his hands just as he was about to shred them in frustration, told him they were good enough, he shut all the machinery down and we fled the building before anything else could go wrong.
We spent nearly an hour in the office instead of the ten minutes budgeted! Sigh....
As we drove away we realized that driving all the way to Swift Current for lunch was going to too long a wait for my diabetes, but we felt it would be anticlimactic to stop back at home for lunch, so we drove to Moose Jaw. The places we planned to eat were both closed so, in the interest of time, we stayed close to the highway and ate at Montana’s. Sigh.....have to say though that the pot roast soup was delicious...like a stew with huge chunks of beef in each bowl. The rest of the meal was dreadful enough to defy description, so I won’t bother. At least it was cheap!
My husband was feeling rather delirious, probably from fever, so he blathered non-stop all the way from Moose Jaw, sharing his every passing thought, idea, supposition, proposal, you name it. If it passed through his brain, it came out of his mouth. hahahaha It was quite hilarious and bonus: it kept me awake during the long drive. Usually I cannot drive that many hours without falling asleep!
My husband crawled into the backseat just before we got to Swift Current and fell asleep. He had finally talked himself out, haha.
Tonight we walked from our hotel to the Thai Orchid restaurant for a fabulous meal! My chicken salad was loaded with grilled chicken, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, romaine, red onion, shallots, cilantro and spicy fish sauce. Major YUM! My husband thoroughly enjoyed his bowl of tofu, cashews, fresh mixed veggies, and brown sauce on a bed of sticky rice. I had a small creme brûlée and he enjoyed a cocktail of champagne, gin and pomegranate juice with fresh, bitter lime, for our desserts.
By 7pm my husband was asleep in his camp bedding and I pray he will be on the mend at least a little bit by tomorrow morning. Prayers for him would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
The Wild Blue Yonder
Time for one more week of travelling before my husband returns to work after a holiday month that has flown by far too quickly.
We have to spend a few days in Alberta this week. My parents need some assistance and I have some medical tests scheduled there.
Looks like some rain will be in our forecast in each place we visit. My husband picked up a nasty throat infection, likely from the airplane air, and it is morphing into the sniffles this morning, so his contact with my parents will be limited. I suspect he will spend our couple of days with them inside our hotel, keeping his germs mostly to himself. I am thanking the anitbiotic mouthwash left over from my last dental crown for keeping me free of the same infection. I can't convince my husband to stay home and let me drive myself on this trip, so...... It isn't from lack of trying. I think the accident our bishop's wife had a few days ago freaked him out more than he is saying and right now there is no way he is going to allow me to drive that distance on my own. Well, that is life.
If he is feeling better we are going to meet some friends in Calgary for dinner one night. They live in Lethbridge but are flying into Calgary from Toronto after a visit with their daughter.
Other than them and my parents, this is more of a medical/parental visit for me than any sort of pleasure trip. At least it does keep my husband far away from his office for his last week of vacation. If I wasn't so used to the way things are with his work, I would be very upset that our first day back from New York he was called into the office for the afternoon.
After taking a day to pray and reconsider options, contacting various insurance companies, etc., our bishop and his wife have decided their cycling ride for Healing, Reconciliation and Unity is too important to put to an early end. This morning, after a church service somewhere east of Wawa Ontario, where the crash occurred, they will be on their way once again. So many people have offered them places to stay each night, so not having their camper any more will not be a huge issue. Their faith in the calling they feel they have been given is strong.
So, time to pack and get on the road again.
We have to spend a few days in Alberta this week. My parents need some assistance and I have some medical tests scheduled there.
Looks like some rain will be in our forecast in each place we visit. My husband picked up a nasty throat infection, likely from the airplane air, and it is morphing into the sniffles this morning, so his contact with my parents will be limited. I suspect he will spend our couple of days with them inside our hotel, keeping his germs mostly to himself. I am thanking the anitbiotic mouthwash left over from my last dental crown for keeping me free of the same infection. I can't convince my husband to stay home and let me drive myself on this trip, so...... It isn't from lack of trying. I think the accident our bishop's wife had a few days ago freaked him out more than he is saying and right now there is no way he is going to allow me to drive that distance on my own. Well, that is life.
If he is feeling better we are going to meet some friends in Calgary for dinner one night. They live in Lethbridge but are flying into Calgary from Toronto after a visit with their daughter.
Other than them and my parents, this is more of a medical/parental visit for me than any sort of pleasure trip. At least it does keep my husband far away from his office for his last week of vacation. If I wasn't so used to the way things are with his work, I would be very upset that our first day back from New York he was called into the office for the afternoon.
After taking a day to pray and reconsider options, contacting various insurance companies, etc., our bishop and his wife have decided their cycling ride for Healing, Reconciliation and Unity is too important to put to an early end. This morning, after a church service somewhere east of Wawa Ontario, where the crash occurred, they will be on their way once again. So many people have offered them places to stay each night, so not having their camper any more will not be a huge issue. Their faith in the calling they feel they have been given is strong.
So, time to pack and get on the road again.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
The Joy of a Good Night's Sleep!
Ever since our little holiday I have discovered that wearing ear plugs to bed at night is solving the worst of my inability to have a good night of sleep.
Our son told us to wear ear plugs in New York City and my husband found me some soft, twisty ones that fit into my ears very well and do not make rustly noises in my ear all night that keep me awake.
I am delighted. I slept fantastically well in Brooklyn and now I am still sleeping well back here at home with those ear plugs in. It is the sporadic noises that keep me awake in the wee hours of the morning: a motorcycle driver cracking his bike wide open to race down the wide street in front of our house; frenzied, drunken voices of people tottering up the street that burst upon my consciousness like fireworks; cars starting or idling out in the parking lot; the early morning back up beeping of the garbage truck...on and on it goes. Each noise is very short lived, but is just long enough to ensure I am completely awake before it dies down.
Earplugs....now that I have the kind that fit my ears properly and therefore actually remain in my ears for the entire night, they are a life saver to me. So happy I gave them a try instead of assuming they would not work for me!
Our son told us to wear ear plugs in New York City and my husband found me some soft, twisty ones that fit into my ears very well and do not make rustly noises in my ear all night that keep me awake.
I am delighted. I slept fantastically well in Brooklyn and now I am still sleeping well back here at home with those ear plugs in. It is the sporadic noises that keep me awake in the wee hours of the morning: a motorcycle driver cracking his bike wide open to race down the wide street in front of our house; frenzied, drunken voices of people tottering up the street that burst upon my consciousness like fireworks; cars starting or idling out in the parking lot; the early morning back up beeping of the garbage truck...on and on it goes. Each noise is very short lived, but is just long enough to ensure I am completely awake before it dies down.
Earplugs....now that I have the kind that fit my ears properly and therefore actually remain in my ears for the entire night, they are a life saver to me. So happy I gave them a try instead of assuming they would not work for me!
The Rest of the Vacation Highs and Lows
The Highs:
--Having our airline seats booked in advance guaranteed us our place on all the flights that Air Canada deliberately over booked, creating all manner of disaster for themselves and for some of the passengers who didn't pay extra for prebooked seating and then discovered at the boarding pass kiosk that they might not be able to get on the flight, reducing some of them to stand by status. My husband has forgiven me now for spending all that extra money on designated seat assignments. When you fly Air Canada it costs big bucks to protect yourself!!
--Having all our flights leave on time! How blessed were we??? The latest we got off the tarmac was about 10 to 15 minutes later than scheduled, but in both those cases we still landed at our destination airport on time.
--My husband's instincts about transportation: the morning we left, we were ready to go about two hours earlier than we planned to leave the hotel to catch the subway and buses, but he felt we needed to get going anyway. I wasn't looking forward to spending extra hours at La Guardia because they are doing an extensive renovation in the Air Canada terminal, so the waiting space is crowded and short of food and drink. However, I agree to go early. When we arrived he maneuvered us onto an earlier flight to Pearson airport in Toronto. We couldn't sit together because they were so full, but it is only about an hour flight so it didn't matter. I was feeling a bit ripped off because I had paid for specific seats on our regularly scheduled flight, BUT as it turned out, my husband's instincts were dead on! Although we ended up spending 8 hours at Pearson before our late night flight home, had we kept our original flight from La Guardia we would have missed our connection to Regina and ended up in Toronto overnight, then on stand by to Regina the next morning. For some reason the original La Guardia flight ended up being delayed by nearly 3 hours!! My husband also did ALL the subway and bus and ferry navigating, the street map navigating etc. He is AMAZING at pathfinding of all kinds!
--La Guardia Car Service: rather than tangle with those more adept at hailing cabs at the airport, we pre-booked a cab online from home with Jupiter. Uber and Lyft were other good possibilities, but we got the best deal with Jupiter. As you exit the airport, you follow the signs to a large car park with the Car Services banners. As soon as you enter, you call Jupiter to let them know you have arrived, then Jupiter calls the security worker on duty in the car services parkade to find out what area of the car park their driver is supposed to come to in order to pick you up. Each lane of the car park is marked with a letter and number. You locate that lane, stand beside the marked letter and number combo on the sign and wait for the cab to come. We were picked up in less than 15 minutes and were dropped off at our hotel less than an hour later, after our first terrifying trip along the Brooklyn freeway at rush hour. Our Bangladeshi driver, Moe, has been in NYC for 6 years and said that driving there is a breeze compared to Bangladesh! After my husband's experiences with drivers in India, he believes Moe!
--The difference in the relaxation and outward friendliness of complete strangers once we arrived back at Pearson in Toronto: We spent 8 hours between flights there and after being pretty much on our own conversationally for our week in the States, by the time our 8 hours in Pearson were over we had been approached and spoken to by at least a half dozen total strangers...all Canadians. We spoke for a long time to a couple our age who are world travellers and were trying to get home to Regina from Iceland after several disasters with their Air Canada flights. We met them because we were all attempting to get stand by seats on flights to Regina that were earlier than the ones we had all booked. None of us got on any of them, but eventually we found ourselves actually searching for each other at the various departure gates. The jokes about our waiting game flowed freely. We met a couple from Thunder Bay who were on their way to their daughter's wedding in Yellowknife. They began talking to us while they were lined up to board a flight and found themselves standing beside the chairs we were sitting in. My husband was fighting a dehydration headache and had his head in his hands, so when they got even with us they asked him if he was okay. We chatted for at least 15 minutes before their line up finally started to move toward the boarding counter. When Air Canada asked if anyone wanted to check their carry on luggage because with being so overbooked not everyone's luggage was going to fit in the over head bins, we volunteered our bags and got into a nice conversation with a Japanese man, doing the same thing, who has lived in Regina only a few years and shared his excitement about his new house in a very nice area of the city that we are familiar with. Complete strangers approaching to have a chat with you just because they think you might be a nice and interesting person to talk to, or possibly in need of assistance? Yup, you must be in Canada! Other than the lady who volunteered to help us locate St. John's Cathedral, the only other strangers we voluntarily spoke to or who spoke to us in NYC, were a Chinese family and a Cuban man, all unable to figure out how to insert their Metro Passes into the ticket machine for the bus to La Guardia! We had to show them what to do. There were quite a few native New Yorkers also using the machines but they didn't volunteer to help anyone of course. They aren't mean, just in their own space and expecting everyone else to remain in theirs.
--Meal prices are far more reasonable outside of Manhattan than we were expecting and the food was all good!!
--Rugelach for breakfast at the hotel...my biggest dietary downfall. Rugelach is flaky sour cream pastry stuffed with sugar, cinnamon and chocolate...TO DIE FOR!!!
--5 days of perfect weather!
--Listening to my son talking in his newly aquired Brooklynese: "We can go there..yeh, yeh." "Yeh, yeh...that's right." "Yeh, yeh....whatever...yeh, yeh."
--The architecture of all the Manhattan buildings old and new..fascinating and worthy of hours of exploration.
The Lowlights:
--The crazy maze-like traffic on every street was difficult to get used to with the never ending horn honking, high speeds, cutting each other off and the pedestrians standing so far out into the street waiting for a chance to cross that half the honking was to warn them to get the heck back on the sidewalk so they wouldn't be killed! The horn honking is so incessant that my first morning back home, driving to the bank, I actually heard non-existent horn honking in my head. It didn't stop during subsequent drives around the city until I drove out for coffee this morning with a friend.
--The total lack of public washrooms in public spaces was bladder numbing! DO NOT go to NYC to sightsee if you have a weak bladder or malfunctioning kidneys. You will never survive!!
--The lack of bathroom facilities in all restaurants is very inconvenient. One bathroom with one toilet and sink for everyone's use, including the staff, is the norm. If a restaurant has two stalls or one room for men with a single toilet and the same for women...well...you have found a gold mine! The night we were in the Mexico 2000 restaurant, two teenaged girls came in, headed together into the bathroom and didn't come out for over an hour. Finally one of the other patrons, who had made several attempts to access the one and only toilet, started bashing on the door with her fist until the girls came out again. They sheepishly admitted they were in there doing each other's make up before hitting the bar for the evening. Sigh.... Admittedly they both looked far more made up and beautiful than before they went in there, but puhleeeease...give other people a chance to use the facilities. People taking their time in places like that seemed to be the usual scenario, but I suspect it is because you often have to wait so long to get into the bathroom you just take your sweet time and savour the success of having finally gained entry!
We found VERY LITTLE to complain about in the city itself, in both airports, in our hotel, in the restaurants, at the attractions. It was a great trip. People were helpful when we asked for it, many young black men offered up their seats to me on crowded buses and subway cars. While people don't normally start chatting up people they don't know, unless they are looking for money, if help is seriously needed, it can usually be found.
I finally "get" all those bumper stickers that came out years ago with "I heart NY" written on them. Now we too heart New York City! Maybe one day we will get to go there again......
--Having our airline seats booked in advance guaranteed us our place on all the flights that Air Canada deliberately over booked, creating all manner of disaster for themselves and for some of the passengers who didn't pay extra for prebooked seating and then discovered at the boarding pass kiosk that they might not be able to get on the flight, reducing some of them to stand by status. My husband has forgiven me now for spending all that extra money on designated seat assignments. When you fly Air Canada it costs big bucks to protect yourself!!
--Having all our flights leave on time! How blessed were we??? The latest we got off the tarmac was about 10 to 15 minutes later than scheduled, but in both those cases we still landed at our destination airport on time.
--My husband's instincts about transportation: the morning we left, we were ready to go about two hours earlier than we planned to leave the hotel to catch the subway and buses, but he felt we needed to get going anyway. I wasn't looking forward to spending extra hours at La Guardia because they are doing an extensive renovation in the Air Canada terminal, so the waiting space is crowded and short of food and drink. However, I agree to go early. When we arrived he maneuvered us onto an earlier flight to Pearson airport in Toronto. We couldn't sit together because they were so full, but it is only about an hour flight so it didn't matter. I was feeling a bit ripped off because I had paid for specific seats on our regularly scheduled flight, BUT as it turned out, my husband's instincts were dead on! Although we ended up spending 8 hours at Pearson before our late night flight home, had we kept our original flight from La Guardia we would have missed our connection to Regina and ended up in Toronto overnight, then on stand by to Regina the next morning. For some reason the original La Guardia flight ended up being delayed by nearly 3 hours!! My husband also did ALL the subway and bus and ferry navigating, the street map navigating etc. He is AMAZING at pathfinding of all kinds!
--La Guardia Car Service: rather than tangle with those more adept at hailing cabs at the airport, we pre-booked a cab online from home with Jupiter. Uber and Lyft were other good possibilities, but we got the best deal with Jupiter. As you exit the airport, you follow the signs to a large car park with the Car Services banners. As soon as you enter, you call Jupiter to let them know you have arrived, then Jupiter calls the security worker on duty in the car services parkade to find out what area of the car park their driver is supposed to come to in order to pick you up. Each lane of the car park is marked with a letter and number. You locate that lane, stand beside the marked letter and number combo on the sign and wait for the cab to come. We were picked up in less than 15 minutes and were dropped off at our hotel less than an hour later, after our first terrifying trip along the Brooklyn freeway at rush hour. Our Bangladeshi driver, Moe, has been in NYC for 6 years and said that driving there is a breeze compared to Bangladesh! After my husband's experiences with drivers in India, he believes Moe!
--The difference in the relaxation and outward friendliness of complete strangers once we arrived back at Pearson in Toronto: We spent 8 hours between flights there and after being pretty much on our own conversationally for our week in the States, by the time our 8 hours in Pearson were over we had been approached and spoken to by at least a half dozen total strangers...all Canadians. We spoke for a long time to a couple our age who are world travellers and were trying to get home to Regina from Iceland after several disasters with their Air Canada flights. We met them because we were all attempting to get stand by seats on flights to Regina that were earlier than the ones we had all booked. None of us got on any of them, but eventually we found ourselves actually searching for each other at the various departure gates. The jokes about our waiting game flowed freely. We met a couple from Thunder Bay who were on their way to their daughter's wedding in Yellowknife. They began talking to us while they were lined up to board a flight and found themselves standing beside the chairs we were sitting in. My husband was fighting a dehydration headache and had his head in his hands, so when they got even with us they asked him if he was okay. We chatted for at least 15 minutes before their line up finally started to move toward the boarding counter. When Air Canada asked if anyone wanted to check their carry on luggage because with being so overbooked not everyone's luggage was going to fit in the over head bins, we volunteered our bags and got into a nice conversation with a Japanese man, doing the same thing, who has lived in Regina only a few years and shared his excitement about his new house in a very nice area of the city that we are familiar with. Complete strangers approaching to have a chat with you just because they think you might be a nice and interesting person to talk to, or possibly in need of assistance? Yup, you must be in Canada! Other than the lady who volunteered to help us locate St. John's Cathedral, the only other strangers we voluntarily spoke to or who spoke to us in NYC, were a Chinese family and a Cuban man, all unable to figure out how to insert their Metro Passes into the ticket machine for the bus to La Guardia! We had to show them what to do. There were quite a few native New Yorkers also using the machines but they didn't volunteer to help anyone of course. They aren't mean, just in their own space and expecting everyone else to remain in theirs.
--Meal prices are far more reasonable outside of Manhattan than we were expecting and the food was all good!!
--Rugelach for breakfast at the hotel...my biggest dietary downfall. Rugelach is flaky sour cream pastry stuffed with sugar, cinnamon and chocolate...TO DIE FOR!!!
--5 days of perfect weather!
--Listening to my son talking in his newly aquired Brooklynese: "We can go there..yeh, yeh." "Yeh, yeh...that's right." "Yeh, yeh....whatever...yeh, yeh."
--The architecture of all the Manhattan buildings old and new..fascinating and worthy of hours of exploration.
The Lowlights:
--The crazy maze-like traffic on every street was difficult to get used to with the never ending horn honking, high speeds, cutting each other off and the pedestrians standing so far out into the street waiting for a chance to cross that half the honking was to warn them to get the heck back on the sidewalk so they wouldn't be killed! The horn honking is so incessant that my first morning back home, driving to the bank, I actually heard non-existent horn honking in my head. It didn't stop during subsequent drives around the city until I drove out for coffee this morning with a friend.
--The total lack of public washrooms in public spaces was bladder numbing! DO NOT go to NYC to sightsee if you have a weak bladder or malfunctioning kidneys. You will never survive!!
--The lack of bathroom facilities in all restaurants is very inconvenient. One bathroom with one toilet and sink for everyone's use, including the staff, is the norm. If a restaurant has two stalls or one room for men with a single toilet and the same for women...well...you have found a gold mine! The night we were in the Mexico 2000 restaurant, two teenaged girls came in, headed together into the bathroom and didn't come out for over an hour. Finally one of the other patrons, who had made several attempts to access the one and only toilet, started bashing on the door with her fist until the girls came out again. They sheepishly admitted they were in there doing each other's make up before hitting the bar for the evening. Sigh.... Admittedly they both looked far more made up and beautiful than before they went in there, but puhleeeease...give other people a chance to use the facilities. People taking their time in places like that seemed to be the usual scenario, but I suspect it is because you often have to wait so long to get into the bathroom you just take your sweet time and savour the success of having finally gained entry!
We found VERY LITTLE to complain about in the city itself, in both airports, in our hotel, in the restaurants, at the attractions. It was a great trip. People were helpful when we asked for it, many young black men offered up their seats to me on crowded buses and subway cars. While people don't normally start chatting up people they don't know, unless they are looking for money, if help is seriously needed, it can usually be found.
I finally "get" all those bumper stickers that came out years ago with "I heart NY" written on them. Now we too heart New York City! Maybe one day we will get to go there again......
Friday, June 22, 2018
Our Bishop and His Wife Need Prayer!
As most of you are aware, our Bishop Rob and his wife Lorraine have been travelling across Canada for the past month, him on a bicycle and she driving the truck and trailer back up unit. He has been raising funds to put toward Aboriginal healing and reconcilation, our denominational international emergency funding and other worthy denominational causes, hopefully inspiring the members of our own diocese to become more involved in these outreaches to others.
Last week they received word that their house had sprung a leak during a rainstorm and is going to require substantial renovation to clean up and fix the problems.
Today, somewhere in Ontario, Lorraine was involved in a vehicle crash that completely totalled both truck and trailer. We are thanking God that for whatever reason, she was not injured!! We still don't know what happened, how the crash occurred, but we do know that they are renting a car and starting the drive home tomorrow....only half way through the amazing cycling journey that Bishop Rob trained daily for two years to be able to accomplish.
This is one of those times of complete shock, one of those times when the temptation is to ask God if he was on vacation for the day, one of those times when it is somewhat more difficult to see God's hand in an obvious way working in our lives.
Knowing our Bishop, he will not be discouraged, despite the shock. Knowing God, He will use this apparent disaster to bring something unexpectedly good into the whole situation. Our poor Bishop and his dear wife are experiencing a somewhat Job-like trial at the moment and would so appreciate prayers to give them strength to get over the shock and then discern what to do next......... Bless you and thanks for praying!
Last week they received word that their house had sprung a leak during a rainstorm and is going to require substantial renovation to clean up and fix the problems.
Today, somewhere in Ontario, Lorraine was involved in a vehicle crash that completely totalled both truck and trailer. We are thanking God that for whatever reason, she was not injured!! We still don't know what happened, how the crash occurred, but we do know that they are renting a car and starting the drive home tomorrow....only half way through the amazing cycling journey that Bishop Rob trained daily for two years to be able to accomplish.
This is one of those times of complete shock, one of those times when the temptation is to ask God if he was on vacation for the day, one of those times when it is somewhat more difficult to see God's hand in an obvious way working in our lives.
Knowing our Bishop, he will not be discouraged, despite the shock. Knowing God, He will use this apparent disaster to bring something unexpectedly good into the whole situation. Our poor Bishop and his dear wife are experiencing a somewhat Job-like trial at the moment and would so appreciate prayers to give them strength to get over the shock and then discern what to do next......... Bless you and thanks for praying!
Some Other Places I Done Seen
The Cathderal of St. John the Divine: located in northern Manhattan, this amazing cathedral was well worth the hour and fifteen minutes it took us to get there via public transport. Most tourists it seems head to St. Patrick's, but St. John is part of the American Branch of our own church denomination, so we decided to check it out. This is the largest cathedral in the world at 121,000 square feet and construction began on it in 1892. It encompasses about 3 city blocks along Amsterdam Ave. between 110th and 113 streets. A fire early this century destroyed the north transept and construction to rebuild is still going on. One of the local ladies who saw us outside the subway looking at our map of Amsterdam Ave. as we wondered where the cathedral is located, told us how to get there, and also chatted to us about the building. She said that although it was rededicated in 2008, the construction and rebuilding is still not completed, so the local folk call it St. John the Unfinished. hahaha
We entered the cathedral for the senior's price of eight dollars each, making the grand total we spent to date for attractions sixteen dollars! haha
The first thing that struck us both was the cavernous feeling of the place. The walls along the walk to the altar, way at the far end of the building, are lined with alcoves filled with Baroque Roman Barberini tapestries, ancient wooden and stone altars and cabinets, sections of the AIDS quilt, Japanese Buddhist art that has been gifted to the cathedral, just an eclectic array of old and new religious artifacts. The corridor between the worship space itself and the outside walls is lined with chapel spaces. My husband was thrilled that we arrived only ten minutes prior to the start of a noon Eucharist in the St. Columba Chapel. We enjoyed the Eucharist very much. We were a small group made up of tourists, and local business people who are regular mid week attenders. The homily on forgiveness by the Reverend Canon Patti Welch was so edifying and it was very special to share in the Eucharist with people we had never met before but with who we had in common our religious tradition. It was a very special time for both of us.
The Cathedral houses many interesting "extras", including a world class textile conservation laboratory to preserve its tapestries, needlework pieces, even cartoons done by Raphael. It is just one HUGE space! There is a lovely green space on the property with some interesting modern and ancient sculptures. The day we were there the green space was filled with families picnicking and playing games. There is a rose garden as well. What a wonderful few hours we spent there. Our admission was day long, so we were able to step out for lunch after the Eucharist and then return to see the building and its contents in more detail.
St. Paul's Church: old, elegant, surrounded by NYC's downtown, it is quite an anomaly in the midst of the modern, materialistic hustle bustle that goes on all around it!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: unfortunately we only had one day to spend there, but our son and his equally art knowledgeable Vancouver friend led us on a grand tour of part of the museum. It was wierd as we were leaving later in the day, walking past all the rooms of paintings and artifacts we woudn't have time to look at; a sort of "seeing what we are not going to be seeing" experience! Bonus: as a resident of NYC our son was able to enter for free AND take his guests in free of charge as well. Regular seniors' admittance is thirty-five dollars. We gave a donation and felt relieved that our son was able to get us all in for no fee.
The Met is kind of overwhelming...sensory overload for me! It was absolutely wonderful to be there, looking at everything from Japanese armor and weapons of war to Hellenic sculptures to Chinese porcelain pieces to paintings by Rembrandt and Matisse and my favourite Van Gogh painting, "Shoes". How wonderful to see the actual painting and not just a book photo!! We spent a fair amount of time in the Arabic art display and we also saw the exhibit on fashion and religion that brought out all the "stars" in their wierd getups at its opening. (Talk about cultural appropriation! All those rich and famous should have had Canadian government fines imposed for their fashion disasters mocking religious culture! Their opening night wierdness was horrendous to me!) We took a break partway through the day to go up to the rooftop outdoor cafe where a small cup of cheap beer was nine dollars and there were so few seats that a lot of us just sat on the wooden floor to get off our feet for awhile. The security detail was very good to tell us that we were only allowed to sit on the ground until it got crowded up there and then we would have to stand up. We went back into the museum before that happened. It would have been nice to have had a couple of more days to see other exhibits, but that will be something for another trip, should we ever be fortunate enough to find ourselves back there.
Central Park: yes, it is as green and beautiful as you see in the movies. We wandered about the north end of the park for quite some time after our day at the Met, eating the required hot dog in mushy bun, finding at last some comfy benches to sit on. It truly is an oasis in the midst of such a huge, forbidding city of stone, marble and brick. It is so big that, despite the number of people visiting it, there seemed to always be a seat or a grassy space that was free to sit on while enjoying the trees and huge culverts and isolation from the hustle of the city outside its perimeter. So happy we went. It gave us a quiet, peaceful place to deal with the sensory overload from the Met.
The Staten Island Foot Passenger Ferry: What a delightful trip across the river from Manhattan's Whitehall Terminal to St. George's Terminal on Staten Island. The terminals are large, airy, bright, with washrooms and a nice choice of snack foods and drink for passengers waiting to embark on the 20 minute ride past the Statue of Liberty (she is HUGE!!) to the island. We also passed the amazing, giant Global Shipping Yards, filled with freighters from all over the world. The ferry is a free public service that costs the city approximately $4.80 a person per trip, but for whatever reason, the city decided it is worth the subsidy cost to keep it running for no cost to the passengers. The ferrys run every half hour on the half hour 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Despite the hundreds of people in the terminal waiting to get on a ferry, we never felt crowded or rushed. There is plenty of room on the outer decks to sit or stand and see the river sights, even if the time is spent sitting peering around and through the legs of the passengers standing at the rail. Delightful trip in each direction.
Snug Harbour Botanical Gardens: also home to a music conservatory, childrens' museum and the Staten Island Snug Harbour Museum. This former retirement home for American sailors is now home to a lovely botanical garden and farmer's market garden that sells its produce not only to visitors, but to area restaurants as well. We enjoyed the Chinese Scholars Garden in particular, but also had a wonderful time wandering at our leisure through the rhododendron garden, the farm produce and compost section, the roses, the mixed flowers, the bushes and trees and ponds. We paid only ten dollars each for admittance to this lovely park area. Our son really misses the greenery of Vancouver Island, so took every opportunity to accompany us to the plant conservancies. It was a warm, sunny day, but still not muggy hot like it was the last two days of our vacation. We were fortunate this particular day that we timed our visit the way we did: like the rest of NYC and area there is a dearth of public washrooms and the only ones available at Snug Harbour were located in the public museum, which could only be used by paying patrons to that building, (we didn't go in there as we were too tired to be interested in the history of the retired sailors who had lived there), and in the area beside the Chinese Scholars Garden. As we came out of the washrooms at the Scholars Garden we discovered it had been rented out for the rest of the day for a private wedding and that left the washrooms there out of bounds about three minutes after we used them!! We did pay another five dollars each to enter the Chinese garden but it was well worth it, and not only for the use of the biffys!! So peaceful, so beautiful and, like the rest of the conservancy that day, nearly deserted. There was a special fund raising family event going on in the centre green space and so most of the garden visitors that day were there to attend either that event or the splashy private wedding. (I have never seen that many Mercedes Benz in one place ever before!) Again with the timing: ours were the last tickets to the Chinese Garden sold before the gate closed for wedding preparations.
The walk from the ferry to the gardens was quite long and we could have taken a bus the entire way, but it was so nice to be out in a more open space than Williamsburg, walking along the waterfront...just lovely. We saw there the only hijabs of our visit. One of the women had a baseball cap pulled over the top of hers and another lady had a large straw sunhat on top of her hijab. They both looked so cute with the added hats! hahaha
We were exhausted at the end of our day there and were relieved to find seats on the outer deck of the ferry for the return trip to the mainland. We were sitting on the other side of the boat this time, so didn't see The Statue of Liberty again, but we did get a marvellous view of Ellis Island.
The weather each day for the first five days was rather cool for New York City....in other words, just perfect for us! All the touring about was accommodated by not having to stop for mid afternoon siestas to cope with heat and humidity and for that we are grateful! We were tired enough to do a bit of resting during our final two days when the regular NYC weather returned. Also, from sundown on Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening, Williamsburg was pretty much closed down for Sabbath. The only people walking on our streets for that 24 hour period were Hassidic men and boys attending prayers. The women and girls were inside their apartments performing their own Sabbath duties. At sundown, late Saturday evening, the apartment doors opened and moms, strollers filled with cute babies, children and teens all emerged to breath some fresh air and enjoy the freedom of the rest of the evening.
The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the neighbouring Prospect Park: We weren't certain how we should spend our final touring day in NYC. Our son was at work for the whole day and the intensity of the heat and humidity made the very idea of going out to look about rather daunting, BUT we decided if we didn't make one last visit to some kind of interesting place we would regret it later. No point in wasting our final day in one of the most interesting cities we have ever visited. So, we were able to take a bus directly up Flushing Avenue for several miles and go to the beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. O how very lovely, shady, cool, perfect for the kind of weather we were experiencing. Once again the admittance fee was beyond reasonable. I believe it cost us, as seniors, the grand total of thirteen dollars to get in. The part of the garden that stood out to us most was the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden: The shady trees, koi filled ponds and small seating pavillions were the perfect place to relax in the heat. Prospect Park, just across the road, is like a mini Central Park, so beautiful.
Have you noticed a somewhat GREEN theme about our favourite places in NYC? Yes, there were many other "attractions" we could have taken in during our short visit, but all three of us love gardens and conservancies and not only because of the low admittance costs! haha There were other museums and art galleries we wanted to see originally, but the Met was so overwhelming that we had no mental energy left to include anymore artsy sights. We did the things we wanted to do and went to the places we wanted to go at any given moment. We enjoyed every moment of our vacation.
We entered the cathedral for the senior's price of eight dollars each, making the grand total we spent to date for attractions sixteen dollars! haha
The first thing that struck us both was the cavernous feeling of the place. The walls along the walk to the altar, way at the far end of the building, are lined with alcoves filled with Baroque Roman Barberini tapestries, ancient wooden and stone altars and cabinets, sections of the AIDS quilt, Japanese Buddhist art that has been gifted to the cathedral, just an eclectic array of old and new religious artifacts. The corridor between the worship space itself and the outside walls is lined with chapel spaces. My husband was thrilled that we arrived only ten minutes prior to the start of a noon Eucharist in the St. Columba Chapel. We enjoyed the Eucharist very much. We were a small group made up of tourists, and local business people who are regular mid week attenders. The homily on forgiveness by the Reverend Canon Patti Welch was so edifying and it was very special to share in the Eucharist with people we had never met before but with who we had in common our religious tradition. It was a very special time for both of us.
The Cathedral houses many interesting "extras", including a world class textile conservation laboratory to preserve its tapestries, needlework pieces, even cartoons done by Raphael. It is just one HUGE space! There is a lovely green space on the property with some interesting modern and ancient sculptures. The day we were there the green space was filled with families picnicking and playing games. There is a rose garden as well. What a wonderful few hours we spent there. Our admission was day long, so we were able to step out for lunch after the Eucharist and then return to see the building and its contents in more detail.
St. Paul's Church: old, elegant, surrounded by NYC's downtown, it is quite an anomaly in the midst of the modern, materialistic hustle bustle that goes on all around it!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: unfortunately we only had one day to spend there, but our son and his equally art knowledgeable Vancouver friend led us on a grand tour of part of the museum. It was wierd as we were leaving later in the day, walking past all the rooms of paintings and artifacts we woudn't have time to look at; a sort of "seeing what we are not going to be seeing" experience! Bonus: as a resident of NYC our son was able to enter for free AND take his guests in free of charge as well. Regular seniors' admittance is thirty-five dollars. We gave a donation and felt relieved that our son was able to get us all in for no fee.
The Met is kind of overwhelming...sensory overload for me! It was absolutely wonderful to be there, looking at everything from Japanese armor and weapons of war to Hellenic sculptures to Chinese porcelain pieces to paintings by Rembrandt and Matisse and my favourite Van Gogh painting, "Shoes". How wonderful to see the actual painting and not just a book photo!! We spent a fair amount of time in the Arabic art display and we also saw the exhibit on fashion and religion that brought out all the "stars" in their wierd getups at its opening. (Talk about cultural appropriation! All those rich and famous should have had Canadian government fines imposed for their fashion disasters mocking religious culture! Their opening night wierdness was horrendous to me!) We took a break partway through the day to go up to the rooftop outdoor cafe where a small cup of cheap beer was nine dollars and there were so few seats that a lot of us just sat on the wooden floor to get off our feet for awhile. The security detail was very good to tell us that we were only allowed to sit on the ground until it got crowded up there and then we would have to stand up. We went back into the museum before that happened. It would have been nice to have had a couple of more days to see other exhibits, but that will be something for another trip, should we ever be fortunate enough to find ourselves back there.
Central Park: yes, it is as green and beautiful as you see in the movies. We wandered about the north end of the park for quite some time after our day at the Met, eating the required hot dog in mushy bun, finding at last some comfy benches to sit on. It truly is an oasis in the midst of such a huge, forbidding city of stone, marble and brick. It is so big that, despite the number of people visiting it, there seemed to always be a seat or a grassy space that was free to sit on while enjoying the trees and huge culverts and isolation from the hustle of the city outside its perimeter. So happy we went. It gave us a quiet, peaceful place to deal with the sensory overload from the Met.
The Staten Island Foot Passenger Ferry: What a delightful trip across the river from Manhattan's Whitehall Terminal to St. George's Terminal on Staten Island. The terminals are large, airy, bright, with washrooms and a nice choice of snack foods and drink for passengers waiting to embark on the 20 minute ride past the Statue of Liberty (she is HUGE!!) to the island. We also passed the amazing, giant Global Shipping Yards, filled with freighters from all over the world. The ferry is a free public service that costs the city approximately $4.80 a person per trip, but for whatever reason, the city decided it is worth the subsidy cost to keep it running for no cost to the passengers. The ferrys run every half hour on the half hour 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Despite the hundreds of people in the terminal waiting to get on a ferry, we never felt crowded or rushed. There is plenty of room on the outer decks to sit or stand and see the river sights, even if the time is spent sitting peering around and through the legs of the passengers standing at the rail. Delightful trip in each direction.
Snug Harbour Botanical Gardens: also home to a music conservatory, childrens' museum and the Staten Island Snug Harbour Museum. This former retirement home for American sailors is now home to a lovely botanical garden and farmer's market garden that sells its produce not only to visitors, but to area restaurants as well. We enjoyed the Chinese Scholars Garden in particular, but also had a wonderful time wandering at our leisure through the rhododendron garden, the farm produce and compost section, the roses, the mixed flowers, the bushes and trees and ponds. We paid only ten dollars each for admittance to this lovely park area. Our son really misses the greenery of Vancouver Island, so took every opportunity to accompany us to the plant conservancies. It was a warm, sunny day, but still not muggy hot like it was the last two days of our vacation. We were fortunate this particular day that we timed our visit the way we did: like the rest of NYC and area there is a dearth of public washrooms and the only ones available at Snug Harbour were located in the public museum, which could only be used by paying patrons to that building, (we didn't go in there as we were too tired to be interested in the history of the retired sailors who had lived there), and in the area beside the Chinese Scholars Garden. As we came out of the washrooms at the Scholars Garden we discovered it had been rented out for the rest of the day for a private wedding and that left the washrooms there out of bounds about three minutes after we used them!! We did pay another five dollars each to enter the Chinese garden but it was well worth it, and not only for the use of the biffys!! So peaceful, so beautiful and, like the rest of the conservancy that day, nearly deserted. There was a special fund raising family event going on in the centre green space and so most of the garden visitors that day were there to attend either that event or the splashy private wedding. (I have never seen that many Mercedes Benz in one place ever before!) Again with the timing: ours were the last tickets to the Chinese Garden sold before the gate closed for wedding preparations.
The walk from the ferry to the gardens was quite long and we could have taken a bus the entire way, but it was so nice to be out in a more open space than Williamsburg, walking along the waterfront...just lovely. We saw there the only hijabs of our visit. One of the women had a baseball cap pulled over the top of hers and another lady had a large straw sunhat on top of her hijab. They both looked so cute with the added hats! hahaha
We were exhausted at the end of our day there and were relieved to find seats on the outer deck of the ferry for the return trip to the mainland. We were sitting on the other side of the boat this time, so didn't see The Statue of Liberty again, but we did get a marvellous view of Ellis Island.
The weather each day for the first five days was rather cool for New York City....in other words, just perfect for us! All the touring about was accommodated by not having to stop for mid afternoon siestas to cope with heat and humidity and for that we are grateful! We were tired enough to do a bit of resting during our final two days when the regular NYC weather returned. Also, from sundown on Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening, Williamsburg was pretty much closed down for Sabbath. The only people walking on our streets for that 24 hour period were Hassidic men and boys attending prayers. The women and girls were inside their apartments performing their own Sabbath duties. At sundown, late Saturday evening, the apartment doors opened and moms, strollers filled with cute babies, children and teens all emerged to breath some fresh air and enjoy the freedom of the rest of the evening.
The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the neighbouring Prospect Park: We weren't certain how we should spend our final touring day in NYC. Our son was at work for the whole day and the intensity of the heat and humidity made the very idea of going out to look about rather daunting, BUT we decided if we didn't make one last visit to some kind of interesting place we would regret it later. No point in wasting our final day in one of the most interesting cities we have ever visited. So, we were able to take a bus directly up Flushing Avenue for several miles and go to the beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. O how very lovely, shady, cool, perfect for the kind of weather we were experiencing. Once again the admittance fee was beyond reasonable. I believe it cost us, as seniors, the grand total of thirteen dollars to get in. The part of the garden that stood out to us most was the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden: The shady trees, koi filled ponds and small seating pavillions were the perfect place to relax in the heat. Prospect Park, just across the road, is like a mini Central Park, so beautiful.
Have you noticed a somewhat GREEN theme about our favourite places in NYC? Yes, there were many other "attractions" we could have taken in during our short visit, but all three of us love gardens and conservancies and not only because of the low admittance costs! haha There were other museums and art galleries we wanted to see originally, but the Met was so overwhelming that we had no mental energy left to include anymore artsy sights. We did the things we wanted to do and went to the places we wanted to go at any given moment. We enjoyed every moment of our vacation.
Places I Done Seen: Part Two
We saw so much in such a short time....typical for having limited time and resources for a holiday, so we crammed an awful lot of sights into our week. Having the week long Metro Pass made travel all over the city possible and we discovered some wonderful sights that cost far less than the sixty-four dollars a person it would have cost us to go to the viewing deck at the Empire State Building...which we skipped because we have viewed other large cities from the tops of viewing towers and nothing can beat the Meillon tower in Akita Japan, where you see not only the city buildings surrounding you, but you look out over the water toward Russia...stunning and awe inspiring. The Empire State Building we saw from a distance on a number of occasions and its architecture is quite interesting; as is the architecture of so many buildings in NYC. What a collection of brick and stone buildings, every kind of architectural design you can imagine and each building a museum piece in its own right. We spent hours just comparing one building to another as we walked along the streets of Manhattan.
So, here are the sights we DID see:
The Brooklyn Bridge: we spent our first day walking the Brooklyn Bridge from one end to the other. It was a perfect day for it. In the morning it rained so that kept a fair number of tourists off the bridge, it was mid week so that also reduced the number of people. Talk about a beautiful view!! The boardwalk for pedestrians is up above the traffic lanes so there is some vehicle noise going on, but the view up and down the Hudson River is spectacular. Seeing ships and water and water fowl and the Statue of Liberty down river on one side of the bridge with the Empire State Building on the other, the giant buildings in downtown Manhattan, the Manhattan Bridge....it is a free orientation tour of the area. It is a very long walk and worth taking a morning or afternoon to enjoy. There is a bike lane and a walking lane so that helps sort everyone out. We took our time wandering across, stopping every few feet to look at the view. There is no charge to access the bridge, a bonus!
The Oculus building and the new World Trade Centre complex: at the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge, we discovered the new World Trade Centre complex. The Perelman Performing Arts Centre is still to be built, but most of the rest of the complex is either completed or well under way. The most fascinating building to us is the Oculus, a huge brilliantly white building in the shape of an eye, with huge curving "arms" that seem to represent eyelashes. Despite being buried in a sea of taller buildings, its "space age" looking architecture certainly stands out. Inside the Oculus is like stepping into a space ship of some kind. The interior is the same brilliant white stone. There are long staircases down from street level to the lower floor...a cavernous empty space leading to some exclusive retail stores that surround the circular outside walls. Above that is a second storey of more shops accessed by a loft like walkway that leaves the entire centre of the building open from lower level to the ceiling, several storeys above. I don't think there is that much beautifully empty space anywhere else in the city. The bottom level is about the size of a square city block with only the stores ringing the outside of it, all the centre space otherwise clear of anything other than the natural light that filters in from above and however many people are milling about down there. I am not much for most modern architectural accomplishents, but the Oculus is fabulous.
The 9-11 Memorial Fountain: located not far from the Oculus is the memorial fountain for the World Trade Centre. It is gorgeous in its simplicity. Set in a small green area, the giant fountain is respectful and simple, rather than gauche and eye catching. It is a large square fountain, the size of one of the former tall building's foundation. It is only waist height, created from black marble and the top outside edge of it is a plain dark plaque that circles the entire fountain. On it is inscribed the name of every person who died in the terrorist attack there. Seeing all those names as you stand looking at the water that streams gently, quietly down to the bottom from just below the plaque, well, it is an emotional experience. When we were there a woman beside us was sticking a flower into the engraving of one of the names of someone she had known. She said a little prayer and went on her way. I admit I shed a few tears at that point. I don't know when my heart has been more touched over the plight of so many people I never knew. Afterward we took a short walk around the nearby financial district to see more architectural wonders, and noticed all the designer label stores in the "high falutin'" shopping area of downtown Manhattan...they are rather close to the Memorial Fountain and after seeing that, the whole retail scene appeared to be so crass and grasping. I have nothing against shopping or designer labels, it just struck me that way because we had seen the Fountain first.
The Irish Hunger Memorial: from the financial district we wandered a few blocks over to the river as it was time for a rest and a sit down! As we approached the shoreline boardwalk at Rockefeller Park we came across another interesting, but much smaller, memorial, the Irish Hunger Memorial. It is a structure that commemorates the struggles of the original Irish immigrants to New York. It is about one storey high, only two or three hundred feet in circumference, is built of old stone. From the park side, where the entry is, you walk up a sloping stone rampway to the top. It is like walking through the remains of an old Irish stone house, complete with a fireplace grate arrangement. As you reach the top of the ramp you are once again completely outside. The top of the memorial is covered in grasses, ground cover, flowers and small bushes native to Ireland. The pathway leads you around this mini conservancy and back down the ramp. Along the walls enclosing the ramp are old Irish proverbs and comments expressing the hopes of the Irish immigrants, the dashing of those hopes upon landing in America, and the re-establishing of those hopes as some of the Irish made their new lives work out well.
Rockefeller Park: the boardwalk along the Hudson River waterfront meanders along for several miles. It is such a lovely view of the harbour and the ferries that take daily commuters to and from Newark New Jersey, which is just on the other side of the river. Each weekday the population of NYC grows between four and five million people, because of the commuters into the city from the surrounding areas. We happened to be at the Park during the evening rush hour and could hardly believe the number of ferries moving the thousands of New Jersey folk back home after work. The morning's rain left the temperature very low and wonderful for us, so we sat for a long time staring at the river, the ferries and resting our sore feet. We were there again a few days later on a very hot day and the shade of the trees and the breeze from the water made an otherwise nearly unbearably hot and humid day very tolerable, even pleasant! For some reason we coped far better with the heat and humidity in NYC than we ever do with the hot summer days here in Regina...go figure!
So, here are the sights we DID see:
The Brooklyn Bridge: we spent our first day walking the Brooklyn Bridge from one end to the other. It was a perfect day for it. In the morning it rained so that kept a fair number of tourists off the bridge, it was mid week so that also reduced the number of people. Talk about a beautiful view!! The boardwalk for pedestrians is up above the traffic lanes so there is some vehicle noise going on, but the view up and down the Hudson River is spectacular. Seeing ships and water and water fowl and the Statue of Liberty down river on one side of the bridge with the Empire State Building on the other, the giant buildings in downtown Manhattan, the Manhattan Bridge....it is a free orientation tour of the area. It is a very long walk and worth taking a morning or afternoon to enjoy. There is a bike lane and a walking lane so that helps sort everyone out. We took our time wandering across, stopping every few feet to look at the view. There is no charge to access the bridge, a bonus!
The Oculus building and the new World Trade Centre complex: at the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge, we discovered the new World Trade Centre complex. The Perelman Performing Arts Centre is still to be built, but most of the rest of the complex is either completed or well under way. The most fascinating building to us is the Oculus, a huge brilliantly white building in the shape of an eye, with huge curving "arms" that seem to represent eyelashes. Despite being buried in a sea of taller buildings, its "space age" looking architecture certainly stands out. Inside the Oculus is like stepping into a space ship of some kind. The interior is the same brilliant white stone. There are long staircases down from street level to the lower floor...a cavernous empty space leading to some exclusive retail stores that surround the circular outside walls. Above that is a second storey of more shops accessed by a loft like walkway that leaves the entire centre of the building open from lower level to the ceiling, several storeys above. I don't think there is that much beautifully empty space anywhere else in the city. The bottom level is about the size of a square city block with only the stores ringing the outside of it, all the centre space otherwise clear of anything other than the natural light that filters in from above and however many people are milling about down there. I am not much for most modern architectural accomplishents, but the Oculus is fabulous.
The 9-11 Memorial Fountain: located not far from the Oculus is the memorial fountain for the World Trade Centre. It is gorgeous in its simplicity. Set in a small green area, the giant fountain is respectful and simple, rather than gauche and eye catching. It is a large square fountain, the size of one of the former tall building's foundation. It is only waist height, created from black marble and the top outside edge of it is a plain dark plaque that circles the entire fountain. On it is inscribed the name of every person who died in the terrorist attack there. Seeing all those names as you stand looking at the water that streams gently, quietly down to the bottom from just below the plaque, well, it is an emotional experience. When we were there a woman beside us was sticking a flower into the engraving of one of the names of someone she had known. She said a little prayer and went on her way. I admit I shed a few tears at that point. I don't know when my heart has been more touched over the plight of so many people I never knew. Afterward we took a short walk around the nearby financial district to see more architectural wonders, and noticed all the designer label stores in the "high falutin'" shopping area of downtown Manhattan...they are rather close to the Memorial Fountain and after seeing that, the whole retail scene appeared to be so crass and grasping. I have nothing against shopping or designer labels, it just struck me that way because we had seen the Fountain first.
The Irish Hunger Memorial: from the financial district we wandered a few blocks over to the river as it was time for a rest and a sit down! As we approached the shoreline boardwalk at Rockefeller Park we came across another interesting, but much smaller, memorial, the Irish Hunger Memorial. It is a structure that commemorates the struggles of the original Irish immigrants to New York. It is about one storey high, only two or three hundred feet in circumference, is built of old stone. From the park side, where the entry is, you walk up a sloping stone rampway to the top. It is like walking through the remains of an old Irish stone house, complete with a fireplace grate arrangement. As you reach the top of the ramp you are once again completely outside. The top of the memorial is covered in grasses, ground cover, flowers and small bushes native to Ireland. The pathway leads you around this mini conservancy and back down the ramp. Along the walls enclosing the ramp are old Irish proverbs and comments expressing the hopes of the Irish immigrants, the dashing of those hopes upon landing in America, and the re-establishing of those hopes as some of the Irish made their new lives work out well.
Rockefeller Park: the boardwalk along the Hudson River waterfront meanders along for several miles. It is such a lovely view of the harbour and the ferries that take daily commuters to and from Newark New Jersey, which is just on the other side of the river. Each weekday the population of NYC grows between four and five million people, because of the commuters into the city from the surrounding areas. We happened to be at the Park during the evening rush hour and could hardly believe the number of ferries moving the thousands of New Jersey folk back home after work. The morning's rain left the temperature very low and wonderful for us, so we sat for a long time staring at the river, the ferries and resting our sore feet. We were there again a few days later on a very hot day and the shade of the trees and the breeze from the water made an otherwise nearly unbearably hot and humid day very tolerable, even pleasant! For some reason we coped far better with the heat and humidity in NYC than we ever do with the hot summer days here in Regina...go figure!
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Visiting Our Son
The highlight of our trip was, of course, visiting our son in his new home city. He lives in the latino neighbourhood of Bushwick, which is apparently so sparse for greenery that quite a few people stop in front of his rooming house to take photos of the teensy weensy, weedy, overgrown front "yard" and arbor trellis, where he and the other tenants are struggling mightily to get a rather sick and sad looking vine to grow over it. He finds it all quite amusing. He lives two blocks from the nearest subway station, and a rather nice little grocery store, so the convenience is fantastic for him.
His rooming house was built in 1905, a solid brick building with the two storeys divided into accommodation for 5 people. Each floor features a shared kitchen and the main floor where my son resides has a huge shared living room space. There is only one other person sharing his floor and kitchen (a gal he gets along with very well) so, since his own personal room is three times the size of his entire bachelor pad in Vancouver, he feels blessed beyond measure. He even has room to paint in there with the ten foot ceiling. The giant bay window gives him lots of space and light. I don't know when we have seen him in better accommodation and it is even relatively clean!! The Vancouver place was cheap and it looked like it, grossly filthy and filled with noisy tenants. We are happy to see him coming up in the world to some extent.
He was extremely disappointed that he ended up being called into work for 2 half days and 2 full days that he was supposed to have off to spend with us, BUT he knocked himself out to see us every single day of our visit. He was completely exhausted by the time we left. All the walking, bike riding and subway transit between his place, both his places of work and our place, on top of all the sightseeing we took him with us for, well....it was kind of funny that these two old geezers could leave him begging for a chance to sit down for a rest! He isn't even 40 yet, is in great physical condition from all the walking and biking he does in the course of a week, but the intense touring walks we dragged him on were more than he is used to. hahaha Good to know we are still as physically capable of walking long distances as we ever were! We can walk for at least two hours at a stretch without needing to sit down...a perfect skill for touring a big city!
Our son looks healthy, he is feeling stable and content. His work is taking too much time from promoting his art career so that he can afford to remain in his great accommodation, but he doesn't seem to mind. This is the exact extended break he has been needing for a very long time. With the current political situation south of the border he is no longer convinced he wants to renew his visa 18 months from now but will play it by ear when the time comes. We assured him that should he have to return to Canada at any point with no job yet lined up, he will be welcome to stay with us, wherever we may be by then, until he gets work and place sorted out for himself. I suspect the idea of living with his parents for more than a couple of weeks, for any reason, will be sufficient motivation to find a good situation for himself before he crosses back into his home country. hahaha
He has retained his pastor's heart in the midst of some grueling circumstances over the past few years. His heart and broad shoulders are still available to any of his friends and family who need to vent, cry or just want someone to be understanding of their plight. One of his Vancouver friends was there at the same time as ourselves, and we all got together one afternoon. She too is a helper personality and was in New York to help out a friend in need. It kind of shocked us though when our son told us we were to text him the moment we arrived home in Regina, no matter how late at night it might be, plus he texted us numerous times during our return trip to see if we were okay and if our planes were going out on time, had we gotten lost on our way to La Guardia, were we finding enough to eat after passing through security, etc. It was hilarious!
He has been in touch both days since we returned. Seeing each other again has been rejuvenating for all three of us. All of us are essentially "rootless" and have been for years, so it makes getting together for a few days very special. It is an "anchoring" kind of feeling.
We are all grateful this visit was possible and that all went so very well for the whole week. Thank you Lord, thank you praying family and friends!
His rooming house was built in 1905, a solid brick building with the two storeys divided into accommodation for 5 people. Each floor features a shared kitchen and the main floor where my son resides has a huge shared living room space. There is only one other person sharing his floor and kitchen (a gal he gets along with very well) so, since his own personal room is three times the size of his entire bachelor pad in Vancouver, he feels blessed beyond measure. He even has room to paint in there with the ten foot ceiling. The giant bay window gives him lots of space and light. I don't know when we have seen him in better accommodation and it is even relatively clean!! The Vancouver place was cheap and it looked like it, grossly filthy and filled with noisy tenants. We are happy to see him coming up in the world to some extent.
He was extremely disappointed that he ended up being called into work for 2 half days and 2 full days that he was supposed to have off to spend with us, BUT he knocked himself out to see us every single day of our visit. He was completely exhausted by the time we left. All the walking, bike riding and subway transit between his place, both his places of work and our place, on top of all the sightseeing we took him with us for, well....it was kind of funny that these two old geezers could leave him begging for a chance to sit down for a rest! He isn't even 40 yet, is in great physical condition from all the walking and biking he does in the course of a week, but the intense touring walks we dragged him on were more than he is used to. hahaha Good to know we are still as physically capable of walking long distances as we ever were! We can walk for at least two hours at a stretch without needing to sit down...a perfect skill for touring a big city!
Our son looks healthy, he is feeling stable and content. His work is taking too much time from promoting his art career so that he can afford to remain in his great accommodation, but he doesn't seem to mind. This is the exact extended break he has been needing for a very long time. With the current political situation south of the border he is no longer convinced he wants to renew his visa 18 months from now but will play it by ear when the time comes. We assured him that should he have to return to Canada at any point with no job yet lined up, he will be welcome to stay with us, wherever we may be by then, until he gets work and place sorted out for himself. I suspect the idea of living with his parents for more than a couple of weeks, for any reason, will be sufficient motivation to find a good situation for himself before he crosses back into his home country. hahaha
He has retained his pastor's heart in the midst of some grueling circumstances over the past few years. His heart and broad shoulders are still available to any of his friends and family who need to vent, cry or just want someone to be understanding of their plight. One of his Vancouver friends was there at the same time as ourselves, and we all got together one afternoon. She too is a helper personality and was in New York to help out a friend in need. It kind of shocked us though when our son told us we were to text him the moment we arrived home in Regina, no matter how late at night it might be, plus he texted us numerous times during our return trip to see if we were okay and if our planes were going out on time, had we gotten lost on our way to La Guardia, were we finding enough to eat after passing through security, etc. It was hilarious!
He has been in touch both days since we returned. Seeing each other again has been rejuvenating for all three of us. All of us are essentially "rootless" and have been for years, so it makes getting together for a few days very special. It is an "anchoring" kind of feeling.
We are all grateful this visit was possible and that all went so very well for the whole week. Thank you Lord, thank you praying family and friends!
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