2015 reboot

Time to start writing again. Sad to notice my last post was about Chai. She was so amazing as a companion and pet. I probably hung on too long, finally making the final decision to put her to sleep not long after that post. I even regretted the decision, feeling the loss so excruciatingly. But after a few months, it hits that those feelings were all about me, not about her and her suffering. Bleck. And during the grief, I make stupid choices. I now have a hideous plaster cast of smoosh prints that are suppose to be her paws?!? What was I thinking?!!! Almost as bad and sappy as that Rainbow Bridge poem.

Hotel Edison

On a cold day in NYC, it is important to be able to find some comfy seating indoors. Unfortunately some sooty hotels don't let you 'sit' in their lobby. Just the previous day, Dad and I popped into this smaller hotel near the theater to escape the cold until the lobby opened. We walked over to a few couches in the hotel lobby only to have the desk clerk question us, "Are you a guest of the hotel?"

I Quickly replied, "Were waiting for someone."

He barked back, "Which guest are you waiting for?"

I was a deer caught in headlights. I'm sure I even looked panicked, mouth agape, eyes stunned.

Dad quickly replied, "Morty Feinstein. We're calling him now."

That seemed to quite the guy for a bit although I heard him tell a co-worker, who questioned what we were doing sitting on their cheap couch, "There waiting for someone." So I guess Dad's power of telling a quick lie isn't passed down genetically.

For today's respite, we relaxed in the lobby of Hotel Edison. I love the murals. A bit of old-school NYC.

Scarlatto

Tucked below street level on W 27th is a lovely Italian restaurant with surprisingly good food for the theater district. I typically cruise the cheaper, and often better quality fare on 9th Ave. but since Dad and Therese were visiting, I thought I'd try Scarlatto's again. I'd been there before with a friend during the December and was impressed with the beet salad and good selection of red wines by the glass.

We arrived and were seated next to a large circular party of about ten. I really should have asked for a different table. As the evening progressed, and the nearby group polished of several bottles of wine, the noise level grew to such excruciating levels that my dad's voice grew hoarse just yelling to be heard over the cacophony. Sorry, Dad.

The food was good, though. The beet salad comes beautifully presented with thin slices fanned out and accompanies with the perfect amount of goat cheese. My veal cannelloni were delicious - nice, thin, al dente pasta tubes with good, flavorful filling and just the right sauce and cheese mix. Dad tried the ossobuco which looked good. The pear dessert looked better than it tasted.

Good food but sooooo not a place to go pre-theater given the crazy-loud atmosphere. Don't take seniors here, either. The bathrooms are down an awkward flight of stairs. Plus teh service was marginal and indifferent. Dad tipped the coat/hostess gal $10 yet she didn't even help Therese or me put out coats on, instead just handing the lump or winter-wear into my bumbling arms. Really not a good move, but then she'd already pocketed her Hamilton.

Onto the show.

Le Pain Quotidien

What a wonderful, civilized way to start the day. Comfortable, quality food, nice atmosphere, and food, it's about the food. And this is a chain! No obnoxious florescent lighting in fast-food places, no scary counters with disgruntled teenage and senior servers. You walk in past jams, teas, and pastries. Most of the time you can seat yourself at a few single tables or at the communal tables of rustic wood. No impersonal Formica or the stench of ammonia cleaners. No annoying posters advertising the latest 99cent menu option. The walls are rub painted a warm tan and old metal farm tractor seats act as artwork. I could sit here all day ... or at least until the stroller families overwhelm the place around noon.

Starting the morning off is important for my dad. Left to my own devices, I would sleep in until noon. But I must admit it is nice to enjoy the city before others awake and start making it more frenetic. For a brief moment, the light is filtered through low eastern angles, the air seems a little cleaner, the streets a lot emptier, and we have the whole back area of Quotidien on W 72nd to ourselves.

We always get the bread selection. NYC is blessed with great bread. Perhaps it's all in the water. We have the best water, still not chlorinated, but that soon will change. Lets hope we learn to protect our watershed instead of fracking and pollution the crap out of it for short-term profits. But right now we have the best drinking water I've ever used. The jams are great; my fav is the apricot with huge chucks of half-apricots throughout.

I had a warming cappuccino and a soft-boiled egg, which reminds me of my youth. Mom used to put the egg into these cute cup holders; the one I remember vividly was this sort of elf and she'd put a little cap on the egg for the hat. Who does that anymore? So some of that nostalgia floods back as I use my spoon to tap, tap, tap the top of the shell, making tiny cracks allowing me to peel it away. The spoon feels a tug of resistance on the egg white covering. Once through, it's golden delight reaching the yolky center. I try my best to scoop and mix all the contents to even out yolk-to-white spoonfuls.

There's an art to eating a soft-boiled egg. It comes back so easily. But it helps to enjoy it with family, on a nice cold winter morning in New York, in a nice, quite spot, before the world is fully awake.

Salingers Orchard

Spent the day in Brewster. Always like taking the train from Grand Central Terminal, my favorite train station. The trees hadn't changed yet but the view from the west side of the Harlem line is beautiful. Water, swans, tree-covered rolling hills.

Sandwiches and the best beer ever! My cousin Mark is studying to be a Brewmaster. Currently he's juggling multiple jobs and going to school while working part time at The Gilded Otter in New Paltz, NY. He brought me a hat from the pub but better yet, he brought me his latest beer - a pumpkin ale. This has to be the best beer I've ever had, ever! I love pumpkin pie and beer and putting those things together sound truly disgusting a gross but it is NOT. This is the best taste ever, with the spices and malt mixed together. YUM!

We then went to the Salingers Orchard store. Bought some fresh GingerGold apples and peaches. I noticed most of their preserves used corn syrup :( Maybe I'll get honey next time there. We did get a cherry pie for dessert which was fabulous! Perfect crust. Not too sweet and enough tart to make it balanced.

Good food and family = good Sunday.

Molly Peffers

OK, so I just had to make a pet connection. While out at Medina Lake last week, I was killing some time in the local postal place squashed between the garden lot and a Mexican restaurant. When I'd sit down this super nice dog would come over and put her head in my lap to be petted. She was playing with the local dog, Trixie, who obviously had pedigree and owned the store. Trixie would have nothing to do with me but the mutt just was so loving I had to pet her. Turns out she was left there in Lakehills by her owners who moved to Dallas. She needed a home. I thought her name was Polly. When I arrived in San Antonio I immediately thought of my dad and mom (mostly dad, who's retired now and could use some canine companionship). 

I talked my dad into driving all the way back to Lakehills to see if Polly might be a good match for the family. Turns out her name was Holly, not Polly, but it really didn't seem to matter. She didn't seem to know her name, or at least show any indication of responding to 'Polly' or 'Holly' with a head tilt or turn. So after a rather simple get-to-know-ya round of petting and seeing how she took to a leash, we soon had Holly in the back seat of Dad's Lincoln, dirty pink bandana, squeaky toy, and biscuits in hand for the ride to SA. I sat in the back with her to help her feel comfortable. She was shaking but she never fussed, whimpered, or barked. At about the 1604 interchange she seemed more comfortable and sat up, taking in views from the window. One stop at the HEB to pick up some treats, dog food, and a dog brush and we were on our way home.

Once home, she seemed rather comfortable as she roamed the rooms on the first floor of the home. She soon followed Dad out the back door to explore, tentatively, the backyard. Little by little she seemed to be feeling more comfortable. But that name, it really wasn't working. I think it was Mom who said, "She looks like a Molly." And when I called her that, she seemed to respond, or at least look at me when I used that name. OK, it may just be wishful thinking or the tone or the inflection I use when saying Molly but it seems to work for the family and her. So Molly it is. It just seemed more appropriate ... and now we have the fifth M in the Peffers home. Molly = M5. Welcome.

Pain in the A**

Chai is the world's best cat. I'm sure you're saying, "All parents say that about their pets." but in my case, it is true. Some of her more endearing qualities are her compact size, her no-meowing-unless-absolutely-necessary policy, and her bouncy disposition. 

Given her lovable, cuddly nature, I knew something was wrong on Tuesday when she'd hiss at me and spend inordinate amounts of time licking her bum. When I tried to get near her, she'd start her growl sounding a bit like a blender on low. She'd punctuate her threatening ice-choppy sound with a transition into a hiss, thinking she some sort of Cobra snake or something. I could see what she was licking which looked like a furless patch near her bum outlet. I had had enough of her attitude and I was worried to the point of action. I took action - which simply met I called the vet and decided to let them handle her.

Stage 1 involves getting her into the cat carrier. For a 5.5 pound cat, she can put one one heck of a fight, but luckily, again, no real howling, just fur and wriggling. Stage 2 is an easy walk to the vet's office 4 short blocks away, but the cold and ice/slush/snow streets made this a little more difficult. I wonder what she thinks of all the noises, smells and other strange 'feels' on the city street. I cover her carrier so she won't freak at all the activity and dogs walking about. 

Stage 3 is the vet check. She is so much nicer to them. They had no problem taking her temperature - she had a fever, poor girl - and looking at her wound. Turns out she had a walnut-sized abscess on her bum. Ick! They'd need to drain it, clean it and put her on antibiotics for the fever and to prevent infection. 

Now came the Worry Stage. The vet starts throwing out all these options. She's like to put Chai under for the procedure but she'd recently ate so we didn't want to risk any rock-star-death issues of her choking on regurgitation.  Then there were anti-inflammatory choices - talk about steroids and shots with possible kidney problem side effects. I was freakin'! I just wanted her healed without risk. Why is that never an option? I want choices where I know I could have no regrets about my decisions since nothing would go wrong. Instead I start panicking about "ifs" and "what-to-dos".  I decide to no go with the potentially kidney-harming stuff since she once had problems either with her kidneys or liver. So the vet takes her upstairs to the operating space. 

Now were into the Surgery-Crying Stage. I could hear Chai really screaming and loudly meowing upstairs. Since she is such a quiet kitty normally (my mother once commented that she thought she had no vocal cords; she didn't believe she could actually talk), I was on edge hearing my girl in such pain. Of course this made me cry 'cause there really wasn't anything I could do. Cries stopped after not too ling and I waited.

Going Home Stage. The vet brought Chai out in her carrier and she was not looking happy. I'm sure it was a painful procedure but she look even sadder to be stuck in a cone collar to prevent her from licking her wound. Got some pricey high-fiber cat food, antibiotics, and boo-boo cream to help the butt wound heal. Off we went back out onto the slip-n-slide streets and headed home.

Turns out the abscess was because of an infected and impacted anal duct gland. Did you know about this? I didn't even know cats had anal glands that needed looking after. I grew up with at least three cats in succession roaming our home and never did we worry about anal glands. Like any worried parent, I immediately Googled cat anal glands. Now I'm really grossed out.

Winter Lights

I ventured up the Hudson to see the light show at Sunnyside. Joined by my relatives, Evelyne, Kathy and William, we wandered the path around the property enjoying the show. The curators tried to patch together a story related to Rip van Winkle but I think it was a stretch to link the themed areas. There were metal men bowling, neon fish swimming upstream, candy canes, a plastic bottle cave arch, glowing mushrooms, and disco balls. I liked the glow the lights created but I have to say I found the whole show a little disappointing especially when compared to the Halloween Blaze show the put on in October. But I must say it was well organized and had what I can only claim to be the world's best port-o-potties I've ever seen!

When I returned to NYC, I decided to walk home from Grand Central to take in some holiday cheer draping the city. The snowflake city windows at Sax were fun. The tree at Rockefeller Center was particularly sparkly this year. Since it was late and most of the shops were closed, it wasn't too crowded. I wandered up 5th Ave., saw the big star they hang over the street up at 55th or 56th. The Louis Vutton windows were a Vegas pow of color and shapes. 

This was in sharp contrast with the white monochromatic theme of the Bergdorf Goodman windows this year. Personally I felt that while the detail and texture was still there, and the whimsy (monkey swinging on a chandelier, a bird-headed woman), the plain palate just was a blander repeat of the much more lush and intriguing version of last year's windows inspired by Tony Duquette. 

I wandered past The Plaza, stopping to peer through the windows of The Oak Room. This is the first holiday The Plaza has been fully open due to extensive renovations making large portions of the famous hotel residences. Window watching along Central Park South is rather enjoyable, voyeuristically glimpsing the lives of the ultra-rich. Surprisingly many dress like slobs. Money can't buy class or taste as evident by the Hilton girls. 

I wandered over to one of my new NYC favs - the dancing star lights at Columbus Circle. The stars are hung in the glass arcade overlooking the Circle. I love to go inside, ride the escalator up to the second floor and watch the colors and LEDs bounce to the holiday music. The show is truly a fun techno way to appreciate the holiday cheer in what could be just another commercial space bombarding visitors with more ads. Luckily I could ignore the Borders and Johnnie Walker signs and just enjoy the moment. Great to absorb all the lights New York offers up during the holidays.

Dad and Uncle get musical?

al bob peffers bagpipe
Originally uploaded by peffs

Had dinner with Peffers cousins and Therese gave me this old photo. It is my dad (left) with his brother inflating Uncle Frank's bagpipe. Now I know where my lack of musical talent comes from.

Life at the Dallas Arboretum

butterfly pink
Originally uploaded by peffs

I had the most wonderful day exploring the Dallas Arboretum. Here is a little flighty friend who nicely posed for me. I'll try to post a few more photos I like.

Nice Matin and family affairs

Had breakfast with Therese and Dad at Nice Matin. Yummy granola with blueberries and yogurt. Ah, it is so gratifying to live so close to such nice food and a great atmosphere.

Therese is Dad's cousin on his mother's side
and her sister, Barbara, is suffering. She needs to be in a home now and this has left the family house in a rather sad state. They have to dig out from a lot of clutter. I wish I could do more. Therese is heading up to Ossining to help out. Luckily my Aunt Evelyne is there to help out.

Strange how Dad never really talked much about family when I was growing up - no pictures hanging around, not even any heirlooms except an old watch of his father's he had in his office desk drawer. Now he seems to enjoy returning to his roots, talking with his cousin, driving past the old chestnut tree in front of his grandparent's house. Some memories aren't happy ones - how he got the news of his mother's death - but slowly I'm learning more about how my dad grew up ... and how he seems to be more and more comfortable revisiting home.

Old Jokes and Getting Older

Adorable goes a long way ...

After work, my dad met me at the office. I found him chatting up some of the office staff. We met up with C, M and Z and headed out to dinner at a lovely place with a rather strange waitress. Once Dad found a receptive audience for his jokes and banter in Z it was hard for the waitress to find a pause to ask for our order. We had a great meal but I felt I should pay a minimum cover charge. Seriously, it was really nice to see him so animated and Z was such an attentive, conversant subject for his show. And in a very honored move, C felt comfortable enough with me to have me take her to the girl's room where she felt comfortable enough with me to leave behind about a quarter of her body weight for the wastewater gods. It was taking so long, understandable given her pint-sized shape, that M came to check on us ... we were just fine - just marking the territory :) Dad was also a C favorite thanks to a few presents and, more importantly, his removable thumb trick. She'd ask for "Mr. Pepperoni" to show her again and again. She was a great audience.

Ah, relief

City support

Struggled through the work morning. Had to take a little private time to try relaxing on my office floor after some woozy feeling post drug dose for the day. Oh, and long hair - not so fun combing out bed-head. On the way out of work, Ramon talked me into stopping by the Transportation Alternatives UWS meeting with reception. Loved the concepts for the traffic calming in my neighborhood. The men situation was slim. And the one cute guy I got to talk to was married, which is funny since he looked like he was in his early twenties. Walked home and found Manuel at the door and he had cough drops for me. Ah, this is the life. My little co-op family taking care of me :)

Heading North

Hudson Sights
... fall finally arrives in November!

Well, it took awhile but we finally have fall color. After the warmest October on record (actually, I think it is a tie with 1947), we finally got some cooler weather. I headed up the Hudson line, past the very scenic Palisade and gorgeous clumps of fall foliage on the West side of the river and arrived in Ossining, New York around 11:30 am. Aunt Evelyn picked me up and we headed up to Bear Mountain State Park. The color was lovely but the winds were a bit chilly. We did a bit of walking around the main lodge and park, watched kids enjoy a ride on the indoor carousel, a few folks skating, and Evelyn tried to find the remnants of the ski jump but only the stairs and railing remain, the jump and clearing now covered thickly with trees. Perkins Tower was closed due to snow and ice. We drove into Harriman Park along Seven Lakes Drive and ran into a snowman, a red tailed hawk and several deer. Beautiful day! So nice to get out of the city for a change.

Brewster

Brunch at The Arch

I headed up to Brewster with my parents Sunday morning to see relatives. We were off to meet Mark, David and David's mom Janet. My parents hadn't seen Janet yet and it was a nice to drive up. We spent some time at their home, which was lovely and happily situated on a large lot with rolling green lawns and trees. Both David and Janet looked great since I saw them last, losing significant weight with exercise and good eating habits. We headed just right around the corner to a nice home turned into a country restaurant, The Arch. We had a leisurely meal starting with a creamy cauliflower soup with apple garnish. I had the beef stroganoff while others leaned to seafood selections. Mark enjoyed his salmon in orange sauce. Mom and Janet had crab and lobster cakes while David and Dad had scallops. The real gem of the meal was their soufflés. Mom and I had the coconut while David and Janet had the raspberry. We all loved them, airy yet flavorful with added cream to savor the pockets of baked light egg flavor. Yum. It was great seeing the family and connecting after all these years.

Ossining

Parents, Relatives, Croton Watershed and Goldfish

Mom and Dad grew up in Ossining so they spent the weekend in there old stomping grounds. We met up with my Aunt Evelyne and my dad's cousin Barbara for brunch at Guida's in the old town center. It didn't open until 12:30 so we took a walk on the Croton aqueduct bridge. The dining room was lovely. I had the tortellini pasta with prosciutto, peas and tomato cream sauce. Not very good given the past was suppose to be fresh. The peas were hard and the prosciutto chewy and grisly in places. I think everyone else enjoyed their meals. We took a drive after our meal all around the Croton reservoir. There are some beautiful spots and the rain we've had has really kept all the hillsides lush and green with thick tree cover. Hopefully this will yield a lovely fall. For dinner we dropped off Barbara (long day for her) and met up with my cousin, Mark. We headed to Goldfish for a nice dinner. We sat upstairs at this local establishment that used to be a pub in my father's father's day, then a pub-like restaurant, even a gay bar before becoming this light and airy seafood place. I was still a bit full from lunch so I ordered a selection of oysters and the shrimp tempura appetizer. Mom had some HUGE scallops. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the staff was wonderfully attentive with everyone helping out even with a very large party being served nearby. A wonderful little find in the sleepy side streets of Ossining. It was a great day for family and reminiscing about the old days.

The Big 40!

Food + Martinis + Friends & Family = Fun

A good friend of mine, Gwen, has a birthday just one day after mine. Since we're both single gals living in the City, we decided to throw ourselves our own 40th birthday party! This was such a great idea. We had a great time finding the perfect place - Le Colonial. We rented out the top lounge and had yummy eats: Cha Gio (spring rolls), Goi Cuon (soft shrimp rolls), Bo Lui (beef brochette), Ga Goi Filo (curry chicken in phyllo), and Ca Um (smoked salmon on wonton cracker with wasabi, cucumber and dill). My favorite was the Ca Um. And I had many a lychee and passion martini - both fabulous. The bartenders and wait staff were amazing - no shortage of food or drink. And they even made sure to deliver some vegetarian rolls to my veggie friends. And instead of a cake we served some of our favorite cupcakes from TriBeca Treats. My parents came in from San Antonio, my brother and sister-in-law from Virginia, my two sisters and one brother-in-law from North Carolina, and relatives from Ossining and Long Island, New York. I also had friends some in from Washington State and nearby friends from work and such. It was so great having everyone there. What a great way to spend my birthday!
Before my birthday at Le Colonial, I had family stop by my tiny studio on the Upper West Side. Given that my apartment was: 1) hot, 2) small, and 3) ruled by my 6 lb. cat, we headed to the roof. I have a lovely co-op who cares enough to have a terraced garden roof space with lounge chairs, tables and chairs. The views are amazing but the sun can be rather hot. Everyone was a good sport about the umbrellas that didn't work. We shared some champagne and fizzy water before I had to head out to prep for the party.

Niece and Nephew Time

Henry, Jane and John
What can I say? Being an Aunt is the best.

John is getting a bit older so he is less cuddly but more intelligent and creative. His picture-taking has shifted from big grins and mugging for the camera to serious stares and more reserved poses. His piano is really good! No longer are there moments of biased appreciation a la Music Man but I now really do enjoy hearing him play. He's also a bit obsessed, as most boys his age are, with GameBoy. At least it gives mom some leverage when it comes to homework and eating veggies.

Jane is still a lover bug. She loves Tickle Monster and walking. We found some caterpillars the other day and put them in a jar to see if they'll form a chrysalis. She was very good at handling them and letting them crawl on her hands, not forcefully picking them up. She's very gentle and caring. She names one Sally and I think the other is Catie. She also loves her Jelly Cats and playing on the playground.

Henry is a soft ball of warmth. He's a bit stuffy right now, caught a cold, and this sometimes makes him sound like a little grunting piglet but I think that's cute. Mom sometimes has to use that weird nose suction device to vacuum out the snot blobs. I recall seeing that strange device when I was a kid and wondering what the hell it was used for; I just thought it was some strange bathtub squirter. Henry was fun to hold and rock. He smells so good and he's so snugly, almost makes me wish I had my own. He did give me a good spit-up down the shoulder and back of my suit while we were bonding. Now that is priceless! You only spit-up on the ones you love, I'm sure of it.

'Mom hair' crisis

My sister is going to kill me ....
for posting this

My younger sister recently had her third child. She's looking great and doing a great job juggling the demands of piano lessons, preschool, and breastfeeding. She was getting a bit tired of all the time it took to manage her longer hair - and all the mess that it creates, less than a St. Bernard sheds but more than a short-haired chihuahua. She looks great with a short hairdo so in her postpartum mother moment, she went in for the cheap-o $18 cut and ended up with a floppy Monkey's mop reminiscent of 1960s "I'm high but I'd really love to cut your hair" results. My older sister took one look at it and said, 'What did you do to your hair? You look like Mom." Now for any woman, no matter what age, particularly after just having a baby, it is not flattering to be compared to your mother unless she's Lauren Bacall or Sofia Loren. Marla quickly placed a call for the emergency what-the-hell-did-I-do $80 haircut at the best salon.

Now I've done the same thing once in Seattle when going short. The first cut started just fine but at the last minute I ended up with bangs! Now if you've seen my eyebrows - think Groucho Marx on a girl - you know my forehead does not need another line of interest hovering above my eyes. I looked like some friar monk without the bald spot. Heck, a bald patch might have made me look at least edgy. The next day I shelled out around $100 for the help-fix-it-do and ended up very happy. I had a fun Mia Farrow meets Oscar version of Haley Berry. Why do we take out hair so seriously? That is a topic for some serious PhD psychology dissertation.

So Marla let me get my eyebrows waxed and tamed so I don't look like the old men in the Muppets balcony. Then I swapped kid-watching duties so she could go get some pampering. We headed to KFC for some popcorn chicken, big treat for the kids. Marla headed into the care of a very metro and super-skinny Asian hairdresser named Ase or Agee or some other variation of a name with too many vowel sounds and no indication of how to accent the spelling. Aseh/Ageh had his own funky haircut - a version of a top knot with undercut urban shaved section towards the nap of his neck. This should be interesting. So I return with the kids just as Marla is heading out of the salon. Kid you not, she looked like a stylish mom from the neck down, with her white laced top and Capri black pants - all set for the country club or a suburban book club night. Scanning up to her face, I could not stop laughing. She was punk queen! She'd gone from our mother to a groupie for the Sex Pistols! She had such a good sense of humor about the whole thing. "Why do I let people do this to me? I just sit there and say, 'Thank you, looks great!' when I'm close to pulling a Britney Spears and getting it all shaved off." So we drove her spiky head home to wash out the goop they put in it to defy gravity. I knew the cut was great; she just needed less product and more natural styling to make her look great. So post-gunkifying her hair, she looks fabu. She gets a little frustrated at a few rouge hairs that like to pop up and stand up straight but these are not noticeable and the cut will grow out nicely. So all's well that ends well. And just remember, don't go for that $18 cut - and don't pull a Britney. It'll all work out in the end.

Jean Day4

JFK hell, Cafe Frida, Serendipity3, Bloomingdale's, Apple Store, FAO Schwartz, Central Park and Napoleon Dynamite

Well, it seemed like the rain subsided by morning but alas, we trekked all the way to JFK for nothing. We had to take an expensive cab ride because the E subway was flooded. We checked Jean's bag, went through security only to have the flight listed as 'canceled'. Argh! The lines at customer service were insanely long. A gate employee told me I'd need to go to baggage service to reclaim Jean's bag. Margs helped via phone by calling customer service to try to find another flight for us. The woman could rebook me but not Jean for fear her bag would get put in 'unclaimed' status. Thus I worked with Mary at JFK but she said she couldn't do anything with the bag and that customer service was wrong. She then sent me to Allison up at ticketing. Allison tried to rebook us but was unable to get Jean back her bag - held hostage until the next RDU flight would leave. We took the AirTrain and subway home and were back in my neighborhood at 1:30 pm - a hellish three and a half hours.
We stopped by Cafe Frida for lunch. Great guacamole and Jean had flautas. Back to my place to wrap up some work and tasks before we headed out to Serendipity 3 on the Upper East Side. I had their signature frozen hot chocolate which could have served four - they had four straws sticking out of it! Jean had the 'coward's portion' banana split. Yikes! Three scoops of ice cream, fudge, walnuts, whipped cream, cherry, HUGE! Jean did an admirable job but only a few could finish that mound of sugar bliss. Then we popped by Dylan's Candy Bar - two floors of diabetic death, or a kid's candyland dream depending on your perspective. Then Bllomingdale's where we finally made it to the 8th floor where Jean fund a lovely shirt to wear tomorrow since her luggage is being held hostage. We wander into the cool signature NYC Apple store - a glass cube in front of CBS acts as the entrance. Then we went into FAO Schwartz. The big clock and the "Welcome To Our World" song is gone but the big piano keyboard is there! Jean took off her shoes and had some musical fun. We decided to walk through Central Park. The zoo was closed due to flooding - sandbags everywhere. We strolled past Strawberry Fields and Lennon's Image mosaic. I noticed the first red cardinal and looked up to find a woodpecker I heard drumming. Jean noticed a furry round creature napping high up in a tree. Then I noticed a very agile raccoon moving from one tree to another. Very fun creature watching today. When we got home Jean watched Napoleon Dynamite. I was able to install my new rain showerhead. Guess we got the most out of an unplanned free day.