Do you ever get these little ditties stuck in your head that won’t leave for years and years? I do. There’s a line I heard once that runs through my head with shocking frequency, “Love is patient, love is kind. Love means slowly losing your mind.” Why it has stuck is anyone’s guess, but it pops in at the most random and inopportune moments to say hello. There’s another one that’s slightly less morbid that often comes to mind as…
Rosie said I don’t post enough pictures. Rosie is usually right. Therefore, here you go. Let us commence with a Sunday afternoon spent roaming downtown Brooklyn. I do a lot of roaming, you see, since I have a lot of time to spend alone and there are only so many things that are fun to do by oneself. Exploring is one of them… And we move on to a sunny Saturday spent exploring Forest Hills, Queens… And to finish it…
I don’t spend a lot of time being scared of my surroundings in the city. Perhaps I’m naive, but I carry my pepper spray (when I remember it) and watch my surroundings and usually I feel pretty safe. That said, there are a certain number of things that I deal with here that are just downright scary. Would you like to hear about them? One. I get so nervous in turnstiles. Am I alone in this fear? I don’t too…
I often think about what Judy said in Daddy-Long-Legs. “It isn’t the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh – I really think that requires spirit.” And as this Jonah week dragged on and on, I thought about it more than ever- it really does feel like there’s truth in it sometimes. Sunday was such…
I leave work with the glorious late afternoon sunshine streaming in rays between the buildings and warming my head. It’s windy, but the bitter chill is missing from the air. Spring is actually on its way at last! I walk a couple blocks to the subway, resolutely marching past the pizza shop with the perfectly crispy crusts and decadent toppings. Another day, I tell myself. I enter the subway tunnel and pile myself into the car along with the hundreds…
I think I promised to tell you weeks (or was it months and months) ago how I was surviving my new job. Time has flown and here I am on my third week in, still alive and kicking although I could be dead in a ditch for all you guys know. I have been too busy to write- too busy moving and staying alive and eating pastries and vegging when my energy gave out, which it does about every three…
Here’s the thing. I knew church in the city would be cool. There are several well known options I had visited and loved before I even moved here, options such as The Brooklyn Tabernacle and Redeemer Presbyterian. The trouble isn’t so much not having a church to attend, but rather, having too many options to make a choice! Do I attend the one that’s closer by, or the one with more comfortable pews (come on, you think about that too),…
…Except I kind of was. I spent the last couple of years poring over articles and pictures of New York City. I read all kinds of guides for making your finances stretch and the best neighborhoods to live in and the hot spots to visit. I read listicles and blogs and books about the city- I mean, I even have a NYC coloring book! I think you could safely say I had done my research. So while these things didn’t surprise…
I sit at the table in the food court in Flushing, unfamiliar yet comforting smells and sounds swirling around me. Directly across from me sits a pretty young woman, earbuds in, absorbed in her reading as she deftly makes her way through her bowl of slippery noodles with her chopsticks. My own deftness is lacking, and I wince internally whenever I drop a particularly large noodle back into my soup, and glance at her surreptitiously to make sure I haven’t…
Well, here I am, tucked into my cozy little Airbnb room late at night, my first night alone in NYC. My lands, it has been a crazy past few weeks. I have found gray hairs all over my head (Well, I found one on each side and one in the middle, that counts as all over right? I mean, I’d only ever had one before that, so three new ones is a lot for me!) and I have basically spent…
Dear Packing, I know people aren’t supposed to like packing, but there is something about fitting everything just so into a box that is immensely satisfying to me. I guess it’s like solving a puzzle, which is one of the best Sunday evening activities (I know, I’m 85). It sure makes this whole moving process a lot easier, all except the books. I started packing my books three times before I could leave them in the box. I’m just gonna…
So there’s something you should know… …In case you didn’t know already. It’s true- this pineapple is gonna go find some New York City stripes. And yes, I’m as surprised as you are. The whole thing is a massive series of surprising events for me. I’ve been dreaming about living in the city for so long that I’m pretty sure I won’t think it’s real until several weeks in when I’m sitting on my lumpy bed eating cabbage and nothing…