cathleen's place: Carl

Think they had a good time? Isn't it so wonderful that they brought back a picture of a lizard? I think that was just for me. Certainly I like the other pictures, but the lizard? Hey, he's perfect.

Allison recently celebrated a birthday -- she turned 28 (just kidding). She and Carl and a bunch of friends went bowling. Yes, bowling. I haven't done that in years. My mom was a bowling champ; she was in a league and everything. I might get a little yelled at for putting these up here, but oh well, what are kids for? (I did, after all, put up a picture of myself vacuuming the yard.)

Sunday was a very busy, but laid back day. We knew that at some point we were going to hook up with Liora, who was in the city visiting friends (before leaving on yet another globe-trot). Once we figured out that she wasn't arriving until the afternoon, we set off for brunch -- yay! This time we went to Brown on Hester Street. It's tiny and wonderful and has the best service. Here's an excellent review that really covers much more than I could say. The review ends with this:

"Someday I'd like to hunker down with a bottle from Brown's very reasonably priced wine list ($22 to $32) and see just how many side orders of that gratin I could put away. Until then I'll stick to ordering too many of Brown's super smooth espressos, each lovingly teased from the handsome espresso machine, no matter how late it gets." (That's for you, CM.)

We wandered around the neighborhood before going back to Al and Carl's place to wait for Liora. You can come sight-seeing with us, here's what we saw:

And here's my all-time favorite:

It was great seeing Liora. I hadn't see her for a very long time and she's been all over the world since then -- southeast Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan. So many adventures to hear about.

Even after all her travels around the world, just before this trip to New York she went with her mom to China and Tibet.
But I digress...

We all walked to the subway together -- Liora was off to visit her sister who's a student at Columbia and the four of us to see Evidence - A Dance Company. Oh yeah, now you're talking.

Needless to say, this is NOT my photo -- I found it on a college site, promoting the appearance of Ronald Brown and his Company. (I know it's silly but I like that we had brunch at Brown and the dance company was founded by Brown -- just a nice coinkydink.) The concert was fabulous and remarkable and wonderful and such lovely movements/gestures. The experience was slightly spoiled by an idiot in front of us who kept taking pictures with her f&^%*ng cell phone. I know what you're thinking: Nobody would do that, it's unthinkable. Yes she did! AND she was eating. No, I didn't say anything to her, but I did ask an usher to speak to her. Oh well. I should know that given my proclivity for being offended by other people's behavior (and perfume) that I should just NOT GO OUT.

Okay. I'm fine now. After the concert we had THE MOST AMAZING MEAL. We ate at the Rocking Horse Cafe in Chelsea. You must go there when you're in the city. ("in the city" of course means New York -- is there another city? I don't think so.)

I stole this from their site. Let me just say that all four of us had such incredible meals, each thing that came to the table was extraordinary, including the drinks. God, what an unforgettable dinner. And Chelsea is so fun to walk around in. This is another must.

And then Monday arrived and it was time to head back to Florida, yuck. We took the AirTrain again, but a different subway train. Allison and Carl do such a good job of looking out for us when we visit them. When we're all out walking and it's crowded, if Kim and I get separated from them, we just quack like baby ducks. Al quacks back and we find her. So easy. I think she was a bit embarrassed the first time we did that, but she realized it makes no difference what you do on the street in New York -- it's New York. Ah, I digress again. Allison and Carl had figured out a way to cut about 1/2 hour off our trip to the airport. That was cool. This train took us through neighborhoods in Queens.

And then we were at the airport.

Bye-bye New York. We were sad to go because spending time with Allison and Carl is always a great joy. But we were not so sad to leave the parts of New York that are difficult to take: really rude people; dog shit everywhere so that you better watch where you walk all the time; angry, aggressive people who come after you for any imagined slight (hmm, that almost sounds like me...nah.). This is not to say that there aren't lovely, friendly, happy people in New York, of course there are -- we met many. But it's easy to understand the aloofness of New Yorkers -- they have so little personal space, what else can they do? I'm sure I'd be quite a bit more standoffish if I lived there.

My next trip to the city will be in November when Allison runs in the NY marathon. Woohoo!

This was the first time we didn't take a cab into the city from JFK. The city finally finished the AirTrain so travelers can save big bucks getting to and from the airport. After the AirTrain, we took the J train into Manhattan -- it's above ground all the way across Queens and Brooklyn and the Williamsburg Bridge, then it drops underground just as it arrives on the Lower East Side. Allison and Carl live two blocks from that stop.

This is the view from their balcony late in the afternoon, which is when we got there.

Pala Pizza Romano

That night we went out for the most incredible pizza we'd ever had. Al and Carl have these favorite places they take us, oooh, so yummy. This place is voted best pizza year after year.

So, this is part one of our trip. More later. Kiss kiss.

Allison and Carl moved into their new apartment just before Christmas. This is the first place they've had that has a balcony. See the strings of red lights behind the tree? That would be the balcony. It's really wonderful because they have a totally awesome view that you don't have to climb three flights of stairs to see. I have lots of photos taken from the roof of their last place.

So, the other day Carl is enjoying the scenery from his new balcony and you'll never guess what he saw. A peregrine falcon.

The falcon is in there. Somewhere. In there. But isn't that a gorgeous view? Even, or maybe especially, in wintertime.

Okay, we've zoomed in a bit and the falcon is right there -- about the middle of this picture. Do you see him (her)?

There. Now you can see him, yes? He's so beautiful. There are lots of stories about birds of prey making their home in New York City. Fascinating. But that's just me.

The first New Year's Eve that Allison was a little person who walked and talked, she misunderstood what we were saying to each other all through the evening. She would walk up to a new arrival and say "Happy new you!" with her big smile. Everyone loved it. Of course. It was actually closer to the sensibility of the moment than happy new year. The idea of new year's resolutions certainly has everything to do with making yourself over, doesn't it? On the eve of a new year, we can re-invent ourselves, become whatever we can imagine.

So Allison and Carl and me and Kim wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YOU!