This is apparently the Old Man's idea of a hot night out on the town. Yes, we spent another lovely evening in the damn ER with another episode of aspiration pneumonia, and while he went to the hospital kicking and screaming, they let him go home because we got there early this time. We hope.
There is not enough Sauvignon Blanc in the world....
Some of the "best" (read: weirdest, funniest, most disturbing) things we saw in our time in New York were, unfortunately, things I couldn't photograph. Not without risking assault in any event. And we saw some sights, mostly involving clothing, that left us laughing and/or shaking our heads. Seriously? A filmy, strapless"maxi dress" for business attire? I'll keep my mouth shut on some of the full- body tattoos....
But occasionally we found some sights that could be photographed, even from a moving bus! I love the idea of a mobile cupcake truck! We never found this guy when we were on foot, though. (We did walk by a cupcake store (there are such things) that sold teeny tiny beautifully decorated cupcakes. $2 each, and barely two bites, but that's New York for you. We stopped once on our way from the bus stop to the medical center....not worth $2.
I caught this shot one day when T was still pretty mobile and the Farmers' Market was set up in Union Square Park. What gorgeous radishes....right in the middle of the city!
One of my favorite sights, though, was over on the corner of Fifth and W59th as we were waiting for the bus downtown. Our son and his family were also in NYC that weekend and walked us over from the apartment. There he was in all his scarlet glory: ELMO! Our grandson Gus was a little shy at first, but next thing we knew he was "high fiving" and finally up in Elmo's arms!
Don't see stuff like this in downtown Ridgefield.
Who ARE you and what have you done with my husband?!
The Old Man always had a pretty hefty appetite, to put it mildly, but had a great deal of difficulty swallowing for some time after the tracheotomy surgery. They gave him a Passy-Muir "speaking" valve, which he didn't like and refused to use for many weeks. Once he was persuaded to use it, however, the appetite increased and he was able to eat quite normally until well into the radiation treatments.
We discovered this little place on Lex, between E 61st and E 62, while searching for a button shop I had read about. Pane e Vino, open to the world in front yet air conditioned inside, it became one of our favorite spots.
The treatments caused swelling and irritation, not to mention changes in the tastebuds, so by mid-August, the tube feedings took over. Today, for the first time in almost two months, the Old Man was able to get down some Cream of Wheat! Whoohoo!
Hubby mailed this last week, as he has been doing every week, to the church office. He never puts the street number on the envelope because, well, the office is right across the street from the church and the church is one block from Town Hall. This week it got returned for "insufficient address". They were "unable to forward".
Oh, did I mention the actual street address, which I looked up so I could resend it (and spend another 44c) is 55 Catoonah Street. Again, directly across from the church, but even more important, one half block from 29 Catoonah Street which is........wait for it, wait for it.............
Right. The street address of the POST OFFICE!!
They could have walked the thing over to St. Mary's in less time and for less money than it cost to return it to us. Way to go, USPS.
Okay, we have established that the stay in New York City, elegant digs notwithstanding, was hardly a vacation. I'll go into more detail on that stuff later. However, knowing that I'd probably have lots of time on my hands (much sleeping on T's part, little food preparation, etc) I brought my trusty old Featherweight sewing machine. And made a quilt top. It was one of those designs that use pre-cut 2.5" strips...fun and fast!
I'm still auditioning fabrics for borders and trying to decide who gets it.
Instead of starting at the beginning (summer of 2010, really), I'm going to tell this tale backwards, starting with our New York Summer. When we learned that they would treat T at Beth Israel in NYC, we were faced with some logistical dilemmas. While we could have stayed at a wonderful hotel called Hope Lodge (run by the American Cancer Society, free to cancer patients), there were some issues. Eight weeks in a hotel suite that allowed no food or beverages in the room....there was a shared kitchen on each floor....sounded like something that neither one of us could have tolerated longer than a week, no matter how gorgeous (decorated by Nate Birkus) or fun. (The real issue, according to my husband was that I couldn't have my wine spritzer at the hotel. Well, duh.) When a dear friend offered his luxurious Manhattan apartment, hubby was at first reluctant to take advantage, but two arguments won him over: it made our friend feel "joy" (his words) that he could help, and it enabled someone not so fortunate to have that suite at Hope Lodge. The photo above shows the building soaring up in the middle. The one with the balconies. Ours was the one next to the top, on the 33rd floor. Yeah.
This is the view we had from the "conversation pit" (interiors in another post) or from the balcony. That is the view up Central Park, and yes, that is the Metropolitan Museum of Art up there in the right corner of the Park. Sadly, we never got there. Priorities. We never tired of the view, even the day they got over 6" of rain in Central Park. I must say, we whimped out and went home for the hurricane, but otherwise, we had this blessing every day of our six-week stay in this magical place.
Here is another view, off to the west. I loved the roof gardens on that white building down the block from us. Other neighbors? How about the Park Lane and Plaza across the street? It was a half-block walk to Fifth Avenue, but I'm sorry to say I never got to spend any time there except as a passenger on the M2 Limited bus down to Union Square. Damn. In fact, my only shopping expedition, soon after we moved in (when I still felt comfortable leaving T alone) was over E 58th to Williams-Sonoma for some kitchen odds and ends. But, that's not what we were there for!
We cannot ever thank our friend enough for this gift.
I can't believe it took me two tries to get a lousy batch of cake mix cupcakes baked...that shows how little time I've spent in the kitchen in the past three months!
These are for my teammates/range buddies: last practice session before league matches start next week. Uh, oh. It's been FOUR months since my last trip to the range! Hope practice goes better than the damn cupcakes...
The Wizard would be T's Radiation Oncologist at Beth Israel. Today we get his verdict on additional "boost" treatments that will target the main tumor and hopefully zap that sucker into history.
We also have an appointment with the chemo oncologist...strangely (or not) the dizzy spells and fainting have been fewer and farther between since the Erbitux treatments were suspended two weeks ago. Dr. C doesn't buy the cause and effect there but.....who cares!
Richard Bertinet: Crust: Bread to Get Your Teeth Into (With DVD)
Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor
Daniel Leader: Bread Alone: Bold Fresh Loaves from Your Own Hands
Peter Reinhart: American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza
Peter Reinhart: The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread
Daniel Leader: Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers
Beatrice Ojakangas: Whole Grain Breads by Machine or Hand: 200 Delicious, Healthful, Simple Recipes
