a visit to new york

It is the 25th of November and I arrived back in the hollow yesterday after a fine trip to New York. Picholine was superb and I walked up from Macy’s to Central Park and then to the restaurant on 64th street. One of the two elderly men next to me said he knew me but I have no idea how. He was a friendly guy as was his friend but soon it was clear that his friend was suffering from Alzheimer’s. They were off to the Metropolitan opera but I spoke with the first one quite a bit and I learned they had an apartment in the city and a farm in Pennsylvania. They had both gone to Yale and I was very sorry about his friend’s illness, and I told him that when his friend went off to the bathroom. I did a quicker visit on Wednesday to the city and walked up to the South Street Seaport and then over to the Brooklyn Bridge, which was under construction, but that didn’t prevent me from walking halfway across. I sent Kate three pictures during my travels, including one from the bridge, and she enjoyed all three. My visit to John’s mother went fine even though I was worried that he would rant against Obama but he was pretty calm. I chatted a little with Kara and her friend Frank (who was working for FEMA) and overall it was a decent visit. The next day was the football game and I had an okay time. John and Kevin didn’t play so there was no fighting and that was nice. I left at the half and drove to my cousin Pat’s house in Wilmington, but I wasn’t able to find an open golf course and instead I took a bike ride in a state park near her house. Dinner was quite entertaining especially the Chinese couple who came and were very interesting. I had a lot of fun as did my Aunt and Pat, and then Marie and I watched Secretariat on DVD. The next morning I left around 9:30 and was able to play 9 holes at furnace bay near rising sun and ended up riding my bike in the parking lot at the comfort inn in Catonsville. Seeing Kelly, Alfredo and Lucia was a lot of fun and that little girl is quite a character, very smart and a lot of fun to play with but exhausting to her parents. A day with her would have probably sent me to the hospital. We went to a seafood place in Catonsville and then to visit Kelly’s Mom and Theo for dessert. I played a lot with Lucia and the other adults were able to converse freely. Back at Kelly’s I had a chat with her while Alfredo was putting Lucia to bed at around 10 and then when he came out we all chatted until 11:30. The next morning I started driving at 9:30 and arrived at the hollow by 3:30, very good time. My greenhouse was still okay and the batteries were 100%.