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adventures / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
26
Dec 22

We are now in Connecticut

To recap: We woke up on Tuesday of last week in Alabama. Wednesday we woke up in Indiana. Thursday, it was Pennsylvania. Saturday we woke up in New Jersey. On Christmas day, we finally woke up in Connecticut, which is where we are spending a few days.

But before all of that … we stopped at the beach. This is Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

And here are a few shots from the shore, before my ears started hurting. This is the beach The Yankee played on with her god-sisters as a child.

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve morning …

But, seriously, the wind made my ears hurt. How often does that happen?

It seems my light jacket wasn’t enough. Go figure.

Also, one wave sneaked up on me. You know how they do, that one ambitious wave works its way farther up the beach than the rest and you have three steps in the water — the cold, cold, water — before you can escape its reach.

It was no warmer in New York, of course. This was one of the views on I-287.

And here’s an almost accidental shot on the Cuomo Bridge. It turns out I really like the cool austerity of the composition.

And then we finally hit the Merritt, and Connecticut. This was Saturday afternoon.

Later that night we went to Christmas Eve services at my in-laws’ church. Before that, there was a mini-concert featuring Ukrainian flautist, Denis Savelyev. He’s won the New York Flute Club Competition, has been named the rising star at the Galway Flute Festival and the 2019 young artist at the National Flute Association here in the U.S. I am assured these are big deals. He is presently doing graduate work at John Hopkins University but, to me, he’s the guy who made the flute solo cool. He also played this.

Christmas morning — our fifth state, fifth bed, in six days — my lovely bride, her parents and I opened presents. It was a pleasant, low key day. Called my mother and called my grandfather. We had a delicious prime rib for dinner. We set up my father-in-law’s gift. He’s very pleased. We’ll finish setting up my mother-in-law’s tomorrow.

And that gets us through the weekend. But now I have to write the post about today.

family / memories / photo / weekend — Comments Off
25
Dec 22

Merry Christmas

Peace.

Joy.

Happiness.

adventures / family / Friday / photo — Comments Off
23
Dec 22

Brick Christmas

Today we’re in New Jersey. Us and the cold — and I know no one shivering wants to read about that. We’ve been lucky with the weather all the way around. Oh, it’s cold, but it’s as cold or colder everywhere else. And we’ve only seen flurries. And where we are, in New Jersey, everyone has power.

Christmas in New Jersey is with my lovely bride’s god parents. My god parents-in-law, if you will. There were only 10 of us there today, where there are usually 15. But the day, which is always great fun, goes like this.

You go inside and up the stairs, hugs and handshakes, and then you look for the pickle. The Christmas pickle is a lesser known tradition. Seems to stem from some Germanic origin, or late 19th century marketing. (And if I had a nickel for every time something without a clear provenance was possibly attributed to those two things … )

This tree has two pickles on it, and if you find them, you are due a year of good fortune. Everyone always finds both pickles. That’s family for you.

I also spend a few minutes studying all of the other ornaments. The godparents-in-law have an interesting collection.

There are hor’dourves. After your first experience with this particular party’s habits, you know precisely where to sit. And, of course, they changed up which end of the table would have the shrimp. I was out of position. There are presents, one person at a time, youngest to oldest. I’m sixth of the 10 present today, so I’m above the mean and the median. Yikes.

(When all 15 people are here, I sit 10th.)

Later there’s a lasagna dinner, which is one of the highlights of the Christmas season. My godfather-in-law is a third generation Italian immigrant, and he knows what he’s doing. And we all love him for it. My mother-in-law always brings the Christmas Crackers, a thing which I’d never known about until my first Brick Christmas in the oughts. This year’s Crackers had some bad puns and good trivia. We all took turn reading those.

After dessert one of the kids suggested the board game Blank Slate. Never heard of it. Had a blast. Everyone did, old and young.

And that’s Brick Christmas, it’s always great fun for everyone.

We’re staying in New Jersey tonight. Pull out bed in the downstairs den. I fear that my back will never be the same.

adventures / food / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
22
Dec 22

On our first full day in Pennsylvania we went to … Delaware

Delaware is a fine state, and it’s just across the border. Indeed, the last time I was in this part of Pennsylvania we jogged across the state line. That was just to be able to say I’d done it. (One of several state lines I’ve ran or rode a bike across.) But today, we did it for a more sensible reason: to save on sales tax.

So, yes, a few more Christmas presents, then. And then some stocking stuffers. Someone who occasionally reads this site was on today’s list, so I’ll say no more.

Also … if you’re the sort who can’t wait to spell out on social media the Christmas presents you got for anyone older than 10, don’t do that.

With that done, we sought out lunch. We settled on the same place we had dinner last night. California Tortilla, a fast casual Mexican-adjacent style restaurant. (We ordered different things today, of course.) Have you been to a Moe’s or a Qdoba or Chipotle? You’ve had a lesser, but similar version of this place. On a wall where you order there’s an enlarged photo advertising their catering. (They do weddings!) The photo has a bride holding the familiar overstuffed burrito. She’s about to bite into the center of it. Her adoring new husband looks on and we’re left to wonder if she really bit it, right there, in her dress, or that was just a careful pose.

If you eat a burrito like an ear of corn salsa is going everywhere.

On the opposite wall is this sign.

And below it … this seems unsanitary, somehow.

How many of those bottles, do you suppose, should be refrigerated? To say nothing of the many hands making germy work.

We were discussing the ranking of these sorts of restaurants, and I only share this in case you are confronted with unknown opportunities, and to point out that The Yankee is mistaken. The official order of this genre goes like this.

5. Moe’s
4. Qdoba
3. Chipotle
2. Cal Tort
1. Willy’s

She thinks California Tortilla is in the top spot, but she was hungry when she said that, so it could be a blood sugar thing.

The Yankee’s god-sister and god-husband-in-law took us to White Dog Cafe — five locations in the greater Philadelphia area — for dinner. I had the farmer’s pie.

It’s a shepherd’s pie, but with better mashed potatoes, proper zesty mushrooms and some serious carrots. I’d get that again. Later, more cards with the kids. Because, sure, I can get beaten up around a kitchen table two nights in a row.

Tomorrow, more Christmas, but somewhere else!

cycling / family / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
21
Dec 22

Yet another travel day

We woke up early enough this morning to take a little bike room. So there we were in the bike room, pedaling away, thinking about what was upstairs, not getting packed. But I got in 25 miles — which was great!

This was my first ride in a week, and my last ride for a week. Meanwhile, the calendar keeps churning and my yearly mileage record is still out there, waiting to be met.

I should make it, but probably not by much.

Couldn’t do more than 25 miles today, and let me just say, he wrote, that based on how the rest of the morning and early afternoon developed, I did not have time to do 30, or even 27 miles. The day was perfectly, accidentally, plotted out.

We got cleaned up and finished packing. I loaded the car and drove us to the airport. We made it through security and down to our gate with no incident, having left the house six minutes later than we wanted, but with no stress on time.

(Let’s see if we can do that the next two or four times in a row before it’s worth really remarking on, though.)

Anyway, to Delta, and a plane that winged us away to LaGuardia Airport. Here we are flying into Queens now.

They’ve been working on LaGuardia, an $8 billion renovation, since 2016. The terminal we flew into today opened last June. And they’re now nearing the completion of this whole project. Joe Biden, then the vice president, famously said the old airport belonged to a “third-world country” and the mid-project experience was none better. But now, here we are, the airport the New York media is calling the first new major airport built in the United States in the last 25 years.

What is not be available: mass transit.

Can you believe that?

Getting to the rental car companies is no easier. Landing at Terminal C there is sometimes a shuttle to Terminal A. From Terminal A you’d have to take a second bus to the car rental people, who are off the premises. Or you could walk. It is not, repeat, not, conducive to walking. This whole design is as naively 20th century New World as can be.

We took an Uber, instead. Two, actually, because we got in the wrong car the first time.

There’s egg on my face but, hey, it’s in your car, lady, and not mine.

So we got the car and then drove toward our next stop: Pennsylvania.

At a key moment on the two-hour plus drive (about the same amount of time as the flight, I think) The Yankee noted that we have been in seven states in 36 hours. It was then that I decided to tally up our travel mileage this holiday season.

We had dinner with her god-sister’s family. We spent the evening playing card games with their daughters. It’s fun watching them grow up, and it’s a special treat to be able to spend this time with them.

This is their oldest, when she was about a year old, in 2009.

Tonight we were talking about colleges. She’s brilliant, I’m surprised we weren’t talking about graduate programs.

Both of those kids beat me up playing cards, so if that’s any indication …