At home

A week later and I am finally getting to my blog!

It is so long since I have posted I have no idea what or where I was. Hopefully over the next few days/weeks I'll be able to post about the things that I have missed during the last weeks of work in NYC.

I have spent the past week settling back into life in Footscray. This involves finding where all my things are- clothes, odds and sods of precious belongings and sorting out my new passport and now onto organizing my visa application paper work and doing the bits online. All very stressful as one is not sure if one has actually written he most appropriate answers to the questions but one can only do their best.
The best part of being at home for this length of time (nearly two months- hopefully the visa office won't make it an enforced longer stay) is the opportunity to catch up with friends slowly and leisurely. Perhaps I could begin a tally of lunches , dinners and coffee chats I've been having.
So Nick's birthday would have to count as a major meal with lots of family which was lovely, and then there was the lunch on the run with family while we started on the "clean out' of the family home ready for sale.
Coffee with Anne Marie yesterday after picking up my passport was my first coffee chat. I need to think about it all a little more to organize it in my head. I could perhaps create a data chart of meals, chats and brief encounters. Things are beginning to build up and despite the very best of intentions will eventually be frenetic just before I head back to NYC.

Sunday in the park with friends

The day started with brunch at the Boathouse then a walk through the park.....

to the opposite side of the lake to look back at where we'd had brunch.....
others were making the most of the lovely day reading newspapers and enjoying the sunshine...


a walk across to Strawberry Fields and a view of the Dakota Building .....

and the John Lennon Memorial.... Imagine.

Anne Marie and Jenny managed quite a bit in spite of jetlag and lack of sleep.

They arrived

Anne Marie and Jenny arrived in the middle of our Saturday night pizzas. We actually knew they were coming cos it was from Australia and despite Anne Marie's capacity to drop in at short notice this wasn't one of those times.
We had a small gathering for pizzas- Sue, Jude, Martha and Annie and were enjoying the chat and conversation.
Anne Marie and Jenny had traveled for about 26 hours and basically pulled up chair at the table we poured a champagne and the conversation and pizzas continued.
As it is Jenny's first trip back to NYC- the original trip 20 years ago was fraught not the least by bad weather and sick toddlers. So we were in the mood to ensure that she had a far more enjoyable experience this time round. They are here for 10 days and have theatre and other delights planned.
Sue suggested that we all go to Ellen's Stardust Diner on the corner of 50th St. It was such a lovely warm night and a great way to launch the NYC holiday. This seemingly strange photo of Anne Marie is because she is holding her phone out for Barry to hear in Australia that she is in NYC and the guy singing is singing Barry's favourite song! The guy started singing Anne Marie said "That's Barry's favourite song I'll ring him" what else do you do when you've been in NYC for an hour and someone starts singing a song you like!

Changes to Broadway

During the weekend changes were made to traffic on Broadway- in fact there is to be no traffic on Broadway between 47th Street and 42nd St except for traffic on the cross streets. So in effect it is a pedestrian mall.
On my way to work the media was out interviewing cabbies and anyone stopped at the traffic lights to see what they thought. One report ...here
I need more time to check it out but the little folding chairs in the middle of the road seemed a tad odd but guess they are for use until there is other seating and more elaborate arrangements.

Up on the roof!

Our night to celebrate Giz's end of course went really well.
We prepared cheese and nibbly things in our apartment and snacked and chatted until most people arrived and then people grabbed their glass and drinks and a plate of something and we went up on the roof. We were a tad impressed by Gabrielle's and Anne's shoes...
Sue stayed at the apartment finishing the pizza preparation and answered the door to any one who arrived after we left. Martha was the only one at that stage and as she didn't know the building Sue brought her upstairs. It was a lovely evening to be outside as it was warm enough but not too hot. We had a table large enough for all of us (10- eventually 12) to sit around. There were 3 Americans in the end and lots of Australian chatter and laughter.
The time seemed to really fly and eventually we had to leave the roof as the building guys wanted to lock it up. There were some other people from the building up on the roof too- one group was a group of about 5 guys who only had pop corn to eat so I gave them our left over pizza which they wolfed down- actually only three slices but they enjoyed it.We went back to the apartment and sat around chatting and eventually everyone drifted away at about 10:30. A lovely evening to celebrate Giz's end of her painting course. We went to her exhibition opening a few weeks ago and she is now in the process of packing up all her things and heading back to Australia.

Light on the way to work

I have been slack of late not taking photos each day but on the way to work the light shining on the building really caught my eye so in true philosophical fashion I stopped and made the most of the moment!

On the train

On the train this morning there was a really amazing little boy (about 4 years old) and his mum.
He was next to me and like all little kids had no awareness of space ..... he was relaxed and leaning up against me during his conversation with his mum.

He and she were sharing his book which was a book of the fifty states of the US. She was reading about Rhode Island ...... reading him information about the capital and asking him questions. He was really genuinely excited when she read one particular thing about Rhode Island.


Then he asked her to try and trick him so she was asking the names of capitals of different states, their emblems, what the state is famous for etc etc. A few times she said "are you sure isn't it such and such" and he'd say no and find the pages in the book and point out her mistake. She was the one who was tricked. One time he said the capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City and she looked at him as if to say are you sure... he just flipped the book open and read the information to prove he was right!

She eventually said I can't think of any more states and he said what about Alabama and Alaska. He truly was amazing.

My concern is what is going to happen to the poor darling once he goes to school and they insist on teaching him his colours and the alphabet.