Hanukkah, Christmas,2015 on the Way

Dear Friend:

We leave for Michigan tomorrow morning, bright and early.  We'll leave Newark, wind our way to 76 and then to 80 and finally to 23 North.  We meet Linda at Cottage Inn for dinner.  We have strong memories of taking Sarah and Kate to dinner there before a dance performance.  They were small, 10 and 12, maybe; maybe a little younger.  Kate ordered a Greek salad, then proceeded to pick off everything on that salad except the lettuce and the cheese.  We've told that story many times and I can see us sitting in that booth upstairs.  So for yet another meal, we'll be in nostalgia land in Tree Town.

We saw Messiah at the Kimmel Center yesterday, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale.  We had not been to the Kimmel Center before and it is a magnificent facility, all cherry wood and warm metallic accents.  We were in the last row, smack in the middle and the sound was excellent.  The auditorium is new enough that there is plenty of room between rows, so that people can easily pass through.  The performance was serious pleasure.  I love big choral music and Messiah is the functional definition of same.  Added to that, it is familiar to me from high school days and from my work with the Community-College Chorale at New Paltz.  I am not alone in loving the "Hallelujah" chorus and it makes me weep profusely.  The big choruses of part one have the same effect.  It's what Ken and I call the "Kinky Boots effect," after a theater-goer sitting behind us during a production of Kinky Boots on Broadway wept in gulping sobs during the second act.  We never saw him, but we heard him.

The Food Bank is closed until the first of the year.  It has been so interesting to volunteer in the Food Bank kitchen.  Here are some observations:

• Volunteers need to have a role as flowers need to find the sun.  
• As soon as they establish their role, they stick to it for the duration of the shift.  
• Volunteers are constantly seeking to be most efficient in their role.
• The jobs are simple enough that each individual finds the way to do it as best suits her/his needs.
• While the kitchen is quiet at the beginning of the shift, conversation tends to increase as it goes along.  By the end, it is very chatty.
• The work in the kitchen is as close to assembly line work as I have ever experienced.  It is repetitive and I can understand how repetitive actions could be debilitating at worst and boring at best.  
• The pattern of the shift is to assemble the after-school snack, secure it with cap and bag and then pack it in numerable coolers.  The drivers pick it up and are taking it to YMCAs and other venues by noon for distribution to the kids by mid-late afternoon.  Volunteers then clean up the kitchen for the next day.  I have become familiar with the big Hobart dishwasher, a brand I think is used in restaurant kitchens.  
• Six to eight volunteers are present for any given shift, with two or three being 'regulars' and the remaining being work groups from various local businesses or random individuals.
• Volunteers fall into groups:
  Retirees (like me).
  Members of work groups, especially banks or, this being Delaware, one DuPont facility or another.
  Those adjudicated into community service.
  High school kids earning points toward awards or certificates.
  College students either there as part of their majors or for their Greek organization or their sport.
• The mix of age is broad, from mid-teens to mid-80s.  

I'm there for the morning shift (8:30-11:30) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  The kitchen shares space with a culinary program that has maybe a dozen students.  Their classroom is visible from the kitchen, and sometimes the students are there and sometimes they are out among us cooking or cleaning up.  I have never worked in a restaurant kitchen, but it seems to me that the equipment is old, but adequate.  I understand that many of the graduates go on to jobs in local restaurants.  This fall, the students have been for the most part young and African American and I hope they get good jobs.  

Our first full year in Delaware has been full of surprises, good and not-so.  Under the former category is the delightful discovery that, on the 95 corridor, we are within easy travel distance to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and New York.  New York is farther away than it used to be, but Philly - by god, it is a great city.  We can get to Washington by MARC during the week; cheap and relatively quickly.  In order of frequency, we have been in Philly, Washington, New York and Baltimore.  And the Delaware shore!  Love it!  

I'm thinking of creative outlets, and wishing I had one like my friends Carole and Stephen who are musicians, and a new friend Ellen, who is a painter.  

All is vanity, friend.  All is vanity.  

Happy new year - 2015 seems surreal, but here it is.

Jackie

The Tigers are finally ahead of the Royals, 2-1 in the top of the 6th.  We follow four teams:  the Yankees (oh, I miss them!), the Tigers, the Phillies and the Orioles.  It is rare that all four win on any given day.  I can watch the Phillies and Orioles on our home television, but the Tigers and Yanks are available only on MLB and the occasional ESPN.  We saw the Orioles play the Tigers at Camden Yards earlier in the month and it was fun texting with Karen, who, of course, was watching at home with Mike.  Whenever the Tigers play, we know that Karen, Mike and Ray are watching.  Feels a little like home.

We had the best Father's Day weekend in Philadelphia.  On Saturday, we saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and it was hilarious.  Really.  It was at the Walnut Street Theater, an historical theater, smallish and lovely.  We then went over to Vedge, a well-regarded vegan restaurant within walking distance to the theater.  We drove in, as the SEPTA regional strike had been called.  It was interesting to drive west out of the city to 1, then home from there.  Many neighborhoods of varying characteristics. 

On Sunday, we saw the Phillies lose to the Cubs.  They then went on to sweep the Braves this week, so timing is again everything.  There is something about being at the ball park that encourages happy silliness.  Unlike Camden Yards, we did not make the kiss cam.  Too bad!  As the strike was cut short, we took SEPTA from Marcus Hook, which is the much preferred way to get in and out of Philly.  After the game, we took the subway back up to Market Street, then walked over to Chinatown to eat at Xi'an Sizzling Works, which was totally yum!  Enough left over to eat it again on Monday night. 

It's been hot here all week, making the pool once again a wonderful place.  I volunteered for the early shift at the Food Bank of Delaware on Monday, and will work the CSA pick up at Cool Springs Park in Wilmington this afternoon.  I'll work twice a week at the Food Bank for the rest of the summer.  It's quite a place and I am slowly getting to understand its depth and breadth.  Other volunteers and the staff are all interesting. 

This weekend and next before our good friend Kathy comes in from Michigan.  We are planning a wealth of activities for her, then she and I head west to Kansas City for the 4th of July and Ken goes to Grand Haven to luxuriate with his Mom, Dad, daughter, sister, brother-in-law and nieces.  Nice!  We'll be back home on July 7, preparing to enjoy my favorite month - July. 

Just in case you are interested in our house renovations, Ken has been working all week on refreshing the floor in our bedroom.  We moved into one of the guest rooms and think we'll be back into our room on Saturday.  The floor looks marvelous and completes the floor redo on the 2nd floor.  There is a minor issue of the difference between the hallway and bedroom floor stain color, but Ken will deal with it, or we'll ignore it.  When you come and visit, you may comment or not.  We are getting bids on the hall bathroom, but not enough to make a decision.  It doesn't help that my thinking evolved and that the last potential contractor we saw had the most information. 

We did make a small, but high impact improvement on our deck:  a kitchen tent, which means I can sit on the deck without being constantly bitten by mosquitos.  I'd say major!  It won't be much of a protection against a big rain, but works during sprinkles.  Compared with the expense and downside of building a screened-in porch on the deck, I'd again say major! 

Cheers!

We're in the middle of bathroom renovations.  We have two small bathrooms, one off our bedroom and the other off the hall.  We are doing the bedroom bathroom - 'master' bath is quite the misnomer for such a small space - ourselves.  We (and that's the royal 'we' as Ken has done most of the work) put down a Snapstone porcelain tile floor, put in a pedestal sink, put a stone border around the floor, and painted.  We are thinking we will put a border around the existing shower, which is made from a product called Swanstone.  As we were trying to do a modest renovation, which of course is about spending modestly, we did not replace the medicine cabinet or the shower stall, which I don't like much, and which we've done much to put visually in the background.  When you come to visit, you can tell us how successful we have been in that effort.  Linda, Mom and Dad, Karen and Mike, Jody and Nicole, you'll just have to come back to see the changes.

We had four craft people over to inspect the hall bathroom and give us a bid.   We are going to tile the floor, replace the tub, tile around the tub, replace the medicine cabinet and the sink and bring natural light into the space which now has no window.  It's a small space, so hopefully, the renovation won't be too expensive.  Each of the four people had different specialties and points of view and we learned something from each of them.  It will be interesting to see what the bids are. 

With these renovations, we think we will be done with whatever we are going to do with this house.  What have we done?  Fixed the garage door opener, took up carpets in three rooms, refreshed hardwood floors, replaced window coverings on all windows, installed dishwasher, built a compost, acquired a rain barrel, installed a new gas stove, painted both bathrooms, replaced Luan doors throughout, including closet doors, took down a half-wall between the dining room and kitchen, painted the living room/dining room, built a gazebo for the garbage and recycle containers and carved a utility room out of the garage.  We also bought a sofa, chair and ottoman for the living room. 

As Linda knows, we have an extensive garden, especially in the fenced-in backyard.  Three volunteers from New Castle County Master Gardeners came out yesterday to tell us what we have, what we should get rid of, what we should move, etc.  We liked Sande, Marilyn and Fred a lot and they were knowledgeable and helpful.  Now, of course, the question is, will we do any of it?  Ken already got out there with a tree saw and lopped off limbs.  He dug up major weeds as well.  I've washed our jumpsuits, which I am hoping will provide tick protection, along with knee-high rubber boots.  So we're ready. 

It's been gray, rainy and cool this week.  I've been able to swim each day, today in the rain.  But no pool closures, so I'm grateful. 

Until later...

Adventures continue...

Living in a new state offers many opportunities to learn and do.  We are just completing our first year in Delaware and, as my abundant energy no longer has work to focus on, I am planning events and activities like mad. 

We are just beginning to understand what it means to live in a state with an ocean coastline.  On Saturday, we went to a training session with MERR, or Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute.  We think it should be called MERRI, but hey, no one consulted us.  It is one of federally-mandated 'stranding' organizations in the states that border the Atlantic, meaning it is the 'official' organization that deals with the stranding of marine mammals and sea turtles.  The website is http://merrinstitute.org/. 

The training session was a revelation.  What marine mammals are found in the Delaware Bay and the Delaware part of the Atlantic Ocean?  Dolphins, porpoises, 6 kinds of sea turtles, humpback whales, finback whales, minke whales.  I am not kidding.  Plus sand tiger, spiny dogfish, smooth dogfish and sandbar sharks.  I feel stupid about how agog I am about the fact that the ocean is the ocean, with all the life in the ocean right here. 

So we are going to be part of a stranding event team at some time.  We are 'upstate' in Delaware, so will be called for events in the Delaware River rather than the bay or the ocean proper.  I am very jazzed about the idea of doing anything involved with MERR.  Apparently most events are not helping marine mammals return to the sea, but are perhaps heartbreaking events of ill or dying or dead animals who are necropsied and even buried on the beach. 

Another major attraction for me is that we are surrounded with Civil War sites.  I went to Harpers Ferry on Sunday and it too was amazing.  It's 135 miles from home; not exactly next door, but doable as a day trip.  I drove the few miles in Delaware to Maryland, then went through a tiny bit of Virginia to West Virginia, the location of Harpers Ferry.  I think of it primarily in connection with John Brown and the Civil War, but it has a long history of strategic importance to the US.  It is at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Very beautiful.  A mere 18 miles to the east is the Antietam battlefield.  No actual Civil War battles occurred at Harpers Ferry, but it was the site of the largest American surrender until World War II.  Confederate soldiers took more than 12,000 Union soldiers into custody in 1862.  It was too cool.  I then drove back to Frederick and had dinner with Paula Larson at Ayse, a very good Turkish/Lebanese restaurant.  It was a happy day. 

I suppose that retirement will one day be much quieter, but as long as we have the wherewithal and interest, we have much to explore.  Lucky! 

Memorial Day, 2014

Having been in New York this week, a New York Times story about the sunset that will line up with the avenues caught my attention.  Dear Reader, if you are in New York, go outside at 8:00 and you will be rewarded.

We have had a week of good friends, pouring love over us like warm syrup.  Linda came from Michigan on Thursday.  Ken was still away in Chicago, so she and I ate at home, then headed out to Longwood Gardens.  It was warm and muggy and did not rain on us, so we were happy to wander the pathways and look at the gorgeous late-May flowers.  I especially like the fountains.  We then went up to Kennett Square and cruised its Woodstock-like streets.  We ate dinner at Big Sky Bakery in Wilmington, which is Zingerman's-kind-of-like.  Great bread and a fabulous chocolate chip cookie!

Ken was supposed to be home on Thursday night, but got stuck due to weather.  Linda and I toured Newark and the University of Delaware campus.  When Ken finally made it to Delaware, we headed for the beach:  Cape Henlopen State Park and Rehoboth.  We ate lunch at Homegrown in Newark - a very Ann Arbor-ish kind of place, and then dinner at a nice Turkish place near the boardwalk at Rehoboth.  We power-waded at Cape Henlopen.  The water was in the low 70s and people were in the water, but wegot wet below our knees.  On our way home, we went to the beach at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, thinking we could be part of the community that rights horseshoe crabs during their mating season.  We were either too late or just in the wrong place, as there were no horseshoe crabs to turn.  However, there were three men fishing from the beach and we wondered, 'how's the fishing'?  'Not bad', they replied.  'We caught two small sand sharks'.  Really?  We looked into their cooler and there were two small sharks, resting in their own blood.  That sent me to google sharks in Delaware and lo and behold, Dear Reader, but there are six kinds of sharks in these waters, including the Common Hammerhead.  Will wonders never cease? The statistics on shark attacks and fatalities, however, indicate that in the last 152 years, there have been 3 attacks in Delaware and no fatalities.  But I plan on swimming in these waters this summer and as they say, you cannot uncork the bottle, and now I know that there are sharks in the water.  Just think about it, Hammerheads!

On Saturday, we headed west and south to Baltimore, where we had lunch with Deb and Casey.  Deb turned 60 yesterday, so she was in celebration mode.  We reviewed the school year just ended and had a lively conversation about rape on campus.  We left and went further west to Butterfly Lane to see Bud, Paula, Karen, Jim, Erin, Stephen, Ian and Barbara!  Dinner was at that bastion of culinary delights, the Elks Club.  Not a friendly place for the vegetarian, but the company was prime. 

Linda left early Sunday morning.  I went to the pool, and we tinkered around with two more stepping stones.  What I learned:  draw the pattern you want on the stepping stones before actually applying, in this case, the marbles.  Also, the cement pigment doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.  We are going to try cement paint next.  Ideas:  1) Jack, Mark and Luke handprints and dates; 2) Ken and Jackie handprints; 3) score and pain like a checkerboard.  We already have 1) shells; 2) marbles; 3) marbles.  Now we need 9 more ideas, as we figure we need 15 stepping stones. 

On Monday, we went to the pool, then headed for Long Island.  Ken worked in Hauppauge Tuesday and Wednesday.  We went down to Long Beach, which has a reconstructed boardwalk (after the destruction of Sandy) and charges $12 a head to get onto the beach.  We went into Manhattan on LLR and met Kate for dinner.  She is living in Brooklyn and will start work next week at a women's health research unit in lower Manhattan for the summer.  Unfortunately, Hoomoos Asli was closed, so we ended up at Mexican Radio and then walked around a bit. 

I wandered Manhattan on Tuesday, eating too much but walking a lot.  I shopped some.  Ken came back to the hotel and we met Deb, Casey and some of Deb's student affairs friends on the 54th floor of a hotel in mid-town.  The view was fantastic.  We then went to see "Violet," a show at a theater on 42nd Street.  It won us both over in the end, but I have to say it was one of those shows with too many big numbers and a sound system that was unconducive to hearing words. 

Wednesday was actually Deb's birthday.  Ken went to work and I met Deb and Casey in Chelsea Market and had a late breakfast at a new place there.  I then went to see "Fading Gigolo," which was preposterous, and I agreed with some reviews that called it 'vulgar', but John Turturro is always interesting to watch.  He's a grad of SUNY New Paltz.  I also liked seeing Tonya Pinkins in a small but choice role. 

By the time Ken left Hauppauge, the rush hour traffic was in full bloom.  Our original plan was to meet at Newark Penn Station, but after waiting there for a bit and talking to him, I took NJT to Trenton.  The timing was perfect, as he was there to pick me up in 10 minutes.  We headed for home and arrived, after a dinner stop, about 9:30. 

The weather in Newark is cool and overcast today, but it did not actually rain.  When I went to the pool, air temp was 60 and water temp was maybe 76, so it was a chilly swim.  But, like all swims, perfect in every way.

Summer 2010

More later, dear readers, but check out photo #2!

http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/tonyblog/2010/08/photos-summer-streets-2010

Post Dessert Party

Hello dear readers. Ken and I and our lovely party attendees know today that we indulged properly on 2010 Valentine's Day! Here's a little accounting:

1. Chocolate espresso fudge cake - really wonderful
2. Chocolate chip peanut butter cake - remains will go to Records & Registration today
3. Triple chocolate pumpkin pie - ho hum
4. Chocolate pudding pie with whipped cream (aka fire) - untouched, it went home with Carly.
5. Apple pie - A++
6. Lemon bars - very lemon-y
7. Large & luscious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - A++
8. Deep dark chocolate fudge cookies - A
9. Chocolate chip cookies - A+++
10. Fudgy brownies - brownies were not a major hit
11. Salted fudge brownies
12. Supernatural brownies
13. Fruit crisps - just did not go
    Apple/Cherry
    Cranberry/Apple
    Blueberry/Raspberry
14. Ice cream - Stewart's & Soy
15. Fruit - mixed
16. Cupcakes brought by Carly
17. Chocolate chip pie brought by Wilma

For the future:

1 batch of cookies will be sufficient

1 batch of brownies at most

1 crisp

1 marquee cake

Apple pie always a favorite

The cheese brought by Shelly was a hit

Mostly regular coffee

For the present: lots of cookies and brownies need a home

So now we are post Ken's birthday, post Valentine's Day and on the lip of Lent. Can spring be far behind?