What New Yorkers Do

On Thursday, Marty accompanied me to a minor surgical procedure on 53rd and Third. My doctor's instructions were to elevate the affected leg as much as possible for the next 48 hours. We planned to hop on the 6 Train but passengers were scurrying out of the trains like ants on fire, deciding that at 20 minute wait was too much to bear.

We walked over to 1st Avenue to take the bus. Bad idea. The buses were full and not stopping. We hailed a cab, but after 30 minutes and 4 blocks abandoned that idea and decided to walk the remaining 20 blocks. Normally, 20 blocks would be nothing, but I'm sure the surgeon would not have approved.

There were police everywhere, in cars, on the street, parked on motorcycles. Must be something big. Maybe Obama's at the U.N. No, it was Michelle and Barack making a few pit stops in Manhattan to raise money/awareness/polls/shop for souvenirs.

The next morning, there was a shooting at the Empire State Building and midtown was closed like a pit bull's jaws. No trains, buses, cabs--not even a skateboard. Fortunately, this didn't effect us. We (me, Marty, our nephew Mark and his wife Brie) were able to walk over to the 2nd Avenue Deli on ironically on 1st Avenue to enjoy Old-World kosher delicacies like pastrami on rye, matzo ball soup (balls the size of tennis balls) and potato pancakes with applesauce. The waitress brought us shot glasses of chocolate soda to end the meal. L'chaim.

The plan was to pack the car and go to the country for the weekend. The car, however, had been side-swiped and the side mirror ripped off since last we'd seen it at the end of Alternate-Side Parking. There was a note on the car that said a Penskee rental truck had done it and driven off. They gave the partial plate as XX4138. We called the police, we took photos, we cut the wire from the dangling side mirror. We waited. We called Penske and put in a claim. We called our insurance company. I called the police back. They were very busy drinking coffee and eating donuts and would be with us asap. We decided to drive off into the now-rush hour streets and sit on the FDR Drive for a while.

We arrived at our house 3 hours later and drank cocktails while watching the Yankees beat the Indians 3 to 1. Last night, Marty dreamed the car had been totaled during the night. It hadn't.

Weekend With the In-Laws

Esther, Lenny, Frances, Doug, Me, Buck

 
Mariel and I drove up to Jeffersonville Friday morning. Actually, Mariel drove because I'm still recuperating from cataract surgery. My mother-in-law, Nana, and sister- and brother-in-law arrived late afternoon and I made eggplant Parmesan for dinner. Peel it; don't peel it. Thin-sliced, thick-sliced. Salt and rinse; leave it alone. Olive oil; vegetable oil. Fry; bake. As Frankie said, I did it my way. And it was delicious.

Mariel enjoying quiet time

On Saturday morning, Mariel and I walked to Yoga. Marty and family made a traditional bagels-lox-cream cheese-tomato slice-onion slice breakfast. I apologize if that punctuation looks funky. I should've used back slashes.There was also sable and whitefish salad. Saturday night we grilled lamb, steak and shrimp, served with fresh corn, insalata caprese and red wine. My friend Doug joined us and we had martinis.

Sunday morning was filled with more copious eating, mainly a dill, cream cheese and lox omelet. At this point, I just had a bowl of cereal and milk. Some of us went to the farmers' market in Callicoon where I bought lettuce, real tomatoes, Swiss chard and radishes. We went to visit Harry at his country club job and then all went out to dinner for a delicious Italian meal at Al Buona Fortuna.

Harry, Mariel Matt play Settlers of Catan

Harry and his friend Matt arrived at 2 am after they finished the evening shift. More BLCC for breakfast. Now the whole family was here except Mark so we had a big dinner involving leftover lamb and steak, bbq chicken, grilled salmon al pesto, baked potatoes with sour cream and fresh chives from my paltry garden, tomato salad and green salad. There was nothing special for dessert so I made banana and apples Foster with whipped cream.

Nana, Marty, Buck

Tuesday morning, the sound of Marty's cell phone ringing woke us. An idiot from work was calling Marty even though he's on vacation. Harry was leaving for college at 9 anyway so we had an earlyish breakfast with half the crew. By now, I don't need to tell you what was served, although I had something else. More breakfast, more goodbyes. Mega clean-up.

It's really quiet and peaceful now, We're sitting brook-side and working on our computers. I plan to get back to my book in a bit. In case you're wondering what we're having for dinner, it's something healthy and easy to make: grilled white pizza and green salad.
  

Read This Book

I love Dave Eggers' books. My kids even like him. His newest novel, A Hologram for the King addresses the issues of global economics, the complexities/absurdities of modern Saudi Arabi, and modern technology. The King is King Abdullah, the city, Jeddah. The story is told by an American businessman, Alan Clay, who's lost everything and is trying for a last-chance miracle in the desert.

The writing is spare, which I both appreciated and lamented. So many modern novels seem so repetitive to me, like the author's being paid by page. Because I enjoyed the new Eggers book so much, it was too short. This isn't a criticism, just the way I feel.

Alan Clay, who is rather pathetic, has a huge mass on the back of his neck that he is convinced is cancer. One night, under the influence of strong locally-made alcohol--booze is illegal in Saudi Arabia, but everyone drinks it--he sticks a steak knife in it. He ends up at a clinic in Jeddah where a doctor declares it to be a lipoma and schedules surgical removal.

Why does Saudi Arabia, with its unimaginable wealth and ambitious plans to grow its economy to even more incredible levels, resemble Florida, or any other coastal southern area that uses a look of pink? It's not on my travel wish-list.

The book ends with disappointment for Alan, but also a measure of hope. You'll have to read it to find out how he does it.

Water Polo 24/7

I'd never heard of water polo until last week. I thought polo was played on horses. Water polo is much less dangerous and much less interesting, in my opinion.

Synchronized diving, synchronized swimming, swimming--the Summer Olympics is filled with wet sports or things in the water such as rowing, steeplechase and horse jumping. Let me know if I've left anything out.

I like some of theses sports, I really do. I hate to swim, but enjoy watching others engage in this strenuous activity. I watched Michael Phelps interviewed by Bob Costas, and truthfully, I'd rather watch him swim than compare himself to Michael Jordan.

Gymnastics is exciting; beach volleyball less so. I watch the Olympics for Track and Field. It's the sport I know the most about. I watched the men's 10,000 meters the other day and it was thrilling.  Question: why is it they show 6 minutes straight of water polo but only several minutes of  of distance running before cutting to a commercial? They even cut away with 3 laps to go, the most exciting part of the race. At least they showed the last 2 laps in which Mo Farah of Great Britain and Galen Rupp of the USA won gold and silver. I was literally jumping up and down. 

Sunday morning I got up early and watched the women's marathon. I have no problem with commercial breaks in a 2:20:00 race. It too had an exciting finish, gold and silver for the Ethiopians and bronze for the Russian. 

I didn't see any of the sprint semis or finals live. They happen outside of prime time. Okay, they show Usain Bolt win over and over, but that's because it's a sub 10 second race and everyone can pay attention for that long. I wanted to see the steeplechase because I know someone running in it who my son Mark has actually beaten in a high school race. Nope. No mention. It's really fun to watch though, with obstacles and water pits installed along the track.

The 5000 meter? It's another of my favorites, but either I've missed it or they'll be showing water polo. The mens's marathon is the final event and I know that it takes place next Sunday at 7 am. I'll be there. Unless they're interviewing the men's water polo team.