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PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Manhattan Monday - Wandering the Line

As the Big J's fiscal year came to a close, I realized that I had some personal days off that I would "lose" if I didn't take them, so I took a couple of Mondays off. Fortunately for me, one of these Mondays aligned with a day that my friend Michelle was planning to visit from Miami.

Last Monday, I spent the day running errands around Manhattan. First I had to take the train in, get poppy seeds from Spice and Tease at the Grand Central Market, get money from the ATM, tickets from the machines, and then schlep over to a branch of the New York Public Library. Turns out the iconic Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street with the lions protecting it, doesn't have a drop-box for returning items. Good thing the Mid-Manhattan branch is katty-korner to the big cats. I don't like to have over-due items. It's a professional guilt thing.
Then it was off to the Chelsea Market to get some goods for various parties last week before meeting up for lunch with Michelle. The Market is a little touristy at times, but if you know where you are going and exactly what you want, it's easier.
 
(blurry iTouch photos from inside the Market)

It had been a while since I'd been, and turns out the shop, The Nut Box, that I was going to see has revamped down from having pre-packaged and bulk fruit, nuts and candies, down to just pre-packaged. I *might* have gotten too much, between that shop and the Chelsea Market Basket Company. I didn't realize how much I actually was hauling around the rest of the day until I got home and unbagged 9.5 POUNDS of assorted nuts, snacks, grains, and fruit. No wonder my shoulder was killing me.
After a deliciously long chatty lunch at The Green Table (get the red quinoa falafel platter, trust me), some coffee for Michelle and a wait in the line for the restrooms, it was off to wander the High Line.
The last time I visited the High Line was in the winter, with Jane, a few years ago. What a difference a season or two can make (and switching cameras!) The second section was open, lush, and the area is blossoming up around it. In addition to art being made on the Line,
 art is being added by Line, by buildings around it,
 
 and on billboards in the area.
 
It is so nice to see the hard lines of the City open up to green spaces, 
 to have spots of color, unexpected views, have nature disguise and reveal new things.
 Like the various backyards, patios, and other special spaces that people carve out for themselves.
It was so easy to fall back into conversational rhythms, relax, regroup, and get caught up in the High Line, that the sudden summer thunderstorm that rolled in was a surprise. 
Whoops. There are the clouds. Maybe it's not a good idea to be elevated, on a line with metal tracks, or hiding out under the metal scaffolding that leads to the part where section II and III of the High Line will meet up. Needless to say, Michelle and I got out of there, and wandered through the rain and puddles back to the subway to head back to Grand Central for our trains back to various destinations.

Thanks again, Michelle, for always making time to squeeze me into your New York itinerary! I'm so glad that we're able to pick up where we leave off - and that you get my weird sense of humor when we stumble across weird vignettes like this!

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