Taking Time ... to Explore the Past: Saturday with Cynthia

I showed a photo of a Fortune from a Chinese Fortune Cookie earlier this month:

Take time to relax especially 

when you don't have time for it.

Well, there's a lot bubbling under the surface at work that makes me feel like I don't have time to relax. In an ironic twist, it's pretty much one of the same projects that capped off my time/my sanity at my last job, but with even more crappy data, tighter deadlines, not a lot of technical support/infrastructure -- AND I have two other components of my job that I have to weigh higher. Because of a way overblown sense of responsibility, librarian learning and leaning, and foreknowledge of potential/inherited issues brought on my previous experiences, I can feel the clock ticking away loudly, much like Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. I also am having some serious work-related philosophical/office cultural/work-style issues, and so ...  I do work off hours. At home. Behind the scenes. In marathon stretches. Where it's quiet. Squeezed in around, you know ... my life. Or lack of one. A lot this "stuff" seems to be just MY perceptions, expectations, and feelings about professionalism in the workplace, or no one else seems to care, care to change, or grow-up, or REALIZE ... etc.

But enough venting. *I* have to be the Force that changes. So I am trying. Trying to make time to relax.

I have semi-new resolutions to which I'm trying adhere this year. And getting the above fortune was a reminder. It's now taped into the front of my Day Planner (yes kids, people still use old-fashioned paper/spiral-bound Day Planners), the final arbiter of my PERSONAL calendar, my appointment book, my ledger, and my reminder receptacle. I am trying to prioritize PEOPLE over work, even if I "think" I don't have time.

Case in point - Saturday, January 9th, my excursion to the City with Cynthia.

If anyone has a busier schedule than me, it's Cynthia, my friend from the Big J days- and it had been way too long. We managed to find a hole in her schedule and mine, a relatively good winter weather day, AND an activity that was affordable AND off the beaten tourist trap.

Cynthia's New Year 2016 rang in with probably the WINNING-IEST of photos, as she was working in Times Square as part of the event crew for the ball drop. Here she is on the rigging ABOVE the ball. Yeah. Hard to top that unless you are a pyro-tech, an aerial photographer, or one of the actual talent.

photo c. Cynthia

We both traveled into the subways at Times Square where I loitered under the Lichtenstein so long waiting due to delayed trains the transit cops began to get suspicious, I had three separate groups of people ask me for directions/ Metro Card help, and I came SO CLOSE to attacking a poor kid who is being trotted out by a Tiger Parent to pound away on a plugged-in Casio Keyboard to be a Tourist Honey Trap and shill for cash in the guise of being a "pianist." Because my goodness, the muscle memory in my fingers started twitching, my not-quite-perfect-pitch ears were ringing in agony, and my mother's AND my piano teacher's voices were screaming in my head about intonation, rhythm, ar-ti-cu-la-tion, and E-MO-TION. (In short, he's bad. DO NOT TIP HIM. Because he may be raising money for his family, but he is not doing the world a favor in the muuuu-sic department.)

Off we went down to the South Ferry stop. (Unfortunately, the OLD South Ferry station on the subway, because the beautiful new one had been wrecked during Hurricane Sandy.) We wended our way north and headed over looking for Stone Street. (Again, Mom, you'll appreciate this. I got my bearing faster and was reorienting Cynthia, a person who has been in NYC longer than me AND regularly works gigs in and around Wall Street. ME!)

Before we got to Stone Street however, we found Faunces Tavern - the oldest building in the City and a historic landmark.

After oohing and aahing at the history and architecture, we looked at the menus posted outside. Brunch was the order of the day, and since it's still a working restaurant,  the area was quiet, and we figured when would we have the chance again - we ventured in and it was so lovely.

There are two sides - the Tavern and the Bar. We ate over the Porterhouse Bar section, which was lovely and quiet and warm so we could catch up. We did NOT do the prix-fixe menu. It just doesn't make economical sense when you aren't drinking the mimosas or Bloody Marys.

I don't know what George Washington or his troops would have thought that I ordered a vegetarian chick-pea burger, with beet-root hummus, and a frisse salad with a side of fries,

 or that Cyn got a bunch of (day-themed) bison sliders,

and that we split them.

I don't how we timed it so well, but we finished up just as the bar filled up for Jazz Brunch.

For being the oldest building in Manhattan, the ladies room was well-appointed. Tight, but well-appointed.

Yes, I took pictures of the ladies room - because I loved the touches. The old tiles. The in-set sinks. The old gas lamp pipes retrofitted with Edison bulbs and cages.

But I REALLY loved this vanity. This wasn't the only old iron Singer Sewing Machine base that we'd seen used as a table base or seat, but I love the fact that the pedal was there, and that there were still things in the notions drawers on the side.

We did make it to Stone Street, which looked MUCH different than my last visit with Amelia and Christine. (Seriously, these were the crowds on Stone Street on Saturday afternoon.) I love exploring New York when the "crowds" are like this. You can be leisurely and focus in on a lot of things.

Cyn doing a selfie with the Bavaria Bier Haus Lion. I may have ambushed him with a full-body hug, but you have to catch the elusive Nettie photo-ops when they happen because I will not redo them. NOPE. I am no fool.

If you want an UBER fancy Brunch in the Wall Street area, apparently Harry's Cafe & Steak at Hanover Square is your bet. Yes, I took a picture of the menu. Because you have to see that there is a  place where Kobe Beef becomes affordable after what Porterhouses for Two go for. This IS the Financial District after all.

And then we went around the corner and I just stopped - because DELMONICO'S.  

THE Delmonico's.

 I mean, History.

We then walked up Williams Street and I turned into an architecture geek. There are so few pockets of ye olde New Yorke/New Amsterdam left, and this triangle of New York has seen so much and been part of so much of it - even within the last 15 years.

 Look at the windows. Look at the ... okay. I will stop.

As we got closer to our destination, I also kept finding little notable things like these horned seahorses,

 And my, what big ... globes you have there...

 Before heading up the stairs to the Smithsonian, we had to really think about this bench.

 Or not. (Neither of us won the lottery that night, but things aren't that bad.)

Cynthia's a good friend. 

She laughs at my jokes and thinks I'm funny.

Even when I make her walk some of Battery Park in the dusk and then we fly off in different directions as the work-week resumes.

Look, Lady, here's hoping we both get some Liberty soon to do it again.

  

And that we get as lucky with the crowds and weather.

 ~ photos by iPhone

Emily's Big Adventure II - Return to New York

This fall -- no, this YEAR -- is passing by too quickly. It was *just* Good Friday, when my "niece" Emily and her mum Wendy took their first duo Tours by Auntie Nettie (patent pending). They then booked a return trip for the first fall school holiday, Columbus Day. Well, that day came and went, along with Halloween, Election Day, and Veterans Day, and now I'm finally getting around to blogging about it!

Weather wise, Columbus Day turned out to be everything that Good Friday was not, namely, dry, clear, sunny, humidity free, and warm. It was GORGEOUS. Clear and sunny, with highs reaching the low 80s! Perfection. So perfect that I am glad that we didn't have plans to spend time inside at shows. Wonderful fall days like this are in short supply, so you take advantage of them while you can.

Since it was so wonderful, we decided to walk most of the day. After meeting in Grand Central, we headed out to travel 42nd Street. I wanted to show them the Public Library, the lions, and Bryant Park before heading up to Central Park and the Upper West Side for a special behinds the scenes tour of a local drama program where I may or may not have connections.

My loose plan for the day was to be away from the Columbus Day Parade route as soon as possible. I had forgotten when the parade started, and was grateful to learn that it was later than I remembered. We were therefore, able to take our time on our rambles. All the better for Ms. Emily to use her recent birthday present to document the day.* (She's 13! Can you believe that? Neither can her mother.)

Here's Ms. Emily taking in the sights of the Library. (Moments like then when she was standing still and quiet were few and far between.) The Library was closed for the holiday, so we went around the block and explored Bryant Park. I managed to get the pair of them to pose for me in a garden arbor.

Bryant Park usually doesn't have pergolas, patios, swings, fire pits or pretty verandas like this. This was a corporate promotion, made possible by Southwest Airlines. Already at 10:30 in the morning, it was full of New Yorkers and tourists alike taking advantage of this wonderful outdoor living space - things that 95 percent of us don't have. We took our time exploring while we waited for Le Carousel to open.

Emily may be 13 now, but we totally had to circle around the Park until the ride opened so she could get on ... and then she not-so-patiently waited for the nannies, mommies, babies, and toddlers to take the first ride so she could get on and ride the frog that she'd been eyeballing.

Look at the smile. Look at the mugging for the camera. I have lots of video that I still need to edit of her on the ride. Every time she went around there was another pose. Wendy and I had to laugh. She may be 13, but that was an indication of how the day was going to be. A big kid in years, but still wanting to be a little one for a while longer.

One of my favorite parts of Bryant Park was the itty bitty outdoor library and reading room for the little tiny kids that come with parents, or more likely, the nannies. Even the park chairs were scaled down. It would have looked weird for me to go over and look at the books, and besides ... Emily was ready and raring to go to the Big PARK! Central Park.

We headed up Broadway, stopping in practically every single ticky-tacky tourist shop looking for NEW YORK sweatpants (to no avail), getting pretzels and liquids, and then dodging those annoying carriage ride and pedi-cab vendors, to get to Central Park. We wound our way in ... ending up at the Heckscher Playground. While these are only two of the photos I have of Emily playing there, Wendy and I spent a lot of time "resting" while Ms. Em crawled through concrete structures, claimed the castle, scampered up the native rock slope seen in the background, and then tried to get a turn on a tire swing. In the meantime, Wendy and I caught up, re-hydrated, watched lots of fathers take their turn with their offspring (since it was a holiday) - some who were better at than others, got an eyeful or more of very uninhibited kids running through the water features, and then watched Emily try and deal with Big Apple kids. Even though they were younger, they did not give an inch to this "big kid" and Emily never did get a ride on the tire swing, though I think she did get to swing once or twice on a regular swing. Eventually it was time to head out and look for food.

My original plan was to end up at what used to be the Tavern on the Green restaurant and get some food from the food trucks now allowed to set up shop there. Unfortunately, the options didn't work for us (though the bathrooms were needed), so we headed out to a local West Side diner to eat before getting our tour.

Due to the nature of our behind-the-scenes tour, there are no pictures. I just hope Ms. Em enjoyed what she did get to see, and it gave her some ideas for the future. We have tentative plans for another return trip in the spring to see some productions at this venue.

After the requisite stop at the Gift Shop (again, no sweatpants), back to Central Park it was. We headed north toward the Delacorte Theater and Belvedere Castle. Before we could get to the Castle however, we got sidetracked. Emily wanted to go play in the Diana Ross Playground, so Wendy and I got to rest some more, watch a pick-up co-ed soccer game of the cutest toddlers ever, and watch Emily futilely try to get on yet another tire swing. As a consolation later, she got a Popsicle from a Central Park ice cream vendor, which we enjoyed at the base of the Castle stairs.

Wendy is not going to be pleased that I'm posting this one, but tough: Old Friend Privilege! Because we spent so much time at the playground, we missed the cut-off to go in the Castle, but the views of the Turtle Pond, the Ballfields, and Delacorte from the Castle landing were gorgeous on a pseudo-Indian summer evening.

Ms. Em picked our paths through the Park, and we ended up rambling part of the Ramble. This was a first for me as well. I tend to get lost in the Park, so stick to the main drags. My little print-out map wasn't so good, but as long as I could get my bearings off the skyline and sunset I knew we were. There is a GPS "app for that" of Central Park, but none of our phones were smart enough for that. Which is fine. When your head isn't pointed down at a tiny screen of a phone, you can point the tiny screen of your digital camera at things like this ... boaters on the Lake. If you look closely, you can see the diversity of New Yorkers in rented paddle boats. There were gondolas out as well, and there was a traffic jam under the bridge as the pilots steered their ships to shore before the light was gone.

Ramblers in the Ramble or Rabble Rousers? -- at the Stone Arch

You would think that with all the dining options in New York I would have had better plans for dinner. I didn't, though. I was waiting to see where the day would end up, plus I had to consider some dietary and budgetary restrictions. We ended up at the same corner of the Park where we started, right at the corner by Columbus Circle ... and then I had a thought.

Part of my "tours" of New York are showing Emily what life is like on a "typical" day. She's seen Grand Central, done the subway, been to my office, and walked my streets. I try to show her that it's not like the movies or television shows. Hanging out in the Parks was a perfect example of what New Yorkers do on days off. You walk. You rest. You read. You eat. You hang.

Since we were so close to the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, I decided to show Wendy and Emily where people shopped on the Upper West Side ... and had occasion to eat. Whole Foods. Not glamorous, sure. But I also figured that with all the options at the dining court, we'd find something that everyone could try and eat without too much gastronomic distress.

After figuring out what to get, we were lucky enough to find three seats together so we could eat. Or, more precisely, Wendy and I could eat. Emily was so busy people watching and listening, I don't know if she actually tasted her food. She got to listen to local college students complaining about classes, heard about every language under the sun, watched mothers finish shopping and then try to feed two kids, and watched and watched and watched until her eyes must have been exhausted. My one miscalculation was remembering it wasn't a holiday for everyone and getting us to the check-out line madness after the rest of the office-drones that had to work had rushed to the market for their dinners.

Dinner done, we exited the madness of the mall to this delightful scene. A PERFECT fall evening at Columbus Circle. Hey -- Columbus on Columbus Day. (Aren't I smart like that?)

No day in New York could be complete for Emily without a subway ride, and she had fortunately brought her MetroCard from her last trip with her. With swipes for all, we headed into the bowels of the system and within minutes was back in Grand Central with time to spare for bathrooms, refreshments, and securing seats on Metro-North back home.

I can't believe how fast time is going. Ms. Emily is 13! 13 is that magical age: when you look at her you can see both the little girl that she was and the young woman she is going to be. Scarey for this "auntie," not to mention her mother!

Aside from her annoying habit of shoving the new camera in your face (*and by that I mean up your nose and blinding you with the flash), it was a delight, once again, to share "my" New York with Emily. I hope she had a good day. Can't wait for the spring, when she can have yet another Big Adventure in New York City. Maybe I'll have finally found those darn sweatpants for her!