Fun with Family and Friends
Since then I've caught up with most of my dad's side of the immediate family over two trips to my grandparents' house at Lake Wynonah, and got to spend some quality time with my sister and her boyfriend, who I hadn't had much chance to hang out with. I also got my yearly water skiing in, though the weather was a bit rough so I didn't get to do quite as many laps as usual, alas. With alpine skiing I may only get to go once a year, but I can ski all day two or three days in a row. Water skiing, well, that's a ten-to-fifteen-minutes-per-year extra special treat.
When it comes to smaller groups, I had a great time with my parents, and an aunt and uncle to came to New York City to visit the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My aunt has been teaching art classes at a local school, but I was under the (wildly mistaken) impression that it was all on the, "what shapes are in this picture?" level. Instead, we had our own personal tour guide. Well, maybe not "guide", since we all out ourselves pretty lost in the Met Museum a couple times--but that's the fun of that big building! And it seemed like everywhere we went, my aunt had a story to tell about an artist or a picture. We also made the discovery that modern art is far more fun and interesting when a little bit tipsy--this discovery was courtesy of the rooftop bar, which has some amazing views, a changing array of interesting (if pricey) drinks, and--best of all--very soft fake grass that makes an ideal spot to sit on the ground and share sips of our cocktails. We capped off the day with a delicious meal at Le Paris, a French restaurant (gasp! surprise!) where there was once again a great deal of sharing.
Another weekend saw a birthday evening for a friend. Neline and I met up with a few others at The Meatball Shop in Brooklyn. After we ate, we wandered down to the East River Ferry, where all five of us chowed down on a massive piece of chocolate birthday cake while enjoying the sunset over the New York Skyline, ogling puppies, and spying on the illuminated apartments in the fancy high-rises on the water. Next on the agenda was the wonderfully named Radegast Hall & Biergarten, which had a delightfully old-world feel and great folkish-sounding music (I really must look up the band the birthday girl was reminded of). Worn and weathered wood everywhere! My kind of place...though I didn't spot any "garden". I was tempted to get some mead in keeping with the theme, but opted instead for Crabbie's Ginger Beer since I love the nonalcoholic variety so much. As usual in my case, the alcoholic version added something that wasn't necessarily desired in the first place, but at least it was decent. After that, we finally, finally made our way to the main event: dancing! We headed over to The Woods, a bar with a dance floor, and forked over a small cover charge...but nobody was dancing yet. We hung out for a bit, grabbed a bite from the kitchen and hung out in the garden, and finally got fed up with waiting. At almost midnight, a couple of us went in to get things going. In no time, the dance floor was packed! I had a great time, just wished the dancing had started sooner so I'd gotten more in. We left around 2AM, which wasn't so bad, but didn't get home until 4AM thanks to subway repairs and New York cabs' reticence to drive between Queens and Brooklyn (grr). I slept in incredibly late and only just woke up in time to meet everyone again to go see Boyhood, which was fantastic. For all you movie-lovers, I can't recommend it enough!
I also recently had a long-overdue catch up with Felicia (who I hope doesn't mind that I'm naming her). Obviously I don't have restaurants to recommend from that experience, but I have to say that GoogleChat is a great substitute for Skype...which I'm really only not using because I can't for the life of me remember my log-on info.
Pickles and Books
In blog title-related news, one of my two local grocery stores has started carrying 99 cent deli pickles--you know, the eight-inch-long ones that are so delicious. Needless to say, I'm fighting habit formation! Even stuffed in one of the overlarge plastic containers they provide, they're far easier to carry home than an entire jar of pickles. So far I'm limiting myself to one about every other week. Yeah. I am an adult.
Relating to the other half of my blog title, we recently had another Free Book Day at work. I went a bit overboard, being far less choosy than usual, though I justified this with the knowledge that we will (probably) be moving to our new home before the next one. I'm well stocked up for the next couple years (factoring in the gradual addition of other books).
The loot list:
The Intern’s Handbook
– Shane Khun; The Revenant of Thraxton
Hall – Vaughn Entwistle; Mistborn
– Brandon Sanderson; Tower – Nigel
Jones; Thieves’ Quarry – D. B.
Jackson; The Fire Witness – Lars
Kepler; The Other Typist – Suzanne
Rindell; The Crown – Nancy Bilyeau; Joe Golem and the Drowning City – Mike
Mignola & Christopher Golden; A
Little Night Magic – Lucy March; Dancing
to “Almendra” – Mayra Montero; Dirty
Wings – Sarah McCarthy; Love All
– Callie Wright; The Shogun’s Daughter
– Laura Joh Rowland; The House of the
Four Winds – Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory; The Midwife’s Tale – Sam Thomas; Fairy Tale Queens – Jo Eldridge Carney; Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters – Philip Eade; The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno
– Ellen Bryson; The Executioner’s Heart
– George Mann; The Caretaker – A. X.
Ahmad; Cinnamon and Gunpowder – Eli
Brown; The Water Rat of Wanchai – Ian
Hamilton; The Sea House – Elizabeth
Gifford; A Book of Horrors – edited
by Stephen Jones
I'm especially excited for Mistborn, which I think is one that Felicia recommended to me some time ago. Now I can finally get a crack at it! There are also three nautical/piratey books in there that I can't wait to sink my eye-teeth into.
In what's become something of a tradition, though, I am not going to read any of these books as soon as I finish my current novel. Instead I'm going to crack open what may be one of the most touching gift books I've ever received.
Cadillac
I need to preface this with a tiny bit of an explanation. After a three week break from St. Francis Xavier, I came back to a weird day that wasn't exactly in my top 10. Two of the guests hit on me, and one of them--who I'd considered a friend for several months--said some particularly nasty things that even I couldn't ignore. I told him off far more politely than I though he deserved and thought I'd let it roll off my back, but it kept bothering me to the point that I almost didn't want to go back this past week (though of course I did, because I knew what I should have said last time and was ready in case it happened again).
Now, there's this guy who I see almost every morning when I go under the railroad overpass to take the shortcut to the subway stop. He's always been friendly and polite, wishing me a good day and commenting on the weather, and I'd taken to replying in kind. It was getting ridiculous that we spoke so frequently without saying anything of importance, but I was being stupid about feeling like I needed a reason to stop and talk.
Last week I happened to notice that he had an open notebook beneath his hands as he leaned against the mailbox...and his handwriting was all over it! I didn't even think about it--I just had to ask what he was writing. A quick chat finally opened the floodgates. We introduced ourselves and he told me everyone called him Cadillac. It was the morning, so I didn't have too long to talk--just enough time to find out that he'd had some work published and resolve to look it up. Sure enough, that afternoon I found out that Cadillac was known professionally as Cadillac Man--and he'd published a book, Land of the Lost Souls, about his experiences as a homeless man in New York City (published by Bloomsbury, no less--my upstairs work neighbors!). I immediately added it to my GoodReads list, though I wasn't sure when I'd get around to reading it.
We had a couple longer conversations last week, wandering from general to specific about our lives, our writing careers, the job market, life and death and heaven, Astoria geography. I was still a little wary that another piece of nastiness was going to jump out of someone so friendly and kind, but so far so good. Then, yesterday, he waved me over, asked if I had an "h" on the end of my name...and pulled out a copy of his book, which he'd signed for me! I was so incredibly touched and happy. I just finished my last book today, so Cadillac's book is up next!
Shipping Up to Boston
I think I use that phrase any time I'm taking a trip back to Massachusetts, which is probably too much. Hey, I love that song! Anyway, the 'rents are packing up and will be officially moving from New Jersey to Massachusetts soon. I won't be doing much shipping myself, though I do think I'll be taking myself north to help unpack and settle in. The least I can do is get my bookshelves organized, right? All two of them. Where have all the bookshelves gone?
I haven't seen the house yet, but I'm really excited to. The guest room, which will be my main haunt when we don't have other guests around, sounds lovely from Dad's description, with a windows on three sides (I think). I can't wait to see the historic bits--the narrow servants' stairs to the kitchen, the massive central chimney, the granite-posted basement, the soaring ceilings. I've also put in a request for a visit to the North End for some fantastic Italian food.
If there are any ghosts in the new house, you can bet I'll be writing about them here!
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