so I guess I’ll write about my trip to New York.

It’s hard coming back to my real life after visiting that city, especially when my real life adventures since I’ve returned have included a chest cold and a mid-life (maybe it’s just because you’re getting older) knee situation.

New York Blog Post
I went. I had a lot of fun. Now I’m back.
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Okay, I can think of more to say. It’s not that I didn’t have a wonderful time, it’s more that I’m back here on the “lower east side” of Toronto and I feel a bit melancholy.

Sure, I live a hip life in downtown Toronto. Nice restaurants and shopping surround me. The theatre district is just few minutes away — as is the ever important Tim Horton’s. But it’s not the same.

In New York I:

1. Saw Angelina Jolie. (Not all that thrilling but it doesn’t happen walking down the avenue here.)
2. Walked by a lovely little lake framed with trees and the buildings that surround Central Park. (Yes, one did have to watch for strollers traveling at rather high speeds — man, are there ever at lot of high-end strollers — and Moms who need to be somewhere NOW — there!)
3. Asked the guard at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden if she ever had to deal with crazy flower people. (Indeed she does all the time and she told me about a few of the regulars.)
4. Chatted a length to another guard — this time at the at the Brooklyn Museum — about her thoughts and personal feelings about The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. She was a spunky little woman (and I’m short) who was full of Judy Chicago insight and dare I say fervour . To say she looked like an extra right out the Sopranos would be a cliché — but hey, this is my blog, not literature — and it paints just the right picture. She told me I would ‘get it’ but it would take some time — maybe I had to come back. (Indeed, I did get it. Like the good feminist I am, I’ve read about it, but I guess I expected to be really really moved or something.)
5. Ate several delicious meals. (Including another visit to Bellavitae, where everything was terrific except for the asparagus dish that looked and tasted like little dirty twigs.)

Side note. No matter whether I’m in New York or at home, I’m a magnet for conversations with people — people just burn (burn I tell you) with desire to exchange pleasantries with me. In Toronto it tends to be coffee shop people (the topic of an upcoming post) and streetcar drivers and in New York the recent anecdotal evidence points to guards. We did have one not-so-nice guard experience. My friend J. tried to sneak into the courtyard of the Dakota. She did not meet with success and the guard — in this particular guard interaction — was rather brusque.

The illustration is pretty descriptive and the “not ideal” refers to my thoughts about the attractiveness of window a/c units.

I had a wonderful trip with my friends: A., E., J., K. and K — and I hope they did too.