Pompeii the Exhibit, New York City

Lobor Day Weekend, 2011

On Saturday, we left home around 8:15, took the 8:36 train to the city, walked ten blocks to the Times Square Exhibitions, and entered the Pompeii the Exhibit around 9:40 on 44th between 7th and 8th Avenues. Along the way, I took several pictures--something I had been planning to do forever but never did.

Having been to Pompeii in October 2010 and climbed Mt. Vesuvius, seeing the exhibit was like being in Pompeii all over again but even more educational and palpable because of the videos that recreated the actual eruption hour by hour on that fateful August day in 70 A.D. Until that day, the Italians did not have a word for volcano. Then it was named after the Vulcan, the Roman fire god. Learned all about lararium, a Roman shrine at homes for their gods. Around 11:40, we left 44th Street and moseyed over to 46 and Madison where according to the New York Times the Brazilian Parade scheduled for Sunday had its pre-parade preparations under way. It was a lively experience with east-west traffic suspended and the north-south traffic was stop even at the green light and then go. Took some shots of the participants.

Then we moved to the 52nd Street Fair between Lexington and 7th. We moved westward from Madison and took in the sights and sounds of the fair. It was all very festive and food and wares from various parts of the world were being hawked. We went to a vegetarian stall and had falafel at $8 apiece. B got himself (I was surprised) and consumed zero calorie coke for the first time and didn’t mind it at all. This was a small victory for me because sometimes when I share his coke, it was always the sugary one. Now it can be my kind.

I did some shopping. A waterproof tote bag that folds into a three-inch by six-inch zip-able purse-like bundle from a Chinese. I also bought a made-in-India Magic Skirt from a Tibetan, which I have had my eye on for a while, but not being a religious shopper but only accidental, until now I didn’t "run" into one. In the next couple of minutes I saw the same thing (?) being sold for $5 less. I felt bad that I paid moreL The skirt can be worn in a myriad ways and comes with a full-page instruction sheet.

From 52nd we walked all the way on Broadway via Columbus Circle to watch the 3:20 p.m. screening of the French movie, "I am glad my mother is alive" at the Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center on 65th between Broadway and Amsterdam. After making sure the movie had English subtitles, we bought the tickets, walked around the area for a few minutes and then went into the theater. It was a nice theater but only a handful of patrons. It was a film based on true story. I learned about the movie only that morning while flipping through the Times on the train. In the city, one can find so many things to do spontaneously. The movie had been reviewed well and I made a mental note that when it came to Malverne Theater near home that shows foreign films, I’d catch it. Never thought that I ‘d see it the same day. I am a planner but I also like nice surprises.

After a cuppa Joe (Hazel Nut for me) and a good size pumpkin cake topped with sunflower seeds--a first of its kind for me--from a deli run by very friendly Afghans on 7th Ave. and at a table in the promenade, we walked back to Penn Station. On the way we returned to the Time Warner-CNN Building across from Columbus Circle, I changed back into my pants from my Magic Skirt, which I had changed into on way to the movie. After enjoying the US Open on a big screen at the Samsung showroom, we caught the 6:45 back home. We had walked a total of more than 90 blocks that day. On the train I wrote a pretty long e-mail reply to a friend and at the end of it, I was completely exhausted. At home had a nice dinner and called it a day.

It was a full and rich day of simple pleasures that set me back about $150 for the two of us--every transaction coincidentally a $26 or $26 and change chunk--but well worth every penny.

Vive la New York City!

Ciao.

P.S. Will try to post the photos later.

Summer 2011, The Earthquake, Hurricane Irene

Summer 2011.
How quickly the months between May through September flew by! I missed my father tremendously, my first summer without him. He used to go with us to the boardwalk every evening. We used to share news stories. Now I see myself reporting to my father the news events that have taken place since he passed away. I often recall his smile and his sense of humor. Often get emotional thinking about him. He loved life and wanted to live longer but this was not to be. Still I mustn’t complain because how lucky for me that he did live as long as he did. But greed is human nature.

My Labor Day Weekend was a grand finale to my summer that was filled with many nice moments in the company of many lovely friends and engaged in several fun activities and even two eventful weeks. First the earthquake on August 23 that I felt around 1:55 pm while I was on a Webinar. The doors to my computer unit rattled and even when I tried stilling them the doors still kept moving. I got a bit spooked, went upstairs only to see my floor-to-ceiling gooseneck lamp in the living room sway, and hear the chimes and the chandelier in the foyer making music. I opened the front door with the intent to flee if things got worse. I saw people across the house on their front lawn but it didn’t look like they had felt the earth move like I had. Within seconds all movement stopped and I cautiously returned to my Webinar only to hear that a few people signed off because of an earthquake in Virginia. I sent a quick note myself saying how I was happy the earthquake wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

On August 26, came dire warning about Hurricane Irene. We were ordered to evacuate. The water across from the house is an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean. Friends called offering shelter. We chose to stay home. My main reason was, if things went wrong around the house I’d be there to correct things that could be corrected to avoid major damage. Secondly, no place on the East Coast was foolproof safe on August 27-28 and finally, the news images of damage in places where Irene that has been downgraded to a category 1 were not catastrophic.

Category 1 downgraded even further Irene still howled on Saturday night and the trees shook violently and I slept very little but prayed a lot. Sunday morning, when I got out of bed, and went into the bathroom and turned on the light, I realized that the power was out. My husband said that it went out at 2 a.m. So, it was about six hours now. I was hopeful that it would return soon. Rarely have we lost power for more than a short while. There was no flooding on the street but soon, the water from the inlet rose and invaded the streets. We wondered if we must block our garage door but with what? Lo, and behold, pretty soon the water receded, too. We have had this situation before too, in the 1980’s during Gloria I think.

We got dressed and went out to check out the damage in the neighborhood. A large tree between our home and the next house had tilted quite a bit pulling the cables with it and a corner piece of our siding, which dangled precariously, but still, stayed attached to the cables. As we walked the streets we ran into others who also had no power. Some broken off tree limbs looked like art work. I picked one interesting-looking piece to decorate my front lawn. On the way, we also used this utilitarian art piece to push the leaves away from the gutters so water could drain. A couple of young mothers pushing their children in strollers informed that we won’t get power back till possibly Friday. This sounded ridiculous. Six days without power? The informer elaborated further that because we did not evacuate as per instruction we were to get power back later than sooner. This just didn’t make any sense. We knocked on our friends’ door to commiserate and gossip-- things we rarely get to do in this fast-paced world. It was fun.

When we returned home, I hoisted my un-commissioned, Irene-provided art work on my lawn and it does look pretty. But one of the worst weather-related experiences I have had was on March 13, 2010. On that day, a heavy thunderstorm knocked down two of my evergreens—one really large and old and the other fairly young and not too large—blew a few shingles off my siding and the basket ball hoop toppled over just missing my cars in the drive way. I don’t recall any serious weather warnings for that one.

In the afternoon we went out looking for lunch. Quite a few eateries were open. We went to Mitchell’s Diner in town. It was a mob scene there. I ran into folks I had not seen in years.

Once I got home I got busy with my editing which I ended just as the sun went down. Still no power, I lit a few candles and after a light dinner, we played Scrabble. Next morning, I decided to take my fridge-borne stuff over to a friend’s in the neighborhood and used her computer to work on my document. Later during my lunch at home, another friend came over to check on me and took me over to her place for a shower. I also transferred some frozen veges to her freezer. Later, I returned home to rescue my home made yogurt in the fridge. Having been locked out unintentionally, of course, by my computer-owning friend, I went o another friend in the next town looking for a home for my yogurt. She also invited me in for dinner later. By now, a nomad, I had several homes willing to shelter me. I was touched.

When I stopped by the house to pick up something, a neighbor informed me that power would be back only on Thursday. Her camper sister-in-law from a nearby town was setting her up with a large ice chest lined with home-made ice packs. I also learned how to make an ice pack and my neighbor loaned me a bunch of large zip lock bags. I brought the demo bag back with me to my friend’s place and left it in her freezer.

To my surprise, power returned on Tuesday around 5 p.m. and over the next two days I retrieved all my stuff and got back on track slowly. Tomorrow: the Labor Day weekend outing.

Ciao!