Country Girl

Tomatoes - Not For Me

2009-07-15T16:11:00.002-05:00

Well, unfortunately, my indoor tomato plants have failed again. :( Two out of three have died, and the remaining one has no blossoms. Sigh. I think I may have goofed when I put in a fertilizer stick into the pots. They did not react well. Next time I'm breaking one of those sticks into thirds before I try it again!

On the brighter side, I have had a bumper crop of mint, some good turnout of basil from a plant that is on its second year, and parsley and some lettuce. I need to sow some more lettuce seeds soon, so I can actually have enough for salad!

I also bought a chocolate geranium plant which seems to be fairly happy. I can't find my camera, so no pictures for now.

In spite of no-show tomatoes, it is very satisfying to be able to eat some food from my own indoor garden. What a great feeling!!

Spring Is Here!

2009-04-07T14:16:00.003-05:00

"Spring has sprung, da grass is riz, I wonder where da birdies iz?" This is a little poem that my father used to recite. I tried to do research on it, and could only find that other people's parents also told it to them, and nobody can find any information on it! Oh, well.

I've cleared out my sunroom (well, it's a lot clearer than before), hung pictures and have my plants in the windowsill. Soon I'll post a picture. It's a bright, pretty room and should make a wonderful retreat, though it does get very hot in the direct sunlight!

I'm growing lettuce, basil, parsley, mint, marigolds, one golden pothos plant and some English ivy, which is trailing wonderfully. I will get a plant hanger soon so it can trail down to the floor and elsewhere. It is so much fun to grow food! There's nothing like having a salad and knowing that part of it came from your own garden. I'm going to try tomatoes again this year and see if I can get them to bloom and produce fruit. Perhaps some fertilizer will encourage them. Everything else seems to be quite happy, even though they are growing indoors. Perhaps some flowering annuals will be good to get, too, just to brighten up the room more. And another pot of marigolds.

It's fun to read the garden section of our local Sunday newspaper, though most of the advice is for people with backyards. I'm hoping that eventually more and more city people and apartment dwellers will be interested in growing plants indoors and more attention will be given to that endeavor. Why should people with houses have all of the fun?

Happy gardening to all!

Winter Wonderland

2009-01-12T13:02:00.003-06:00

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? Oh, dear, life just got sooooo busy. I am now working two part-time jobs, as well as trying to create an indoor garden!

This Chicago winter is living up fully to its reputation. For the past few years, we've had a decent amount of snow in December, only to have a ridiculously mild January. Well, that pattern seems to be over! This past weekend we ended up with a 10-inch snowfall in 24 hours, with only 1-3 inches predicted. Take that, weathermen!! Today we are under a winter weather advisory and blizzard warning, with a few more inches of snow predicted. It's beautiful, but hard to drive. My car has been stuck several times. This week we will have subzero temperatures, which will ensure several days at home for a while.

So far this winter, I've bought rock salt, two snow scrapers, a snow shovel to keep in my car, and a de-icer for my door locks. I've used everything but the de-icer.

Living in the city, I do not have a fireplace, something which belongs in every country cabin, right? But I do have a video of a log burning - no music, no sound other than the crackling of the fire. It's wonderful to watch, or just to have for background scenery. Fireplaces used to be a source not only of heat, and a cooking fire, but also entertainment. After a hard day's work, people would sit and stare at the fire, letting their thoughts unwind from the day's events. It must have been a calming way to end the day, much better than our current stimuli of TV and computers.

And now, the garden . . .

My tomato plants, which I grew from seed, grew strong and tall with blossoms, but the blossoms never opened. I eventually threw them out. A friend suggested that perhaps they needed a bit of fertilizer, which I think I will try next year.

I have been growing lettuce, which grows like a weed! Also, mint, basil, marigolds, and a new parsley plant which I bought from the store and a golden pothos from cuttings from a friendly woman on Freecycle. My basil is not quite dormant, but when all of its green leaves are gone, I will cut it down to about 6 inches (it's presently about 18 inches tall) and let it rest.

Well, time to go. Among my other activities planned for today, I need to transplant my lettuce and marigolds, and go dig out my car, which I'm sure has been blocked in by the city snowplows.

Keep warm and don't forget the hot chocolate!

How Does My Indoor Garden Grow?

2008-04-29T16:11:00.003-05:00

Well, well! The plants are coming along just fine. The tomato plants are about six inches high with well-developed leaves. I need to transplant two of them badly. They would be done already but I ran out of potting soil and haven't had a chance to buy some more. One of the plants was already transplanted and is enjoying its new home on the windowsill. I gave up on the basil seeds and bought a plant from the grocery store. It was about 4 inches high when I bought it and now is about 8-9 inches high and is growing into quite a bush! Basil always seems to grow well, though it does need a lot of water. I also planted lavender and marigold seeds. The lavender never sprouted (sigh) but the marigold is up and has adult leaves, so it will be moving to a new pot soon. The pineapple mint is also growing very happily, especially when I moved it out of direct sunlight. I read somewhere that they actually will thrive in partial shade. I'll retry the lavender and basil seeds again, but I don't have much hope for them. Unfortunately, the strawberry seeds that came with the planter didn't sprout either. Too bad. Pictures will be coming soon.

It is so much fun to grow food indoors. It makes me feel so self-sufficient!

Starting My Garden

2008-04-09T14:11:00.003-05:00

My little garden is finally in progress. I made a trip to K-mart which had a sale on seeds, and chose tomato, basil, marigold (I just like them, plus they have some insecticidal properties) and lavender to be used for aromatherapy purposes. After doing some research on the Web, I decided to put the planted seed flats on a heating pad kept on low. I planted some tomato and basil seeds only, due to not having a lot of seed flats, then managed to mix them up before labeling! However, doing a quick Google search, I just found a fantastic website, www.reneesgarden.com, which has some great tips and photos on growing tomatoes. So, it looks like my tomatoes (Brandywine) are growing wonderfully (three out of four have sprouted) and my basil seeds flopped, literally. One sprouted up and then fell over. Another sprouted but doesn't seem to be growing. I'm trying to decide if I should give up on the basil seeds and buy a plant at the local grocery store or try again. I want to get the flowers started. My strawberry planter has been seeded, but according to the information on the package it will take quite a while for those seeds to germinate. I check it often and keep the soil moist. I also have a store bought pineapple mint which desperately needs to be transplanted to a larger pot. Maybe tomorrow.

My little sunroom seems to be just the trick for growing plants. At least, the tomatoes and mint think so. It is getting full sun for a large part of the day - well, when it's sunny. I live in Chicago and snow is predicted for this weekend! Aaarrrggh. I like cool weather, but this has been one long winter. (We broke a record a while ago of the longest expanse between 70 degree weather days.)

While searching for writing jobs, I found a couple of good sites for us urban gardeners, with a wealth of information on growing food. The first one is www.urbangardencasual.com and the second, which has a more intensive approach is www.pathtofreedom.com. Both are worth checking out and have multiple links to sites about many different subjects. I even found out how to make a very simple food dryer (www.backwoodshome.com/articles/shaffer58.html).

Growing food indoors, or on a rooftop or patio -what can bring you back to the country more than that?

Moved At Last!!

2008-03-26T13:16:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally did it! I'm all moved in to my new place. It took longer than expected, and I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but I'm here! Hooray!

One thing that I love about my new place is that there is a small sunroom with a great southern exposure to explore all of my gardening desires. It has been a frustration for me to not have good plant capabilities these past five years. I did manage to grow a few plants at my old place in my west-facing kitchen window, and even had a basil plant that did fine during the summer but died away in the winter. My kitties found a new home, so maybe I can grow a few plants without worrying about them being eaten! They really liked my chives plant, much to my dismay. I can't wait to start growing some more herbs, flowers, etc.

I bought a strawberry planter a few months ago. It seems that now is the time to start planting. Mmmm, fresh strawberries! My daughter will love it. Even better, my new apartment is across the street from a garden center, which is a pretty rare commodity in the city. I didn't even know this garden center existed. The local K-mart has seeds on sale this week, so it's time to get started! (I once grew a marigold plant from seed. It must have thought it was a tree, because it grew to about 3 feet tall, but died when I moved.)

Bring some country into your city apartment today by investing in some good plants to bring some nature indoors.

Some great and informative links: www.garden.org, www.kitchengardeners.org, www.helpfulgardener.com

In The Bleak Midwinter

2008-02-05T12:25:00.000-06:00

Ah, winter! A great time to curl up by a fire with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. There is nothing quite like firelight - the flickering, ever-changing light, the warmth, the smell of burning wood, the feeling of a connection with simpler times. But how many of us who live in the city have access to a working fireplace? Very few, that's who!

If your dream house has at least one fireplace, but you're stuck in an urban apartment, don't despair. There are several decent substitutes available.

One trick I've seen is placing candles in a non-functioning fireplace. If several candles of various sizes and heights are placed in the hearth, the soft glow of firelight can be very soothing. Some candles are even scented to smell like burning wood (http://www.vat19.com/dvds/fireplace-scented-jar-candle.cfm).

Another option available is a gas fireplace, though this would not be as popular to a renter as it would be to a homeowner, since it needs to be vented to outside through the wall. It looks very real, though if you are sensitive to gas you might not care for this choice. A freestanding gas stove that resembles a woodburning stove is also an option (http://www.regency-fire.com/).

Electric fireplaces are also available. These are a great option for renters. since they don't need to be vented. A few months ago Target had some on sale, though I have not checked their listings recently.

If your budget does not allow for an artificial fireplace and you do not have an artificial fireplace already built in, a nice low-cost option is a fireplace video or DVD. Pop one of these in your player, light a fireplace-scented candle, and enjoy your book and hot cocoa.

These options probably won't ever completely replace the charm of a wood-burning fireplace. The links above are ones that I found through a quick Google search. There are many products and price ranges available. Enjoy your search and discovery of the products that fit your budget and lifestyle, and enjoy the romantic glow of your firelight.

Gluten, Gluten Everywhere And Not A Crumb To Eat

2008-01-15T20:51:00.000-06:00

Oh, dear, it seems I've neglected my blog for quite a while. I've been yearning to get back to my writing, but I'm in the middle of finding a new place to live, which is quite time-consuming, to say the least. I'll be glad when it's all over!

Anyway, after signing into the Blogspot dashboard, I saw a blog of note and immediately clicked on it. Why? Well, the title is Gluten Free Girl, and it's here on Blogspot. I've been on a gluten free diet for over 10 years, and it relieved me of chronic anemia and irritable bowel syndrome.

So maybe you're asking what is gluten, and why does it matter? Simply put, gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye or barley. And this matters because approximately 1 out of 100 people in the U.S. cannot digest this protein, but don't know it. Inability to digest gluten is called celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Symptoms include fatigue, headaches, bloating, nausea and/or vomiting, among others. The only "cure" for celiac disease/gluten intolerance is lifelong avoidance of gluten.

Fine, you say. I'll just stop eating wheat, rye or barley. If only it were that simple! Gluten is often hidden in foods. Anything that says malt or barley malt is off the list of acceptable things to eat. OK, you've just eliminated most packaged breakfast cereals. Soy sauce, which is usually brewed with wheat, is out. Some soy or barley milks are made with a barley enzyme, so they are out too. Wheat can be added to canned soups, seasonings, or processed meat. Beer is made with barley hops, so goodbye to that. And sometimes candy can be dusted with flour to make it less sticky.

The gluten free diet is complicated and requires constant vigilance, but it's worth it if that's what bothers you. The Gluten Free Girl has so much more information on her blog, plus a list of other gluten-free blogs, which I plan to check out ASAP. So give her site a look and let her know if you like what you see, and tell her where you got the link!

Blogging for Money

2008-01-03T23:50:00.000-06:00

For all of you hoping to make a little money while blogging, www.blogsvertise.com seems to offer a good deal. Sign up at their website, and once your blog is approved, they will send you a "task" - a website or product to check out. Then you write about it in your blog, mention it three times and link to the website. It doesn't matter if your opinion is negative or positive - you just write what you think and submit it for review. Payment starts out small, but can grow based upon certain conditions.

It may not be a way to get rich, but some revenue is better than none! And if nothing else, you'll be supplied with various topics to write about.

Check it out!!

Christmas and Grief

2007-12-26T13:20:00.000-06:00

This year I put up a tree for the first time in 3 years.

I have always felt that Christmas is what you make of it. Your celebrations should be customized to reflect your own beliefs and priorities. For instance, if you don't like the commercial aspect, then exclude commercialization from your celebrations. But celebrate Christmas with passion! After all, it is the "glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all men".

Two years ago I unexpectedly lost my 19 year old son in a drowning accident. Overcome with grief and loss, I did not put up a Christmas tree. Instead, I celebrated by attending 2 candle-lighting ceremonies, and sobbing by my son's grave, telling him he shouldn't be there. In place of our regular tree, I bought a small "memory tree", which is decorated with blue ornaments (his favorite color). We put it up every year. But the regular tree stayed in its box.

Last year shortly before Thanksgiving my mother passed away after a brief struggle with cancer. In the confusion and chaos that followed, the tree stayed in its box for another year.

This year I determined that the tree must go up. Life goes on, as does Christmas, that eternal symbol of hope. I knew that putting up the tree would make it seem like a happy Christmas, even though a "normal" Christmas was gone forever.

In spite of chronic illness, I managed to put up the tree, lights and some household decorations. The house sparkled while I struggled to put aside my sadness. After celebrating with my oldest daughter and grandchildren, I came home and watched some Christmas Eve church services. In the quiet of the night, I was overtaken by a rush of longing for my son. I wanted him here, at home, with his family where he belonged. The yearning was deep, primal. This separation was unnatural; it should not be!

And then, there in the dark, I began to see a tiny glimmer of light. It was something I had known before, but had forgotten, and needed to see again. In this sinful, suffering, sorrowing world, there is a light - the light of the eternal God, who is more deeply involved in our grief than we can possibly know or understand. He is there, He is always there. Emmanuel, God with us - grieving, loving and comforting us.

And I understood that I need to build a new "normal", not only with Christmas, but also with God and others. This is something that I need to do alone, something that others who have not been through a similar experience can or will understand. I need to stop feeling guilty that my feelings are not the same as before my son's death. It is okay to feel differently, to figure out what my feelings are and that they are justified.

And I saw that things will never be the same, but they can be good again.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas - Christian Or Not?

2007-12-17T18:24:00.000-06:00

This morning I heard a discussion on our local Christian radio station about the celebration of Christmas, specifically by Christians. They quoted a gentleman as saying that he didn't believe in celebrating Christmas and tried to ignore it as much as possible, in spite of family members, especially grandchildren, who might expect a little more enthusiasm - and gifts - at this time of year. They asked people to call in and add their two cents' worth, which I enthusiastically did, in spite of being in severe pain from a TMJ attack.

Not celebrate Christmas??!! I've never understood this position. Yes, I know all about the pagan roots of the chosen date for this holiday, the traditions handed down which may have questionable pedigrees, and the extravagance that has overtaken our modern day society in December. But why should Christians abdicate our special day? After all, the very name Christmas (Christ mass) tells us what it's all about. Linus' quote from St. Luke in A Charlie Brown Christmas says it all. "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown". We need to take back what is ours and show the world the real cause for celebration. Gifts and parties are no match for the "dawn of redeeming grace", the pure and holy love of God coming down to sinful man, to touch us and restore us to what we were always meant to be, people with the image of God in our hearts and lives. Our celebrations as Christians should be more joyous, more loving and more celebratory than anything the world has to offer!

The Joys Of Reading A Book

2007-11-24T23:58:00.000-06:00

Recently, Amazon.com announced the release of the newest techie gadget, the Kindle. This wonderful little device will allow access to more than 90,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines. According to a quote on Amazon, "This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere." (Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker). Hmmm, I beg to differ.

Sure, it will be the future for electronics lovers, for the wealthy, (its cost is a whopping $399.00, plus a charge for the reading material itself) and possibly for people who must travel with extensive access to literature. But not for those of us who know books.

What can replace the feel of a good, hefty book in your hands? What can replace the musty smell of something published before 1980? What looks better than gold-edged pages on that pricey hardbound you just had to have?

Can you highlight the words on a Kindle? Can you scribble notes on its pages? Would you be able to read notes left by deceased family members, giving you an insight into their lives? Is this something you want to leave your children on your passing?

Is it the same as curling up in bed late at night, letting the words lull you into sleep? I wonder if finding an old, obsolete Kindle at a garage sale would be half as exciting as finding an 1870 Dickens novel?

No, give me a good, well-bound book any day. Somehow, I just don't think reading Anne of Green Gables by computer light is the same.

Funny Stuff

2007-11-21T18:49:00.000-06:00

11-24-2007 - Hilarious video of a mother's words to her children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

11-21-2007 - Heard on a local news blurb: "News at 10. Last minute tips to save your turkey from a Butterball Thanksgiving expert."

Suzanne and Abigail's Amazing Adventure

2007-10-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

THE TRIP

My daughter Abigail and I took a long-awaited trip to New York this summer. Due to receiving a small inheritance and passing the half century mark, I decided we would celebrate by going on a trip! We decided to go to New York, since my daughter really wanted to see it, and then to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, because I like the country, and then we finished by visiting relatives in the Pittsburgh area where I grew up (go Steelers!).

We drove out to Pittsburgh (really Bethel Park) to stay one night in my mother's house, and then drove on to New York. The Indiana and Ohio turnpike are rather flat until you get to eastern Ohio, and the blue hills of Pennsylvania start to loom in the distance. This is always the most exciting part of the trip for me, the part when I feel like I'm finally home. I've lived in Chicago more years than I lived in Pennsylvania, but I still call Pennsylvania home!

The Pennsylvania turnpike is a different story. I had only been on it as a child and teenager, when vacationing out East with my family. I didn't pay much attention to the scenery then, since it was all I knew. It's a very different experience as an adult. The PA turnpike is wild and lonely-looking, and resembles a scene out of Lord Of The Rings. The road curves almost constantly, and most of the time you are either going through or around a mountain. The thick forest is a constant companion, and the turns afford spectacular views of the countryside and occasional farmland. The scenery is entertaining enough, much better than the sleep-inducing flatlands of Indiana and Ohio.

NEW JERSEY

We stayed in New Jersey for the week, having found a decent rate at Studio 6, an offshoot of Motel 6, which offers small suites instead of basic motel rooms. It was very affordable and saved us a bundle on meals.

New Jersey has one of the most bizarre highway systems I've ever seen! The motel where we stayed was very close to the New Jersey Turnpike, on a state highway. We got off the turnpike at the proper exit, and began searching for the motel. There it was, right on the other side of the highway. We went to the next intersection, which did not allow a left turn. Several intersections later, I saw a sign on the right that said all turns must be made from the right lane. So I moved over to the right lane, no mean feat on this very busy unfamiliar highway, and drove to the next intersection, which had a sign that stated "No turns"!! A few more intersections later, I finally noticed a poorly marked sign that said U-turn. Apparently on this highway, the only way to make any kind of turn was to find an ill-marked access lane to the right, usually before the traffic light, but not always, (just to continue the confusion, I suppose) and make your turn from there. So I finally got to make a U-turn, but ended up passing the Motel 6, having to make another U-turn (which was the last one in East Brunswick - if you missed it, you had to go to North Brunswick to turn), and take the access lane, which crossed the highway again and led to the back of the motel. It was an hour from the time I first spotted the motel until I pulled into the parking lot. (On the opposite side of the highway was a Days Inn, which I swore I would stay at next time, just because it was on the right side of the road.

NEW YORK

The next day we took our first trip in to New York City. We took a local train from Edison, NJ to Penn Station. We skimmed by houses, fields, marshes, and finally entered a tunnel, at which point the air took on a dank, watery smell. We must have been under the river. After deboarding, we climbed a very narrow staircase with our fellow passengers up into the station. I made a mental note which exit we had come from so we could find our way back that evening.

I had printed out some maps of NYC before leaving home. I was thankful that I had them with me. NYC is laid out rather logically (the Lower East Side is exactly that) but having a map of the neighborhoods helps out a lot. Penn Station is at the midway point, if I remember correctly, in Manhattan. After we walked a few blocks the wrong way, we asked for directions to Times Square. A passerby told us it was about 14 blocks away. (BTW, all the people we talked to in New York were very friendly - not at all the rude stereotype). Now. in Chicago, 14 blocks is almost two miles. Abigail and I had already walked what appeared to be about 5 or 6 blocks on our map, but it wasn't a long distance at all. Abigail and I walked our 14 blocks to Times Square, which I think must have been the equivalent of about 5 or 6 Chicago blocks.

NYC is very, very loud. Everywhere. The stores blare loud music, and even the Starbucks, (most of which in Chicago are havens of peace and quiet, where yuppies and boomers alike work and read) played music so loud that we could hardly hear each other speak. Times Square is a hodgepodge of tourists, large and impressive flagship stores and street performers. It's several blocks long, though not too big to walk. We saw the Hershey's store, M & M store (you can see where my interests lie), the Toys 'R' Us store, which actually has a 3-story tall ferris wheel in its atrium and the largest revolving door I've ever seen, which unfortunately got stuck when my daughter and I tried to pass through it. (The doors were so wide and large that we were able to dart out back inside the store when it got stuck.)

I also found out that New York is very, very expensive. I knew that the cost of living is higher than other parts of the country, but the prices were amazing! We ate dinner at a TGIF in Times Square, and the price of a soft drink was $4.95, which would have cost less than $2.00 in Chicago.

While wandering around in Times Square, a gentleman on the street sold us some tickets to a comedy club performance for that evening. After I expressed some skepticism about the validity of the tickets, he was able to convince me they were genuine (apparently, this is a common practice in NYC. After buying my tickets, I saw a couple more street vendors selling similar items). The comedy club was taping for a performance on cable, so I bought the tickets. We wandered around a bit after dinner, killing time until the 9:00 p.m. performance, and then headed to the theater, a little hole-in-the-wall place off Broadway. Like other old cities, a lot of the streets in New York are very narrow, and the east-west streets seem like little more than alleys, except the taxis zip down them at an alarming pace. (While trying to navigate and cross the streets without being killed, I kept vaguely wondering why the cars drove so fast up and down alleys, until I actually looked up and saw the street sign, and realized it was a real street, not an alley). After arriving at the theater, we were escorted with some other people down a narrow staircase to a basement stage with some tables and chairs set up in front of it. I told Abigail going to basement theater is a very New York thing to do. Most of the comedians were very funny, with only the last one being so blue I looked askance at my daughter. A lot of them talked about their religious life, without being profane, something that surprised me. (Typical joke: I'm Southern Baptist, so I told my girlfriend if she got pregnant, I would have to kill her!)

Afterwards, we hied ourselves down to Penn Station so we could catch our train in time, to get back to New Jersey. Another uneventful ride, thank goodness.

NEW JERSEY AGAIN

The next day we went to the Jersey shore. I wanted my daughter to see the ocean at least once in her life. When I was a teenager my family and I vacationed several times in a beautiful little Delaware town called Fenwick Island. I was enchanted by the laid back beach culture and fell in love with the ocean itself. It is so big, so mysterious. so powerful. It's a very good thing to see the ocean.

We drove to a small town called Seaside Park. The day was overcast and misty, which kept the sand from being too hot, and gave some interesting views of the water. But, oh the glorious sound of the waves, the salt tang in the air! I waded in the water and finally convinced Abigail to try it - the enormous waves made her nervous. She became so comfortable that she waded far out enough to let a wave knock her over - on purpose! After rinsing and lots of brushing sand off of ourselves, we went to a local restaurant where I enjoyed a lobster dinner - yum! - though I was embarrassed by my soaking wet jeans, which were damp in spite of rolling them up while wading, and smelled a little salty.

The next day I was tired, so we stayed at the motel, and only went out for dinner. The weather forecast had called for some rain, but late in the afternoon I was horrified to discover that a tornado had touched down in Brooklyn!!! My boyfriend called me soon after I learned of the tornado, and told me that the news were saying that the transit system was a total wreck in NYC. Apparently, several of the subway lines were under water, so the buses and other trains were swamped with people. The police were at Penn Station, the station we had arrived and departed from two days before, for crowd control. I was very thankful indeed that we had not gone into the city that day.

NEW YORK AGAIN

While searching for weather-related news stories online, I discovered that the train we had taken from New Jersey on Monday had broken down on Sunday while in the tunnel, and had to be evacuated. So I searched for a different means of transportation, and decided upon the Staten Island ferry, which was already on our to-do list because it provides some great views of the Statue of Liberty. We drove to Staten Island, crossing a very long, high bridge to do so, and parked at the ferry station. Staten Island is a very pleasant little suburb, older looking and very hilly, and reminded me a bit of Pittsburgh suburbs. The ferry runs very frequently and is free. We waited with a group of people in the station, and boarded when called. The ferries have several decks available, and we chose an upper one so we could see the bay. The lower decks have coffee shops in an inner area with windows, and also have outdoor seating near the railings. There is ample seating for all. The ferry trip was quick and uneventful. The only sounds were the lapping of the water and the conversation of other passengers. What a pleasant, peaceful way to start a workday.

After deboarding at the ferry station and managing to annoy the locals by not figuring out the Metro Card machine, we proceeded to what is known as the Lower East Side. Vendors of souvenirs and all things New York crowded the sidewalks. We bought a couple of things, inquired our way of a local bus driver who was very helpful, and managed to find our way to Central Park.

Central Park has a very distinctive look to it, which I can't quite put my finger on, but since our return, whenever I have seen it on TV or the movies, I have always been able to recognize it. It is much bigger than it appears on a map. There were a lot of people out, joggers, casual strollers, tourists, families, and people playing sports etc. We stopped to watch a group of people filming a scene, possibly for a commercial or print ad and stayed until the people in charge shooed away the large group of spectators. We had arrived on the east side of the Park, and wandered through to the Tavern On The Green, an upscale restaurant with outdoor and indoor seating, where we enjoyed a lovely, albeit expensive meal. (When the busboy arrived to pour our water, I was asked if I wanted some Fiji water, which I of course opted for, having tasted it before. They brought a liter bottle and poured it into a glass, and left the bottle with me. Afterwards, I was horrified to find that the bottle cost $8.00!!! So, after we finished, I poured what I hadn't drunk into the bottle, and took it with me. You can tell we're from Chicago!) There were carriage drivers waiting outside the restaurant after we left, but it was just too expensive, so we continued our stroll through the Park to the west side. Abigail had been longing for a portrait done by a street artist, so we stopped at a group of them made up primarily of Asian gentlemen, and got her portrait done. She is a good subject since she is so pretty! Afterwards we strolled down Fifth Ave. and then took a taxi to the ferry station, and had another peaceful journey across the bay.