Client umbrellas

Hi Mom,

The way to get around New York in the rain is with a client umbrella. These differ from the three dollar sort or even the bought at the department store sort, because these are huge and made to cover important people. You'll be able to pick them out right away as you walk down the street, because they often have a fancy double lip to allow for runoff, appear to be able to shield an entire infield were they to huddle together, and are made of a material that unflinchingly stands up to wind and sheets of sideways rain.

When you walk down the street with, say, a three dollar umbrella, the kind you get from a vendor kind enough to appear just as you've resigned yourself to spending the whole day at work soaking wet because you were too lazy to bring your other three dollar umbrella, you have no chance on the sidewalk. It's like having a Festiva in a field of SUVs. The big umbrellas pick their turf first, the little ones duck under and weave around.

I was running late for a meeting today and left my trusty, twice-used-n0t-yet-broken three dollar umbrella upstairs at work. Someone was kindly enough to loan me a client umbrella (I promised not to break it and hoped for the best). I've never felt so noticed on the New York City streets in my life. Now if I can just get one with a blinker on it for when I'm turning...

Love,
Karen

Mike

Hi Mom,

Got lost in Central Park this weekend while trying to cut straight across from east to west after drinks at the boathouse.

At least the park's large, so I have some excuse. The paths wind around, the trails turn suddenly, things like that. We wound up by a fishing pond, some really wooded areas, and what looked like an aquaduct. I love that after more than four years of living here, there are still new pieces of the park to explore. Might consider taking a map next time.

I was showing Mike around; he came down from Boston for the weekend. It was great having him visit. Among our other adventures: sushi, a beer garden, and brunch.

Plus sitting on Brad Belsky's roof drinking red wine.

I'd been trying to get Mike out here to visit for years. Now that he's seen how great the city is, hopefully it won't be too long before he's back. This place is kind of addictive. Oh, and he said to tell you hello!

Love,
Karen

donut, pickle, coffee

Hi Mom,

I ate the best peanut butter and jelly donut of my life today. Didn’t even know they made them. Glad they don’t make them too many more places. Then we went on to pickles. It was all part of a tour one of my friends arranged for her birthday—tasty things to eat and drink on the lower east side. There’s no shortage of said things, luckily, so we dropped in on a coffee place where they grind each cup separately, sending the beans through overhead tubes to make your very cup. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

It rained at night, drowning out my plans to go both to an outdoor museum party and to a rooftop event in Brooklyn. It's amazing how much weather affects life when you walk almost everywhere.

Back to work tomorrow.

Love,
Karen

The dangers of string

Hi Mom,

Today I learned about the dangers of string. It looks docile enough, rolled on its large, clothesline-like spool, but do what I did today and it's something else entirely!

I turned on the vacuum cleaner, part of an initiative to find my floor before my guests arrive. It started whirring and wheezing and doing what a vacuum cleaner does. I think I began to hum, pleased at both my domesticity in that moment and how much better my room would smell when I was done. 

Suddenly the vacuum let out a different kind of cough. I looked down to find that somehow it had sucked up the end of the string; with every passing second, it was inhaling feet of the stuff like spaghetti. I couldn't stop staring. The spool was unraveling quickly, the vacuum mechanically pulling in more and more string. 

When I finished being amazed, I began the process of untangling it, and unraveling three and a half seconds of vacuum cleaner wonder from the brush. I moved the ball of string to the top of my dresser and began again. I was randomly reminded of how I used to stand on the corners of carpets so you could vacuum them without them rolling up. Room looks much cleaner now, by the way.

Love,

Karen

For me

Hi Mom,

Was at one of my favorite coffee shops, gazing adoringly at a drink on the bar I hadn't ordered. I sat sipping my lame iced tea--I like iced tea, but a cappuchino seemed like an even better idea this particular afternoon. Too late. I sat awash in beverage regret.

The woman making the drinks and I struck up a conversation about the different drinks, how funny it was waiting to see who came to get them, how sometimes they got abandoned there, inexplicably, just a few steps from where they were ordered.

I returned to drinking my iced tea, the taste of frothy milk in my head. I may have sighed.

"Hey," she called from the other side of the glass pastry case. "Take it, it's yours." I looked around to see who had been absentee on their beverage pickup. She was waving at me. "Drink it; if they come back, I'll make them another." I gleefully accepted the ceramic mugful of caffinated deliciousness.

Excellent New York moment.

Love,
Karen

Sandwiches

Hi Mom,

Current fascination: Vietnamese sandwiches. Saw this place on my way to the shwarma stand, was instantly intrigued, now very inspired. It's actually a spin-off of a Cambodian noodle shop I like downtown.

I've started spending $2.50 on their blood lemonade, much less the ish $8 for a sandwich. I know, I could buy a loaf of bread, quarter pound of swiss and some mustard for that price tag. Still, as the line snakes out the door and down the block, even eating lunch I feel like I'm part of something (possibly a group of people willing to pay exorbinant amounts of money for a roll with stuff stuck on it).

They had a special side dish involving some kind of root I had never heard of before in my life. I wondered aloud what it could be--thank you sandwich lines in NY, four people looked up from reading their New Yorkers or leaning against the door frames to tell me it was the center of a stalk of fennel. Learn something new every day.

Love,
Karen

More noise, eat pesto

Hi Mom,

Another great outdoors weekend here in the city that still doesn’t realize summer has struck. I’m delighted to report that the weather has stayed cool and crisp, at least, relatively speaking. I spent Friday night listening to the NY Philharmonic, with fireworks that got rained out (but sent us scurrying to a tapas shop, so not all bad there). Central Park, check.

Saturday was a stroll in Central Park, then the African music festival at Prospect Park. To top it off, my friend made homemade pesto for the afternoon of sitting in the sun. The breeze was perfect.

Then, not to let Sunday slip, I played Scrabble in the park. Ben and Sara have the super deluxe anniversary edition, which has wheels, drawers, and click-slots for all the letters. It’s a pretty glamorous board, aside from the fact that the tiles are the wrong color (black, with silver writing) and the double/triple word boxes are also off.

Love,

Karen