Lancaster redux

Earlier this month we returned to the hotel we visited last December, in Lancaster PA, to celebrate my dad's birthday. This time, we were there for an H. family vacation! We enjoyed playing in the pool, visiting the Lancaster Farmer's Market, and a nostalgia-fueled trip to Dutch Wonderland.

Listening to a busker play music

M. loved playing with her big cousin A.!

Getting comfortable in the pool

M. did not last long on that horse. "All done, all done!"

Our darling...dinosaur baby?

Growing Things

Our baby is growing and changing every day. What a joy it is to see this little person doing her thing! It's hard to capture the way she looks, since her expressions are always changing, and also, she has no neck. Can't wait for her to start smiling!

While Maddie has been growing inside, I'm supposed to be growing things outside. My mom brought us a planter with herbs and some cherry tomatoes, to supply us with summer foods. Alas, as you probably know, I have a black thumb and have never succeeded with plants. So far (and it's August), the tomato plant has yielded a LONE TOMATO. Here it is:

In this case, the harvest is pitiful, and the workers are...cute (forgive me).

Even worse, as you can see from the picture above, I let it overripen on the vine! Nevertheless, a sweet mouthful to be enjoyed. There are still many green tomatoes on the plant; let's hope they ripen soon, and that I remember to gather them!

back in action?

I am slowly re-emerging from a summer of all-consuming, all-intensive language teaching. I didn't intend to take a complete hiatus from blogging, but I guess I'm not surprised that it happened anyway. I'm often overly ambitious about piling on activities, social events, and travel during periods of academic stress. This summer, I toned it down and just focused on getting through each day, trying to have a normal conversation with Dave before bed, and then sleeping! Even then, I didn't always succeed, but at least I never got sick.

But now I'd like to get back into updating this blog! I briefly considered abandoning it entirely: I've got a long and intimidating list of things to write in this upcoming semester, and the fewer distractions, the better! But I do love looking back on the record of the things I do write up, and the challenge of finding visual material to enliven that record helps me think and grow in new ways. Besides, we all need to take a break from work every once in a while!

So here's a quick catch-up on some highlights from the summer, starting with May:

The dress rehearsal for my choir's spring performance (all Beethoven) at Carnegie Hall! I've decided not to rejoin this choir in the fall (too much to do), but I'm glad I had the chance to participate last year.

U2 concert at Madison Square Garden – the band is on the near part of the stage, and the spotlights are about to come on. 

Our tenth college reunion!

 Paint Nite with Katie and Julie in Manhattan

 Dave and I recently discovered Cedarmere, the summer home of William Cullen Bryant (of Bryant Park fame). It's a little estate on Roslyn Harbor, perfect for a picnic!

And now it's on to fall. But first – Dave and I get to go on vacation! We're headed to Costa Rica for a week. More pictures when we return!

a taste of summer

Lest I give the impression that it was all work and no fun, I want to share a few highlights from July! First, I ran my first race in New York City! It was a four-miler in Central Park, and it was Julie's first race ever. Even in the July heat, she did an amazing job!

Triumphant at the finish line!

The fun group of girls we ran with. After the race, we had a relaxed picnic in the park on a perfect afternoon.

A few weeks later, S. came to visit, and we had a busy NYC-LI weekend. We tried out a trendy restaurant run by a friend from her youth group, Contra. It was delicious, but not so filling that we didn't want to go for gourmet ice cream sandwiches afterwards:

 

Then we went out to North Fork to taste Long Island wines! It was fun to try different wines and learn some of the lingo, and it was very beautiful and peaceful out there.

 We had a seafood dinner by the bay:

And the next day, squeezed in some beach time:

One of the big reasons I'm glad I returned to the east coast is the opportunity to see my dear friends more frequently. Here's to more good times in New York!

the End!

Never has the end of summer looked so good to me. At last, I can say that I have survived my first year on the job! My summer program ended last week, and although there were a number of bumps and hiccups along the way, we all managed to make it to the end in one piece. It was a hard slog (as evidenced by the recent dearth of posts). Looking back, I was probably overly ambitious in deciding to take on learning and teaching a new curriculum at the program at the same time as I was also directing for the first time. Ah well. I think it was worth it, and next year will be better all around, I expect.

Now that the program is over, I can look ahead and rejoice in the months to come. Dave and I found a beautiful new apartment, just 1.5 mi from Stephen and Grace. I can walk to a train station with a great train schedule, and Dave will have convenient highway access for his driving commute. We'll both still have long commutes, but we'll see if we can make it work. Dave doesn't start his new job full-time until November 1, but we'll be able to be back and forth together sometimes, which will make things much easier. Our apartment has a guest room and plenty of space, so, loyal readers: come visit us, please!

Here are a few snapshots from my summer program:

Caffeine was necessary. My mug is on the left; my colleague's on the right. Do you like my "Mr. Tea" infuser? I kept by my vow to stick with tea (not coffee) all summer!

 We discovered the über-pretzel at Reichenbach Hall. It was as glorious as it looks.

 Students compete with faculty in our annual verb-conjugation throwdown.

 Students decipher the text on a manuscript.

Students check out the real deal at the Morgan Library and Archives.

a happy fourth

Dave came out to Long Island for a long weekend over the 4th of July. We had planned to drive and meet some place in between Michigan and NY, but his car was acting up, so he used miles to get a last-minute flight to NYC! It was our first opportunity to explore Long Island and see what kind of fun there is to be had. Apparently there are some famous beaches around here:

I feared that Jones Beach would be a cesspool of humanity, but even on a holiday weekend, we were able to find a nice patch of sand right near the water to call our own. You can play shuffleboard for $2! We didn't try it, but maybe next time.

the elusive sand crab

We contributed to the household by setting up Stephen and Grace's new grill and giving it a try:

 Time to learn how to grill! Dave and I are already talking about the possibilities – paella? pizza?

Then we checked out the Long Island Aquarium. Verdict: it is expensive, feels very manipulative, and suffers from an identity crisis, but if you're already in the Hamptons and need to take the kids somewhere, acceptable. Mainly because of the awesome shark tank. But before you get to the shark tank, you can enjoy many experiences that can be upgraded for a small fee. There was a butterfly habitat (entirely sunless and indoors) that was being run by one lonely entomologist. When I expressed interest in entomology, he was so happy to talk that he invited us into his lab to check out the pupae and chrysalides. 

There was one particularly friendly butterfly...

...that went in for a kiss!

For a small fee, you can feed the birds some seeds in a sunless, indoor room:

The Snow White moment I've always wanted, procurable with just a small fee:

 We also explored Port Jefferson, on the North Shore. There was a rather scenic bay, and you can see the ferry to New Haven in the background:

 All in all, a lovely Long Island weekend.

Epic Philly Weekend

I'm on the Greyhound back to New York, tuckered out from a packed anniversary weekend! Dave and I were determined to be tourists in Philly this weekend, taking in the historic sights, eating out, and paying for parking. We paid for parking multiple times and didn't even fight about it! Life progress.

On Saturday, Dave and I went to check out the historic sites in Old City. Though we wanted to act like tourists, we neglected to plan like tourists, so many of the tours were already booked up. We did, however, get to visit Old City Hall and the old Congress Hall. We missed Independence Hall, and the line for the Liberty Bell was too long, but we achieved at least one goal: an encounter with the visitor center's mascots.

Then we fulfilled Dave's longtime dream by visiting the U.S. Mint. I have an intellectual block in which I can't deal with anything having to do with coins, but the visit was actually pretty interesting. I guess in theory, numismatics is interesting and important. It's just when I come face to face with a coin that I want to run away. I took no pictures of the Mint. We do, however, have other touristy pictures: the Barnes Foundation, Logan Fountain, and Elfreth's Alley.

The primary reason we were in Philly was to celebrate the wedding of my lovely friends, A. and A. The ceremony and reception were held at Bartram's Garden, a beautiful historic garden just off Island Avenue. It was peaceful and rustic, yet convenient to I-95. Who knew? The weather was absolutely perfect, as is the couple. The collage below includes a picture of the bride doing a traditional Greek dance to bouzouki music with her parents!

We spent our actual anniversary at the Philadelphia Zoo. It felt like summer's already in full swing, with the hordes of children, warm weather, and my craving for ice cream.

And finally, let's talk about food. Cheesesteaks from Tony Luke's (whiz wit', please), real Italian hoagies, Franklin Fountain Ice Cream, an 11-course tasting menu at Serpico, and "Choo-choo Train," my favorite Vietnamese restaurant whose real name I can't pronounce. Ah, the tastes of home.

A Day at the Park

My cousin Christina and her husband Peter came up to Queens specifically to celebrate the anniversary of the World's Fair in NYC. They invited us to join them, so Stephen, A., and I headed out to Flushing Meadows Corona Park; it was my first time to the sprawling complex of professional sports facilities, recreation areas, parkland, amusement rides, the zoo, the gardens, the museum, etc. It was quite the scene!

One thing that has been nice about this period of living in New York is that I'm learning a lot more about the outer boroughs. I haven't been to the Upper West or Upper East side very often at all. Instead, I'm learning the neighborhoods in Brooklyn, eating in Flushing, and here, observing the wonderful diversity that can be found in the public spaces of Queens. I always think of living in New York as being impossible for so many reasons, but it really is a different experience outside of Manhattan.

The Unisphere, which I totally thought was just a movie prop. Turns out it's very real.

The siren song of the carousel

Someone had a very good time on the carousel!

I *met* Mr. and Mrs. Met! <wince>

This is the incredible panoramic scale model of New York City in the Queens Museum. It's 100 feet:1 inch, and they keep it updated. There are little airplanes that land at and depart from La Guardia, and the lights simulate from dawn to dusk. I'm standing basically over Coney Island; that's Manhattan towards the top left, with all the tall buildings surrounding the "empty" rectangle of Central Park.