Waiting to Get There. Usually on the A/C/E in Chelsea, New York City.

 We were at a restaurant the other day. When we sat down at the table, our silverware was wrapped in a nice cloth napkin, so I put the napkin on my lap.  Silverware wrapped up in a napkin. After the salad, they cleared away all the dishes and also the silverware. Because our waiter was good like this, he brought over some more silverware, also wrapped in a napkin. I tossed the second napkin on my lap, forgetting I already had a napkin on my lap. Fast forward and when we get up to leave, I put my napkin on the table, stand up, and a napkin falls on the floor.  !!!!!!!! WHAT just happened? I check the table, yup. There's my napkin. I look on the floor, there's my napkin. It would have been hella confusing even without the martini.

 I was texting with Cora and told her Tom had been working on some stuff all morning. She asked what he was up to the rest of the afternoon, because you know. Everyone is curious how a retired guy spends his days: Tom trying to take a photo of a mirror without being in the mirror. Tom had seen a sub-reddit of #Fails to this end, and thought he'd give it a go himself.  I'm not sure if he's going to continue to plug away at this, or if he's thrown in the towel.

 So this whole thing started when Maria sent an urgent text from Stockholm. She said I simply must go see Tango in the Dark, featuring tango dancers from Buenos Aires. They were coming to the Joyce Theater up the block from us. She had seen them in London and the audience was standing on their seats at the end.  Maria fires a flare into the air. Tango in the house! tbh, I had no intention of going to see this show. First of all, I got confused and thought it was already over. Second of all. There is no second of all, I thought I'd missed the show. Then I randomly walked by the Joyce, read the marquee, and realized I was mistaken. I had not missed Tango After Dark. It was currently playing.  I went online and all the shows were sold out. So back to square one, I had missed the show.  But then I noticed a Saturday matinee. With 1 (one!) ticket remaining.  I know! This blog post is pure adrenaline-fueled ups and downs! I wasn't going, I am going, I can't go after a...

 OK so I did march right into the men's bathroom and mentioned this to Bruce while we were texting about important other things and thus I was distracted:

We drove up to Garnet Hill Lodge Friday night and woke up to this view:  View from our room at Garnet Hill Lodge Of course I immediately connected the dots to Casper David Friedrich . I know, I'm quick like this: Right?! Striking similarities except i was not wearing a green velvet traveling suit. Or standing upon a rock. We used to go skiing *a lot.* Like every weekend. For years. So lately, at the beginning of every trip when it's been maybe a year since the last time I had skis on my feet... I have this moment where my head is, LETS DO IT! And my body is thinking, hmmm, it's been awhile.... maybe be sensible about this, old lady. Thus, there's decisions that are surprisingly difficult: hmmm, which way to go? I remember being up at Garnet Hill with my brother and Tom years ago and going up and down Skull Buster. Up and down, over and over. Hooting and giggling and let me tell you why: Until this trip, I woulda swore Skull Buster was called "Skull Crusher." I...

So this whole conversation started maybe years ago, during the pandemic early days when Tom and I took an art appreciation class from Great Courses . We loved this class. I learned all about the Romantics and that might be when Casper David Friedrich first came up in one of my conversations with Bruce. He loves this one painting: the main favorite painting Bruce loves by Casper David Friedrich - a Romantic. It is pretty great, yeah. I have been texted this painting a minimum of eight times by Bruce because it is surprisingly relevant in a wide variety of text strings. So natch, as soon as the Met catalog came in the mail, I was on it like white on rice. I texted Bruce immediately. WHAT?! CASPER DAVID FRIEDRICH is at the MET! I said, OMG we have to make a plan right now! Maybe opening day? Bruce was like OMG absolutely not. Because: opening day was on a Saturday and last time Bruce and I went to the Met on a Saturday, there was a line snaking down 5th Avenue past the entrance to the par...

 In the morning, at the crack of 11:15, I got my life together and hustled downtown to meet up with 3/4 of the book club. Danielle's oldest friend Jess had planned a city-wide scavenger hunt as a birthday surprise. At first I thought it was a normal scavenger hunt where everybody hunted around the city for clues laid by some professional party planner.  No, this was not that. We were not to be the hunters... but the hunted. Yeah, so Jess told the lot of us that we needed to come up with a location for Danielle to find us at, and then a clue to get her there. She said the clue didn't have to rhyme.  I immediately hooked up with the rest of the bookclub and suggested we work as a team because this felt like a series of tasks requiring skills I do not possess. We broke down the labor as follows: Audrey put our clue on this adorable card: Can you even imagine a cuter clue? Casey set up the location. She had cupcakes and candles and a trail of cute poofy flowers leading Daniel...