Short musings . . .

A sampling of short musings today . . . This weekend brought the first taste of cool weather – by Thursday of this week we’re looking at a high of 66 and a low of 54.  Funny thing this morning, I was walking the five blocks down to Citarella’s – my favorite little gourmet market – in my shorts, tee and tennis shoes.  It was probably around 64, but there was a pretty brisk wind. Most of the people I passed were in pants, many had light jackets. I laughed – I thought it was people in the South who needed jackets and scarves as soon as it dropped below 70 degrees . . .

One of the cool things about living in the city is everything is packaged for small spaces – and the groceries are definitely stocked for the season.  Butter is packaged in four tablespoon servings instead of eight; you can’t find a large jar of mayonnaise. Herbs are packaged in plastic containers half the size of ones you find in Florida and you select your own vegetables from the bin – very few are pre-packaged. I’ve been to five different groceries trying to find Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix for a recipe I want to make – still haven’t found it (everyone says come back closer to Thanksgiving).  :D

It’s been such a blessing to have our friends – Jon and Monica Marshall – up in Connecticut. I’ve known Monica since my days at RTI when she headed the Ketchum team we worked with in Washington, D.C. We stayed friends after I left RTI and she moved to Rome to work for the UN World Food Programme. A few years later, Dana ended up working for her as an intern in Rome and again when Dana joined WFP in NYC after grad school. Jon is a lot like Larry – they both love sports (although Jon likes the Red Sox – LOL). So far in the nine weeks or so we’ve been here, we’ve already been able to see them three times – once for dinner in the city, once for a cook-out at their house in Connecticut – and last night, dinner at our apartment.  It was cool enough outside for me to make clam chowder (with fresh clams from the aforementioned Citarella’s - yum) and a wonderful scallop salad with sautéed apples and potatoes. It was a great evening.

We left Gainesville on July 17 (my birthday), and to date, we’ve only had three days where it rained in Manhattan (and even on those three days, it wasn’t an all-day rain). It’s been extremely dry and much warmer than normal. The forecast calls for some rain this week – so maybe that’ll help ensure we have beautiful fall foliage. The colors of the leaves on trees aren’t as beautiful if it’s been too dry of a summer – hope it’ll be pretty here. Can’t wait to walk in Central Park and see all the colors.

Today I started pulling fall/winter clothes out of storage (a large box in the closet) and putting lightweight summer items away. We’re in pretty good shape with coats and sweaters (I bought a couple of coats and 6-7 sweaters at the end of last season, knowing we were moving sometime in the summer).  We still need to find snow boots – and I’m looking now for another pair of boots to wear with leggings and sweaters. It’s going to be so cool (literally and figuratively) to be able to wear real winter clothes again.

We are now officially New Yorkers – we get the Times delivered to the doorstop every morning. Larry is excited – he’s back to doing his crossword puzzle every day – we even bought a small computer lap desk so he can work on the puzzles comfortably . . . I still can’t quite get used to the NYC 9-5 schedule – literally position descriptions list a 35-hour work week – it’s that way because of commute times, but it’s still weird for me to not leave the house at 7:15 a.m. so I can find a place to park close to the J-School. We’ve been early riser for years – and I literally get ready – and look up and it won’t even be 8 a.m. yet.  Since it’s only a 12 minute ride/walk to work, it gives me time to do a little around the apartment, fix lunch without feeling rushed and bop around on the internet a little.  

So we’re very pleased with the way the transition has gone; haven’t driven a car in 73 days which feels a little weird, but definitely don’t miss sitting in traffic. We’ve gotten into a routine and are feeling pretty settled. Yes, it’s a very different lifestyle – but we’re loving it.