Yesterday was another day of walking around. Denis decided he wanted to get his hair cut at his old barber’s place from when he lived in New York. The barber guys at this shop all seemed to be related and were from Poland or something. While I was sitting and waiting for Denis, one of the other barber guys said I should come over and sit in his chair. I told him I was trying to grow it out and didn’t know what I would ask for in a haircut. He said “a cleanup”. I told him about the Alton Brown thing. He kind of laughed. I don’t know if that’s because he didn’t know who Alton was, or because he thought it was funny, or what. He knew what I was asking for though. First he trimmed the sides and back. Then he said he was going to “texture” my hair. He turned the scissors diagonal and took little chops at my hair on top to make it jaggedy. He said I should ask for this next time I go to a barber. He ended by shaving my neck with a straight razor. It’s an interesting experience, I must say. A little frightening, but a rush when it’s over and you haven’t died. He put pomade in my hair and roughed it up. The pomade had a stronger smell than the Aveda I’ve been using, so I don’t think I’ll switch. The style he gave me looked a little different, but hey, I was in New York, so I just left it.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
While I was still reeling from my haircut, Denis said that Marjorie, a good friend of his from childhood was in town. She was visiting with her cousins in Queens and we were invited to have some dinner. I don’t know what “some dinner” means to you, but there were about 25 or 30 people there, packed into a rowhouse and all talking Filipino. Marjorie was great, and everyone was really friendly, but they didn’t speak English all night. Mostly I just ate some really good food (it was my first time to eat yucca), and sat and smiled.
By the time we took this picture, I was feeling a little dazed. I think it shows 
I didn’t get up crazy early to go shopping yesterday. I really enjoy the Black Friday experience, but I wasn’t excited about it enough that I would get up early enough to be at Best Buy by 4:55am or anything.
Instead, I got to Macy’s by about 10:30am or so. It was incredible! There were so many people packed into that building, I’m sure some fire codes must have been violated. The most exciting thing was riding down escalators where the crowd at the bottom wasn’t moving anywhere. More and more people were piling into each other. I thought for sure there would be a crushing death. I wasn’t out to buy anything, but because of the cold weather yesterday, I got a scarf. It was on sale even!
After Macy’s, we took in some sights. Here I am in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. It’s not lit yet.
We passed by St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so we went in. It was very column-y and weighty inside. I liked it.
Next, a stop at Grand Central Station to catch a subway to a communist restaurant called Republic. Can you spot me in this picture?
And the surprise of the day: Teddy Roosevelt’s birthplace. We just happened to walk by. The plaque said he lived here until he was 15.
We finished the evening by watching The Hitman. Since the theater was in New York and couldn’t go out, it had to go up and down. Screen 13 is underground. Yet another fun experience for a claustrophobe.
I got up at 3am yesterday to travel to New York with Denis. By travelling so early, we were hoping to miss the bad traffic. We did. It was a nice trip. Except it was so early.
We’re staying at the apartment of a friend named Christian. He and Denis know each other from medical school days. Yesterday was kind of a hang-out day. I watched a little Macy’s Parade, then I watched “A Miracle on 34th Street”. I’ve never seen that movie in it’s entirety. Denis and Christian don’t eat turkey normally, so they had some Pork Adobo. I got some turkey legs from the store and cooked them by themselves. They actually came out well. Except I prefer white meat. But at least I had some turkey on Thanksgiving.
Later on, we went on an errand that took us past Chinatown. We stopped at Christian’s favorite place to eat there. The people all knew him. We had crabs in the shell and a whole flounder that was pan-fried. I wish I would have taken a picture, but by the time I thought of it, the food was all gone.
Instead, here is my turkey leg lunch:
Happy Thanksgiving!
Yesterday it was really warm. I went out to work in the garden. I cleaned up the back yard a little. The banana trees look rough, but they’re hanging in there. The Gingko tree is a blinding yellow right now. They’re kind of hard to see, but there are some bright yellow flowers, too. Look toward the base of the banana in the picture below.
The yellow flowers are new to my garden this year. I planted them last spring. I knew they were late blooming when I planted them. I planted them for their leaves, but the flowers are awesome. Except for one thing. They are covered with flies. It’s kind of creepy, really. I don’t remember this plant having a common name, just a latin one, so I think I will call them “meat flower” from now on, because flies like them. I smelled the flowers… they don’t smell like meat.
The other thing I did in the garden was shut down the pond. I cleaned it out, washed the filter, and put a net across the water to catch leaves and trash over the winter. I’m shutting it down later than last year.
Yesterday was our last day of school before Thanksgiving break. Woo hoo! It was a crazy day, so after standing around in a stupor for a while after school, I came home to relax before my Tuesday night TV. Checking the mail shot me right out of my grogginess. There was a TON of stuff to look at: four catalogs, and a Reporter! I will read these before going to sleep at night. I get through about four pages and then start falling asleep. Since they’re glossy pages, it’s okay if I sleep face down on them and drool.
Restoration Harware sends me catalogs because I got my kitchen cabinet handles from them.
The Reporter newspaper is something that all LC-MS churchworkers get. I usually read one or two articles and then the “Letters to the Editor.”
I’ve never ordered anything from Design Toscano, but I get their catalog for some reason. It’s fun to look at.
The Sharper Image catalog is full of gadgety goodness.
And the Monastery Icons catalog has such pretty pictures.
