I Have A Dream
Hello World,
Depending on what type of folks you consort with, I may be the first (and possibly the only) person to wish you a very happy Chinese New Year, which begins on Monday, with all the usual hoopla and fanfare, and I don't mind saying, a welcome relief from the winter doldrums. People can say what they like about the Chinese, but they sure know how to throw a party, and every year, they toss a heck of a wingding that many other cultures could learn a lot from, specifically, how to have a celebration without riots, lawsuits or the stampeding of pilgrims. (I think the UN should provide remedial courses in holidays, and like sending drunk drivers to classes to learn better behavior, they should be mandatory for those nations with holidays that look like war zones and turn into international incidents every year.) They tell me this is the Year of the Ox, which represents hard work, persistence, patience, harmony and charity. Of course, patience is a virtue, and heaven knows, the world could certainly use a lot more harmony and charity, so I think we could all climb on board this Happy New Ox bandwagon and party like it's 4707!
In other holiday news, of course we have the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to thank for the recent long holiday weekend, whose rousing "I Have A Dream" speech gave us all reason to hope for a brighter future ahead, like a beautiful rainbow where all of the colors live together in harmony. The weekend would not be complete without our annual trek upstate to share a late mini-Christmas with our friends around Albany, although it would be no one's idea of logic to drive hundreds of miles north in the dead of winter. I had a dream ..... that is to say, the plan was to leave early on Friday morning, and stop for brunch at Cinnabon in the Palisades Center along the way. This worked better than expected, although I was surprised to find the Cinnabon was in a kiosk on the 4th floor, since I remembered it in the Food Court on the lower level. It was much later that I realized the Cinnabon I had been dreaming of was in a completely different mall altogether, miles away in a different city, and so my plan to stop at the Palisades Center for this purpose was based on a totally erroneous premise right from the start. The fact that this other mall also had a Cinnabon, when the whole chain seems to be closing up shop everywhere we go, was nothing short of miraculous, and which made our sweet gooey treats even more delicious somehow.
Usually we stay overnight with our friends, but they had suffered some property damage in a storm, so instead, we checked into the Econolodge in Rensselaer, just outside of Albany. It seems like we've stayed in so many different hotels over the years, that we're turning into our very own AAA travel guides, where we can compare the quality and cost of all sorts of places, and not all of them favorably, I can tell you that. The last time we stayed at a hotel in the area, it featured what they referred to as a "one room suite," which meant that the seating area was separated from the sleeping area by a low divider with decorative columns. It was attractive, but didn't serve the purpose of actually isolating the areas into separate rooms, which is what we wanted, so we decided to try some place else this time around. The joke was on us when we got to the Econolodge and discovered that their King Suite was nothing but one humongous room with two king-sized beds, and the only separate area where you could close the door was the bathroom. Apparently "suite" doesn't mean the same thing in the hospitality business that we think it does, as we have been learning to our dismay. At least it had the advantage of being inexpensive, and it's certainly the largest room we've ever stayed in, and came with free WIFI and breakfast buffet as well. It had a big flat screen TV and DVD player, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and seating areas that included a desk, table and chairs, convertible sofa, love seat and recliner. Even with two huge beds, all of the furniture seemed to be swallowed up in the enormity of the space, and I also can't remember staying any place that had no pictures or even a mirror on the walls. But when we arrived, we were greeted by the resident cats, who in spite of the frigid weather, made us feel warm and welcome.
Two of our friends were working on Friday, but the other two were at liberty, so we had made arrangements to visit with them after we arrived. You can imagine our surprise when we drove over there, only to find the driveway full of heating contractors replacing the furnace and air conditioning system, while the lady of the house was recovering from having a colonoscopy earlier in the day. This did seem more like the Nightmare on Elm Street, rather than the dream date we had anticipated, and about as unwelcome as your average horror movie monster besides. I feel it's only fair to point out that they were the ones who had in fact invited us to visit them on Friday afternoon, since they were going to be home anyway, and why they picked this same time for their colonoscopy and furnace replacement was just a big mystery to the both of us. It reminded me of that old song where they sing, "Consider yourself, part of the furniture," because we certainly didn't feel like company under the circumstances.
When our other friends got off from work, we all went to the nearby 76 Diner, where we've been before and knew what to expect. Not so fast! Apparently they decided to replace their menu with a new and improved version, which notably did not include our personal favorites of fried ravioli and raspberry iced tea from previous visits. We asked the waitress, who said they were still available and was just as happy to serve them to us, making us wonder why they would go to all the trouble and expense of having new menus printed without items that they were still serving. We managed to get in and out of there without causing a ruckus, which is unusual for us, and left full and happy, with left-overs to boot. We went back to our friends' house and played with their Wii, which is how I discovered that even worse than my regular driving is my virtual driving in the Super Mario Go Kart game, and where no cow is safe. (It did no good for them to climb the trees, because I ran into the trees anyway.) Since everyone was still way too alert, I showed them my annual Christmas tour video of our decorations and cats, and that put them out like a light. Sweet dreams, everyone.
In the morning, we had belated Christmas presents in our motel room, which is not the same as sitting around the fireplace at our friends' house, but couldn't be helped. After a scrumptious lunch at Denny's, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, and were surprised that they had already replaced their Christmas merchandise with Valentine's Day and Easter instead. Anyone who thinks that would stop me from picking up some souvenirs, doesn't know me very well. From there, we headed for an interesting emporium that was new to us, called Aunt Katie's Attic (and please feel free to visit their web site at www.auntkatiesattic.com and see for yourself) which is in an old house along the highway in Scotia, and filled to the brim with an endless variety of vintage items, from A to Z and back again. They have an entire wall full of nothing but cookbooks, and their displays of retro appliances, kitchen gadgets, hardware and garden tools are just like an amazing time capsule from the past. Bill loved the alcove decorated as a 1950's kitchen, straight out of The Donna Reed Show, and complete with everything except the pearl necklace. I found the most adorable hand-made Christmas earrings, and had to get a pair of trees and stockings for only $4 each. A bigger surprise was finding so many salt and pepper shakers that I already have in my collection, which has never happened to me before, any place I have ever been. Of course, I also found plenty of new ones, and the biggest problem was narrowing down all of the choices to a (more) reasonable quantity. Here is another place that we were greeted by the resident cats, although these have the more sensible idea of staying indoors, compared to the motel cats out in all sorts of weather.
With all of the food options in the area, we wouldn't expect to stand on line for a meal, but we wanted to go to the 99 Restaurant, and that joint is jumping on Saturday night. We squeezed into a booth and had a nice dinner, but you can tell when a place is really busy, because the waiter keeps coming around to ask if you want anything else, hoping that you'll get the hint and leave already. We ran some errands after that, and then packed it in for dreamland after a long and eventful day. In the morning, we were surprised to find that it had snowed overnight, but it didn't stop us from opening birthday presents with two of our friends, who both have birthdays in January. Then we brought donuts and coffee to our other friends, and had a chance to play with their new remote controlled helicopter, although obviously, after my disastrous driving in the Super Mario game, they weren't going to let me near the thing. They also brought out an old Furby interactive toy from 1998, that they just discovered laying around and long forgotten in an old closet, and while I'll admit that we're easily entertained, it was really interesting to see all of the things that he can say and do, especially after all this time and with the original batteries besides. He was still talking when we left, I guess making up for lost time stuck in the closet, and I have the feeling that he was not just going to fade away and be forgotten a second time, without having an awful lot to say on the subject.
We wrapped up our day at Hewitt's, a chain of garden centers where we buy discount Christmas decorations every year, and we were not disappointed. I always say there's no such thing as too many angels or Christmas lights, and we were happy to find some that we really liked. By the time we left, it was bitter cold and snowing, and the pictures that I took of everyone outside look like nothing so much as an advertisement for the Burlington Coat Factory. As we headed south, we were hoping to drive out of the snow and into better weather, but it only changed into freezing rain instead, which was not as much of an improvement as we hoped. We stopped at the first rest area on the Thruway, and found that half of the place had no electricity, so the Gift Shop was closed and the Starbucks, but Nathan's was open. In the bathrooms, the electronic sinks were working, but not the paper towel dispensers or hand dryers, and Bill said all the men walking out of the facilities were holding their wet hands up in front of them like doctors scrubbed for surgery. We stopped at the next rest area after that to buy some souvenirs and snacks, and glad to find them fully powered. An even more welcome sight was Denny's, where we like to stop on our way home, and had another wonderful meal, which is something that we will never take for granted, as long as they refuse to build any Denny's near us.
The rest of the trip home was sloppy driving conditions, and more traffic than we expected, but uneventful, and we finally arrived back at home, safe and sound. After three days, even the cats were happy to see us, or perhaps it was just the plates of cat food that we gave them, but they were certainly happy about something. We were happy to be home too, although it's always in a bittersweet way, when we realize that the Christmas season is truly over, once we come back from visiting our friends in January, and after that, the rest of the winter just sort of stretches out in front of us like an endless trail of dirty laundry, and not much to recommend it. Even worse, after driving home in all the snow flurries and freezing rain the whole time, there was enough accumulation here that we had to shovel the next day, which has never made our list of favorite things to do, and at this rate, never will. It was a good thing that we both had Monday off from work, thanks to Dr. King and his Great American Dream Machine.
Elle
Depending on what type of folks you consort with, I may be the first (and possibly the only) person to wish you a very happy Chinese New Year, which begins on Monday, with all the usual hoopla and fanfare, and I don't mind saying, a welcome relief from the winter doldrums. People can say what they like about the Chinese, but they sure know how to throw a party, and every year, they toss a heck of a wingding that many other cultures could learn a lot from, specifically, how to have a celebration without riots, lawsuits or the stampeding of pilgrims. (I think the UN should provide remedial courses in holidays, and like sending drunk drivers to classes to learn better behavior, they should be mandatory for those nations with holidays that look like war zones and turn into international incidents every year.) They tell me this is the Year of the Ox, which represents hard work, persistence, patience, harmony and charity. Of course, patience is a virtue, and heaven knows, the world could certainly use a lot more harmony and charity, so I think we could all climb on board this Happy New Ox bandwagon and party like it's 4707!
In other holiday news, of course we have the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to thank for the recent long holiday weekend, whose rousing "I Have A Dream" speech gave us all reason to hope for a brighter future ahead, like a beautiful rainbow where all of the colors live together in harmony. The weekend would not be complete without our annual trek upstate to share a late mini-Christmas with our friends around Albany, although it would be no one's idea of logic to drive hundreds of miles north in the dead of winter. I had a dream ..... that is to say, the plan was to leave early on Friday morning, and stop for brunch at Cinnabon in the Palisades Center along the way. This worked better than expected, although I was surprised to find the Cinnabon was in a kiosk on the 4th floor, since I remembered it in the Food Court on the lower level. It was much later that I realized the Cinnabon I had been dreaming of was in a completely different mall altogether, miles away in a different city, and so my plan to stop at the Palisades Center for this purpose was based on a totally erroneous premise right from the start. The fact that this other mall also had a Cinnabon, when the whole chain seems to be closing up shop everywhere we go, was nothing short of miraculous, and which made our sweet gooey treats even more delicious somehow.
Usually we stay overnight with our friends, but they had suffered some property damage in a storm, so instead, we checked into the Econolodge in Rensselaer, just outside of Albany. It seems like we've stayed in so many different hotels over the years, that we're turning into our very own AAA travel guides, where we can compare the quality and cost of all sorts of places, and not all of them favorably, I can tell you that. The last time we stayed at a hotel in the area, it featured what they referred to as a "one room suite," which meant that the seating area was separated from the sleeping area by a low divider with decorative columns. It was attractive, but didn't serve the purpose of actually isolating the areas into separate rooms, which is what we wanted, so we decided to try some place else this time around. The joke was on us when we got to the Econolodge and discovered that their King Suite was nothing but one humongous room with two king-sized beds, and the only separate area where you could close the door was the bathroom. Apparently "suite" doesn't mean the same thing in the hospitality business that we think it does, as we have been learning to our dismay. At least it had the advantage of being inexpensive, and it's certainly the largest room we've ever stayed in, and came with free WIFI and breakfast buffet as well. It had a big flat screen TV and DVD player, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and seating areas that included a desk, table and chairs, convertible sofa, love seat and recliner. Even with two huge beds, all of the furniture seemed to be swallowed up in the enormity of the space, and I also can't remember staying any place that had no pictures or even a mirror on the walls. But when we arrived, we were greeted by the resident cats, who in spite of the frigid weather, made us feel warm and welcome.
Two of our friends were working on Friday, but the other two were at liberty, so we had made arrangements to visit with them after we arrived. You can imagine our surprise when we drove over there, only to find the driveway full of heating contractors replacing the furnace and air conditioning system, while the lady of the house was recovering from having a colonoscopy earlier in the day. This did seem more like the Nightmare on Elm Street, rather than the dream date we had anticipated, and about as unwelcome as your average horror movie monster besides. I feel it's only fair to point out that they were the ones who had in fact invited us to visit them on Friday afternoon, since they were going to be home anyway, and why they picked this same time for their colonoscopy and furnace replacement was just a big mystery to the both of us. It reminded me of that old song where they sing, "Consider yourself, part of the furniture," because we certainly didn't feel like company under the circumstances.
When our other friends got off from work, we all went to the nearby 76 Diner, where we've been before and knew what to expect. Not so fast! Apparently they decided to replace their menu with a new and improved version, which notably did not include our personal favorites of fried ravioli and raspberry iced tea from previous visits. We asked the waitress, who said they were still available and was just as happy to serve them to us, making us wonder why they would go to all the trouble and expense of having new menus printed without items that they were still serving. We managed to get in and out of there without causing a ruckus, which is unusual for us, and left full and happy, with left-overs to boot. We went back to our friends' house and played with their Wii, which is how I discovered that even worse than my regular driving is my virtual driving in the Super Mario Go Kart game, and where no cow is safe. (It did no good for them to climb the trees, because I ran into the trees anyway.) Since everyone was still way too alert, I showed them my annual Christmas tour video of our decorations and cats, and that put them out like a light. Sweet dreams, everyone.
In the morning, we had belated Christmas presents in our motel room, which is not the same as sitting around the fireplace at our friends' house, but couldn't be helped. After a scrumptious lunch at Denny's, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, and were surprised that they had already replaced their Christmas merchandise with Valentine's Day and Easter instead. Anyone who thinks that would stop me from picking up some souvenirs, doesn't know me very well. From there, we headed for an interesting emporium that was new to us, called Aunt Katie's Attic (and please feel free to visit their web site at www.auntkatiesattic.com and see for yourself) which is in an old house along the highway in Scotia, and filled to the brim with an endless variety of vintage items, from A to Z and back again. They have an entire wall full of nothing but cookbooks, and their displays of retro appliances, kitchen gadgets, hardware and garden tools are just like an amazing time capsule from the past. Bill loved the alcove decorated as a 1950's kitchen, straight out of The Donna Reed Show, and complete with everything except the pearl necklace. I found the most adorable hand-made Christmas earrings, and had to get a pair of trees and stockings for only $4 each. A bigger surprise was finding so many salt and pepper shakers that I already have in my collection, which has never happened to me before, any place I have ever been. Of course, I also found plenty of new ones, and the biggest problem was narrowing down all of the choices to a (more) reasonable quantity. Here is another place that we were greeted by the resident cats, although these have the more sensible idea of staying indoors, compared to the motel cats out in all sorts of weather.
With all of the food options in the area, we wouldn't expect to stand on line for a meal, but we wanted to go to the 99 Restaurant, and that joint is jumping on Saturday night. We squeezed into a booth and had a nice dinner, but you can tell when a place is really busy, because the waiter keeps coming around to ask if you want anything else, hoping that you'll get the hint and leave already. We ran some errands after that, and then packed it in for dreamland after a long and eventful day. In the morning, we were surprised to find that it had snowed overnight, but it didn't stop us from opening birthday presents with two of our friends, who both have birthdays in January. Then we brought donuts and coffee to our other friends, and had a chance to play with their new remote controlled helicopter, although obviously, after my disastrous driving in the Super Mario game, they weren't going to let me near the thing. They also brought out an old Furby interactive toy from 1998, that they just discovered laying around and long forgotten in an old closet, and while I'll admit that we're easily entertained, it was really interesting to see all of the things that he can say and do, especially after all this time and with the original batteries besides. He was still talking when we left, I guess making up for lost time stuck in the closet, and I have the feeling that he was not just going to fade away and be forgotten a second time, without having an awful lot to say on the subject.
We wrapped up our day at Hewitt's, a chain of garden centers where we buy discount Christmas decorations every year, and we were not disappointed. I always say there's no such thing as too many angels or Christmas lights, and we were happy to find some that we really liked. By the time we left, it was bitter cold and snowing, and the pictures that I took of everyone outside look like nothing so much as an advertisement for the Burlington Coat Factory. As we headed south, we were hoping to drive out of the snow and into better weather, but it only changed into freezing rain instead, which was not as much of an improvement as we hoped. We stopped at the first rest area on the Thruway, and found that half of the place had no electricity, so the Gift Shop was closed and the Starbucks, but Nathan's was open. In the bathrooms, the electronic sinks were working, but not the paper towel dispensers or hand dryers, and Bill said all the men walking out of the facilities were holding their wet hands up in front of them like doctors scrubbed for surgery. We stopped at the next rest area after that to buy some souvenirs and snacks, and glad to find them fully powered. An even more welcome sight was Denny's, where we like to stop on our way home, and had another wonderful meal, which is something that we will never take for granted, as long as they refuse to build any Denny's near us.
The rest of the trip home was sloppy driving conditions, and more traffic than we expected, but uneventful, and we finally arrived back at home, safe and sound. After three days, even the cats were happy to see us, or perhaps it was just the plates of cat food that we gave them, but they were certainly happy about something. We were happy to be home too, although it's always in a bittersweet way, when we realize that the Christmas season is truly over, once we come back from visiting our friends in January, and after that, the rest of the winter just sort of stretches out in front of us like an endless trail of dirty laundry, and not much to recommend it. Even worse, after driving home in all the snow flurries and freezing rain the whole time, there was enough accumulation here that we had to shovel the next day, which has never made our list of favorite things to do, and at this rate, never will. It was a good thing that we both had Monday off from work, thanks to Dr. King and his Great American Dream Machine.
Elle
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 8:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home