Bearhugs Blog

It’s been a quiet day in New York. (We’ve been listening to Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show).
Apart from a quick trip to Gristedies Maria has been working all day, it has paid off and I now have a new friend.

The weather is still a bit cool but bright. The view from the window is lovely in this weather. Tomorrow is due to be rainy but we’re not too fussed so long as it’s nice at the weekend. There is a Japanese Cherry Blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens we’re looking forward to going to. Maria is particularly looking forward to the dollmaking.

Since the maid was coming today Maria decided to get out from under her feet and we went uptown to Bloomingdales.
It’s a good job she had me with her, the subway station leads straight into the ladies wear dept. and what with silk dresses at $300 and Ralph Lauren shirts etc she would have spent mega bucks if I hadn’t talked her out of it.
Of course she then had to go upstairs to the shoe department, (shoes again!!!), but luckily they didn’t have the ones she really wanted in her size. In the end we managed to leave with just a bag for me.

She is threatening to drag John and his credit card back there.
We then picked up some flowers and Godiva chocolates (to make up for the lack of shoes) and went back to the apartment.
Since we got back she’s been wallowing in Brad Pitt etc. We’ve watched Troy, The Last Samurai and we’re about to watch Mission Impossible.

Well, John got his picture of the Queen Mary 2 leaving for Southampton yesterday. She really is big!

And Maria got her picture of her new bear. She really is fluffy!

Today we had a great afternoon, we went into Chinatown, 50 of the restaurants had set up tasting stations where you could get samples of food for $1 a plate. Some of the plates were quiete substantial.
We tried sweet and sour pork, ginger chicken, vegetarian dim sum, spring roll, assorted dumplings, steamed buns, some things where we couldn’t decide if they were sweet or savory, (but they were definatelly crispy), plum tea and of course Peking duck pancakes. I was stuffed!

It was very crowded and John had to queue ages for the Peking duck. But it was worth it.

We were lucky and saw a dragon/lion dance.

We also bought a wok, more slippers for Maria (you wouldn’t believe she only has one pair of feet), some prawns, some dried mushrooms (well we were told they’re mushrooms) and at last I got some firecrackers!!! Wheee….!!! John says I’m a menace, I don’t know why he bought them for me if he didn’t expect me to use them.

Talk about contrast. There are many events here in NY, in particular music events. At lunch time we met John for a concert at Trinity Church. It was performed by I Giullari Di Piazza and it was the story of the Black Madonna an Italian folk tale in song and dance.
They frequently have lunchtime performances at Trinity Church which they stream live on the internet and then leave up there for a while. Video of performance.
Of course since Borders is right next to Trinity we had to go and visit, Maria can never pass a bookshop.
We spent the rest of the afternoon around the apartment and Maria finished a bear, at least I think it’s a bear, mostly it just looks like pink fluff, I’ll have to get John to take a picture.
In the evening we were off out again, this time to the World Financial Center for a concert given by Julian Fleisher and his Rather Big Band. A very different type of musical event altogether. There were tables with tablecloths and romantic lights set out and they were serving Mocktails and Appertisers.

The music was great, a mix of jazz, lounge music and elements of the Great American Songbook. A real contrast to lunchtime.

By the time we got back home it was late and all John and Maria had energy for was a quick Thai takeaway and sleep. They refused to set up the computer for me so that’s why I couldn’t post, I wish they’d give me my own password, then I wouldn’t have to rely on them.
Today the weather has taken a turn for the worse and Maria and I spent the day in the apartment working. John’s home now but not really with us, he’s waiting for the Queen Mary 2 to pass us, he’s watching the webcam of her leaving the dock and getting ready to go out to the Hudson to get a photo of her passing.

Hottest day yet, in the high 80s, very unseasonal. The weather is due to start changing tomorrow, cooling down with a bit of rain on Saturday. A shame really ‘cos they are having a restaurant tasting day in Chinatown. I think we’ll just have to brave the rain.
Still back to today, we’ve actually put the airconditioning on as it got warmer and warmer. It was lovely.
We’ve had a quiet day, Maria did the laundry, (the laundry room was stiffling), ordered some fur for some bears, worked on a bear and on some embroidery. She has been doing some embroidery which she is intending to make into a handbag when she gets back to the UK. She has based the design on some Hungarian Kalocsa embroidery (going on about her roots etc.) I must admit it does look nice.

While Maria spends most of her time making bears she does make occasional forays into other areas, painting, doll making, embroidery etc.
She received a package from Dollmakersink today so we had to spend some time drooling over her purchases, I swear you could sell her anything so long as you made it in lots of great colours.
Tomorrow there are a couple of free music concerts at Trinity church and the Winter Gardens I hope we can go to.

What a difference four weeks make. The grass outside the apartment block looks so different. Both these pictures were taken from our balcony.

We spent the day doing bits and pieces, Maria had something she needed to post. So first of all we had to find a box to fit it in. Staples didn’t have the rigth size and the one we could have made do with they only sold in packs of five. A bit of a waste since we only wanted one. So we located a post office (there’s one near Wall Street) and bought a box, some tape and bubble wrap. We were surprised at the post office, it was nothing but a glorified warehouse. Shops etc here seem to come in either real classy, wonderful fittings, fantastic changing rooms (you should see the changing rooms at SAX, 5th Ave.) or very, very basic, nothing in between.
We then had to go back to the appartment and wrap the parcel. There is a mobile Post Office outside the World Financial Center so Maria was hopeful, but of course they don’t do parcels. So back to Wall Street. When we got to the counter we were told we should have filled in the form for the insurance before we queued. Since we wanted is signed for we should have filled in the form for that before we queued. And of course we had put the senders (our) address in the wrong place, so despite the fact it was clearly marked as ‘from’ as opposed to ‘to’ our parcel would have in fact been delivered to us, instead of the person we were sending it to. Luckily the man behind the counter was very nice and sorted us out.
Tomorrow promises to be an even hotter day but I think all Maria is intending to do is a bit of sunbathing and working on a bear. I’ll just try and keep cool.

A very warm day with sunshine. Maria seems to be enjoying it, but then she isn’t wearing a fur coat. I don’t think her suggestion of shaving me was very helpful at all.
We did a bit of light shopping, (her leg is still giving her some problems). Maria wanted a hat to protect her from the sun so we went to South St. Seaport, you could realy smell the fish in the hot weather. I’m not sure a straw cowboy hat is what I would have bought but then not everyone has good taste like me, and I suppose at least it is appropriate.
Tomorrow is due to be another lovely day but I think we’ll have to get down to some work.

Well I haven’t been to India yet (neither has John) but I’m back in NY.
We arrived yesterday to a lovely day, temperatures in the mid 50s and today is even better. Sunshine and 75 deg. Maria’s been sitting on the balcony getting a tan. I think she needs to get some cream ‘cos she’s looking a bit red to me.
The trip was little spoilt by Maria doing something to her leg as she was getting in and out of her seat on the aircraft so she limped and whinged all the way through Newark Airport. John and I told her it was only a bit of cramp but she kept muttering about ‘deep vein thrombosis’ or something. She’s such a hypochondriac. Which is a bit strange because she combines it with a refusal to take medication and she’ll only contact a doctor with a severe case of death. John and I sometimes despair. Still it (her leg) does seem to be getting better, though not well enough to go to Chinatown as we were planning. Never mind, plenty more opportunities.
John went up to the World Financial Center for chocolates and flowers (he realy spoils her, didn’t bring me anything) and took this picture of blossom on the way. The weather etc has realy moved on since our last visit.

He also found a great new area on Google satellite photos
This picture shows what a great area we are living in.

We’re now just waiting for our groceries to be delivered. Maria did an internet shop back in the UK. Isn’t the internet great?

Well the time has rushed past and it’s time to go back to Nottingham, it doesn’t feel like we’ve been here for 4 weeks.
This morning Maria and I went to Penn station to get some doughnuts, the Amish market to get some Jalapeno pistachios and to South St. Seaport to get some Godiva chocolates. She’s far too good to those children of hers.
She’s now rushing around doing the washing, clearing the fridge, throwing out the rubbish, moaning about her packing not fitting and dropping hints about some people doing nothing to help. I don’t know what she’s going on about, I’ve done all my own packing and I’m ready to go.

I’m quiete looking forward to the trip and getting back home. I could do with a rest before going to India.

If yesterday was spring, today it’s back to winter. The temperature has dropped and it’s been a mixture of rain and snow all day. We are forecast 2 to 3 inches by morning. Some parts of the area have a severe weather warning with up to 8 inches of snow due. I rather enjoy winter weather.
John was at work, he’s very pleased ‘cos the work he came to do has gone really well. I hope his good mood continues because then he’ll take me to India with him in a couple of weeks time. I do enjoy travel.
Maria is really jealous, all she gets to do is come back here in 3 weeks.
She’s started to sort things out, you know, what shall we take back with us, what can stay here for next time etc. We’re not going back home for very long this time.
We have a lot of new bears travelling with us. (14 in all)

I reckon a lot of them will find new homes on Monday at the Bear Fair at Patchings. I hope their new owners will be able to understand them, they do speak with a strong American accent.