Squid On Wheels -- The Lower East Side

Once again, our intrepid Squid family head out armed only with 8 wheels, four bike frames, three bottles of water, two GPS and one camera. Their destination: New York City's Lower East Side, home of our ancestors. (O.k., we are not really sure that any of our ancestors lived on the Lower East Side but hey, lots of Jewish immigrants started out there so there is probably a link somewhere along the line.)

Starting from the usual jump off point on the Hudson River, the Squid (cool how that is plural as well as singular) see a sailboat with a bright, rainbow sail.


That sail seems to portend good and picturesque things for our family and they turn right and pedal merrily downstream.

After traveling down to the southern tip of Manhattan and breaking through the path-blocking line for the Statue of Liberty ferries (rant not written), they continue down and around the tip of Manhattan, passing the hoards of tourists disembarking from buses at the South Street Seaport. There, Momma Squid is tempted to yell at the illegal vendors and tell the tourists to buy elsewhere but, deciding that the vendors might try to knock her off her bike, Momma keeps pushing her way through while guiding Little Squid through the throngs.

Rolling uptown, they pass under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and ride through a lovely, new walking path created along the East River. (Our Squid are more careful on the return trip and ride on the parallel bikepath and not the walkway.) Just before the Manhattan Bridge, the Squid spy the Grand Street Houses (a cooperative built in the same spirit as our own Penn South Houses -- the difference being that Grand Street Houses are now market rate and Penn South is still holding fast to its Socialist ideals (another post)). There they depart the path for the streets and quickly home in on wonderful food.

They stop at the Donut Plant for ... donuts (everyone drag the word out now, ala' Homer Simpson).

These delectable pastries are revealed below including the Square Jelly Donut, the Blueberry Donut and the Butterfly Roll.



































The Squid, having filled the bike bags with Donuts, then proceeded two stores down to Kossar's Bialys for bagels and bialys. Yum.












Then on to The Pickle Guys where Squidette and Little Squid were gifted with pickles to eat while Papa Squid purchased more for home.
















Following the pickle purchase the Squid then got a history lesson. First they gazed at Seward Park High School where Papa Squid got his start as a Teacher. Seward Park has, for a very long time, been the first educational experience for many, many immigrants. As a school for new Americans, it had poor results on the tests by which schools are judged and so it has been closed and the building will be filled with smaller schools. As for the immigrants ... I do not know where they will go now. (Rant on the criteria by which schools are judged, not included.)






Then they stopped at Seward park, a lovely, large, oasis in the midst of the Lower East Side. While waiting for the male Squid to return, the female Squid learned that this was the first Municipally built park in the city and it was a model for its time. It started public programs to get kids playing in parks and off the streets and provided all sorts of social services over its lifetime. Nearby, and not pictured, is a public library that used to allow neighborhood folk to sleep on its roof during the summer as an alternative to the stifling tenements that populate this area.

Across the street is the old Forward building. The Jewish Daily Forward is a newspaper published in both Yiddish and English and was the major source of news for the LES population back when it was primarily European Jewish immigrants. The Forward is still published and has an online presence as well.

Another Yiddish/English paper of which I do not know the history. Sorry.

A row of "storefront" synagogues. (No kidding.)













A former Communist hangout. Mike is trying to remember what the old name was.

















Thus ending our incomplete tour of the Lower East Side, the Squid find their way back to the East River and proceed to retrace their path back to the usual stopping point of Chocolate Haven to pick up more ... chocolate (what else!) and then pedal back home making one more stop for fish at Chelsea Market. Pictured is the Old Homestead Steakhouse -- one of the many famous steakhouses in NYC and within photo snapping distance of Chelsea Market.













And finally, a photo of how well the leaf edging covers the top of Momma Squid's cycling shoe.


















And, for those of you who are still with me ... my spinning wheel (Kromski Minstral) is now back in the living room where it belongs. Yea!!!

Sunday Socks

The first pair was actually completed while I was in Florida. The are knit with Trekking XXL 100 and the cuffs are a leaf edging from "Knitting on the Edge."

Pair 2 is the "Child's French Socks" from "Vintage Socks." Pair 3 are my latest "Plain Socks."














Have a lovely Sunday!

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 3, MGM Studios

Before I tell the sock's tale I must first mention that my dye-o-rama angel commented on the blog the other day. My angel actually exists! One of these days I hope to see hand-dyed sock yarn from this swap. I am so excited!

------------

Now on to the final Florida tale ...
On our last pre-conference day, the sock once again witnessed it's owner consume a pricey breakfast -- no inexpensive food to be had at the hotel -- and then assumed it's position in the knitting bag.

Off it went to MGM Studios Theme Park (part of Disney). There it was greeted by yet another view of New York City.

The sock was starting to freak out now. It knew it was not in New York (it figured that out during the Guggenheim episode) and all of these incorrect NYC panoramas were making it feel out of sorts. So, it did what any intelligent sock would do, it went on the Studio Tour. There it saw:

Battle ships,

A water tower sporting Mickey Mouse ears,

and best of all, the steamroller from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit!" That was way cool.
















Then it saw the biggest footprints it could ever imagine. And, being a good sock, it tried to cover those poor, cold feet.














After realizing that there was not enough wool in its carry bag to knit it to dinosaur size, the sock started looking around for other feet. It saw these guys ...



















But they didn't have anyfeet and the big mouse in the background just scared the poor sock.

It saw Elastigirl's feet but figured out that maybe one of it's fellow Cascade socks might fit her better.



















These feet looked like they could use some loving wool:



















but Frozone already had a pair of Toasty Toes.

Then it decided to go out of this world and saw the feet on this guy:



















What do they wear under those boots?

Finally, the sock returned to the hotel and took a well deserved rest while the humans attended a cocktail reception.The next day, the sock rested up and in the evening, took a walk to City Walk for the conference dinner. Along the paths it spotted these guys with their tiny little feet.














It also spotted Woody and Dora. The sock was too awed to ask for an autograph.



















Then it got to party at Pat O'Briens. It did not drink a Hurricane but it did have a very nice time.

Back to Reality

There will be one more Orlando post but it is on hold temporarily. Meanwhile, we have spent the last 4 days painting and taping and ... but both kids rooms are now ready to occupy. This is a good thing since they are returning this evening from a visit with my folks. When I am done here, I will take on the satisfying task of making their beds with clean sheets and such.

Our trip to Kentucky and Indiana is finally scheduled and we will be leaving NYC on July 31 with the plan of arriving in Kentucky on August 1. We are aiming for Youngstown, OH as a possible stopping point on the outward trip and have not picked a return layover yet. We will be taking I-80 most of the way, according to AAA, (355.5 miles to be exact) so if you know of any yarn stores close to the highway, pass them on. ;-) Papa Squid has promised that we will be stopping every couple of hours and that I will be doing some of the driving.

That gives me an idea for a contest: How many hours / miles do you think Papa Squid will actually let me drive? There are roughly 690 miles on the outbound trip, 144 from Alexandria, Kentucky to Indianapolis, IN and something like 730 miles inbound from IN. Figure about 20 -- 24 hours of actually drive time from main locale to main locale not counting any "local" driving. Please keep in mind that Papa Squid feels that I drive too conservatively and that we will get anywhere faster if he drives. (This is true but the difference in time over the length of this drive will probably add up to only an hour if I did the entire trip by myself.) When we go anywhere distant, he drives and I navigate / knit.

Put your answers in the comments section any time from now until midnight July 31. I will do my best to keep track and will declare the winner the person with the closest guess. Prize will be a pair of socks worth of either Koigu, Lorna's Laces (the new stripy stuff) or Claudia's Handpaints.

Once I figure out what projects I am taking with me, there will be another contest to figure out what will actually get finished. Keep your eyes on this blog a bit closer to the 31st.

Tomorrow we go furniture shopping. Oh joy. (note sarcasm with a hint of excitement)

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 2, the Sock Does Disney

After watching it's owner devour a too expensive breakfast, the sock started pushing the humans to get moving. It really wanted to meet Dumbo and crew. (The sock doesn't "do" Mickey.) So, after inquiring about public transportation (none), cab fare (ouch) and rental rates, the humans decided on the rental and got a really cool Toyota Matrix that the sock's owner got to drive.

Down to the Magic Kingdom (TM) they flew getting there just as the gates opened for the day. First stop, the Jungle Cruise with its hokey jokes and silly effects. The sock got an inch or so added during the wait and subsequent cruise and got its knitter to be the only person to really laugh at the jokes. The sock felt a bit sorry for the guide as the other cruisers did not even groan at her jokes and puns. The sock wondered if the others understood them.

Sock and crew then met a friend of our friend, there for the day with his son. He was giving his 3 year old a "big boy day" following the recent birth of another child. [If you have positive vibes to send, please send them down to Orlando, FL. The baby in question contracted viral meningitis and is currently hospitalized. The baby is only 2 weeks old.] The sock watched as the child and father rode Aladin's Magic Carpet and then the sock bade a fond farewell and took its owner off to another part of the park.

Always one for the cliche'd photo op, the sock had to pose in front of Cinderella's Castle. And then it saw him. The moment was full of tension and then the sock did it ... it hid in the bag while its knitter snapped a picture of Dumbo ala' topiary with all of the flying Dumbos behind it. The sock, too cowed by the presence of its favorite celebrity, stayed in the bag until after lunch.Following a not so nutritious lunch, our intrepid trio marched off to the Peter Pan ride and the 3-D PhilharMagic show. They then, having missed the worst of the rain, did a bit of shopping (presents for the kids) and headed to Epcot (also TM).

At Epcot, the sock got a glimpse of the future and saw Chinese acrobats. It is almost scary how flexible those girls are. Here we see one of them inserting two bowls in to a stack of four more bowls. The four were held on her head, the two in her feet, all while she managed to get herself up and in to the air in this position. It was only a freak of digital camera timing that caught this picture.The sock was so inspired by the acrobats that it decided to try some clever maneuvers of its own. Here is the sock braving life and limb to climb in to the mouth of a Dragon. You will notice that the dragon does not like socks and has spit it out on to a nice curlicue below it. No accounting for taste. You will notice that the sock is looking decidedly short. It is a new sock -- the old one grew weary in the Magic Kingdom (TM) and decided to have some grafting done on its toe. A new one had to be started immediately. The yarn is my second dye-o-rama attempt. (I still do not have the yarn from MY swap partner ... boo. :-( )Here, just for the beauty, are two pictures of the sunset sky over the lagoon. The sock was suitably awed.And last but not least, Ellen holding the sock just before the fireworks began. I have to admit, Disney outdoes Universal in the fireworks department.

The Adventures of Sock and Friends in the Orlando Theme Parks -- part 1

As many of you know, I joined "Socks for Sanity" and always have a plain sock at hand to work on in odd (or not so odd) moments. The sock that started the trip was one of my Leaf Cuff socks and it did not start growing until just before we landed. I have to admit that I shoved it aside in favor of CeCe during the plane ride -- CeCe was more involved and gave me less brain to focus on the family I was seated with.

When we got to our hotel the sock was awed in to silence. The picture below shows only a small part of this place. It is huge! I got lost several times and never saw the entire thing.
The water in front is the "Harbor." I was standing on the Ferry Landing when I took this and I have to admit that we never took the ferry. While waiting the first time, we were greeted by a pedicab driver and let him take us to Universal Studios. The ride made us realize that we were within walking distance and after that we just walked to the City Walk (where the entrances to Universal's two theme parks meet and where there are lots of retail and dining opportunities).

After checking in to the hotel the sock insisted that we go to the Universal Studios theme park. Compared to the Magic Kingdom, Universal is cozy but it was still overwhelming for the sock. It hid in its bag for quite a while, occassionally poking a needle out to take a peek.

Since I have been to these places (though many, many years ago) I let my friend take the lead. Once the sock glimpsed the NYC skyline however, it started to dictate where we went.
Initially, it did not realize that we were essentially on a movie set and it insisted on going to the Guggenheim Museum. My socks are big fans of Frank Llyod Wright.
The sock was sorely disappointed however, when we got to the other side ...
The we all spied the Subway. Being a proper NYC kind of sock, it was hoping to catch a train heading uptown.Once again, the sock was thwarted. (Pictured is my friend, Ellen. She really tolerated this whole sock thing and even started enabling it once the sock stopped being camera shy.)

And then the sock started getting in to it. The sock insisted on jumping in to my hands on every ride line and even managed to stay there for the entire special effects show. The sock however, remained camera shy until it saw Woody Woodpecker. At that point, the sock lept out of my hands and in to Woody's. If you look closely you will see it on Woody's finger. It is somewhat camoflaged as it is made of Trekking XXL #100.

Then the sock went to the animal show and saw the dog from MIB II. It also saw some cool bird stunts but it was the MIB dog that most impressed it. The poor creature smashed, unintentionally, head first into a set of stone stairs. The sock did not laugh.

After catching a special effects show and being so rude as to insist on being knit while in the first row, the sock directed us to a lovely seafood resturant where we all had a leisurely meal and stayed to watch the fireworks / film clip show. All in all, a lovely day.

Tomorrow -- the sock does Disney and gets to see Pooh Bear but does not get stuck in Rabbits Hole.

Where our Heroine Battles with the Forces of Housekeeping

As the scene opens, we find our heroine as she enters a lovely hotel room. The two queen size beds are made to perfection, the bathroom is three times the size of our heroine's home facilities and the mini bar is fully stocked.

Our heroine decides to unpack fully and even hangs her hangables. She adjusts the temperature upwards and then departs for the remainder of the day to indulge in the decadence of a nearby theme park.

When our heroine returns, she is greeted with soft music, one turned down bed, a chocolate mint and a lowered thermostat. The lady in question turns off the radio, and raises the room temperature. She stows the mint for later.

Running a bath, our heroine luxuriates in the warm water while reading a trashy novel. After the relaxing soak she dries off with the fresh, clean towels and slips into bed. There, she curls up with the four fluffy pillows and quickly departs for dreamland.

In the morn our heroine is not awakened by the usual sound of the bike in the living room, but rather by the soft ding of her cell phone. This was necessitated by a lack of understanding of the workings of the alarm clock by her bedside. After performing her usual ablutions, she then departs for The Magic Kingdom (TM).

Returning to her room late that night, she finds the t.v cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the same bed turned down and two chocolate mints. She closes the cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the thermostat and slips in to bed.

Another day dawns, another theme park is conquered and our heroine returns to her room in the early evening to prepare for the opening reception of the conference that brought her south to begin with. Entering, she finds the room clean and the thermostat turned down. Shivering, our heroine turns up the temperature and transforms herself from her play persona to her work persona -- lipstick and all.

Following an enjoyable evening of networking and free alcoholic beverages, she once again returns to her room for the night. There she finds: the t.v. cabinet open, the radio on, the thermostat lowered, the other bed turned down and two more chocolate mints. Our heroine: shuts the t.v. cabinet, turns off the radio, raises the temperature and rips the bedspread off of the bed that she has occupied the last two nights. She then retires with a good heart.

The next day dawns and our heroine learns many good things at the conference. She also freezes her a** off but that is neither here nor there. After dinner, she returns to her room to find: the temperature lowered, the radio off, neither bed turned down and no chocolate mints. Fade to black.

Coming Soon -- The Adventures of Sock and friends in the Theme Parks

Growing Up

I'm back! There will be several posts over the next few days where I share my adventures. It will take a bit of time though, since while I was away, our construction project fell apart. The stuff we cannot do ourselves is mostly done and arrangements have been made to mostly finish things up using other resources but we will be busy doing the painting for the next few days so my time may be limited. I swear that I once swore never to paint again. See what happens when you swear!

On to my travels ... (Please note, I was traveling with a friend so I occasionally use "we." It is not the Royal We but really does refer to two people and a sock.)

------

I am growing up. Our journey starts at Laguardia airport where we watched and wondered about the family with six kids. Now remember, I only have 2 kids so they usually do not out number the adults I must assume that the rules are different when you have 6. The rules, however, should not include one parent napping while the other reads a magazine with the kids left to their own devices. That is what happened on the plane and I was lucky(?) enough to be seated in the same row as the father and one kid and in front of 3 kids under 6 years old while mom slept behind them with the last 2 kids. The kids with the parents mostly slept. The 3 behind me however ...

I did not channel my mother-in-law (but she was with me as I decided what not to do) and I did keep my temper and focused on knitting CeCe for the duration of the flight. I am proud to say that I am growing up.

Squid On Wheels

I have decided that since Female Child is really not so much a child, that all of our names, for blogging purposes are changing. We will now be: Mama Squid, Papa Squid, Squidette and Little Squid.

Today your friendly Squid family took to their wheels again and ventured up to Central Park. We have been talking about this ride for a while and I admit to being a bit concerned about the kids being able to handle the hills -- the Central Park loop is all about the hills. Silly me, the kids thought the hills were easy! The four Squid set out from our usual starting point in Chelsea at the Hudson River and rode north to 96th Street where we hit the streets to get to Central Park. Papa Squid grew up with Central Park as his back yard so the he was riding the loop as soon as he was off training wheels. Papa Squid is also a major cyclist -- the 6 mile loop is nothing to him.

We did the loop from 96th street (west side) to 102nd (east side) as two pairs -- Papa Squid and Squidette and Mama Squid with Little Squid. We tend to pair up this way because Mama has a bit more patience with Little's slower pace. Periodically, Papa and Squidette would stop and wait for us and then at 102nd street we really split with Papa and Squidette taking the Great Hill and Mama and Little Squid taking the shortcut. We were supposed to meet at 96th Street but Little and Mama blew past it and exited at 91st street, riding Central Park West back to 96th. Before we knew it, Papa and Squidette were coming toward us from downtown -- when they did not see us waiting in the Park they continued down to 91st and followed us uptown. Great minds think alike. We then persuaded the kids to ride downtown through the park to 57th Street where we walked to 57th and rode back to the Hudson River and home.

We all had a great time and the smaller squid felt a huge sense of accomplishment. The best line of the day: Mama to Little "you can do it!" Little in response (in a "silly mommy of course I can" tone) "I'm doing it." O.k, it does not translate well in to print but it was funny.

Later, I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the playground and the response I got was along the lines of "leave us alone, we're tired!"

Total mileage: 17 miles (a bit more for Squidette and Papa Squid)

Tomorrow Mama Squid is off to Orlando, Florida for the GE / Brandeis College Bound conference -- and some time at the theme parks before the conference starts on Wednesday. The blog will probably be on hiatus until some time on Saturday -- after a bike ride, of course!

I am in a panic as to how much and what kind of knitting to pack. I just wound a ball of dye-o-rama reject yarn for another pair of "plain" sockettes if I finish the Leaf Edged ones. I think that the Leaf Edged sockettes (now on the all stockinette foot) and the Child's Sock should be my plane knitting but CeCe is calling out to fly in the cabin instead of as luggage. And what if my luggage gets lost? CeCe is being knit out of my precious hand spun yarn ...

Two Boro Chocolate Tour

Today we have a tale in which the blogger serves as a tour guide to important and delicious places in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Today your intrepid bikers start out at their usual location in Chelsea and bike along the Hudson River in search of Chocolate. Alas, there is no good chocolate to be found directly along this river so the family continues past Castle Clinton (where the bathrooms were closed), past the Staten Island Ferry and up to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Once again they manage to blow the route to the Bridge walkway and have to mess around the streets a bit in Lower Manhattan. Eventually they get there and pedaling steadily, climb the very Bridge where the adults in question once fell in love (with each other) and end up in what was once the World's Fourth Largest City now, the borough of Brooklyn.

Once again (see yesterday's post), the travelers depart from the mapped route and founder their way to Main Street (yup, New York City has a Main Street) where they find Jacques Torres' Chocolate Haven.
In search of home made ice cream sandwiches, they venture inside only to be told that those delectable items can only be found in the Manhattan branch. Undaunted, our pedalers purchase a single Frozen Hot Chocolate to go and walk the streets of Brooklyn to a nearby park, sipping as they go.

Refreshed, they pause to put a band-aid on the smallest cyclist during which activity the second largest (your faithful blogger) slides along the wooden bench, to get closer to the injured party, and manages to get a splinter in her ... um, fleshy part of the upper leg. This winds up requiring the pulling up of bike shorts leg so that the largest cyclist can remove said splinter. The next-to-smallest cyclist is then drafted to remove the rest of the splinter from her mother's shorts. With no permanent damage evident, our party proceeds with their journey.

Our cyclists then spy abandoned trolley tracks in the ground, both "preserved" and in their natural state (peeking through the asphalt) -- those pictured being "preserved." The older female manages to drop her bicycle while trying to snap the aforementioned tracks, leaving her legs scratched and adding to the already thick layer of road grime.

Without aid of GPS (both of which have run out of battery power) they find their way to the Manhattan Bridge -- that for which the neighborhood of DUMBO is named (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and head back to their home borough of Manhattan. On this climb, the Largest Cyclist proves how concerned and gallant he is and waits at the mooring to make sure that Male Child and Mommy pass an Odd Character safely. (Yes, I was a bit concerned since the Odd Character certainly could have easily grabbed us as we were pedaling rather slowly at that point.) The three (Female Child having been sent ahead) then descend the bridge and all four cyclists wend their way through Chinatown and back to the East River.

Riding South they once again pass the crowds at the South Street Seaport and at the Statue of Liberty Ferry queues and continue up to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where it is time to turn inland to find ... the Chocolate Haven. It is here that our travelers finally find the intoxicating ice cream sandwiches and purchase three in flavors such as Roasted Banana, Vanilla and Thai Chili Chocolate. They also purchase a bar of Milk Chocolate Creme Brule which goes in to a bag for later consumption.

Walking slowly and wheeling bikes with one hand, our travelers more then make up for any calories expended on the ride by eating these extremely large confections.

The ride is then resumed and our adventurers cycle home along the Hudson River.

Total Mileage -- roughly 18 miles, no exact count since both GPS's ran out of battery power.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, Central Park.

Circumnavigating the Hudson

So what do a couple of parents on vacation do while their kids are in camp for the day?

Get your mind out of the gutter ... we have contractors in the apartment!

No, we went for a bike ride. After four days of rain and shopping we finally got active and did something requiring little money.

Hopping on the bikes, we rode north to just below the Little Red Lighthouse. At that point we decided to try a new set of directions for getting to the George Washington Bridge. D'oh. If Mike ever gets the GPS track on line, you will see how we wandered a bit before finally finding the entrance to the bridge walk / bikeway. This "new" way involved quite a bit of stair climbing and wandering through barely tramped pathways in Riverside park before emerging on the west side of New York Presbyterian Hospital. It then involved walking south until we could get around the southern edge of the hospital and climbing one of the nastiest hills in Manhattan. After a bit of fiddling around, and an attempt that ended at the CLOSED southern bridge path, we finally got to where we could climb multiple sets of stairs to the North bridge path. It was worth it, however, the ride across the bridge was cool and offered magnificent views.

Across the bridge we go ... here is some proof, taken from the west tower of the bridge with our backs to Manhattan.














We then rode south through New Jersey after going down a very steep, 3/4 mile long hill that wore most of the rubber off of my break pads as I hung on for dear life. We were almost to Hoboken (our destination) when we got, briefly, turned around. I do not want to say "lost" because we knew where we were and how to get home -- the long way -- but were a little unsure how to get to the Ferry that we wanted to take. We stood staring at a sign that said "To Hoboken" for quite a while before deciding that we could, indeed, bike this nasty looking stretch of bridge/road in order to get to the other side.

We then meandered through Hoboken and found the proper Ferry landing where we had these lovely views of home.

On the ferry, the "conductor" directed us to hook our handlebars over a rail and then shooed us inside, away from the bikes. We sat on the edge of our, very comfortable, seats for the short ferry ride praying that the bikes would not roll in to the river. They survived -- the ride was incredibly smooth -- and we were back on the greenway, pedaling for home. Total mileage (not counting the ferry ride) about 25 miles.

We will not do this ride with the kids until they finish the greenway in New Jersey. The road were just a bit too hairy for them. Today our goal is Brooklyn and the DUMBO branch of Chocolate Haven.

Of Vanities and the High Line

As we were walking today we saw a wonderful sight, a bulldozer on the High Line. The High Line is an abandoned elevated rail line that once served the factories and warehouses downtown and now is growing wild. For years, the powers that be have debated what to do with it -- whether to tear it down or to turn it in to elevated parkland. The preservationists finally prevailed and work started in April. Anything that brings green space in to Manhattan is a good thing in my book so seeing the bulldozer was exciting.

Also exciting was this purchase:
Yes, it is a Vanity for the main bathroom. After buying this and schleping it home, we decided that our bathroom could also use a vanity. And so, we get to repeat the trip either tomorrow or next week.

Meanwhile, the Female Child's room is ready for a door. Woo Hoo! (to quote said Child)
And ... we ordered a new dining room table and chairs! They are in stock and will be delivered when we ask for them.

After our trip to Brooklyn, ending with a quick trip to the newest Fairway Market, we took a very long walk down to Soho to shop for some necessary foundation garments. Hopefully I have been properly fitted this time. We swung by Chocolate Haven and picked up some chocolate and munched on a Roasted Banana ice cream sandwich. Yum! The ice cream was sandwiched between two C.H. chocolate chip cookies and was the best ice cream sandwich I have ever had. We then tramped home and collapsed for a few minutes before heading back out to retrieve the kids from camp. All of us then proceeded to Jensen Lewis to decide on our new Dining Room table. We took with us the necessary equipment -- 3 books and a newspaper. The table has to be able to accommodate our shameful habit of reading at meals -- all of us at once. This one fits the bill while still being small enough to fit in our, while newly enlarged, still small dining area.

And now for today's question: What is your shameful secret habit? I know, if it is a secret ... o.k., your almost secret "shameful" habit? I think that all four of us reading at the dinner table is pretty sad but we do talk at other times ... and we do often wind up discussing what one of us is reading.

Email Test

This is a test to see I can post by email. I figure that if I really
need to post while on the road next week this would be a good way to
do it via my cell phone.

On the apartment front, it is getting there. The kids closets are now
framed and a channel has been cut for a new light switch. We did some
shopping and bought ... a mop. Hey, we really needed that mop!

Really, we hit 3 different furniture stores and think we know what
table we are getting. Then we hit Home Depot and determined that we
are not getting the vanity there. Tomorrow we will drive out to Lowes
and see about getting a vanity that they claim is in stock. We are
pretty much nowhere on the sofa search but we are now thinking about
down sizing the living room desk so that we can fit in another easy
chair. The four of us no longer easily fit on the couch and the one
chair.

Knitting wise, I finished the first Child's sock in a not so child
size -- it fits my size 10 foot which was the goal. I also stopped at
School Products and picked up new size 0, 1 and 2 circular needles
which I really needed. The join on one of my 0's is starting to go
and these are my main sock needles.

So, you all seem to have a variety of Sofa ages. Today's question:
What piece of furniture have you had the longest? (Not necessarily the
oldest piece of furniture.)

As a couple, we have a "bookcase" from Ikea that we purchased 4
apartments ago -- roughly 17 years. One of the kids' bed (base, not
mattress) belonged to Mike as a kid but it has not been owned
continuously by him if you figure he gave up ownership of it when we
started cohabiting and then reclaimed it when we "stole" it from his
mom about 10 years ago. The other kid bed was Mike's brother's and
they are identical.

--
http://www.squid-knits.blogspot.com

Of Vanities and Sofas

Yes, I mean bathroom vanities. While the kids are in camp today (yup, they have camp today, woo hoo!) we are going to attempt some furniture shopping. While I really want to settle the issue of the bathroom vanity -- we do not have one and the contractor is willing to earn a few more bucks installing one for us -- I have been told that I need to wait for our conversation with the contractor tomorrow to deal with this one. I will not push the issue.

Instead, we will see if any furniture dealers are open. Why do I have visions of Fourth of July sales? We have two places to hit and are looking for a sofa and a dining room table. Our old sofa, is not in too bad shape but we (I) have decided that one that stays clean-looking for more then 5 minutes is a necessity. Over the years I have spent almost as much getting it cleaned as it originally cost. So, while we are doing all of this renovating / spending money, we can get a new one.

The dining room table ... well, I finally caved in and let our old one go last summer. When dear-departed-MILs apartment was liquidated, my sister-in-law took her (Mom's) practically new table and chairs and we filled the space with our table and took one that SIL was getting rid of. SILs was not ideal but we knew that our dining room was going to changed so we took it for the interim. What this table taught us was that we needed something in-between the size of what we got rid of and SILs. Now that we are down to a card table for dining, the size issue is becoming a big one. We'd like to get the new one in ASAP after the contractor leaves. So ... that requires shopping. Ick. On the upside, it requires a long walk with Mike. This inevitably leads to talking and remembering why I love my husband. Not ick. (SILs table went to a friend last week.)

Knitting wise, I turned the heel on the Child's Sock and am ready to start the heal on my Leafy Anklets. I also spent some more time spinning of the fragment of a balcony that I have available and wound off a bobbin of Navajo-plyed lumpy bumpy yarn. More about that when it is all spun up.

Question for the day (with apologies to Ann, from whom I stole this idea):

How old is your sofa?

(14 years)

Vacation Starts

Dam! No, really -- the Kensico Dam. We loaded up the bike rack and drove to White Plains for our first out-of-city biking experience. We were planning on riding a stretch of the Bronx River Parkway which is shut for biking every Sunday but it turns out that it is only shut during May, June, September and October and this, of course was the first weekend in July. There is, however, a nice paved path that heads to the Kensico Dam and so we took it. It was a different sort of ride -- the going was necessarily slow due to the nature of the path so the kids found the hills tough since they could not get up speed before hand. I found the hills tough because I was trailing the male child and was going even slower. On my own, the hills would not have been a big deal. They were short so just as you run out of energy you are at the top -- at least at my normal pace.
The ride was only 6 miles as opposed to the 14 we were expecting but we got the experience of loading and unloading the bike rack and finally figured out how to get all 4 bikes on it.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in the playground and in the apartment. I carved out a small corner of my balcony to spin in. The contractor has totally taken over my balcony. :-( Dinner was a lovely chef's salad containing homegrown cherry tomatos. This year promises to be a good tomato year for us.

Our day with friends on Saturday was lovely. At some point we looked at our watches and realized that we had been there for 6 hours. The day just flew as the kids played nicely and the adults just talked and talked and talked. I finished the edging for my second trekking sock and got some work done on my Child's French Sock from Vintage Socks.

And in, conclusion, here is my sock waving to Ann's sock waving to Susan's socks waving to Cookie's socks.

Not Maudlin

I know that I promised you a maudlin post but I decided to skip it. Instead I give you knitting in the form of the first Embossed Leaf Anklet.
These are being knit in a Trekking colorway which I was going to identify until the label disappeared. Sock one is done and the second sock is now on the needles. We are spending the day visiting with really good friends so I should make ample progress on this today.

No apartment update -- they cleared the rubble bags and we are now in a steady state until Wednesday. This kids' beds have been unstacked so that they can sleep relatively comfortably for the next few days. We will reconsider sleeping arrangements on Wednesday.

Over the next two months you will see reference to a lot of shopping. Please do not judge me harshly, I hate shopping and I hate it so much that I let things totally wear out before they are replaced. Almost all of our sheets / towels are now in this condition and with a nice "new" apartment I have the opportunity to really think about "decorating" and coordinating things. Yeah, right. I promise, once this spurt of redecorating is done you will never hear from me on this subject again.

Now off for a day of fun!