travel

There’s always one

Today’s cartoon makes me laugh because it is so true. If you live in a cold climate, you’ve seen this – some guy running or just traipsing around in shorts and a tee, while the rest of civilization is bundled up.

I saw this the other day in New York City, it was quite cold this week and a guy was walking in shorts, with a bunch of people who were bundled up. Usually it’s a guy running through the streets – jogging or whatever -at least the guy here has a hoodie on.

***The Montauk Lighthouse all lit up for the season.***

Last weekend a bunch of us went to see the Montauk Lighthouse Christmas lighting. They make a big show of it every year.

The weather was brutal that night. We were literally on a hill, which goes up to the lighthouse on the very tip of Long Island. The wind was whipping and we were up there for hours. But it was worth it. And no one was in shorts, I’m happy to say.

We usually do the Southampton parade and Christmas tree lighting, but we did Montauk in stead.

One funny things at the end of the lighting, a bunch of people do “The Roll.” I’m not sure how it started but people take a sip of wine and then literally roll down the hill from the lighthouse. It’s a lot of fun (to watch). It’s a tradition that goes with the lighthouse lighting.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

Left on Tenth

Four of us went to see the play, “Left on 10th” yesterday. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It started slow, but got good. It’s an adaptation from Delia Ephron’s best selling book about here life.

It stars Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher, two tv favorites of mine.

The ending was surprising to me, which made it more enjoyable.

Julianna plays Delia, Nora Ephron’s sister, and the play is about her fight with cancer and her meeting Peter and falling in love at the same time. It’s sad at times, but mostly it isn’t. And knowing that it is all a real story, makes it even more interesting.

They meet up again after the death of both their spouses, they had gone on a date many years before but Delia/Juliana doesn’t remember and it goes on from there.

Left on Tenth refers to the direction Delia would give to people to help find her apartment in the West Village in NYC.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

A busy MOMA day

Went to MOMA yesterday because it was raining. But who am I kidding, I would have gone anyway.

But so many other people showed up as well. They mobbed Starry Night, I guess mostly because it was moved from the fourth floor to the second floor for some sort of exhibit related to that era.

I found a wallet on the floor and brought it to lost and found. The lady there said, “Thank you, I’ll keep it for you.”

I said, “Don’t keep it for me, hold it for the rightful owner.”

She said, “Right.”

Hopefully he gets it. I didn’t really go through it, but there might have been a phone number, I didn’t think of it at the time.

This is the third time I found someone’s wallet. One time it was on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa. A guy left his wallet on the roof of his car at a gas station and drove off. All the papers and everything blew out of the wallet along with the wallet. My friend Victor and I chased down the papers and managed to track down the guy using a check that was in the wallet.

Anyway, if you ever lose a wallet, check with me, I might have it.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

The dreaded beep

American Airlines is trying out this new boarding system, to avoid the “gate lice” problem. You’ve seen it. I just saw it yesterday when I was flying – that’s people who rush to the gate to be the first on the plane, whether their group is called or not.

I fly first class a lot only because I use frequent flyer miles by paying for things for my business with credit cards that give me miles. So I am usually in Group 1.

But even if I think I am one of the first on the plane, there is always someone sitting in the aisle seat where I have to ask them to move so I can get to my window seat. Always.

I give them a dirty look, which they probably don’t notice, but I boycott them during the flight by not speaking to them. I find them to be real “gate lice” and “hogs.”

They say people do this to get the best overhead bin space, maybe that’s it, I usually travel with a small bag that fits under the seat, so I don’t feel the need to rush onto the plane for any reason.

Right now, the new American Airlines boarding system is in Albuquerque, NM and Tucson, Arizona. The system works like this – if your group is not called for boarding, a beep will go off – a loud beep, which will alert the gate agent and the rest of the travelers, I would guess, that alerts everyone that you are not supposed to be boarding the plane yet.

So if you are group 7 and trying to get in with group 1, that ain’t gonna work.

I love that. I find these gate lice people obnoxious as hell. They all rush to the gate to stand and block everyone else. I guess they don’t realize the plane isn’t gonna leave without them. But maybe it all comes down to the overhead bin space again. So maybe they have a point. Who knows.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

Pumpkin picking in the Hudson Valley

A couple of my cousins and I did our usual October outing. We drove up to the Hudson Valley from NYC to pumpkin and apple pick.

This year we ended up at this huge farm in Hopewell Junction, which is near Wappingers Falls.

The weather in NY state has been incredible lately. 80 degrees today, 70s over the weekend. Bright, and clear.

The farm was sort of in a valley, we were surrounded by mountains an all four sides. We had a hayride and had hot apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

We got a lot of stuff to bring home – pies, doughnuts, flowers, pumpkins. It was a perfect day.

We went to Beacon, NY, a very popular small town, on the way home. I’ll publish photos in my next post.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

Visited MOMA, again

Visited one of my favorite places again yesterday – MOMA – Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

My favorite painting, Starry Night, was crammed with people again, trying to get selfies of themselves in front of the painting, and I tried to get pictures of people taking images of themselves in front of the painting.

NYC has been very busy with tourists this week. Today is the opening of New York Comic Con, maybe that’s why. I’ll be at Comic Con, I’ll post about it Friday, subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss it. I’ll also have a story and images on our trip upstate to pumpkin and apple pick, as we usually do each October.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

October in NYC; the place to be

October is special in New York. The leaves are turning, the weather is cooler, everyone is out.

I was out and about the city today and every park was full with people. There were musicians, artists, skateboarders, greenmarketers and so much more.

Lots of tourists are in town, they usually are in October. I even caught Clark Kent and Lois Lane on the subway as you can see above.

I have lots of plans this week – NY Comic Con, pumpkin and apple picking upstate, family day with 17 of us at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, and lots more. I’ll take you along.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

Driving habits being watched

I have this thing from Geico car insurance that monitors my driving. It’s an app on my phone called DriveEasy. In the past I had something similar from Progressive. But when I used the monitor with Progressive, it was something I plugged into the car under the dashboard and it monitored me for a few weeks, then I mailed in the gadget to Progressive.

The monitor determines your insurance rate based on how you drive.

But now all the insurance companies have the phone app, which is permanent! It doesn’t always work correctly, the Today Show recently did a story on this. A guy was on a rollercoaster and it monitored him as driving and raised his insurance!

I never pick up my phone when I’m driving, yet every once in awhile I get a pop-up telling me I was texting and it was ruining my good record. Other times I’m on the subway and it rates me, thinking I am driving my car.

I’ve thought of just turning it off and letting the chips fall where they may. My rates might go up, but is is worth it to not be monitored with every move I make, or don’t make?

I’ve thought of it, but then I thought what’s the big deal, just go with it. If the rates go down, I win. If they go up, it’s what I had planned by shutting the app off. But so far so good.

Have you been using this app with your insurance company? I guess it’s the same as being tracked by Google and Facebook and others who are watching the websites you visit and things you buy. In this case you are being watched by how well you drive or don’t drive.

Big Brother is here and watching.

Receive an email each time I publish this blog by clicking here

Falling into Fall

The quote, “And all at once, summer collapsed into fall,” is by Oscar Wilde.

Fall/Autumn is my favorite season. Again.

I say again, because I think most of my life Fall was my favorite, but for some years recently, summer ended up being my favorite. I don’t know how it became summer, but I’m glad it’s back to fall.

I live in Florida, and yes, we can feel the fall here, too. I was standing outside over the weekend and I could feel the fall. The light is different, there is a breeze in the air. It just feels different. There is less light and cooler temps.

This final quarter of the year is the best, as far as I am concerned. My favorite holidays have changed over the years, too. Of course Christmas has to be the best. And then I loved Halloween. Now my favorite is Thanksgiving. I don’t mind New Year’s Eve either. One of my friends always had New Year’s Eve as his favorite holiday, and I can see that now. I guess it’s the anticipation of a whole new year.

On Thanksgiving, I go to the Macy’s Parade, I stay about an hour, and then one of my cousins picks me up at the subway station in Queens and we go to her house and have brunch. Just three of us and Sara, their dog.

I get to the house before the parade is over, so we watch that and then the dog show which comes on tv afterwards. At 2 pm, we go to my other cousins not far away, and about 20 or more of us have Thanksgiving. We overeat, argue, laugh, just have a nice family time.

We sometimes do the Southampton Christmas Parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and it ends up being a perfect four day weekend. In between all that, I am in NYC and enjoying the buildup to Christmas, with all the holiday things the city has to offer.

Of course, October leads into this and upcoming in a few weeks in New York Comic Con and a few of us go upstate New York to apple and pumpkin pick. That’s a perfect things, too. I’m hoping the next few weeks go slow leading up to it all because I don’t want it to all happen and be over with. I want the whole season to last.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here
Emails will go out through Substack

Ready for the Fall

This recent cartoon received a lot of talk lately. It seems another cartoonist did the same thing, a few weeks after mine was published and it might be a meme, too.

Over the years, so many cartoons have appeared that were the same or similar and it bothered me, but I’ve learned to get over it. There’s no way of knowing where the ideas come from, although this one particular cartoonist seems to have quite a few of my ideas pop up a week or two after mine are published. Coincidences, I guess?

I got this idea from a friend who actually asked me, “Are you ready for the fall?” And I laughed and said, “Of what, civilization?” And we both laughed. When he first said, “ready for the fall,” I thought of my favorite Madonna song, “Live to Tell.” In it she sings, “I was not ready for the fall.” I never saw the movie it’s from, “At Close Range,” but I’m assuming she isn’t singing about October.

The fall is special to me – Autumn, that is. In October and November, I’m in New York and there is a lot to do this time of year. I attend New York Comic Con in October and also in October, my cousins and I take our usual trip from NYC upstate to pumpkin and apple pick and to see the leaves changing.

In October, we sometimes go to the San Gennaro Feast in the Hamptons and also there’s an Oyster Festival, out east, too. This year, I see San Gennaro is in September. And of course, October is capped off with Halloween!

In November, we do Thanksgiving, and then the Saturday after Thanksgiving is the Southampton Christmas Parade, where all the small Hamptons towns get together for a light parade at dusk, then there is a tree lighting and fireworks afterwards. One of the best events of the year.

So yes – I am ready for the Fall – September, October and November.

Receive an email each time I publish a blog post by clicking here