A New York Experience

New York (March 1 – 3, 2009) was a trip filled with new experiences. Upon arriving at the airport, Terrence and I loaded our things into a car that Kate had sent to pick us up. We were delivered to a bed and breakfast in Brooklyn called the Akwaaba Mansion…six blocks down and two blocks over from the brownstone where Kate and Jeremy live. We found Akwaaba to be well maintained, old but delightfully decorated in eclectic antique furniture and African art. Our room was called the “Jumping the Broom" room - one of four guestrooms - and was designed for newlyweds and romantic weekenders. It had a double-sized jacuzzi, which I later discovered filled with a bubble bath and strewn with rose petals! Down the hall from us was a small, one-chair reading library, and next door to it, an equally intimate room for watching television. A cozy fire warmed the living room downstairs that connected to a huge dinning room where the guests shared morning breakfast as well as afternoon tea. Across the hall was a ball room with two fireplaces , and it is often used for parties, weddings and other such special events.

After we met the staff, Kate came in, greeting us with hugs, kisses and a bottle of wine. We checked out the upstairs, put away our things and headed out for lunch at a place called Peaches. Kate and I later chilled and chatted in the TV room while letting Dad take a rest - he was trying to feel better from the results of a terrible cold made worse by a head-packing airplane flight!

Saturday evening, Kate literally took care of us at her apartment on Putnam Street. She pampered her father with a eucalyptus steam bowl, cold medications, and hot herbal tea with ginger and honey. If he didn’t feel better after all of that, he most certainly did while being served a wonderful dinner of local sole over a bed of lightly sautéed radicchio, small white beans, shallots and fish broth with a side of beer-steamed maple kale (the like of which I have never tasted before!). It was an excellent dinner and a memorable evening.

Kate joined us, and the rest of the B & B guests, in the dinning room the following morning for breakfast. We ate and talked, learning about each other and again enjoying good food. Of course Kate made friends with all those who were there.

Sunday afternoon was spent at Kate’s, playing Rummikub (that ended in a three way tie!) before heading down to Manhattan to check into the W Hotel in Times Square. Kate was scheduled to be in Washington the next day, meeting Jeremy at an environmental conference; and we had business in the city. But as luck would have it, the snow started to fall, and the weatherman was predicting a foot or more in Washington and NYC, so Kate canceled her trip and went with us into the city.

Our hotel room made us feel as though we had been teleported into a space ship, so we seized the moment and took advantage of the photo ops! The freaky glass walls of the bathroom provided our main foreground, and although the water reflection didn't show up in the photography, Kate did a great imitation of a mermaid in the lobby where the ceiling and walls were made of glass with water running over them!

Dinner, a movie, a late night snow walk (after putting Terrence to bed) and eating black ‘n white cookies in Times Square finished off our night, before Kate took the subway back to Brooklyn (much to this mother’s dismay). It was hard to see her go. She called me less than an hour later to reassure me that she had made it home safely.

Snow fell steadily all night and much of the following day as Terr finished up his business on the 34th floor of a high rise building. I was given a comfortable place to read, write, text and hang out while he was in meetings. I was invited to lunch together with the group and enjoyed watching the way my husband conducts himself professionally. I found it no wonder that he is so successful and a true “super lawyer.” I don’t get to see that side of him very often and it was a pleasure to be there.

Well, we made it home about midnight, even though many of the flights were cancelled. The Atlanta snow was all but gone. The house, bird and fish were fine and it felt good to get back into our own bed. I’m sure you all have many snow tales to tell, and I want to hear them all! I miss you when I’m away.

Thanks to Mike and Kim for sending me snow pictures while we were gone...