Mr. Fix-it

Having a problem getting new notes onto Agebuster.  Asked  Henry, Mr. Fix-it, to place this one for me.

Pat’s new apartment

Henry went to the Intrepid today, the aircraft carrier which is now a permanent museum docked at West 46h Street and the Hudson River in New York City, where he  is an explainer, greeter, tour guide of the ship.  I spent the day with daughter Patty and her two  year-old son, Lucian, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where she lives.  Patty and I took Lucian for a walk, and it gives me such pleasure to steer the cart, with Lucian strapped in it, along the streets of the Slope.   I can’t think of any better moment that that of a grandmama pushing a cart along the street with a grandchild in it.

Sports English

The language used in writing about sports is for the sports-minded, not for the female reader.  The headline on the front page of the NYTimes Sports section on 12/12/11 said, Giants Ice Cowboys and Their Skid.   This female was at a loss and her husband translated it, Giants beat Cowboys, a professional football team, and their losing streak.  Sports have never drawn me, and the language hasn’t helped.

The worrier

My husband, the worrier, worries about the European Union (comprising all the countries of Europe except England), unclean sidewalks, grass not growing, writing Xmas cards, the weather (rain or shine?)–these are just  a few of his worrisome sources.  To counter this, I set up an agenda of worry-free pleasures:  going out to dinner on Wednesday, playing with our grandchild, two-year old Lucian, taking a walk around our neighborhood to view the Manhattan skyline across the East River.  Amazing how much pleasure such things provide!

Our tenants

Talk about good tenants?   Julia Fawcett , one of our tenants, has just presented us with a Christmas gift of incredibly delicious cookies, baked by herself  (each kind  separately packaged) :  1) hazelnut chocolate crinkles–hard, round, dark brown;   2) coconut macaroons;   3) cranberry-orange pinwheels,   (4) Christmas-tree shaped and star-shaped gingerbread cookies;   5) big chocolate-chip cookies.  Who could asks for a finer tenant?  And they are delicious.

Panettone

It’s time for panettone.  Christmas would not be Christmas at our place without the huge cake of penettone, a large, round, sweet bread with  domed top, featuring citron, raisin and lemon zest.  I buy a loaf a week or two before the holiday, and my family feasts on the pale yellow cake at breakfast and as dessert at lunch and dinner.  (Growing up, we ate it only on the holiday–I’m not sure it was around at any other time.)  But as soon as Christmas goes, so does our appetite for panettone.

Brooklyn is all!

There was a time when no place existed except Manhattan.  It was the end-all, and be-all, of addresses.  Everything was possible there, and nothing was possible anywhere else. But now Brooklyn has replaced it.  That other borough has become foreign territory. The whole world is Brooklyn, and Yours Truly rarely steps out of it.

The insouciant

The insouciance of the young!  They look at us, the elderly, with a blithe lack of concern, of interest.  The thought of their own aging never enters their minds.  Just wait, baby.

Timex wristwatch

Yours Truly has a black, Ironman Triathlon wristwatch,  made by Timex, with a start/split button for people who want to run. I don’t run, but the watch is still precious. It does not tell the time with two hands and a circle. The time, including seconds, is written in large numbers  on the lower part of the face, and the day and date appear above.  I find knowing the time and date in numbers satisfying.   My only reservation is that it is not made in red, so that we ladies can wear it  more comfortably.

Cat vs. baby

Our cat Aurora has learned to live with the new member of the family., our grandson Lucian.  During his first visits, she seemed uncertain and hung around, aware that our attention lay elsewhere–on a  creature who lay in our arms, or in bed napping.  Now, when he’s tottering around the floor or playing with his baubles, she sits by him quietly, companionably, having become aware, perhaps, that he’s no menace to her position in the household.