Catching Up

I spent 2015 mostly on learning Arabic and reading a record total of 75 books! So, not completely unaccomplished.  My writing, however, was not quite on the wayside, but trickly at best.  I have no more excuses for this - I possess every writing medium known to man, short of a typewriter (the one I own is in need of repair).

So I thought I'd do a little catch-up, and just share a few highlights from the past few months.

November 2015

I had a special day of Tea Loving on Black Friday.  None of this lining up for sales business - though admittedly I hit a Goodwill near Union Square and made out like a bandit.

Why was it specialtea day?  Well, any day I hit two of my favorite tea places is a good day.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for the end of November - warm but not hot, so I could drink hot tea and take crazy long walks.  Basically, any weather I can't complain about is good weather.  I started out by taking the subway to the West Village, and having a Full English Breakfast (dubbed 'The Full Monty') at Tea and Sympathy.  It was just over a year since my last trip to the UK, and a mini-trip was nearly necessary.  The breakfast, and the Typhoo tea, was fully satisfying and completely reminiscent of my London mornings.  The restaurant was not packed - an occasional few persons trickled in and out, and I had a window two-seater to myself and my book (which was Crichton's 'The Great Train Robbery' - a perfect pairing).  There was an eccentric man who kept coming in and out, and decided to change his footwear, scarves, and belt on the bench outside, in full view of us breakfasters.  I just thought as long as he didn't do it inside of T&S, it was fine.  I topped off the breakfast with scones, because scones.

Then it was time to walk it all off! The Highline wasn't so crowded, and I made it nearly to the end, with a few breaks in between - there were plenty of places to rest, and a view of an Arabic billboard that myself and an NYU student were trying to read.  Eventually it'll be second nature.  I hope.

Walked back down Ninth Avenue, reminiscing about other walks.  Missed Stefanie.

Getting close to Chelsea Market, which I like but also which makes me kind of dizzy, I saw Mr. Footwear again, this time talking to some hapless twenty somethings.  I kept going.

After a bit of shopping (see above), I met up with Bathy, and we took the subway to the Upper West Side for move Adventures in Tea.  I'd say it's one of my favorite neighborhoods to stroll around, especially with Bathy (Madison Avenue, Central Park and the Village close behind.)  Somehow we ended up at Alice's Tea Cup, and there were more scones involved.  It's a really good thing I'd walked so much.

I'm not going to admit to the bakery we visited next.

Missing that perfect autumn weather!

The whole shebang

Shadowy Shoeless Man

Catching up: San Antonio, coming soon!