twinset.us

(Sorry for many small pictures - click on photos to embiggen them.)

Dear Jan,

Imagine jogging up to a bench in Central Park, looking down, and spotting a Signature double point needle in size 0, just the size you yourself are knitting a pair of socks in.  Imagine the sigh the knitter who lost that needle let out when she realized that needle was gone.  True, she may have had the 5 needle set and could get by with the 4 remaining needles, but still…Signatures are special, and it was probably a heartfelt gift from someone dear to her.   It would take another knitter to recognize what this find was and to pick it up from the ground and keep it from being just a bit of metal swept up by the park staff.

Fortunately that knitter didn’t find it before we jogged back to the park bench where I’d lost my size 0 Signature dpn the day before.  And fortunately Wilson had spent many Easters looking at the ground in parks, usually for wildflowers, but this time for the needle I had lost when I took this photo of my sock in progress in Central Park.

We did see wildflowers in Central Park, along with many other NYC sites on our long weekend.  As soon as we checked in to our hotel we headed over to Bouchon Bakery, where Jenny served us a fabulous meal.  You can spot her if you embiggen the photo - she is right below the “U”, taking someone’s order.  The cafe is a Thomas Keller restaurant (Thomas Keller, who gives his staff the credit for his success.  In other words, who gives Jenny the credit for his success.  Heh.)

The hotel was on 7th Avenue, right next to the Carnegie Deli where we ate massive amounts of smoked fish.  We sat with Gene Siskel  - he signed his photo “I’d rather eat your corned beef than see most of the movies I do.”

We paid a quick visit to the Marshall Chess Club.  Someday Wilson will have to play a game there, as other great chess players have done.

And then we went to lunch where Karen joined us, along with Allen and Libby!  Technically we joined them, as our naivete to the NYC subway system made us late.  You are going to like Libby - and I assured her that you and Dale were far more competent than we were (this was even before the spilling of the Korean iced coffee).

That evening we took in Wicked. The show was really quite good, but we did not approve of the change to the end of the book.  Happier endings aren’t necessarily better endings, at least in theater. At least the New York cheesecake we had at the Carnegie Deli (we became regulars) was a happy ending for us.

I’m sure you’ve seen photos of the marquee for the David Letterman Show, but have you ever seen the mosaic underneath that marquee?  I prefer it by far.

But even better than a Broadway show and the sites of NYC was an afternoon and evening at Jenny’s, cooking up a vegan feast and feeding it to her friends - including Marie and Heidi!  They were in fine spirits.  The woman in the picture with Heidi and Jenny is Anna, another of Jenny’s buddies.

We couldn’t believe how quickly the weekend went and we were back on the airplane heading home.  It was as though I was painted onto the mattress this morning - all of this fun really exhausted me.

Would I do it again?

In a New York minute.

Love,

Ellen