Visitors 5: The forced march...

Wednesday, September 17:

Lisa is back to work so we were on our own for most of the day.

But Mom finally got to ride the train into the city... As you can see, she is bursting with excitement.


We do go to meet Lisa for lunch, however. But I have foolishly chosen place to eat that's pretty far from where Lisa works. The day's forced march begins... Still, we get a chance to catch our breath on the subway platform.

Finally we make it up to Sassy's Sliders... essentially a White Castle that serves not only beef, but also turkey, chicken and veggie sliders, not to mention sweet potato fries. For a non-beef-eater who never thought he'd be able to eat a slider again, this place is heaven.

Unfortunately there are exactly nine seats in the place, so Keith and I stood to eat ours. Whatever. They just slide down more easily. Another satisfied customer...

Lisa rushes back to work and I decide that it might be nice for Mom and Keith to see central park. I also know that there is a subway station across the park, so the forced march begins again. After a short trip from 86th street to 79th street down Madison Avenue (with a brief stop in Williams Sonoma), we begin the harrowing journey across Central Park.

I didn't take many pictures of Mom here. I didn't think you should see her in the state she was in. Pale. Clammy. Bent over. Screaming, "Where are we? Where are we going? I'm not going to make it. Are we going in circles?" Not a pretty sight.

So, about half way we stopped at Belvedere (sp?) Castle...

Here she caught a second wind to begin the journey again.

I think the view helped.


On the other side of the park we stopped to rest a minute...

...in front of the history museum...

...made our way down into the subway where Mom finally collapsed.

So, Keith and I each grabbed a couple of limbs and dragged her onto the C train.

She recovered enough to pay her respects at Ground Zero and St. Paul's chapel. I'm still not quite comfortable taking pictures at these sacred sites. Mom and Keith have some, so feel free to ask to see theirs.

But being in Saint Paul's, seeing people of so many different backgrounds stop, bless themselves with the holy water in the font, light a candle at the 9/11 shrine, kneel to pray at the altar all make me feel good about being an Episcopalian... Not something I always feel these days. I'm grateful for God's work in that place and the ministry done there.

From there Mom recovered enough that we could make our way down Fulton Street to the South Street Sea Port and up to the food court. I just wanted something to drink. Mom needed sustenance, (now who's the one wanting to eat all of the time?) so we got a slice of pizza.

After, we went out on the deck to look at the Brooklyn Bridge.



Mom got a bit distracted when she saw the IKEA shuttle to the IKEA in Brooklyn. I grabbed her by the ankles when she jumped over the rail and Keith helped me pull her back up as she mumbled something about more oatmeal crisp cookies and lingonberry preserves...


Keith began to size up the situation... assessing which in his arsenal of cameras he would use, working through the shots he wanted, the angles, the lighting, etc....

And then he began. Several hours later mom began to wish she had made it onto the IKEA shuttle boat. Even that she were back in central park.


I think this is the shot he was going for more or less. I'm sure his looks much better.

Finally, we met back up with Lisa in the village for a birthday dinner at a Japanese place there (Sushi Mamba I think it's called).

Everyone was quite satisfied.



I only ordered enough Sushi for six or seven people, which was good since there were only four of us and Keith didn't really eat it. Especially since we walked back up the block to Cones again. A little known fact: Ice Cream isn't really filling. It melts inside of you and just finds places in the cracks between the other food. It's true. Look it up.

Exhausted and full we jumped on the train back to Westwood.



To be continued...