Hectic Walkabout

Wife and Granddaughter in Central Park Yesterday

Whew! Regular readers will gather the past couple days have been on the frantically busy side of the spectrum. I’m not going to comment on the Orlando massacre because providing notoriety to murderous imbeciles, regardless of their religion, is without merit. In decidedly more cheerful news, today is the birthday of my old friend the United States Army. Who’d a thunk I’d devote more than a quarter century to something I got into so I could see Europe and earn a few bucks. It ended up defining my adult life and I miss putting on that uniform (especially when I have to pick out a tie to match my shirt – the Army was so much easier) and being around other Soldiers. Happy Birthday.

I fell victim to my own failings yesterday and my knee will be a constant reminder of my failure to control my predilection for people watching. I’m something of a New York City-o-phile (except for their sports teams). I love walking around the Big Apple and taking in the sights and the people. Yesterday’s mission was to deliver yet another document to the Panamanian Consulate to sate their burgeoning need to stamp documents. After an early stop in the office to make sure things were set up for the day and post some photos here, I drove down to New Haven and caught a train the big city. I was walking down 42d Street by 10am heading for the consulate which is on the Avenue of the Americas near Times Square. I was in and out of there in less than five minutes.

Happy Camper in NYC Yesterday

I then had the option of returning home or journeying north through the wilds of Manhattan to see my wife and granddaughter (there while my daughter worked from her company’s home office for the week). I think you can guess which way I went. It was literally a perfect day for this kind of walk; although carrying the dry cleaning I picked up for my daughter was a bit of a pain. I walked through Central Park and the pungent line of horse carriages with New Yorkers streaming around me. Everyone except fellow tourists seemed in a hurry to get wherever they were headed. As I made my way through the east side of the park I was amazed at the number of baby strollers out, all with Caucasian babies and accompanying third world adults. There was a huge circle of strollers where all the nannies got together to hang out and speak their native tongue.

At The Boat Pond

I arrived at my wife/daughter/granddaughter’s hotel after a twenty minute (and thirty block) walk. They are up on the East Side and only one block from the park. My wife was frantic when I arrived because my granddaughter had demonstrated her increasing mobility by dashing off the side of the bed while my wife was putting on her shirt. My wife was a lot more shaken up than my granddaughter.

A Very Happy Camper Indeed

I only had an hour or so and we used that time to explore the nearby park. She hadn’t realized it was so close and easy to access. I was thrilled to find the model boat pond nearby. I’d seen it in many movies but in my numerous trips had never passed by. It was a nice walk through the area, hard to believe we were in the middle of one of the world’s great cities because it was so peaceful. After an all too short additional time exploring the Madison Ave area adjacent to the hotel I had to head back. It is so tough to contemplate being away from these ladies for another five days. (I don’t know how Wingman does it).

Wingman in Boston Last Night - Been So Hectic I Forgot he Was Going to be So Close

This is where my predilection raised its ugly head. I decided to walk the 34 blocks back to Grand Central Station. I’ve always loved to people watch (my wife would say too much so) and New York City has to be the sun center in the world of that activity. I walked most of the way along Park Avenue and there was the constant stream of ever changing people accompanied by the never ending cacophony of New York City traffic. I loved it (my knee – not so much).

Taking in Central Park

I was back home shortly after five to the intense, bladder relieving delight of a certain black lab. The contractor made significant progress on the deck at the new house now that the typically rocky New England soil had finally permitted the needed intrusions. He laid out the top portion of the deck and filled the holes with cement. This thing is going to be huge! My wife called to report that after seeing Central Park my granddaughter felt the hotel room was totally too confining and insisted on three additional trips. I think my wife will spend most of the week out there. There was a silver lining to my wife’s absence. I used this opportunity to move her vast collection of house plants across the street to the new house. If I’d attempted this with her around the supervision would have been onerous (I’m understating that).

Deck Progress

I’ve assuaged my hurt feelings for the lady-less house by going with my signature move – the movies. I saw X-Men Apocalypse on Sunday night. This is the newest saga of the early days of the X-men and was full of the usual otherworldly special effects and bloodless minion deaths. There was almost too much going on but it was a superb ride. Jennifer Lawrence is way too talented for her limited role and I’m glad she got spend more time out of the blue makeup. The story has an ageless super mutant from Egyptian times emerging to threaten the world. I think this is the first miss for Oscar Isaac who wasn’t his usual remarkable as the super-mutant, maybe due to the weight of the makeup and costume. We do find out how Professor X loses his hair and Olivia Munn wears the hell out of a costume (but they should really limit her need to emote). So a lot of flashes and bangs but this felt a little shallower than some of the other entries; still highly entertaining.

Last night I took in Now You See Me 2. I’m one of the guys that really liked the first installment about hip magicians (is that really possible?) but this was a clear miss for me. I didn’t really want to see the very likable leads turned into victims and the plot jumped all over the place without a clear progression. You also get two Woody Harrelsons where one is more than enough. This sequel forgot what made the original so much fun – the magic. I certainly didn’t want to spend two hours hearing them spout endlessly about their teenage-like angst. This movie was a huge disappointment.