KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

YO – New York, well actually New Jersey (Joisie) is fabulous. I am having a ball. This is like a real vacation. And I so needed this. The trip started out with a “little” drama… I lost my cell phone at the Atlanta airport, in the bathroom of all places… And I didn’t notice until I landed in NJ. I wanted to call Mike and Susan, my lovely friends, to tell them that plane arrived 1.5 hours late and I couldn’t find the damn phone… By the time I got to my rental car – yeah, macho girl had to have a rental car, so I could drive and get lost – it was already dark and guess what, I got lost big time. Somehow I had it in my pea brain that I had to go south from the airport. But, nope, I had to go north. So I finally got to my friends’ place around 8:30pm. But they already knew about the phone trouble because Brett had called them since he got a call from the Atlanta airport. Someone actually found the phone and took it to “Lost & Found”, surprising that there are still people who are honest. But I bought a new phone in the meantime – my contract was up for renewal anyways and I got the new phone for $18 incl. a new pouch etc. Totally cool new phone ;-), in burgundy red. I just didn’t want to be without a cell phone for the reminder of the stay in NY. Not that I need to talk to people all the time, but in case like on Thursday I need to be able to reach people to tell them that my flight was so delayed and that I am OK.

After the drama evening, the rest of the weekend was just plain FABULOUS. I am so relaxed here. Susan, Mike (her husband) and their two sons, Elias and Mychal Judge, are wonderful hosts and I was totally absorbed in their weekend family routine.

Elias gave up his room for me and therefore I have been sleeping all weekend with the Yankees. ;-) And see, the blanket is just a wonderful travel companion.

LOVE THEM – and even better – I am coming back for their daughter Heather’s wedding on October 18, 2008. They didn’t invite me in the beginning because they thought I was in Germany. But I am in Atlanta and so I am coming back for the weekend. I am totally thrilled and delighted that they want me to be at the wedding. And it is in New York City, at the Terrace in the Sky, overlooking the city. I am very fond of NY. It’s Irwin’s home town, we had a bunch of fun vacations here and it reminds me very much of Europe with all of its different people, cultures, and foods and of course all the art that is combined in NY. Each time we were here we stayed with Susan and Mike and it was always really nice.

On Friday morning, Susan and I went to the gym in the morning (geez, I am out of shape…) and then we got all the shopping done for Irwin’s party. In the afternoon I went shopping for the new phone and a wedding gift for Heather and Rene. And in the evening Susan and I watched the debate (my first since I don't watch TV and don't care much about the circus before an election) with a bottle of fabulous white wine. It helps getting sloshed to follow this silliness. So besides, not being a “bag-search” virgin anymore, I am now also not a “debate” virgin anymore. But since this is a non-political blog, I am not going into details about Susan’s and my outbursts during the debate. Bottom-line - we had fun and it was interesting for me to watch how different the German election campaign is from the US one.

Saturday morning Susan and I got the food ready for Irwin’s gathering. She picked great recipes (no worries, I’ll make them for the Sunday knitting group) and was very organized in putting everything in motion – my kinda gal. It is funny because over the weekend we realized how similar we are to a point that it is scary. We could have been separated at birth, ;-) Then Mike took me to a local yarn store to get my yarn fix for the trip. I went to Creative Knitworks.

The owner, Sharon, is originally from Norway. We chatted for a little bit. I could have stayed for a lot longer, but poor Mike waited in the car and we wanted to head into the city to spend the day at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. But of course, I bought yarn. I had to – you always buy yarn when you are on vacation, right?

Custom hand-dyed Merino fingering yarn for Sharon’s store, Saphira Superwash, Berroco Lumino in pink and silver for a funky scarf, cute knitting needles with sheepies and a pirate tape measure

Then we went into the city to the MoMA and boy, I took a ton of pictures. I am only going to show you my favorites here.

The kids were like little sponges – absorbing all the cool stuff about art.

If you like to see all the pix from the NY trip, click here.

After the museum visit we drove to Little Italy to meet with Heather and Rene for a very nice Italian dinner. And here is the gang:

Mike (one of Irwin’s best friends) and his beautiful wife Susan

Heather and Rene – getting married on October 18

sweet Mychal

and super-smart Elias

We had a great dinner with a lot of wine, good food and excellent company.

And today was the day of Irwin’s gathering. I didn’t sleep well last night. I guess I was too anxious about the event, the preparations and meeting people I have never met before. I have never met any of Irwin’s family besides his dad and sister. It was interesting. And a lot of his old friends and coworkers from NY came. That was a fun bunch. I can see why Irwin liked to hang out with them. There was a lot of laughter and great stories about Irwin. Some of his friends wrote in a book I brought to share stories about him. I’ll also take that to the gathering in Atlanta in a couple weeks.

The only missing piece was Irwin, too bad he couldn't be here...

Part of me is glad that this day is over and part of me is so happy that I got all these people together after all these years. Some of them haven't seen each other since the 80s. It was nice to hear that even tho' some people didn't know me well or at all, they all seemed to know how much Irwin loved me and what a difference I made in his life. That might sound self-indulging now but I was glad to hear it. You will never be 100% sure, but it's a nice and warm feeling.

So, that was New York in a nutshell. I am off to Germany tomorrow and I am sad that I have to leave Mike and Susan. They made me feel very special. It was nice to hear Susan say today that she would love for me to live closer. Yup, same here, I wish I would live closer and I could spend more them with them. Their kids are just awesome. But I’ll be back – in three weeks. :-)

Next blog post from Germany – stay tuned! I miss you, my Atlanta buddies – but the blanket and the knitted hug help a lot. YAY for darn good friends!