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at the airport

I like airports. There’s an aliveness, an expectation at airports. What a long list it would be if all the reasons were counted for people to be at an airport at any given time. There are many emotions at airports. The list of that count would also be very long.

For the most part, my airport experiences have been really good. Of course, I’ve had the usual possessions taken from me at security. It took me awhile to realize that no amount of pleading and bargaining would allow me to keep the scissors I insist on buying again and again and tucking away in a carry-on bag, forgetting they’re there until I’m once again facing a security guard. The last time this occurred I made a mental note to give it up. Stop pleading and arguing and just hand the item over.

I think there are a lot of people who like airports, although some won’t admit it. Is it that when you’re a saavy traveler you don’t admit this? I’ve observed quite a few people people-watching at airports. People watching at airports is a great pastime. You can read any time, but having so many groups of people pass by in different stages of travel is quite entertaining. Unless you have five minutes to catch a connecting flight, or have arrived at the airport 15 minutes before your flight is to take-off, stop and imagine you’re at a show. Get something to eat if you’re hungry, find a comfortable spot, sit back and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed; it’s a delightful show.

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when an eating establishment changes

There’s an eating establishment in Manhattan that has managed to keep its identity no matter what changes the times dictate. This is not always the case. Many places have forever closed their doors after major renovations. Successful, well-loved and cherished eating establishments went down the tubes because someone at the helm thought they needed to keep up with the times. And the essence was lost; that intangible something that kept customers coming back again and again.

Changes seem to happen more in Manhattan than any other city. It’s a city of change. It’s not bad; it’s not good. It just is. And New Yorkers learn to get used to this way. When changes were made to Veselka Coffee Shop www.veselka.com , located on 9th Street and Second Avenue, long-time customers were not happy. However, that intangible quality that makes Velselka what it is, wasn’t lost with those changes, and the regular customers returned along with lots of new ones. Maybe it’s the energy that keeps a business going; and if it’s lost with the changes it can’t be recaptured, and the doors have to close forever. Sometimes the energy shifts and the newly-renovated business takes on a different personality. When that happens the business has an entirely new feel to old customers, and they’ll either stay or find another place that embodies the feel of the old one. It’s just good to know what the spirit of the business is before implementing change.

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I read . . .

I watched a little of the Ellen Degeneres show the other day, and was taken aback when a woman wrote to the show explaining and laughing about the gifts her in-laws have given her and her family throughout the years. I didn’t quite understand why she was making that public, her in-laws are alive and kicking and must feel a little odd with the public airing, (unless there was an agreement beforehand to get some laughs on TV), though it didn’t seem that way.

That got me thinking about giving gifts because sometimes it’s tricky. If you don’t show the right reaction immediately upon receiving the gift, it’s all down hill from there. They’ll be lots of questions coming your way. Or if you do show the right reaction, but the thank you is delayed, well, . . . Then there are the givers who want to know exactly how their gift is being used. They just need to know because they usually put much time, effort and thought into buying it. And yes, there’s always the money too.

A while ago I read that once you give a gift, let it go. What happens to the gift after you give it, and this was bluntly said, is none of your business. You did your part. Let it go. As far as the receiver is concerned, the gift should be happily and gratefully accepted, always, no matter what the gift. What you do with the gift after that is your business. To me that makes the most sense.

We can all relax. It’s all so easy.

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new london pharmacy is that and more

Do you enjoy going to a drugstore? I do. Mainly because the one I go to when in New York is no ordinary drugstore. New London Pharmacy is its name, and it’s located at 246 Eighth Avenue, NYC, 212-243-4987. The co-owner, Abby Fazio, has given the word drugstore a whole new meaning. For one thing, she really, really listens to what her customers say about what they need. She has plenty of excellent products and the knowledge to go along with them. She’s a trained pharmacist who also has a handle on alternative ways of healing, and has hired a nutritionist who is usually within easy reach of a customer’s question. It’s obvious she likes what she does, which is the reason she does it so well, and it’s obvious she likes people and wants to help them. I first read of New London Pharmacy in an article in Elle magazine. I clipped the article from the magazine, and carried it around with me for awhile until I managed to get there. And I’m glad I did. I can say my needs were more than met. I bought Yu-Be, a skin cream, products called The Organic Pharmacy from London, a product from Quantum for cold and flu – excellent, and, of course, I bought a few others things I couldn’t resist. If you’re ever in the Chelsea area, don’t hesitate to visit New London Pharmacy. I think you’ll be glad you did.

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completely still


Do you ever go to bed at night completely exhausted and wanting seven or eight hours of sleep, and three hours later you’re still wide awake? Or do you sometimes fall asleep only to wake up refreshed 30 minutes later? You want to have your wits about you when the day begins; however, you think the way things are going, that might not happen.

A book I purchased in Galway, Ireland gave me a new way of thinking about sleepless nights. Although I don’t have the book with me, I remember a few of the author’s words. She said not to be concerned about losing a night’s sleep, just relax and enjoy the quietness of the night. It’s a soothing way to think. When we can’t sleep we can be still and relaxed, tomorrow will take care of itself. We’ll be fine.

When I don’t fall asleep, I usually do one of two things. I listen to my discs on the POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle www.eckhardttolle.com , or I stay in bed and repeat a beautiful prayer. And when I repeat the words and concentrate on them, a calmness takes over. I give up the noise of the outside world and the thoughts in my head, and get into my own inner world. I read these beautiful words many years ago from a book written by Catherine Ponder, and have since read them in many other books. The prayer:

Be still, and know that I am God.
Be still, and know that I am God at work in this situation
Be still, and know that I am Supreme Good at work in this situation now
Relax, let go and let God
Relax, feel the peace of God
Feel the peace of God’s loving presence
Relax, let go and let God.


“When the mind is very quiet, completely still, when there is not a movement of thought and therefore no experience, no observer, then that very stillness has its own creative understanding. In that stillness the mind is transformed into something else.” -J. Krishnamurti, Indian Philosopher

www.jkrishnamurti.org

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The fashion experts

Lately the fashion experts who tell us what to wear and why are confusing me. I used to enjoy clothes shopping. Not anymore. Now I think, am I buying the “wrong” jeans for my body type? Is this jacket length “wrong” for my height and physique? Am I wearing the “wrong” shoes with my outfit? Is this the “wrong” shade of green for my skin tone? Is this the “wrong” blouse for my bust size? Or maybe the “wrong” neckline? Indeed! Shopping has gotten crazily complicated.

When you listen to the advice of fashion experts on what works and what doesn’t, you begin to doubt yourself. Have you noticed that it’s almost impossible to get away from the fashion experts because they’re everywhere: on TV, radio talk shows, all those magazines, and now . . . . your friends who believe everything the so-called experts say.

Style means different things to different people. Life becomes a chore when we don’t trust our own sense of who we are in what we’re doing. Let’s do our own thing and be as creative with our lives as we can be. What the heck, as long as we’re not harming anyone, we can make those choices ourselves without any hairy eyeball directed our way. Often what’s called “wrong” is just someone’s opinion, and that’s the part we have to get past in order to be our own fashion expert.

So, here’s to us and knowing what works and what doesn’t as we let go of the cookie cutter fashions and have fun developing our own sense of style.

“We live but a fraction of our life.
Why do we not let in the flood,
raise the gates,
and set all our wheels in motion?” -Henry David Thoreau

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a gift

The idea of paying the check of another diner, a stranger in a restaurant, a few weeks before Christmas is a wonderful way of getting into the Christmas Spirit. I can’t recall where, when or how I heard about this idea, but I remember thinking, “Nice. I can do that.” Any kind of place will do: coffee shop, burger joint, informal or formal restaurant. Whatever fits your wallet.

The gift: When you’re ready to pay your bill, request that the server bring to you the check of the diner(s) of the table you’ve chosen. We all have different reasons for our choices; I go with my gut feeling when deciding on a table. After you’ve paid, ask the server to bring a note instead of a check to the diner(s). A napkin will do for a simple: “The meal is on me. Have a happy holiday.” You walk away now as an anonymous giver. You’ve shopped, wrote the card and given your gift. It’s a very nice gift, and it’s possible that the one who got the gift will remember it every Christmas. Imagine that.

“To know how to live is my trade and my art.” -Michel De Montaigne

“Make the decision to serve wherever you go and to whomever you see. As long as you are serving you will be receiving. The more you serve, the more confidence you will gain in the miraculous effects of this principle of life. And as you enjoy the reciprocity, your ability to serve will also increase.” -Greg Anderson

“Give yourself abundant pleasure, so that you may have abundant pleasure to give others.” -Neale Donald Walsch

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nantucket cranberry pie

If you’re looking for a great dessert, and you want to prepare and bake it yourself, I have a dessert for you. Yes, I do. I haven’t met one person who can resist it. It’s easy to prepare and it’s delicious.

A few years ago I bought the book, MORE HOME COOKING: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin. The book is a delight to read. It’s written in essay form, part memoir, is informative and fun to read. Of course, you’ll want to try the other recipes, but for a start, try the Nantucket Cranberry Pie. I think you’ll like it a lot.

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paul’s letter

December is around the corner. It gets crazy at that time of the year. If we let it. The commercials on television almost seem to demand that we buy, buy, and buy some more; All in the name of that word called joy. A joyous this and a joyous that – if we buy. Every year seems more intense than the last. I was scanning the book shelves of a very important person in my life, and came across THE LOVE BOOK by John Randolph Price www.johnrandolphprice.com . If ever you need to sit quietly and simply restore yourself this coming month you might want to consider doing it with this book. On page 17 is Paul’s letter to the Christians at Corinth. I forgot how beautiful it is. In case you’ve missed seeing it recently, here it is:

“If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crushing cymbals. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but I have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve nothing.
This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience-it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: It is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.”

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those east broadway buses

On Thanksgiving Day my daughter, Emi, and I boarded an Apex bus scheduled to leave at 1:30 pm at East Broadway – at 2:15 we still hadn’t left, and none of us knew the reason, including the driver. Finally a Chinese employee entered the bus, and when someone asked what happened to our 1:30 departure, she said, “1:30? No problem. We leave 2:30.” And off she went.

At 2:30 we were told to change buses; a more patient group you haven’t met. Bags came down from the racks, coats, and reading materials were collected and we all walked across Division Street to another bus. The reason for the delay seemed to be . . . a secret, no answers to questions were forthcoming. At 3pm we departed; it was a smooth ride to Baltimore. The Baltimore Travel Plaza was the destination for a few of us. When we arrived there the bus stopped by the roadside to let us off and quickly left. It was cold and windy and no shelter was in sight

I tried to confirm our return by phone, but couldn’t get any information, so we went with the time given when I bought the tickets in New York. We stopped by the same cold, windy, isolated roadside and waited for the bus. A bus was waiting but it wasn’t Apex. The driver motioned for us to get on. We did, presented our tickets, and were told Apex bus had left and we needed to pay an extra $20 each. A nearby passenger chimed in to say that he had the same ticket and paid the $20. We said, No thank you, we would wait for the Apex bus, and that it couldn’t have left, we still had time. The passenger who paid asked for the return of his $20 and got off the bus with us. Three Chinese bus employees followed us off the bus. There was a mini conference. My daughter’s ticket and the other passenger’s ticket were reexamined and they asked to see mine. I don’t know what new information was extracted in those few seconds, but we were told to get back on the bus at no additional price. We three looked at each other and boarded the bus again.

In the town of Delaware the driver stopped for more passengers, and as we started to drive away we all heard a banging noise underneath the bus. We left and could hear the driver speaking Chinese on the phone. He stopped the bus three times and went outside to try to repair the problem. All to no avail. Very slowly we inched our way along the highway keeping closely to the right. When we got to NJ we were told another bus would be coming. We waited 45 minutes for the bus. Again we were an unusually patient group. The bus came. We collected our possessions and boarded  another bus. The rest of the trip went smoothly. And I suppose that was all to be expected because when you pay $35.00 for a round trip bus ride from Manhattan to Baltimore you take your chances. But, then again, if Fung Wah can do it right, why not the others?

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“The man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends and will always make the best of his circumstances.” -Aristotle

“. . . The trick to being a good adventurer, of course, is to take all such surprises in stride. Good people keep walking whatever happens, taught the Buddha. “They do not speak vain words and are the same in good fortune and bad.” – Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
www.rolfpotts.com