Monday 23 February 2009

Live from Connecticut

It's day 3 on our whirlwind tour of the North East, and so far we've managed to discuss money, religion and politics.

We flew into JFK on Saturday evening. As it was Susie's birthday (and I was therefore feeling generous), I queued with Susie in the you-aren't-an-American-so-let's-just-see-how-long-we-can-make-you-stand-there-before-you-try-to-contact-your-bloody-consulate queue. We arrived at 4:30, we cleared immigration at about 6:00 or 6:30.

Uncle Craig had graciously come to the airport to meet us. For anyone who doesn't know, Uncle Craig is an engineer on the Long Island Rail Road. So on the train journey into the City, he took us up to the control room and sat us down with the engineer, where we sat until the New York skyline filled the whole horizon. It was breathtaking.

Uncle Craig took us back to meet up with Aunt Gail at their place in Up Town (if that's how you write it? Anne? Rebecca?), and we had margaritas and snacks and chatted until dinner time. We went to a beautiful El Salvadorian
place just up the street from their flat. It was my third visit, and the food and drink were exceptional. We stayed up late talking and listening to music. Uncle Craig played music and we did tequila shots (not a good idea, as it happens).

The next morning, groggy from the shots (and a 4 am wake up call from my bank), we ate fresh bagels and lax from a local deli and then drove up to Connecticut. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Uncle Craig's driving was not scary. Except when someone challenged him by suggesting it was not scary, and he deliberately scared us.

We went to Mom's, where Mom, Papasan and Grandmom were waiting with lunch (a beautiful beef stew/soup for the meat-eaters). We spent the whole afternoon, the whole evening and the whole night talking about family history, looking at photos (whenever we finished a box, another one would be brought down from upstairs), and generally
testing Susie's limits to see at what point she would crack. Susie's extraordinary stamina shamed me (at Christmas, without the excuse of a 4 am wake-up call or even jetlag, I had fallen asleep in a chair in Susie's parents' sitting room within an hour of arriving to meet Susie's uncle and grandmother).

So today is day 3 and Susie was up at 4. We're seeing Wethersfield today, and just spending some time with Mom and Papasan. Tomorrow we're taking the train to Baltimore to see Jennie and co!

On a completely different note, can anyone identify what my breakfast
on 14 February was (pictured below)?

6 comments:

Mandy said...

Can't wait to see you and Susie!

mememommer said...

Could it possibly be...fried oatmeal?

Österreichologie said...

Uncle Craig lives in Uptown Manhattan, but you could be more specific and say Washington Heights if you wanted. Also, I don't care what you say, stopping on the side of the highway and then backing up to the exit you passed on the shoulder of the road IS scary!! And finally, if I had to guess what you were eating for breakfast, I'd say it was a rice krispy treat in the shape of a Playboy bunny. :)

Unknown said...

More posts!!!

Heart shaped crumpets.

Megan said...

Biscuits, but they have butter and maybe honey on them, so they got all crystallized and crispy. And they're heart-shaped. They look good.

Jennifer Elizabeth said...

What's the answer???!!!!!