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All posts for the month July, 2019

Checking out The Vessel at Hudson Yards

Yes, readers, we are trying to get you caught up to the current time, but it’s moving a bit slowly. Here is a quick summary of March 2019, so we can move on soon to more recent, and more eventful, months.

March was a waiting month — waiting for winter to go away, waiting for a certificate of occupancy so we can close on our condo, waiting for some big travel plans in April, waiting for spring weather to bring a raft of visitors to New York. But during all that waiting we had a few fun visitors, made our first trip outside of New York, and did plenty of exciting exploration of this great new city we call home.

But we’ll mostly just let the pictures tell the story…

In March the massive new development known as Hudson Yards opened for the first time. We booked early so that we could climb the centerpiece sculpture know as “The Vessel” on one of the very first days.

Underneath The Vessel is a weird mirror-type-thingy that makes you turn blue for a great photo with the towers of Hudson Yards

Here is a lovely view across the Hudson River toward Jersey City on a chilly but sunny day

Early March brought some our first ever houseguests — Jim’s sister Rebecca, along with her son Jackson and his girlfriend Sydney.

Rebecca and I soaking in culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

What happens halfway through March? St. Patrick’s Day! So I whipped up a nice cozy batch of corned beef and cabbage. We’ve been enjoying the rediscovery of all the things we used to make before we took a 6-year sabbatical from cooking.

We had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with my niece Leigh and her friend Abby during their intense group weekend of culture here in New York. We caught up with them at the Whitney Museum for the incredible Andy Warhol exhibit there.

Leigh is a delight to be with!

One of the first nice spring days brought people out to the parks in droves. Here is a little park just caddy-corner from our apartment. Now we are just dying to see those leaves pop out!

My first genuinely unexpected run-in in New York: I stopped in a grocery store in Brooklyn to get an iced tea, and there is Mike Conlow, a comrade-in-arms from the DNC and the Obama campaigns!

My brother John made a surprise appearance in New York. Only after he arrived for work meetings did he learn that we were actually living here. So we squeezed out an evening at the last minute and had a blast.

In late March we made a first trip outside New York since moving here. We spent a nice weekend visiting my family in Michigan. Here we are, bundled up for a chilly walk on the streets of rural LaSalle, a place where NOBODY walks.

With my mom in the house where I grew up on a farm in LaSalle, Michigan

My parents receive irregular visits from a cat named Mabel. She (though technically a he) was kind enough to make an appearance during our visit. Mabel always gets food on demand on the back porch but will never let you get closer than a couple feet away.