Spring has NOT Arrived!

It is almost Memorial Day and we still haven't had any spring.  There were two warm days so far, but the days still aren't above 60 and the nights are in the 40's and 50's.  I think Spring got stuck somewhere!

We will be back in Florida for Memorial Day.  I really do like it there.  It is a nice condo - really big, and has a lovely pool to swim in that is very warm.  Which is good, because I hate to be cold!

This month has been very quiet, not much going on.  There was a delightful ballet "Don Quixote" that I really enjoyed but I don't have any more tickets until next month.  Broadway gets very quiet until the summer season starts - can't wait to see who wins the Tony Awards.

Love you!

Grandma Nici

British Virgin Islands Trip

Well, I was wrong a few months ago when I said I would never have another amazing trip.  I just had one.

My friend rented a 60-foot catamaran in the British Virgins Islands.  We sailed from Beef Island, Tortola and spent 10 days sailing all around from island to island.  We snorkled, paddle-boarded, kayaked, surfed the waves, spent days laying on the beach, and sailing.  We had a cook and a captin to make things easy.  There were six cabins - both of his daughters, their husbands, and their children (2 each) were along.  So there was a 10 yr old boy, a 9 yr old girl, a 6 yr old boy, and a 5 yr old boy.  The 10 yr old and 6 yr old are the same age as you and Emmerson.  He really likes to fish, and they caught lots of fish which the captain cleaned and the cook cooked.  We all ate them up!

I didn't want to come back!  It was the most relaxing vacation I have ever had and would do it again and again if it didn't cost so darn much!!  Well, there is always sailing on the little lakes in New Jersey and a lot of the small tropical places off Florida or in the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico often have small Hobie Cats to rent.  Grandma owned a Hobie for many years, sailing and racing it around Washington DC and Virginia.

I got a great suntan too!!

Love and kisses,

Grandma Nici

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMERSON

Happy birthday Emmerson!!  I hope your birthday was just grand!!  Mine is tomorrow - we are almost twinsies in our birthdays (I actually encourage your mom to wait JUST A LITTLE WHILE LONGER so we would have the same date).  I'll tell you the story of when you were born.

I was working in New York City.  Your mom brought Taylor to the city in a stroller to go to the doctor to check and see how you were doing.  Your birthday was supposed to be a little bit later, but not by much.  Well, when she got to the doctor, the doctor took one look and said - we are calling an ambulance and taking you to the hospital, you are going to have the baby!!!  But wait, Taylor was there, what to do with him?  So the doctor called me, and I raced over to pick up Taylor.  But I couldn't leave the office yet.  Taylor came back to my office and played there until I could go home - about 3 hours.  He drew pictures, looked at a movie on the computer, and ran around introducing himself to everyone on the floor.  He was beloved by all!!  Meanwhile, by the time I got home there was a phone call that Emmerson had arrived.  Unlike Taylor, I wasn't there for your birth, but I got to see you the next day and you were adorable....well, as adorable as newborn babies can be.  Don't worry - you got really cute really fast and that's all that counts!

So that's the story!

Love you TWO

Grandma Nici

Happy Valentines' Day

Happy Heart Day from New York/New Jersey!!

My friend's best friend passed away the first of this month.  It was very hard on everyone, but he was never going to recover and I think he may not have minded going on to whatever comes after this life.  I hope when I go that it is quick, and without months of debilitation and hospitalization.  There won't be anyone to help me, and if I can't help myself it is better to pass onto a better place.

There was a wonderful Masquerade party this month with amazing Cirque du soleil type acrobats, lots of costumes from the French Revolution (think Marie Antoinette).  I was all dressed up too - I love costume parties where everyone is wearing a mask.  There is another one coming up - it will be a recreation of the Black and White Ball that the author Truman Capote held in New York City.  It will be a benefit for the West Palm Beach theater, so we will be going down to West Palm twice this month.  It's a good time to go, warmer there than here, that's for sure!!  I posted photos on Facebook so you can see them if you go look!  It was February 11, and the Black and White Ball will be March 11.

Love you kiddos!

Grandma Nici

President What's His Name

*sigh*, well our new president has been installed in office.  We will see what happens.  I predict a long series of one disaster after another because he really doesn't know anything about politics.  He is used to sitting in his office and telling people how things are going to be.  You can't do that in American politics.

The best friend of my friend is very sick and has been in the hospital since Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure he will come home.  I guess I have been surprised at how unemotional my friend is.  That is sort of telling, as I have noticed the same thing about our relationship as well.  No one wants a person who fawns all over them, but hand-holding in times of stress is always very nice.  Never been afraid to hold someone's hand and ask them "Is there anything I can do to help?"  Even if there isn't, you have asked, and it is a kind a beautiful thing to do for a friend or loved one.

We finally got snow.  It was a late winter, but it arrived at last.  I wonder if spring will be like last year - there wasn't one.  It just went from cold to hot, nothing in between.

Do you remember when you played with Thomas the Train.  You had all the names of all the cars memorized and would build tracks all over the floor.  One of my fondest memories.

I love you TWO

Grandma Nici

Holidays in New Jersey

Well, December has certainly been busy.  My company had a blow-out party in Las Vegas for all the employees - tuxedos and ballgowns!  I looked amazing in a slinky navy blue number.  Then I had to use up 7 vacation days before the end of the year, so I just took a day here and a day there which got the rest of my moving, unpacking, and sorting under completely control.  The apartment is done, finished, and livable.  Still a couple pieces of small furniture (end table, small chair, desk chairs, etc.) to get/replace but most is completely finished.  Everything fit perfectly!!  It was like this apartment was just waiting for me.  And did I mention there are five lovely restaurants in walking distance and dozens just a short drive away.

Christmas was spent with my friend's daughter - as we do every year between one daughter or the other.  Each of them have two children similar to your ages, so I have a sense of how "grown up" you are based on how grown up they are.  And what you can do and how you must talk.  I know you will read these when you are actually GROWN up, at least I hope you do.  The whole idea is to keep talking to you both and someday you will find this site when you search the internet for your name (because EVERYBODY searches for their name!!)

I don't see many pictures of you anymore because your mom and dad don't post them on Facebook.  Maybe there is another site, but I haven't found it.  Meanwhile, Grandpa Nick posts your Halloween photos, so I have those and look at them all the time.

Well, have to get ready to go to Florida for the New Year, we leave tomorrow for eight days.  I DO love the fireworks.

I HATE TRUMP!!  And I'm going to be proved right that he was a terrible terrible choice for president.

But I love YOU TWO

Grandma Nici

Moving Day (redux)

I did it!!  I found a fantastic huge 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in Bloomfield, NJ right near a train station, a grocery store, a post office, a drug store, a dry cleaner.....all the important stuff you need in walking distance.  There is parking for my car, a laundry in the building, a lovely garden, and a balcony!!  I moved in  yesterday and now will spend the next week unpacking!

I won't have a bed until next weekend, but that is ok - my friend has a blow-up bed I will use.  There is also no cable, but I can "borrow" internet and watch on my phone....not that I'll have time with everything that needs to be done.  Oh, and did I mention the four huge double closets?

There is a place for everything.  I am keeping a very small storage locker because I want to have the second bedroom available for guests or, perhaps in the future, a roommate.  With 2 bathrooms it makes it easy to have a roommate if needed.  There is also a place for my piano and I'm going to start playing again.  It has been WAY too long.

Opera season is underway - AIDA is this weekend - one I always love.  We saw Nathan Lane in "Front Page" two weeks ago, and "Les Dangerous Liaisons" before that with Janet McTeer and Liev Schreiber.  The reviews were mixed, but I loved the show and thought the characters did a nice "slithery" job, which is what they are supposed to do!

Well, it's back to unpacking and figuring out how to get to work tomorrow on the train.  The adventures continue.

All my love

Grandma Nici