The Pergola

Catching up with posts that didn't quite make it this year but am determined to post.  Like a Christmas letter recap, I started going through my phone to try and post images of other things that happened during the year.  It has been rough for me this year and with the Holidays approaching - I just needed to get some posts done before I forget them completely.

We knew we either had to s.... or get off the pot earlier this summer with my Mom's service and guests we knew would be coming this summer - so we cranked out everything we could to get the Pergola finished.  It will never be finished. It is an ongoing project where I see constant tweaks.  However, we got to a good place and we inaugurated it one night - the the two of us and it was quite nice. Still need more drapes, going to put down a deck and potentially add panel windows to keep it from getting wet when it rains but we got to a good place finally.

Sargent at the Morgan

We are rarely in the city on weekends and with the holiday, we had some time to do theatre and some culture. There was a Sargent drawings exhibit at the Morgan that we wanted to see and it was amazing. I love Sargent but am a huge fan of his drawings and watercolors. The exhibit was amazing and I haven't been to the Morgan since it remodeled so many years ago and it looked incredible. A nice day since it was sleeting outside.

Moulin Rouge

Tim and I are celebrating our 14th anniversary. Tim got us tickets to Moulin Rouge which is playing right across the street from our apartment at the Hershfield theatre.  It was an amazing show and the performances were incredible. The set was gorgeous.

Post Budapest

We got back from Budapest on Saturday.  On Sunday, My knee started to swell and I thought it was a meniscus tear because I have had one before.  By the evening, I had a fever and flu symptoms.  Sick for 3 days, then the knee started to discolor and a rash developed going down my leg.  I went to urgent care and they wouldn't even look at me.  Because I was on a 10 hour flight, they were concerned it could have been a blood clot.  I was sent to the emergency room,  The hospital did ultrasounds, X-rays and bloodwork and it was determined that I had contracted a staph infection that had somehow gotten into my system through a cut or scrape.  All I could think was that we had gone to the "historic" thermal baths and I had picked up something from the water.

3 days later, they discharged me from the hospital.  I had been on IV antibiotics and the rash abated.  My blood work was clean so the bacteria didn't enter my bloodstream so I was really lucky - it could have been so much worse. Antibiotics, probiotics and rest for the next few days.  However, if I wasn't a germaphobe before I am now.

Budapest Hungary

Budapest.
It was time for a vacation.  After the year we have had, we needed it.  Budapest was lovely. A beautiful city, amazing food and we had such a nice time.

Happy Anniversary House!

10 years ago, we broke ground and built our house in Bovina. What a decade! So many amazing memories and incredibly sad moments.  I wouldn't trade any one of them for the world.  Thank you Tim for holding my hand through out this.  I couldn't imagine our lives without each other and our life upstate. I love you.

We were in a small bookstore in Hobart near us where we shop for books all the time. I found this book on a sales shelf. I gave this "self help"book to my Mom back in 1990 when I lived in NC. My Mom was going through a rough time and it was meant as a gesture to get her inspired on a daily basis with just little baby steps that would make her happy. I wrote a note to her inside the cover page telling her I loved her. 30 years later, I found the book in her dresser drawer while helping her pack to move back to NY. I put it on my bookcase in the dining room. Somehow, it has disappeared and I have looked everywhere for it. 

I happened to see a copy of it in the bookstore last weekend and smiled and thought about her and walked away. Something compelled me to go back and look at it again. When I did, I opened the cover page and there was an inscription and it took my breath away. I bought the book.