Nasty Weather, Perfect Reading

The weather outside was frightful, but inside it was quite delightful today.

Strange and unusual weather seems to be not so strange and unusual these days. Earlier in the day it was 96 degrees, hot, and humid. Now it is 74 degrees, wet, and no humidity as major rain storms worked their way through the city.  This is the kind of weather I was not expecting to encounter in the East. Spectacular bolts of lightening, bangs of thunder, and lots and lots of rain. This was the king of weather people from the Midwest said they missed in the East. Red and purple weather on the slide rule of the rain weather maps. Big, noisy, flashy thunderstorms.

But red and purple weather make for a great reading day. Deep into a mystery book, it was a good day to curl up in the swivel chair, take glances at the spectacular lightening, and try to figure out how the hypnotist is going to find his kidnapped son, reclaim his marriage, and help the police track down a young man accused of killing his family. 

Nasty weather, perfect reading.

Shopping By Weight

Is it a bad thing that I now eat all light foods? Not lite, as in nutritional value, but light as in actual weight. Should I get the strawberries or the half watermelon? Should I pick up two cans of beans or four. What else am I picking up on this trip? Anything especially bulky or heavy? What can I actually carry home? Will my frozen food be dripping out of the bag by the time I hit my door?  Do I need to stop anywhere else on my way home from the grocery store and load myself up further?

These are all questions I ask myself as I prepare to go shopping, am in the process of shopping, and as I prepare to go back to the apartment. What CAN I carry? Where am I in relation to home? Does this trip involve the bus, the subway, a taxi, or walking? It's no longer a matter of plopping myself in my vehicle, loading up my back seat, trunk, and front seat from a variety of stops all over town, and then backtracking when I realized I failed to pick up some vanilla. There is not much backtracking on these shopping trips. Planning is everything.

I'm not complaining here. I'm really not. I have a friend who lived in the Brrrrrr! parts of Alaska and actually had to board a plane to get her groceries, so living three blocks from my C-Town grocery store I can handle. If nothing else I can make multiple trips or I could even have my grocery store deliver. I shop, they schlep. Or I can avoid the store all together, shop online AND have it delivered. I think maybe as we get closer to winter and wanting those comfort foods that require canned goods like kidney beans, stewed tomatoes, and cream corn I'll have a look at those services.

For now I'll just keep watching my weight.

A Room and a Closet

 A couple of upsizing, downsizing observations since moving to the city.

I am used to weekly trash pick-up days when I would roll my big carts (one for "regular" trash and one for recycled items) down the driveway, then wait for the big smelly, loud garbage trucks to come by and whisk it way. Not any more. I don't have trash anymore. I have rubbish. How very Uptown.

That's not saying that NYC does not have trash trucks. They do. I just don't do the curbside thing anymore.  I use the Trash Room. That's right. I don't have a trash can, I have a trash room. That's where my rubbish goes.

The Trash Room is my next door neighbor. To some that might sound awful as you imagine a room where everyone tosses in a bag of trash, the smells permeating out as you wait for a semi-weekly pickup. No, these people have this all figured out.

In the small (very small) Trash Room there are receptacles for paper recycling, plastic recycling, and rubbish. The recycle receptacles are cleaned out not once, but twice daily.  I read The Times and it goes to the paper recycling. I finish up a bottle of detergent, into the plastic recycling it goes. My house was never this clean of daily debris. But what I really like is the rubbish chute.

The rubbish chute reminds me of the laundry chute we had in my childhood home. From my second floor bedroom I could open up a lid built into a wooden shelf and expose a chute that went all the way to the basement. Into that I could toss all my soiled clothes where they would end up in a heap on the basement floor next to the washing machine. There was also a small door in the kitchen that accessed the same chute and I can't tell you how many times we used it to yell upstairs or downstairs for someone to come to a meal or stick our heads in the kitchen chute and play chicken while someone upstairs threw something other than clothes down to the basement. But, back to my rubbish chute. I can collect any amount of rubbish I want during the day and take five steps to the rubbish chute and it is gone. Way gone. Down 25 stories to the building's basement.  No muss, no fuss. Which is great considering our apartment, like most others in the city, does not have a garbage disposal.


So my trash can has been upsized to a room and my laundry room has been downsized to a laundry closet.

Turns out that works out just fine.  I always wanted my laundry to be close to my bedroom. Now it's right outside the bedroom AND the bathroom. Well, if you want to get technical it's also right next to the kitchen and living room too. 

I'm growing to like this downsized living. And that's not rubbish!

Day and Night

I am looking out my office/bedroom window and enjoying the view. During the day I see people far below scurrying around on their way to appointments, walking to the grocery store with lists, and picking up prescriptions at the drug store. The traffic flows smoothly up 1st Avenue with an occasional emergency vehicle racing through with sirens.

The apartment buildings I see nearby look empty of it's occupants during the day. I'm sure they are not,  just as my building is not. There are young mothers and their children carrying on daily routines, work at home employees going about their business, people who work at night are sleeping soundly in their beds. 

I sometimes see a window open up or a shade being drawn but rarely do I see any occupants. But then night falls......

 

and I have not been able to capture a perfect picture of my magical view of the NYC skyline at night. I can see the Chrysler building lit up like a beautiful tiered wedding cake. The apartment buildings and high rises take on a whole new life. They sparkle and glisten as people turn on their lights and settle in for the evening, or workers stay late to file a list minute report. More than a few times I have been reminded of the movie "Rear Window" and contemplated the purchase of some really good binoculars. But I'm not sure I really want to know that much about what goes on in those other buildings.

Right now I will just enjoy the views during the day and night.