Circumstances with booking our “free” flights to New York meant that D (Air Miles) had to depart the evening before me (Avion) and spend the night on an airport bench in Ottawa, whereas I slept in our own bed, flew through Toronto and met him at La Guardia. After I had boarded my flight from TO to NYC, I was just about to turn my phone to airplane mode, when I got a call. The Doc from a walk in clinic who had seen me regarding an unexplainable pain in my left side, sent me for an xray and was calling to say that they were concerned about two spots that were detected-one on my kidney and another on my pancreas. I reeled with that information and could not get to NYC fast enough to process the news with D. I told him within minutes of my touching down.

D is excellent with logistics and had figured out the most economical way to get from La Guardia to Newport where we were staying at an Air BnB. The bus had been packed and we could barely hear the stops that the driver was calling out. As a result, we missed our connections and ended up somewhere in Harlem. A lovely older man could see that we didn’t belong there and offered to help us figure out how to get back on track.

After finally reaching our destination, we dropped our bags and headed out again, this time from Newport to Manhattan with very clear directions. We loved the congested streets of NYC with all of its hecticness.

Our first stop was a place to buy a bottle of wine. Between the news en route and the difficult journey to our room, we both needed a glass of wine.

We picked one up along with some bread and cheese and headed to Central Park

where the sun was just going down on the other side of a row of skyscrapers.

The October sun was warm and beautiful.

Just as we were about to place our picnic blanket down, I spotted a beautiful white rose on the ground. I took it as a message that all would be well. Now, months later, I can report that there was no spot on my pancreas, even though there was indeed something on my kidney. I am scheduled to have the “something” surgically removed this week.

I mistakenly put the cart before the horse.

After our lovely picnic, we decided to wander through the park and see if there was something more substantial to share for our dinner. We had another light meal at Tavern on the Green and was well pleased.

Still later, we walked the streets of the lower west side back towards our subway stop and came upon Benash’s Deli for our dessert stop.

We ended our first evening in New York with this tall, cool, cheesecake that was the icing on the proverbial cake!

Kath’s quote: “I suspect music is auditory cheesecake, an exquisite confection crafted to tickle the sensitive spots of… our mental faculties”. -Steven Pinker

Love never fails.

 

 

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