Ms. Crochet-y

It is now officially summer, because today Julia, her friend Xara, and I went to Coney Island to celebrate school being out.  It was incredibly humid and around 90 degrees when we got there.  The girls and I rode the dragon roller coaster twice in a row to start, followed by the “teacups” - actually a Tilt-a-Whirl. Readers of past Pepper blogs may remember that this is NOT my favorite ride, as it makes me quite nauseous.

So  I got a Coke which I hoped would settle my stomach, and the girls had a snack, and then we went on the Wonder Wheel.  

The Wonder Wheel is a landmark Ferris Wheel.  Some cars are stationery and some swing back and forth…of course, we rode on a swinging car, to make the ride more fun.  Very soon after we got on, our car swung through its path rather violently … and I felt much much worse.  The wheel turned in its course, then stopped so our car could swing violently all over the place again, and I warned the girls: “I really think I’m going to throw up now.”  The wheel turned, and I pointed out the Verrazano bridge.  I wondered briefly if over the side was better than on the empty row of seats in front of us, and opted for the latter.

The girls were extremely good sports, saying This is the worst ride ever! over and over again, and not complaining at all about the smell.  Luckily the ride was almost done, and the operators - like all folks who work at Coney Island - were extremely sweet, and didn’t mind cleaning up after me.  One guy said - Miss, that’s why you shouldn’t give the kids junk food and let them go on the rides afterwards.  I laughed and said - It was me, not them!  Then we all laughed, and I said - it was the Teacups that did it.

The day got much better after that. Julia and Xara went on almost every ride in Deno’s WonderWheel Park, and some guy gave us 80 points worth of arcade tickets for no reason! We used them to get butterfly stickers for Xara and a red bracelet for Julia.

After ice cream and a lollipop for the girls, we went under the sprinkler on the beach, and Julia decided to try  making a sand-angel.  Then we all had a great time splashing in the ocean.  The weather improved and we cooled off.  I had to drag them away from the beach.

No more Teacups in my future!

I spoke to a Time Warner cable representative today who was not only intelligent, courteous, and friendly, she actually fixed my problem and made a smart suggestion as to the best next step if the problem occurs again. This truly happens once in a lifetime.   

Those of you living outside of NYC who get to deal with other cable TV conglomerates, you are very lucky.

On Saturday night Chris and I were walking home in the rain from Red Horse Cafe. A car slowed down and opened its window, I thought to ask me for directions. A young man somewhere between 17 and 25 years of age said to me, “Wanna hang out?” I walked several feet before his question registered. Then I laughed and woohoo’d! At the age of 44, it seems all I have to do is wear a tank top to get this kind of attention. As the young man was quite polite, his inquiry was not unwelcome.

I was waiting to cross the West Side Highway today and a traffic cop had stopped the on-coming traffic, so that cars didn’t block the intersection. A taxi driver was unhappy about this and sat on his horn. A guy in a black sports car pulled up alongside the taxi and said, “Asshole? Excuse me, moron? There’s a cop over there!”

I love my hometown!

rent is too damnhigh.org, home of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.  Seen on NY1 today.

Since I can’t stop talking about Saturday night’s show, this morning at breakfast Julia sat on my lap and listened to their tunes on the laptop, and we watched the two Scarce videos over and over again (Freakshadow and All Sideways). The girl advises strongly that the best next move for the band is to create a new video. I’ve passed this on to Joyce.

Here’s a link about their last Brooklyn show, in February.

I am so lucky - Scarce played at Union Hall last night. I was able to hang out with Joyce and some of her friends and relatives before the show (Chris was home with Julia). The show was awesome! The energy between Joyce and Chick was so different than the last time I saw them, in February. It gave me chills to hear Joyce sing about when Chick was in a coma, while I remembered editing that part of the book with her … and now I understand better what she lost - what they all lost - when Chick got sick, and what they are regaining.

Best part of the evening was when Joe broke a snare drum from playing so hard.

Here are some recent crochet projects:

	I made this poncho for Julia last winter. I was adapting a baby pattern and I’m not good at gauging how much yarn I need, thus the changing yarn colors.
As a warm up to the poncho, because I hadn’t crocheted in a long time, I made some winter doll-wear for Uniqua.

Walking down John Street on my way back from lunch, I saw a strange kid-on-a-leash situaton. The kid was a boy five or six years old; his leash was cutified to look like an animal backpack. His mom was pulling him one way, while he held onto the leash with both hands and was pulling the other way.

Ever see a dog do that??

Last night I was watering the garden, and a woman on the sidewalk smoking started talking with me about what I had planted. She gave me many compliments about my choice of stuff, how varied it was, etc. She kind of followed me, planter by planter, commenting on how healthy and happy each planting was.  I’ve seen her before around the same time, and figure she either lives or works on the block and doesn’t or can’t smoke inside. I asked if she had a garden where she lived now, and she said “no, not at this time.” She spoke very carefully and formally, like that.

Having a corner street-level “garden” - big planters between my building and an iron fence - is both great and challenging. One street is residential, the other is commercial, made up mostly of bars and restaurants at the street level. Last night I realized when I work on the 5th ave. side (commercial) I get many compliments and thank-you’s, although that side also gets the trash and cigarette butts chucked in. Last night’s gifts were half a bagel, which the ants were enjoying, and a wad of gum stuck to a flower leaf.

Here’s some shots of my garden, and a link to the saga of my stolen plants: