Tag: Rain

  • Another Rainy Monday

    Another Rainy Monday

    You know, exactly two weeks ago, I was sitting at home on a rainy Monday, writing about it being a rainy Monday.

    And it’s another rainy Monday.

    Just like I did two weeks ago, I pushed through the wet weather, and did the family laundry. It’s a chore that I agreed to; my part of the deal in being the stay-at-home dad. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but needs to be done. I folded laundry while watching MST3k on PlutoTV. The act made me want to take a nap, and gave me pause to reevaluate my conclusion on the latest season of the show. Perhaps I was too critical.

    The sky is still gray, but the rain has subsided. The temp is mid-forties, and I have a sweater on. I should be reading a book.

    Or I should be contemplating about the coming of Spring?

    Or I should contemplate the strange desire I have to put on shorts, but still wear a sweatshirt? That look, it makes me think of New England Summers. It warm and cool at the same time. It might get up to 76, but when the sun sets, it drops down into the 50’s. That sounds like an ideal summer to me.

    Yet, to get there, Summer that is, I have to make it through this Spring. And it is Spring around here. All the trees have started to bud, and the daffodils have popped out in the parks. It even feels a little more upbeat around the neighborhood. Like a slightly better mood, or maybe people are being optimistic to the change in season.

    For now, I have a gray sky and an under-construction condo-tower to look at. I would like that nap, but I have to get the kid from school, so no rest for the lazy.

  • Rainy Day New York Thoughts

    Rainy Day New York Thoughts

    I got up at 5:30 this morning, which is normal for a school day, and it was raining. It was the kind of raining that isn’t hard, but steady, and it whispers quietly, yet firmly, that I should go back to bed. I didn’t, but oh lord, did I get close to closing my eyes on the couch as the coffee brewed. The wife didn’t want to get out of bed, and neither did the dog. When I went to wake the kid, it only took her a second to register the sound, and quickly ask if she could also stay in bed.

    We all fought through it. We ate breakfast and dressed, and collected backpacks and a lunch bag. We walked to the subway in rain. We rode to our stop and walked to school in the rain. I ran errands, and did laundry at the local laundromat in the rain. The rain has made my clothes from this morning damp.

    It’s not that cold of a day, but the building’s steam heat is on, and to cool the apartment, we have to crack the windows. That has let the sound of the rain in, as well as a little more dampness. The influence of the rain, the mood of the rain, has creeped into our home, and is begging me to take a nap. Maybe read a book? Then take a nap? I should take a nap…

    As of now, it’s still raining, but it should taper off by the time I have to go get the kid. Walking around the neighborhood of her school, I’ll pass the brownstones with their wet stoops. It will stay cool out, like an early Spring day should, and the feeling of being a little lazy will hang off of everything.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Rain, Overwhelmed Already, and Frozen Turkey

    ( We’ve got stars directing our fate…)

    You know what? We got rain in NYC. In fact, we received two days of rain. Being that we went, like, two months with any rain, this feels like a blessing. The rain also helps put out all the brush fires that have been happening in the parks all over the City. No lie, it has been very strange to smell smoke, like camp fire smoke, everyday for the past two weeks. Though this rain is appreciated and needed, we are still in a severe drought, which is still a perplexing situation to be in for the Northeast. Growing up in Texas, going two months without rain wasn’t an uncommon thing. Normally, the rain stops at the end of July, and if we were lucky, picks up again in September. But around here… This is odd.

    Yup, yesterday I had my first feeling of being overwhelmed with the Holidays. I started thinking about all of the events, shopping, cooking, and planning we need to do for the next two months, and… overwhelmed. I wanted to go back to bed. I wanted to watch bad tv and eat ice cream. I wanted to shut off the lights and listen to the City. I wanted it to be April. No, no, no… Can’t do that. Too much to do.

    Speaking of which… There is a frozen smoked turkey in my freezer. When I open the door, that sweet wonderful smell of Texas mesquite comes rolling out, and it reminds me of BBQ’s as a kid, especially the ones in Summer. That is what is in my freezer, and I cannot wait until I can thaw that bird and warm it in the oven. Have I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?

  • Personal Review: In a Taxi on the Upper East Side

    I found myself, on this very rainy Thursday, in the Upper East Side at 3rd Ave and 80th. I had taken my dog to the vet we liked; The one the wife had found during the Pandemic, who was far away from our neighborhood, but as we only made this trip once a year, the distance wasn’t disqualifying. An Uber had brought me down here, and as I contemplated in the rain how best to get home, an open taxi waiting at the light decided for me that surge pricing would be forgone on this return trip.

    I was asked by the driver if cutting across the park, and heading up Central Park West was okay, which I felt it was. Maybe the FDR would have been faster, but with the trifecta of Biden-Obama-Clinton in town, and with a rumor of Trump hanging around the city as well, my thought was that the highways were surely clogged as much as the streets on this day.

    And it was a slow trek across Manhattan, which provided the opportunity of watching the city go by in gray clouds and black umbrellas. I’m never in the UES, so cutting through those streets was like exploring a new world. I wonder what life would be like if I lived there; if that restaurant were around the corner, or that coffee place, or how loud does that bar get on a Saturday night? How would life be different down here as compared to up there?

    If you have lived in New York for twenty years, you are bound to have taken numerous, if not uncountable, taxi rides, which all, more or less, are utilitarian and forgettable. But I do remember my first; JFK to Manhattan in the Summer of 2003. The cab had no air conditioning, and the driver blared Prince out of the speakers. And then there was what I thought would be my last after a goodbye dinner with friends; West Village to Harlem care of the West Side Highway – Late at night, the city lit up and passing in a blur.

    In my current taxi, a silent trip. No forced conversation, or weird shortcuts that are only meant to ride up the meter. No, it was a calm affair with my dog on my lap. I wondered why I still stay in the City, I wondered if I will ever leave this City?

    It’s easier now because all taxi’s take cards, because before that, sometimes you’d accidently not have enough cash, and that always made for an awkward conversation with the driver. This diver gave me a nod with a “thanks” when I tipped 20% and got out of the cab quickly, not letting too much rain in.

    Four Stars…

  • ODDS and ENDS: Walking in the Rain, My Lit Mag Social Footprint, and Knit Blazers

    (You need more ABBA in your life)

    I got a super busy day today, and I’m only three and a half hours into it. Errands and things, you know. It’s so busy that I am writing this blog in the car as I do the Alt Side Parking dance. But what is complicating all of this is that it’s raining this morning. It’s a light rain, not that big of a deal except when it comes to one task; Walking the Dog. The dog hates the rain, and the dog won’t shit in the rain either. I know that this isn’t uncommon for most dogs, so I think many people out there will understand, but the walk still needs to happen. I’ll don all my rain gear, as will the dog. She’ll slow walk to the nearest scaffolding, as those covered places will give us the best odds for a successful movement. Yup, this is my life now. And did I mention that my dog smells awful to begin with? And that when she gets wet in the rain, her stench expands ten-fold? Did I not say that? Yeah…

    I posted a while ago about wanting to start an online lit mag/journal, and how I was trying to figure out what a good name would be. I don’t know if I’ll ever really do it, but it is a fun game that I am playing in my head. If I do do it, then there is an aspect that I am not looking forward to; and that’s the social media. Sure, maybe I’m over thinking it and trying to talk myself out of it, but I do feel that on a very basic level, to get people interested, there has to be a marketing element. You know, doing something the bring in the views… I’m not sure what that would be. Like hell am I making Tick-Toc videos. That leaves me with only one option that works on the internet, and that’s to just lie. Just lie about everything, and see if anyone notices.

    I wasted the last fifteen minutes of my writing time looking up men’s knit blazers on my phone. I need to work on the phone addiction.