New York, New York, it's a heck of a town!

Friday, November 7

Our plane to New York was set to depart at ten-ten AM.  Airtran personnel got on the horn and announced that our flight was cancelled.  Not postponed, not late, cancelled.  They put us all on a new flight set to leave at twelve-thirty.  Apparently New York was having some weather problems so several flights were postponed. 

So, we waited. 

I like the airport.  There is no place like it for a people-watcher like me.  I'm a natural observer.  Ogler, some might say.  It's a great way to picking up mannerisms, ticks and other physical oddities that may come in useful in a performance.  I have stolen from many a stranger in airports, shopping malls, MARTA.

Today I was particularly interested in a short, slim, grey-haired man in a black suit with wide pin stripes.  He was tan, expensive haircut, good shoes and in his left ear he sported at least five diamond studs, glittering in the glow of the phosphorescent lighting.  He was alternately talking loudly on his cell phone and plugging it in to recharge.  His New York accent was thick as pea soup.  I listened as a young African-American girl struck up a conversation with him about the city.  Her first trip to Manhattan.  She soaked up his advice about how to avoid the gypsy cabs at the airport, what restaurants in which to dine and the like.

Then, there was Airtran back on the loudspeaker.  We were being pushed back again.  Two-fifteen was to be our new departure time.  Ugh.  We were instructed to form a single file line to get our tickets updated.  After ten minutes or so we arrived at the front of the line only to be told by Mr. Agent that he was shutting down his computer and we were all to follow him to a different kiosk!  Much grumbling ensued from the restless patrons around us.  Mr. Agent told us to remain in the same order as the queue but some eager flyers tried to use the confusion to cut ahead.  Barbara wasn't having it.

"Stay in the original order!" she projected in her best teaching voice.  The eager beavers sheepishly fell in line behind us, thank you very much.

I couldn't stop grinning.  She asked me later if she sounded bitchy.  I responded that she sounded like my wife.  So, with our Airtran piper in the lead, we scuttled our way down the hall some fifty feet to another kiosk.  After a brief interchange our new tickets were in hand.

Waiting again.  People watching can only get you so far.  I tried to nap.  Wasn't happening.  Too excited about getting there, so I read Our Inner Ape by Frans de Waal.

Finally we were in the sky.  We made up some time in the air and arrived at LaGuardia around four-thirty.

The weather in the city was just lovely.  Overcast but not raining, temperature was in the mid-sixties.  We just couldn't wait to get out and about in the big city.

...to be continued.

Moon Gazing

Barbara called me this afternoon on her way from work to the theater.  She told me that the moon was full and huge on the horizon.  I thanked her for the info, she knows how I love to star gaze, and went back to my current project of organizing files in the office.

Later tonight I stepped outside to check it out.  It is that time of year where I remember what I like about living in Georgia.  The days are moderate and the nights are cool, but not cold.  Cool enough to keep the bugs away, at least.  In Atlanta that is a blessing.  Ah, fall.

I looked up.  There it was, glowing white just above the trees.  It certainly did appear huge in the cloudless autumn sky.  My, was it bright!  The ambient light was casting crisp shadows on the front porch and yard.  The view all around was just lovely and haunting, like a landscape in a black and white film.

I went back inside after a few minutes to get my telescope to take a closer look.  After a few brief moments of remembering how to use the thing, I managed to get the moon into focus.  I had to remove my glasses to get my eye right up on the eyepiece for the best view.  The moon filled the full circle of my vision.  I noticed that it was just past being full as one edge was slightly rough, the shadow beginning its slow journey across the surface.  Every ripple, every crater was beautifully detailed in white and myriad shades of grey before my eager eye.  I could even make out the spread pattern of each impact, stretching out from the craters, indicating from which direction each meteor must have hit.  I don't recall ever seeing it so very clearly.

As I watched a small shadow passed over the moon.  A satellite!  During the next several minutes I saw five others cross the sky between me and the moon.  Some of them appeared to be at different distances from us and one was quite a bit larger.  I could even make out details of it's shape in it's dark silhouette.

And so I stared until my eyesight began to blur and I could feel the creatures of the night  getting closer and louder, forcing me back to the safety of the indoors.

~Googie