Finally I have the time to write a post. DS has gone back to school in Pennsylvania and DD has started school as well. My life is once again my own :).

Our vacation was a good one. We didn't do all that much in contrast to most vacations we go on but that was the entire point. This was meant to be an opportunity to kick back and relax. We went to the beach (and all four of us got sunburned), walked the boardwalk, and played some miniature golf on what were some fairly inventive courses. (I even enjoyed it and I hate mini golf)

We did have a bit of a scare with the car. There was a loud thumping noise coming from the right rear wheel for most if not all of the trip. The car was otherwise fine, had not problems with handling but made this awful noise. Soon as we got back we had it looked at and found that it wasn't a serious problem after all just a loose spring in the wheel. Crisis averted.

Here's the picture I promised of my latest Secret Pal package:

I got some lovely yarn with a sparkle running through it, some cable needles, yummy tea, a circular needle and the pattern for the Irish Hiking scarf which as I said before I have been wanting to make forever. My pal knows how to spoil!


Yesterday DD came with me to drop off DS for his trip back to school (we bring him to Pen Station in Manhattan and the staff from school meets us there and takes them the rest of the way back. A very nice arrangement that keeps us from having to make the three hour drive) so that we could do some shopping. We ate lunch with DH and then headed to Century 21 a discount department store in the Financial District. I used to shop there all the time when I worked on Wall Street, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and before I had kids. It hasn't changed much aside from the fact that it's gotten larger. I frankly avoid the place these days because it's right across the street from the World Trade Center site. I always get very melancholy, when I go there. The weight of my memories is just too much. I saw a lot of tourists taking pictures and I wanted to stop them and shake them and ask them why they were taking pictures of a graveyard. It's hard to see the place so empty when it's so full of people in my memory. They are making progress with the reconstruction, and one day soon it will again be filled with people. But it will never be the same again and I will never be able to look at it without sadness.