Hi-ho readers,
Credit for title to Jehan, who yelled that when encountering the extremely large and choppy waves on the Cape. Sorry for accidentally taking a summer vacation from the newsletter. August dragged on and I felt sticky and dumb, but in a pleasant way.
I saw more doctors and took more subway rides. I am in good shape, my teeth and skin and body and the fact that I have avoided contracting COVID-19. New York feels safe but I don’t want to lull myself into a false sense of security.
Jehan cooked for me and we went down every aisle at the grocery store more than once. I signed up for a meal delivery service, which was great until I had to skip two weeks when my apartment was being painted. My apartment got painted! I spent another two weeks at home. I finally made good scrambled eggs.
I solved a Saturday crossword puzzle in 14 minutes, my best time yet. I was interviewed by NY1 (!!!) at a census participation rally but it didn’t make it to air. I watched many sunsets and ate many tomatoes in similar hues. I felt despair when the sunsets started happening before 8 p.m. I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for the first time since the beginning of March. I sat in the passenger seat on the Henry Hudson Parkway at least five times. I got what I would call “a tan” and swam in the cool water of the Long Island Sound.
And now, I am grasping at summer still. I went on vacation with my friends, which was cursed with many wrongs but not because of them. We went home early and I spent Labor Day sleeping. I did ride a bike for the first time in two years, and it is how they say. Like riding a bike. I ate the best snack, which is the Dark Russet Cape Cod Chips. I took an Amtrak train and saw Kate and Kristen’s new home in Rhode Island and met their puppy. I grew up afraid of dogs and he fell asleep in my lap. I grew up wondering if I’d ever fall in love and Jehan regularly falls asleep on my chest.
Today I bought silver polish and two books on New York facts. Patrice runs a book shop out of the old Washington Realty storefront. She’s a “collector,” her blessing and curse. Fall approaching makes me want to learn how to do things, like play chess, or skateboard, or identify trees. All this and I don’t know what I’ll do with a whole day to myself tomorrow. I’d like to eat a sweet kind of bread and sit in the sun.
Media Diet
- This Twitter thread by Rachel Syme about the “city fuckaround” which is something I miss a lot
- This video of 19-year-old Whitney Houston singing “Home” from The Wiz on The Merv Griffin Show in 1983
- newsletter of the New York State Fall Foliage Report
- Wikipedia article for crime in Antarctica
- two original poems by Aline Dolinh in The Rumpus
Songs in My Heart (with playlist) – covers edition!
- Between the Bars – Madeleine Peyroux (originally Elliott Smith)
- Lush Life – Lady Gaga (o. Billy Strayhorn)
- To Lay Me Down – Perfume Genius (o. Grateful Dead)
- Tim McGraw – Maggie Rogers (o. Taylor Swift)
- Kiss From a Rose – Becca Stevens (o. Seal)
- Friday I’m In Love – Phoebe Bridgers (o. The Cure)
- Because the Night – 10,000 Maniacs (o. Patti Smith)
- What A Fool Believes – Rubblebucket (o. The Doobie Brothers)
- Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) – Anne Sofie von Otter and Elvis Costello (o. The Beach Boys)
- Take Me to the River – Talking Heads (o. Al Green)
- Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye – Lianne La Havas (o. Leonard Cohen)
- Kathy’s Song – Laura Marling (o. Simon and Garfunkel)
- Walking on Broken Glass – Lake Street Dive (o. Annie Lennox)
- Consideration – St. Vincent (o. Rihanna)
- The Book Of Right-On – Sarah Jarosz (o. Joanna Newsom)
- The Man Who Sold The World – Nirvana (o. David Bowie)
- Free Man in Paris – Sufjan Stevens (o. Joni Mitchell)
- Romeo And Juliet – Indigo Girls (o. Dire Straits)
Did you know you can now get to Ushuaia, Argentina from New York City for under $600? It’s the starting port of most journeys to Antarctica. I wonder if anyone is getting on those flights.
See you in two,
Emily