Pam's New York Adventure

[Bill]

Pam,

You are sooooo funny.

Look forward to your escapades.....

[David M]

Have missed your humor, Pam.
(I'm not telling Soph you went to Friendly's, but the menu probably would have been better than your room service fare.)

David

Ninole Resident

[Radiopeg]

Love your narrative, Pam. Keep us posted.

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our
exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the
place for the first time.
-T.S. Eliot

[pslamont]

Well, no breakfast that I could identify. A large pot of coffee (I don't do coffee) and some three day old mini-danish. And why would I expect anything else? Must be crazy!! Still the day went well, I got back into the car, filled it with gas (gas is sooo cheap here) and made the great pilgrimage back to Manhattan. The Pocono's are truly lovely in snow. Thankfully, despite radio warnings of storms, flooding and highway closures it was an uneventful trip. I have caught up on laundry (okay I took it to the service on the corner) sleep (for the first time since I have been here, made up for lost time because I was hardly awake from Monday night until this morning). I even walked to the Amish Market and bought stuff to cook a nice dinner for my "date" tonight. Don't worry, Bob, he is under 40 and not my type! LOL. A nice shrimp cocktail, followed by salad and a nice stir fry. He is bringing dessert. It better be chocolate!

The days here seem to go fast even though I am not doing that much. Having arrived in a blizzard, it has been a pleasant surprise to have mostly sunny days. I have discovered music on You Tube and have come to realize that since my teen years, Bob has chosen music and I have no idea what is out there. I have become enamored of Wynonna Judd (if you haven't seen/heard her do "I want to know what love is" on the Oprah show, you have to see it. What a set of pipes. ) Then there are the Dixie Chicks. They are just plain fun. Ah, well.....

No fun stories for a few days. Just catching up on sleep, digesting life in general and thinking about getting back home soon. Bob tells me there is plenty of water again. My house guest of 3 weeks left Monday (I saw her one day and left... Poor Bob had to be host). I bet the orchard has more fruit, the coffee trees are ready to transplant and the golden sex link eggs ready for their first incubation. Time for me to get home. Soon.... almost wrapped up here.



I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[pslamont]

Ahh, Thursday morning. Housekeeper comes. I know this because she came the first week I was here and scared the Woo Hooo outta me. I was sound asleep. In my fog, I told her "not today" and she was upset. "Someone should have called me". I had told her, yes, someone should have. I am sorry. She left and I figured my son would kill me but hey.... it was 3 in the morning my time. I guess I didn't mention that the next day the landlord gave the exterminator keys to let himself in. Great. This time I don't even have pajamas and can't get out of bed. Remember this is a modified studio; you walk through the livingroom/dining area, into the bedroom nook and through to the kitchen, a small office and the bathroom (bathroom being a creative term). The toilet is in a closet-like space off the office and the shower and sink are 15 feet away off the back of the kitchen. I know, a man designed it. Had to be as it is about a thousand year old building.

The good news is that I had a friend in common call the housekeeper and tell her to YES, Please Come this week. She let herself in gently and looked like she was afraid I would attack her. I got up and reassured her I am very sorry about last time; I had been asleep and not expecting her. She lost the look of abject fear and asked "Is okay I clean today??" I assured her Yes and handed her an envelope, explaining it was pay for both today and the day she missed. She likes me again.

We climb around each other while I shower and head out for breakfast. It's 11 ish so I end up at a little cafe on the corner (every block has at least 10 businesses cramped next to one another so cafe on the corner is a cliche'... every other doorway appears to be an eatery of some kind). I order an overpriced "classic something-or-other" which is a triple decker blt with turkey. Good, pricey but generous, I can only eat half and bring the rest home.

Oh, and for those of you who asked, dinner went well last night. The HE brought frozen yogurt, strawberries and chocolate sauce. He not only brought it but dismissed himself to the kitchen and cleaned the strawberries, served up the goodies and brought them to the table. In answer to all your curiosities, I had my chocolate for the day and did not have to do violence upon anyone's person. By the way, "he" is Matt, a friend of my son's and Bob knows him. Nothing quite so fun as to tease about a date though. Gotta get your attention somehow. I won't even bore you with the details of how he rushed out after two hours when I received a phone call from another gentleman friend.... no more a big deal than Matt but he didn't know that. It was cute. I have a tendency to say "Hi Sweetie" to some people and I guess he assumed... well..... he'll have something to talk about at the office until I dispel his assumptions.

You should be proud of me. I have finally figured out the sequencing of the security keys and I can get in and out of the building in less than 10 minutes now. Maybe even less than 5 f I am not carrying anything. The sun is again shining though the air is crisp. I will be relaxing today waiting for another social series to start tomorrow. I am not venturing out anywhere else today, though i should be going to get my nails done. We'll see. For now, nappie time!



I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[David M]

.... thinking we might have met Matt at your house?
OT, but was wondering whatever happened to your/PW Thailand project?

David

Ninole Resident

[pslamont]

Yes you did meet Matt at our house Dave; good memory!! The Thailand project was completed. We built the house!! The family is safe and dry. The young girl (7 years old) is now moved to a boarding school for the blind where she is advancing quickly. The father is still abusing drugs and alcohol and will until he kills himself. The other children are in school and doing well. Only the littlest one is still home with Mom all day. She has learned better ways of raising her pig, raising a productive garden, etc...

I, however, am persona non grata with the extended family. They began making "demands" for "more" and I drew the line. This is not uncommon in charitable work. The recpients fall into a category of "entitlement" where they will convince themselves they deserve whatever they have gotten and more. It's just part of the coping mechanism of those who have so little. The mother actually wrote me a lovely letter... well she disctated the letter, her daughter wrote it out and then the teacher translated it. She says she does not know how she can ever repay such care, kindness and generosity. I told her that the repayment s working hard to provide food for her family with what we have taught her, living healthy and raising her children in an atmosphere of respect and love. She s doing this. The others... well.... greed abounds.

They saw me as a wealthy woman who could afford to give them anything. We all know this is not so (goodness knows my creditors do) but they had never seen someone just go to the store and buy a few thousand dollars worth of windows and doors and roofing and such.

I have photos of the house. You will just have to come see them sometime!

By the way, are you up operating the B&B with your guest rooms? I have a young man here in New York who is interested in honeymooning in Hawaii but doesn't want to go to the resorts. Keep me posted.

Just be happy I am too busy to start another project here. None of us can afford it this year. I do take this time, however, to thank all of the people who supported the Thai project.

Love you guys!

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[pslamont]

Wow, March 21st. I came here in February. Hopefully I will have things wrapped up in a week or so.
On the "one more ridiculous Pammie Moment" front...
Went with my son to get my nails done. The salon was filled with about 12 men and 2 women. All the men were having Pedicures...it was a hoot. I forced Bob to do this with me before I left and he hated it pretty much. For all my desire to drift from the urban experience to country living, I do love the grooming practices of the urban male.... and Okay, I am in Chelsea where 90% of the men are gay.

So, I get a pedicure and a fill on my nails. They do things differently in New York for sure! Pedicure was nice. They are into lots of herbal products for your skin. Made me embarrassed I hadn't shaved my legs since I have been here but hey.... I am usually dressing for driving the tractor or feeding the sheep. Besides, I didn't bring a razor as I didn't expect to be here so long. Okay, I a too lazy to hike over to the drugstore and buy one. My fill took about an hour longer than my son's grooming and he was pacing. His friend Matt was to meet us and we were going cruising through the Chelsea Outdoor market... which incidentally is indoors. Very cool though. In the old Meat Packing District, commercial and manufacturing buildings have been converted into all sorts of things. This building allows a long meandering pathway to the east river, where an interesting walkway has been produced. It was Saturday, bright and warm and every New Yorker not forced to some other activity was out walking the streets, playing in one of the many parks or cruising the Chelsea Outdoor Market. Back to the spa..... Josh asks my guy "how much longer?". "15 minutes he replies". I am thinking No Way and sure enough, 45 minutes later he is still screwing with my nails. Finally I get to a dryer. I sit there for 10 minutes. I have already paid and delivered a tip so I have been abandoned to a row of women sitting at hand and foot dryers looking bored. Since the guys don't get polish, they don't need the dryers... very smart! I do a quick touch brush, figure they are fine and proceed to put on my shoes. Immediately the polish begins to peel off my hands. Not Dry. Why should I not be surprised? I realize that with all the humidity in Hilo they use fast-drying products whereas here in New York they use a different type of product. 10 minutes didn't do it Didn't have the heart to delay the guys any longer so I kept my mouth shut and hid my hands after coughing up $80 plus tip. The good news is that I found a little hole in the wall shop a block away from his apartment on Sunday and had a "color change". The gal was delightful and I would prefer to to there any time. My hands now look human. Despite the name, here in Hells Kitchen, things are really nice. The food is reasonably priced, excellent and everywhere. Every other doorway on the crowded streets is a restaurant. Went with my son and some of his friends for Sunday Brunch. It was hilarious. One guy is a hairdresser. One from Australia. A third one has run a marathon in the morning and was all bright and shiny from a hot shower. That's all I remember about them except that they were charming, wanted to know all about the rainforest in Hilo and every one of them knew of the tragedy of losing our Pig Sadie this last year. After my big expensive meal at Del Posta, this little thing at Vinyl was awesome. Cost about $15 and was definitely my kind of place. A bar as you enter, kitchy dining room and the bathrooms are a hoot. Four individual bathrooms, each in the theme of a performer. I used the Dolly Parton one. Along with all the crazy decor, each bathroom plays music from the theme entertainer. Too much. Have actually been to this place a couple times and I can say that they make better Pad Thai than any of the Thai restaurants in the neighborhood. That, of course, is because they don't make Pad Thai in Thailand. That is another story.

I almost have my days and nights in order. With Josh back in New York We have regular meal times, etc... I still can't get to sleep before around 1 and sleep in till around 11 or so in the morning, but this goes with New York life pretty well. In Hawaii that would be 7 Pm for bed and 5 am for waking so.... I guess I am still on Hawaii time after all. Whatever works, right?
We all know that the day I get onto the plane and fly back to the island is the day my body will suddenly adjust to a New York clock and I will suffer at home trying to get the days and nights straightened out again.

Dreaming of Paradise, and thinking of my sheep and chickens and of course Bob.... hope to be home to make you all crazy in person soon.


I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[John S. Rabi]

You know, I moved here from NYC 20 years ago, but when reading your posts I feel like I'm back in NYC again! BTW, what do you mean men don't get polish? Not even clear coat anymore?! [][][]

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.327.3185
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"

[pslamont]

John, apparently the trend is for buff... no coat, just buffing with a product that looks like fine sand....

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"