Friday, November 25, 2016

Thanksgiving 2016

I'm in New York again for the Thanksgiving holiday. I left Gettysburg on Tuesday evening. I would have left at noontime but I had to wait for the plumber to arrive for a problem I was having. I missed the rush hour in Harrisburg as well as the rush hour in New York. The only problem I had was finding a parking space in Brooklyn...After circling for 30 minutes, I found a spot.

On Thanksgiving day, I preached and presided at Epiphany Lutheran. It is always a pleasure to return to my home congregation. Afterward I stopped at Jesus Joy where the congregation was feeding people from the community. They advertise throughout the community. What an outreach!

In the latter part of the afternoon, we had dinner with my Aunt Dot at her home. We had a good time talking and laughing. Afterward, we (Jeanie, Robert and I) went to Ricky and Terri (my cousin and his wife) just to visit. It was good to see their young adult sons (Martez and Marric) who are both in college.

Thanksgiving now, is not like the Thanksgiving days when our grandparents were alive and the whole family gathered in their home, however, we continue to keep in touch and talk to one another. I am certainly thankful for family, good friends, and another year of life.

Catching up!

I have neglected to post for quite some time.

I returned from France last Thursday, 29 September 2016. It was a good visit. My primary reason for going there was to test the dialysis treatments in France and whether I could continue to travel there. This was my first trip abroad following bypass surgery and the routine of dialysis. I think the trip was successful on that account. I had two dialysis treatments. The staff in Littlestown were very helpful in getting through the required blood tests. The staff at Hôpital Américain à Paris was very good. I experienced the difference between the two cultures. I was asked whether I wanted to eat and soon we were all given a tray with croissants and rolls, yogurt, juice, hot water for tea/coffee. We were all given blankets if we wanted them. With the dialysis procedure, they use a different method in France. I was given needles that were plastic and not metal. In addition I was given a numbing spray for my arm. I barely felt anything with the insertion of the needles.

I went to a soiree on Sunday the 25th as well as Notre Dame to worship that Sunday evening. During the soirée I met a musician from the US who knew my cousins, Andrei and Ricardo. It is a small world.  In addition, I met Catherine Ferguson, who is a retired U.S. citizen who in her 70s moved to Paris in this past August. She is a retired academic (Ph.D. in French literature) and media personality. We have a mutual friend in Gettysburg who helped us to connect. We spent three hours in a French café talking about French life and culture. She intends to become a French citizen. The other interesting piece about this conversation was the fact that she did her undergraduate work at Hunter College where I did my work as well.

On Monday, 26 September, I went to dialysis. As I stated above, it was a good experience and the communte was very easy from my studio, a short metro ride and the #82 bus.

Tuesday, 27 September, I took a the Eurostar to London and met Jeanie and Robert for breakfast in London. This was the first time that we were in Europe at the same time. After breakfast, we took a short walk and then took the tube to Selfridge. It was nice to be in the department store after viewing "Mr. Selfridge" on PBS. We walked around there and saw that it was certainly an upscale store...we had soft drinks in the restaurant.  We left from there and went to the Tube. They had a dinner engagement in London and I had a dinner engagement with Yves in Paris. I arrived at Léon Bruxelles about 3 minutes ahead of Yves...I couldn't have planned it better.

Wednesday was my last full day in Paris. I had a taste for Couscous and went to my favorite Morocan restaurant one block from my apartment for lunch. It was delicious as I remembered the last time I was there. Afterward I ventured a few blocks away from my apartment to take pictures of 19 rue Madamoiselle. This is the building where Madame Woolsey (Danielle Garber's mother) was born and lived in her childhood years. I took several pictures of the building and the street to give to Madame upon my return. I think she was moved by the pictures.

On Thursday, 29 September, I left the apartment and took the metro to Charles de Gaulle airport for my return to the States. As always, I was sad to leave France but thankful that I was able to make the trip and look forward to another stay in the City of Light.