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While Waiting In New York

Do you know what the term “it’s in the waiting” means?

I first heard the phrase in the song, “Take Courage,” but the exact line is “He’s in the waiting.

The He refers to Christ.

The phrase means, to me, there’s value during the in-between time.

The in-between time is when one needs to have courage and hope.

That’s the positive take.

And I’m trying, desperately, to hang onto the positive.

For the past 100 days I’ve had an apartment under contract in NY. Closing was due weeks ago and postponed to June 1.

My daughter and I came up to NY from California on June 1 thinking we’d help my son, due in on June 4, to move in and get settled.

June 1st has come and gone and we’re not closing until I don’t know when.

What to do except call the agent who has no recourse; out of his control.

In the waiting, we’ve visited several sites and I decided to blog a travel log of our time here.

A favorite, so far, has been the Metropolitan Museum of Art, especially the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion in the Catholic Imagination,” exhibit. A stunner.

Several designers created gowns for the show:

Versace

Another favorite place was Central Park, a refuge from the heat and humidity of Sunday.

Walking through the perfumed roses and trees of Shakespeare’s Gardens took me away from the blaring horns of police cars, ambulances, and construction.

The lake had a rowboat traffic jam but was still enjoyable because the guitarist playing in the surrounding grassy area sounded so good.

We visited the 9/11 Memorial which is quite emotional both inside (museum) and the outside water features.

Along the way to these sights we took the subways ( yay we haven’t taken a wrong one yet) and had a chance to talk with other travelers and native NY’s.

An elderly woman with crooked lipstick (like my mom) and a voice like Katherine Hepburn offered us directions when we stopped to glance at google maps. We were looking for Strawberry Fields.

Her old dog had trouble trying to squat because his hind legs were shaking so. We chatted about her dog who she said was a good boy for a lonely woman.

She pointed us in the right direction, smiled, and told us to enjoy the music that was sure to be at the site.

A mob of selfie taking people were at the John Lennon Memorial, posing on the site, so unlike the first time I saw the place in 2001.

This is someone else’s photo:

A man wearing a hospital gown, scabbed sores on his arms, some cuts on his face, sat in the subway car while another man talked to him about giving up his drug use.

The man spoke to him in the most compassionate way, gently but realistically painting the picture of his future if he kept using drugs.

I caught the date of birth on the man’s hospital wristband, 49 years old, but he looked 75.

The man handed him a sandwich and a bottle of water, patted him on the shoulder.

“I tell you because I care about you,” he said as he got off on the next stop.

Tomorrow, we’ll travel some more and keep hope alive for a closing date.

Send me some prayer and good vibes 😉.

Thanks for reading.

Latino culture

The A to Z Challenge: Y and Z

Enough (in Spanish, YA), photo by Rux Centea for unsplash.com

Last day of the A to Z Challenge: Today is Y and Z: YAY!

That’s a Y but we’re concentrating on Spanish words for this challenge.

Y is for “Ya” which means Enough, or Already, or “Enough already.”

When a Spanish speaking parent didn’t want to hear their kids continuing to ask/beg/argue for something, they’d say

“Ya!” or” Ya pues.” 

Z is the last letter in Spanish too. The letter is pronounced “Zeta.”

Z is for Zanahoria: Carrots.

The Spanish “z” is pronounced differently in Spain than in Latin America. In Spain, it is pronounced like the “th” in the English word “think.” In Latin America, it’s pronounced like the letter “s.”

This is a word I frequently mispronounce as Zanoria, which I chalk up to my lazy tongue.

My favorite way to eat zanahorias? Roasted street carrots from Lazy Dog Restaurant.

Roasted Street Carrots from Lazy Dog Restaurant.

 

This recipe is a twist on Mexican street corn using organic rainbow heirloom carrots, garlic, queso blanco, cilantro lime crema, and Tajin. Tastes as delicious as they look.

In June I’ll travel to Spain and need to remember to use the “th” sound for zanahoria’s and not the “s,” or I may be served something else on my plate other than carrots.

Thank you for visiting and sharing. photo by hanny naibaho, unsplashcom

 

Taking on the challenge, and finishing, has resulted in little stories that I’d forgotten and reminded me that I need to learn more “proper” Spanish.

I’ve enjoyed visiting different countries and hearing stories through the A to Z challenge: France, Mexico, India, Germany and several states in the USA.

Thank you to everyone who connected with me here. I’ve followed a few blogs and look forward to reading your stories.

Gracias!