A Lovely Day

It got up to 77 gorgeous, sunny, dry degrees here today. I slept in late, then traveled with Mrs. Nator to Bubby's Brooklyn, a popular restaurant with great fresh food and a waterfront view of the East River. After a terrific brunch, we noodled along the waterfront parks under the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, and stopped to sit in the sun by the river and watch kids play ball, boats going by, traffic humming over the bridges and ducks, gulls and cormorants diving for fish. The sun brought out the warm red in the brick of the old tobacco warehouse. It was nothing less than stunning.

(These photos are actually from a wedding we went to there in October, but you get the idea. Clickie pickie makey biggie.)

After that, we strolled along the waterfront past the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory housed in a 1920s fireboat house (alas, we were too full of pancakes to indulge further) and the Bargemusic barge. Then we noodled up past the old and current Watchtower buildings (yikes!) and stopped to watch the canines frolic in the Hillside Dog Park. We hadn't been there more than a few minutes before the owner of one cute Boston Terrier walked up to us; it was one of my old college roommates, who I'd emailed with recently but not seen for years!

We ended up having a great conversation with her. A bit over a year ago she, too, was happily laid off from her soul-killing corporate job. She was able to live off a publishing advance for a while (BTW, check our her book - she's funny!), and now is freelancing, as is her boyfriend. Hearing her recent history made me feel a lot better about the emotional ups and downs I've had, understand that it's okay to take advantage of this time and possibly even unemployment for a while to detox from corporate America (she rightly pointed out that I've been paying for the benefits all my working life), and that you can make a living doing things that interest you in a less structured way. I left excited to get together with her again, soon, and feeling like I have a better idea of how I want to utilize my next few weeks of time off. I think I'm going to start a real push to get my freelance businesses working first, and if that works out, I can try doing vet tech training part time or as a volunteer basis, without screwing up my unemployment. That's the plan right now, anyway.

Oh, and I want to go out and take more photos! Now that the weather is nice, it's time to enjoy doing that again. Plus, walking is good exercise.

After that, we wandered along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade enjoying the views, and imagined living in some of the wonderful old homes in the Heights, making our way towards Borough Hall and the Fulton Mall. It was here that perhaps the greatest miracle occurred: I was able to find a pair of jeans that fit me at a reasonable price in under half an hour! Truly the gods smiled on us this day.

After swinging by the drug store for some minor purchases, we hoofed it over to Atlantic Ave to catch the infamous B63 bus, which actually came pretty quickly. The ride over to Flatbush and up Fifth Ave was long, but it was fine for watching the happy, pale people emerged into the sun, lingering at outdoor cafés, window shopping and strolling beneath the pear trees in bloom.

And now it's time to settle down for the evening with a plateful of Mrs. Nator's homemade quesadillas and a smoothie. I actually feel more than human, again - I feel great!

Here's hoping all of you have lovely days coming your way...