1. On Tuesday, Debbie told me that it would work for me to fly out to New York on or around Sept. 13th.
So, this morning, I booked a flight on the 13th from Spokane to JFK. I arrive around 5:30.
Knowing that it's a pain in the neck to drive from Valley Cottage to JFK, I reviewed some of my past experiences and looked at railroad schedules and it will work very easily for me to do the following:
a. Take the AirTrain from JFK to Jamaica station.
b. Board the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station in Manhattan.
c. Board a New Jersey Transit train to Secaucus.
d. Transfer to a northbound New Jersey Transit train to Nanuet and get picked up there by Debbie.
I have been on each of the trains before, but I did some reading online to refresh my memory about each of them and stumbled upon a very helpful YouTube video explaining where to board the AirTrain and how to pay for the ride to Jamaica once off the AirTrain.
So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'm set.
Planes, trains, and an automobile!
2. I was in the mood for black tea this afternoon and thought it would be fun to drink it while watching a British movie or television program.
Wisely, I settled on watching an episode of Foyle's War. It involved a woman's death at a munitions factory and the murder of Milner's estranged wife -- and a purloined turkey about to rot in the evidence room.
I always marvel at Michael Kitchen's superb work. Today, I also marveled at how fully and expertly the episode's minor roles were played. I was especially impressed with an older woman employed at the munitions factory, another older woman who operated a hair salon, and others. I couldn't help but think of the pleasure I experience encountering minor characters in Charles Dickens novels, how he is able to quickly establish memorable characters who play small roles in the story, but stay with his readers long after they disappeared. I dreamed about how I would love to be an actor who gets to play one of these juicy morsels of a role. The actors this series hires really sink their teeth into these parts, no matter how small.
3. As evening fell in Kellogg, I got a text message from Debbie that Valley Cottage (it's in Rockland County, New York) was under a flash flood warning. I started poking around online and began to read descriptions of, see pictures of, and see video footage of the rising waters in NYC and the torrents in some of the subway stations.
Later, I found out from Debbie that she and the Langfords and David (Molly's son) were all fine, but that the tons of rainfall had caused road closures and other problems, so getting around was difficult.
You might remember, if you read this blog from time to time, that back in June I volunteered to give Jack a ride to a climbing gym in the very north of New Jersey and couldn't get to the gym because the heavy rain that day caused a river to run through one road and created lakes of water in several places around Northvale, NJ and elsewhere.
That situation I faced was minimal compared to the biblical proportions of the flooding on Wednesday and I was relieved to know that Debbie, Adrienne, and the rest of the family were dry and safe.
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