#BlogElul 5777: Fill

Here are nine reasons to recognize and remember my cup is filled, even (and especially) on the days it doesn’t feel as though it runneth over.

1. A longtime job with generous health and other benefits.
2. Longtime friends from all parts of my life.
3. Family that still enjoys being together – even as we drive each other nuts by being ourselves.
4. Coffee, including a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card that gets refilled for me from time to time.
5. More books than I can hope to finish anytime soon.
6. A synagogue community and weekly services that ground me. (They’d understand my desire to disappear right about now and resurface just in time to shake the lulav and breathe in the sweet scent of the etrog.)
7. A newfound love of learning to lift weights and box (yes, you read that correctly) – activities that also ground me.
8. A more than adequate roof over my head and a home that is a quiet refuge from the noise and other challenges of NYC living.
9. Knowledge of a genetic flaw and the wherewithal to act in a timely way to ensure it didn’t take my life, as well as a willingness and ability to use those experiences to support others who are on a similar path behind me.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima , this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precede the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serve as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 5777: Count

Terry and I did a lot of counting today:

1. We started with six bagels at the bagel store…plus one freebie for a total of seven.
2. We each had one cup of coffee with our bagel, the first of the day for me, the second for Terry. I added a second (iced, this time) while we visited with my sister at Union Square.
3. Perusing the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit, I bought a solo print – Snow, SoHo, NYC – and three framed prints of New Yorker magazine covers, including the classic View of the World from 9^th Avenue.
4. Next, we landed at Think Coffee for more caffeinating and catching up. I had my third cup of the day (again, iced), and Terry had a caramel latte, topped with a lacy swirl of steamed milk.
5. Caffeinated, we strolled across 13^th Street to Barraca on Greenwich Avenue, where we shared four different tapas dishes – bombas,croquetas de jamon, broccoli a la catalina, and bruselas – and washed it all down with two bottles of Estrella Damm , a mellow Spanish beer.
6. Our counting and calculating got a bit more complicated when we returned home and got to work hanging the three framed prints over the couch. Even with a tape measure, a ruler, and a math major, it took us – two fussbudgets – a few tries to get it all just so. It also took more than three nails – we lost count of the actual number – because I’m no Bob Vila when it comes to using a hammer. By the end of the evening though, I was pleased at how the triptych warmed up the room.
7. Terry’s counting on me to go it alone in finding a frame for the print of a city snow scene, and expects it to be tidily hung by the time she returns in 12 months for our annual Labor Day weekend visit in 2018. 

In the meantime, I know I can count on her love, support, acceptance, and friendship – and she on mine – in the coming year. After all, they’re things we have offered each other unconditionally throughout the last 36 years. God willing, we’ll continue to do so for at least another 36 years, when we’ll be 90, counting the many blessings in our 72-year friendship.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima , this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precede the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serve as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 5777: Trust

My college roommate, Terry, arrived in New York City this afternoon for our annual Labor Day weekend visit. It wasn’t long before we were in Starbucks, caffeinating and catching up. I trust we’ll do more than that this weekend, but I can’t guarantee it.

In all our friendships, may we always find abundant trust, love, acceptance, camaraderie, comfort, laughter, good times, support, and – of course – caffeine.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima , this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precede the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serve as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

JanetheWriter's Java Jive

If you’ve spent even a little bit of time with me — IRL or virtually — you likely know that I don’t know Russell Crowe from Sean Penn from Tom Cruise.  I can’t distinguish NataliePortman from Lindsay Lohan, Keira Knightly from Jennifer Aniston.  I do, however, know Helen Hunt, Jill Eikenberry, Julianna Margulies and Christine Lahti (not to be confused with latte), which should give you a very big clue about when I last saw “must see” TV.  But I digress…

Similarly, I don’t know a cappuccino from a café au lait, a latte from an espresso, or an Americano from a French roast.  So I was somewhat interested to read this article in today’s New York Times.  Sadly, though, it taught me little and I’m still most comfortable with one of these options on my daily trek to work:

At the McDonald’s at 39^th and Second, I’m good with a “large coffee with milk,” and even better with the $1.09 price tag that’s part of an ongoing promotion that offers any size coffee for $1.

If I opt to walk up Third Avenue, I can satisfy my caffeine craving with a medium Dunkin’ with milk (sometimes with coconut syrup) from the Dunkin’ Donuts between 37^th and 38^th.  This fix sets me back $2.17. 

On the rare occasion that I find myself in a Starbucks (there’s one on 32^nd and Second and another one on 41^st and Third, as well as one at 81^st and Second, a short two blocks from Temple Shaaray Tefila, where I’ve been known to pass the time before an adult education or worship committee meeting), the only thing that rolls easily off my tongue is this:  “A tall blond roast in a grande cup,” which leaves room for milk.  Of course, once I add enough milk to suit my taste, the coffee’s cold…  Generally, this concoction can be had for $2.01, although in some stores it goes for $2.45.  Lately, though, I’ve been using a gift card, a lovely treat given to me for my birthday.

When next my travels take me to Chicago, I’ll make sure to stop in at Caffé Streets, where according to the article in the paper, I’ll fit right in with others in my demographic by ordering “Regular Coffee!!!,” which the proprietors describe as “Drip coffee, as ordered by flustered middle-aged people overwhelmed by a myriad of options and frou-frou drinks.  (Asking what size often results in a complete meltdown.)”

Whatever you’re drinking these days, enjoy it and keep warm!

Green Mountain Redux

Yesterday morning on my way to work, I stopped at the D'Agostino's on 38th and Third for a pint of ice cream to accompany the fresh strawberries and sauce I was bringing to a friend's home for dessert last night. D'Agostino's was a departure from my usual Dunkin' Donuts coffee stop (medium decaf, light with lots of milk) and so I was glad to see the coffee and fixin's table close to the store's entrance, and even more pleased to see that the insulated jugs touted the Green Mountain Coffee label.

With that first sip came a flood of memories of other morning stops for Green Mountain Coffee, oh so many mornings ago. Back then, I was right next door to the Green Mountain State, literally, and routinely visited the Foodstop on Route 12A in West Lebanon, New Hampshire for my coffee, a copy of the New York Times (there wasn't much internet back then and the Valley News was the only paper that could be home delivered up there) and, about once a week, a gas fill-up for the car, before I crossed the Connecticut River into White River Junction, Vermont and continued my commute down rural Interstate 91. (Foodstop's the kind of place where, were I so inclined, I could easily have added a lottery ticket, a pack of cigarettes, a six-pack of beer or an extra large bag of Doritos to my order and nobody would have batted an eye.)

This morning, I again stepped out of the Third Avenue urban throng into D'Agostino's for a cup of that Green Mountain brew. Not only is it great coffee (this from a Dunkin' diehard) that evokes memories of me in a former life, but it's a bargain, too. In pure dollars and cents, it just makes sense: a 16-ounce cup at D'Ag is $1.51...at Dunkin' it's $2.05. Gotta love that Yankee ingenuity...and that Green Mountain coffee!