Back in New York

It’s good to be home. Martin certainly agrees. I’ve never appreci-ated air condi-tioning more in my life. When we stepped out of the rental car onto a NY sidewalk Friday, the 80-something-degree weather seemed cool and breezy compared to the week of “relentless humidity” we survived in Virginia. I’ve never been so hot in all my life. The outdoors was one big steam room. I found myself changing into dry clothes or jumping into the pool several times a day.

Grandview Manor was really something. It’s an expanded 1930’s farm house on 160 acres. The property sits on a peninsula and comes complete with dock and swimming pool. The five-bedroom house was well-stocked with just about everything imaginable, although we did have to run out and buy ant spray. There were a hundred ants for every crumb dropped on the floor by my 2-1/2 year old niece Maddie, who was adorable, I might add. Her main concern Saturday night as we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary was that my mom “please cut the cake.” And soon!

The ants didn’t bother me. Neither did the bees and wasps. If you leave them alone, they don’t bother you. It was the gargantuan, dive-bombing, malicious horseflies that had me running for my life on more than one occasion. They attacked everyone in the pool. Having grown up in Virginia, I’m surprised I’d forgotten about the dreaded horseflies. I really hate them. It all came back to me - there is truly no escaping horseflies when you’re out by the pool. I don’t know why swimming pools attract horseflies. The buggers certainly didn’t come after us on the steamy tennis court.

One evening we played tennis for maybe 30 minutes. In just 10 minutes I was dripping sweat. My sister, nephew, and I are all equally bad at tennis, so we spent most of our time chasing fence balls. But it felt like exercising in a sauna. I didn’t make it past the pool on my way into the house to put my bathing suit on. I tore off my sneakers and jumped into the water fully clothed, horseflies or not.

I grew up in the South. I don’t recall the heat ever bothering me. But I haven’t quite adapted to the extreme humidity we’re experiencing on the east coast this summer. My mom told me I’m not “acclimated” after my seven years in the mild Pacific Northwest where the only humidity comes in the form of rain. Seattle spoiled me. I gotta admit I miss the weather there.

It’s over 90 degrees in NYC today, and after going out one time, I refuse to travel more than a city block outdoors in this city oven. I tried to go see a movie yesterday at Union Square. Five minutes on the subway platform had me as sweaty as 10 minutes on the tennis court. Then, after standing in line for tickets in a miserable, un-air-conditioned lobby, I found out that the next two showings of “Wedding Crashers” was sold out. I wasn’t about to sit around in that heat waiting, so I did some grocery shopping at a crowded Whole Foods and went home. That was a waste of $4.00 in subway passes.

That’s one nice thing about using a car instead of public transportation – you get to remain cool throughout your commute. Not so using the subway in NY. I sure did enjoy driving a car last week for the first time in eight months. You don’t realize what a privilege driving is until you go without it for a while. And driving in the city was awesome! I’m so glad I faced that fear head on. I did so well driving alongside the insane cabbies that I felt like a native New Yorker. I fit right in and managed to avoid hitting any idiot jaywalkers.

There is one neat thing the east coast has that Seattle doesn’t – thunderstorms. We had maybe one thunderstorm per year in Puget Sound. I love a good thunderstorm. I just don’t love a thunderstorm that starts at midnight and ends at 7:00AM. On Tuesday night, all of eastern Virginia lay awake in bed for the unexpected seven-hour light show hosted by Mother Nature. The loud thunder cracks felt like they were directly overhead at Grandview Manor estate. I lay in bed awake, counting seconds between lightening and thunder claps all night long, as the storm approached, receded, and approached again. None of us slept.

Well, tomorrow it’s back to work. How sad that all vacations must come to an end. I dread going back to work and wading through the hundreds of emails sitting in my Inbox. I plan to set aside my entire first day back just handling email and catching up on the multiple Severity A incidents (and higher, even though that doesn’t seem possible) that my customer opened up with support while I was out. Sigh.

This job just never ends.

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Mom and Dad in 1950-something and today (Hawaii-bound!)