Re-Election Day

Because of last week's weather drama I heard people affected by the hurricane could vote at ANY polling place! (But was *I* "affected by the hurricane"?) Surely emotionally, but... actually? I
thought perhaps if the train tunnels were still flooded it might be difficult to get to Brooklyn, where I have always voted previously. But the trains WERE running to BK! After standing on line with Nick at our local polling site for maybe 10 minutes I decided to make the trek to my home borough and exersize my right as a tax payin' American and VOTE!

The line to vote. (In the background is the line for GAS!)

The train ride seemed faster than usual. A man squeezed into the seat next to me and remarked that he'd recently lost weight, so he was pretty sure he'd fit. I smiled at him. Along the way he sneezed and I said bless you, to which he replied Thanks, which seems like no big deal, but to me, the unspoken social ritual always makes me feel connected and happy. On my way out at Clark Street he said Goodbye and I again reminded myself that the city can be just as much a small town as any other.

When I got out of the station I saw an empty Metro newspaper box and I decided to put my just read issue into said box, as if I were returning a library book. This too felt very small towny.

My home polling place in the lobby of the building where I grew up had NO line, as usual. I walked right up to a friendly grey haired woman who had a standard American accent although for some reason prononced "PRY-vu-SEE",  PRIV-isy. When she couldn't find my name on the list, her response was "That's no problem you can vote by filling out an affidavit." Her tone was so pleasant that I hardly cared that I had traveled into BROOKLYN to do the same thing I could've done, mere blocks from my apartment!

I went into my PRIV-icy booth and began to fill out my forms. There was an unruly old man in the booth next to me, "I CAN'T SEE IT!" One of the helpers showed him where the magfinying glass was. He was so sweet and old and loud and the man helping him was so patient with him.

There was another old man who's caretaker was assiting him "YOU'RE A REPUBLICAN, FILL IN D'BUBBLE. And then she said a few moments later "JUST KNOW YOU GOT A DEMOCRAT WATCHIN' OVER YOUR SHOULDER". The whole place laughed.

There was an air of community, people felt pride, there was a sense of duty. I called up Nick after handing in my forms and he was STILL on line!!!!! Sucker. I called up my parents who were right upstairs and said "Hi" and "GO VOTE!!" But I didn't see them, which is crazy now that I think of it.
I was an elevator ride away! Anyway.

I rode back to "the city" and went to find Nick. The line to vote went around the entire block and inside of the building was crazy too! My phone had died in our time apart so I had to find a payphone to call him. I tried using the payphone at the school-cum-voting site. There was a sign above a small closet door that said "PUBLIC TELEPHONE" I went in and tried turning on the light, but it didn't work, but that's okay, neither did the payphone! I found one around the block. I felt like a crazy person using a payphone. I think it made the people around me nervous. But again there was something about dropping a quarter into the slot that seemed so homey, a perfect complement to the day.

After this year I suppose I'll have to change my polling place to my actual district, here in Manhattan, which saddens me slightly as I enjoy the tradition of journying to Clark Street, seeing familiar faces and not having to wait on any lines. But I'm sure I'll find charm and community voting here on the Upper West in different ways.

I'm sure for many, New York City seems a big, busy, lonely, place, but for me it feels like home. I see kindness all the time, people help each other, neighbors smile and wave as they pass. I hope that after the election tonight I won't have to move to another country. J.K.?

WE'VE GOT MAIL!

Our original plan for the day had something to do with the Airstream, but due to several leaks in said 'stream and constant inclement weather we moved onto plan B, which was to PUT UP OUR VERY FIRST MAILBOX!!!

We used one we already had from the wedding (SEE BELOW!) as well as various other pieces awaiting reasignment.

While Nick drills, giving me his best furrowed brow (a.k.a masculine"working" face), I retrieve some metal stencils that are to be used as our house numbers!

BUT THEN we had a delivery of some masonry and sand for our contractor to begin working on our house!!!

 

After that was done we took a break and walked around the prop.

We walked to the Silo and took a peak inside! (If we had the funds we'd make it habitable faster than you can say "habitable silo".)

 

 Then we took a break from our break and went to Wrights in search of produce!

Finally we returned home to dig our hole and erect our mailbox!

 I've taped off some of the wood post so that I can do something neat with the rest of it. Check out those gorgeous metal numbies below.

TADA!!!!!! It's a mailbox!

 

Rain Check

Howdy. So during this last jaunt Upstate it was raining. Crazy, angry, weeping rain, beating down on our land to no avail. ALAS we could not prime the walls of the Airstream, as we had anticipated. So we drove around seeking treasure and produce!

WHICH WE FOUND.

Nick, as of late, has become a fan of Jamie Oliver. That means that not only is he "into" things like produce and starting a garden, but also cooking insanely delicious meals. Lucky. Lucky. Me!

POT!

One of our acquisitions during our quest for treasure was a roasting pan! Nick's gonna need that if he's gonna make Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Chicken, me thinks. Another big score of the day was when my husband saw a tray of herbs at one of the farms we went to and the lady said he could just HAVE em! Nicky so happy. Christmas mornin', let me tell you.

Those dudes are coming back to the city with us! So is this great painting I found!

ART!

It was actually a fabulous day; hot chocolate, adventure, scones, Eero Aarnio Pastil Chairs that were just about $1000 too much.

The only crappy part of the day was when we returned to the Airstream to discover that she's got some leaks. For real. So we may have to hold off on priming the old gal til we figure out the deal. Yay! Here is another picture of Nick and his fruits and veggies again!!!

Part 2

Our journey continues...

Nick tends to the seedy underbelly.

I'm caught in a riveting moment!

Our 8-track player!!!

What's that crazy hole?! It's a vent! Can we patch it? YES! I'll go get my RIVET GUN!

Patch!

Break tiempo!

More break!

Clean. (ish!)

ADVENTURE!

A GUT Feeling

Nick and I got to thinking...

 The kitchen in our Airstream didn't work, nor did our bathroom and as much as we're interested in a museum piece we wanted a nice place to live while we work on building our actual house. So...

 We decided to GUT THE AIRSTREAM. (Ahhhhhh!!!!) 

We started with the bathroom:

 Goodbye sink.

 While Nick used brute force on his project I used detailed persistence on my prodge, peeling up the linoleum.
It took more effort than you might expect!

 Below is the hot water heater and the electrical box(?), kept company by mouse nests made of soiled insulation. Delicious.

"O.K., M.C.", I thought to be a good sign,
cause those are my bio dad's initials. 

Remind me to send the pic his way...

 That was day one. 

We were stunned how much we got done, considering that when I say "day one" I mean like maybe three or four hours. It was inspiring... 

and terrifying. Once the sun set we went back to the city, spending the next week day dreaming and thinking about how fun doing the rest of trailer will be. 

ONE WEEK LATER -

We woke to a dewy morning that revealed hundreds of little spider webs across the field. 

The architect of the web below was a bit ambitious.

 Afterwards we got breakfast in Gardiner, grazed a couple good yard sales, bought produce from Wright's and Dolan's and made some friends.

Then we got to work. Below Nick plans his attack. 

The calm before the storm.

Above: The storm.

Seeing these pictures might be a little scary. It's like mid-surgery, but I assure you it will work out fine. GREAT in fact! And through demolition we discovered that the sub floor is sound, save a small bit where the water heater used to be. Our end game is basically a bedroom with a desk and a couple cozy chairs. NO KITCHEN. NO BATHROOM. NO MOLD. NO MICE. Next step is prepping for a paint job and installing a floor! There is no shortage of INSPIRATION when it comes to renovating this baby.

To be continued...!!!