New York! We have landed. Lush green, where it isn’t concrete. Lady plucking her eyebrows on the subway, then applying elaborate makeup. No one (but me) looking her way.
Big city—people don’t look people in the eye, have a studied way of walking, sitting, carefully
in their own space. Now a guy next to me begins a running conversation with himself. Eight million people in NYC, and half a mill seem to be talking to themselves… We take the Staten Island Ferry and view the Statue of Liberty from the boat, see Wall Street, which app
ears to be more fortified than the Federal Reserve Bank, stroll through the legendary Filene’s Basement, sit in Union Square people watching, eat bagels,
cheeseburgers, a huge steak for two. Cam of Brooklyn proves a great tour guide: Day 1 to Manhattan and walking different neighborhoods, Day 2 tourist sites, Day 3 culture, capped by evening tickets to a Broadway show—Catch Me if You Can, which we enjoy mightily. The lead actor has recently received a Tony award and the music and dancing are great. Cam shows us his Medgar Evers College, which T notes is just down the street from the former Ebbet’s Field where the Dodgers used to play but which had more recently become the site of a huge public
housing project. And we visit with Beirut friends uptown, and Cam show us Ben’s Columbia U.
Tennessee. Talk about lush green! The Moore Family reunion is held at Kentucky Lake over the 4th of July and many Moores (~60) have traveled far and wide to be there. Ben jetted in from Amman, his Uncle Tim and Aunt Cathy from Pretoria. Cousin Brian pulled a boat trailer all the way from California and Cousin BJ one from Virginia. Mountains of food and gallons of beer. More fireworks than most small cities. Memories made, to be savored by all, but most especially the kids.
As we drive the highway to Nashville and the airport we select country music, wanting the full local experience. We catch an advertisement for Wise Food Storage.com, which sells “gourmet emergency food”, e.g. lasagna, with a shelf life of 25 years. A roadside sign advertises Loretta Lynn dude ranch kitchenettes. Another: payday loans, monthly customers welcome. A smaller sign “In memory of Parnell Wheatley.” It’s its own culture, this South. People very friendly and polite. The world here seems a little small though, and life moving a little slower.
Many Moores:
Kentucky Lake in the morning, Denver (well, the airport) in the afternoon, and beloved old Tacoma in the evening. Ahhh.
