2019 is not getting off on a good foot. I slept most of the day and I’m not starting to write until 6 PM. Today’s entry will be easy to write, I did things yesterday. Tomorrow’s will be.
I slept all day.
I blogged
I went back to sleep
I will try to come up with a bit more than that even if it means getting philosophical.
Yesterday’s news is that I didn’t live like a hermit, I spent it with people. Act One was the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. This has been going on forever, it’s exactly the kind of thing I love, yet I had never been there. Now that I live a ten-minute walk away from one of the entrances I had to go. The trouble was finding someone willing to come up to the Bronx to see it with me. That proved easier than I thought as I asked the right people, Allison and Joe; they came in from New Jersey. I’m only ten minutes away but 20 from the main entrance and it was raining and we had to meet, so they picked me up. The main entrance is directly across the street from the main entrance to Fordham University. All the years I drove to WFUV, that’s where I drove in. The only time I had been to the NYBG was when I was in college, dinosaurs walked the earth.
It’s the winter, we got there after dark, and it’s raining so we didn’t see any of the actual gardens, we headed straight to the train show. Though there are many trains, “Train Show” doesn’t come close to describing it. It’s really the Holiday New York in Miniature Show. The models of New York City landmarks are what dominate. They are not exact replicas, but amazingly detailed and beautiful. It’s New York transformed into a faerie land. The scale is not consistent, the bridges, 59th street, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Hellgate, and George Washington tower over the landscape and carry trains. The Hellgate is the only railroad trestle in reality, though the subway crosses the Williamsburg too. The feeling I got was like being at the New York World’s Fair as a kid. This is not a modern exhibit filled with interactive videos. There are no videos, nothing if virtual. Everything there was real. Touching isn’t allowed but I’m sure everyone wanted to. I know I did.
We discussed the people that made it. I’d like to think they were modelmakers and model train enthusiasts who started modeling as a labor of love and found a way to get paid for it. It could have been professional artists hired for the job but that world is not as wonderful.
It’s a shame that it spends most of the year in storage. There is nothing particularly seasonal. It could exist as a permanent exhibit. It could just live at the Garden all year or even better, live at the Queens Museum as a complement to the Panorama of New York. Best of all, it should be packed on trains and travel around the country by rail. George Bailey was right, “Do you know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are?
Anchor chains, airplane motors and train whistles.”
After the show we went to the NYBG café and sipped cappuccinos because we are sophisticated and continental. Then we were off to our respective New Year’s Eve parties. Mine was in Flushing. It would have been nice to take the subways or even the commuter railways but the fastest way was by bus. Allison and Joe drove me to the Q44 bus that took me to Flushing. We got to the stop right after the bus so I didn’t have to wait. I did have to wait in the rain for my connecting bus, the Q16. Good thing I had my trench coat and my brand new wide brimmed fedora rain hat.
My part was at the home of Warren and Tina and is my NYE tradition. I need a reason to go NOT go to the party, not to attend. It’s a trek but worth it. I’m an idiot, and couldn’t find their house as I walked down the wrong street. It’s dark, the addresses are not written clearly. I walked up to one door to check the address and the owner came out and asked me what I was looking for. That’s when I realized I was on the wrong block. That explained why nothing looked right.
What kind of wild party is my tradition? One where adults play games. I’m not a gamer but I enjoy them. We broke into two groups which ended up being men and women. The men played Splendor, a strategy board game. I did not do well. I moved over and joined the women to a game that is far more my speed, DIXit. It’s psychological in nature and far more social. We are given cards with pictures on them. The Active Player chooses one of her cards and gives a clue to what it is. Everyone else contributes a card that they think would fit the clue. The cards are shuffled, and everyone has to guess which card the Active Player’s. The Active Player scores when some, but not all the player guess her card. The others score when they guess the right card or get others to get guess theirs. It helps to have inside connections with some of the players so you know they will get your references, and others won’t. The only one I really knew was Tina and what we have in common is Math. That didn’t help. But the game was great, great for parties. If you get a copy of the scoring rules you don’t even need the game. You can use any set of pictures. My guess is that it started with people playing with postcards or family photos.
Now I’m going to be terrible and forget everyone’s names. I met Warren playing bridge and know JJ as he was Warren’s partner 25 years ago or so when we met. Bruce was in our bridge playing circle too. Tina thinks we knew each other through math circles independently of Warren. It could well be true. I trust her memory better than my own. David is there every year. He’s not a bridge player. Then comes the people I’m embarrassed about. The names of JJ’s and Bruce’s wives. I only asked about 10 times … every year. It is not easy not having a brain.
Warren was kind enough to treat me to an Uber ride home so I didn’t have to take three buses. It meant getting home in a reasonable amount of time, it was after 2 AM not sure how much after, but that’s not bad for NYE.
Wise Madness 