Not much industry of any kind up here, and they are still bemoaning the advent of air conditioning, which ruined the tourist trade up here. The NYC rich folks would escape the heat of the summer by migrating up here seasonally. Was that 50 years ago? 100? Either way, they are holding a grudge for waaaaaay too long. Oh, and they vote for Trump up here. Even though every family seems to have members that are either on disability or unemployment for part of each year. Fascinating. And it makes me afraid to drink the water:)
Carthage has an Aldi's grocery store, with it's commitment to value and organic produce. I love that they are here. And a unique little lunch place called "Bombay Duck Pickle" that is open most Tuesdays to Fridays with some random exceptions, from 11:30 to 2PM. They have amazing soups. Usually about five or six offerings, and one, maybe two, lunch specials. There was a red coconut curry soup, a lemongrass soup, a clam chowder and a green curry chicken special with asian eggplant the other day. The couple that runs it came here from the city (New York City) for the lovely views and cheap housing. (I'm making that up, I don't actually know why they are here.) They groused about the lack of ethnic food offerings (there are a lot of Italian, sub and wing offerings and that's about it) and decided to open their own little shop.
They have seating at 3 tables for 9 people only. You will share your table if you eat there. Otherwise, it has a robust take away service. And they are cash only. No worries, the nail store next door has an ATM that works at least 60% of the time and two doors down in the other direction is the bank's drive through ATM. It just sucks going to both in a blizzard, as I did the other day. The nail salon ATM delivers only $20 at a time. It broke after I got my first $20. I then had to go to the bank ATM for a second $20. The clam chowder and green curry chicken were worth it though!
We watched the grandson for a week so that the kiddos could have a well deserved late honeymoon following the son in law's return from Afghanistan, or Kuwait, or wherever he was this time. This grandson is now 3 and soooo smart. It's night and day from six months ago. So much nicer when he can verbalize his needs! And what a negotiator! When his Kindle runs out of battery he says "how bout phone"? and reaches for your phone to watch train videos. I tell you, he could become a lawyer.
After they had been gone for four days to Toronto, we met them in Kingston, in the Quebec region of Canada. A delightful town with a great, walkable downtown, cute shops and the nicest people you have ever met. We found a German place and had Jaegerschnitzel that was remarkably close to the ones we have had in Germany. We had no trouble crossing the border with the grandson, with his birth certificate and a note from mommy that we were in charge for the week. There is a Gap store in Kingston, so the daughter was extremely happy, as the one closest to her in the states is over an hour away. Note to self, the Gap credit card is not accepted in Canada. They also do not do "Gap cash".
The note from mommy came in handy on day three of watching little man. He traversed the obstacle course of toys all day long with a play date friend, running in circles through the living room, kitchen and dining room for hours. Then, after clean up, he turned from the TV to the coffee table, slipped on the one item he had pulled out (a puzzle box) and cracked the bridge of his nose on the sharp edge of the coffee table. Head wounds bleed. A lot. Poppa and Gammy were a bit upset. I knew it was important to keep him calm, and we got a wet cloth, some ice and stemmed the flow. Then we Facetimed the mommy and daddy. Daddy said "HOOOOLY SHIIIIT". Mommy went a bit white. We then got to the ER, and by now the grandson was "in the know" and kept his hands off the wound, he is such a smart boy.
He didn't like the dripping sensation, so Gammy patted the drips away as we drove sedately through the small town to the 3 minute away hospital. Thank goodness for small towns. We showed our note to the nice ER people, and one hour later, we left with a little boy who had a glued up 1/2" cut on his nose bridge. Thank goodness, no stitches were needed! Grandson is a frequent flyer for his respiratory issues this last year and they were super proud of how great he was in the ER. They said they've had adults who whined more. Not one tear was shed at the ER. He got Thomas the Train stickers, so there's that:)
The next day he said his head was all better, no pain at all. But he cried a bit over something that morning and freaked out from the dripping sensation. So we patted the tears away and reassured him it was just water this time.
It is beautiful country here, and apparently ice fishing is a thing. We didn't see any ice fishing until we were past the St. Lawrence waterway though, up in the Thousand Islands region. Lots of folks out on the ice up there, but near Carthage they were having some unseasonably warm weather. Most of the snow had melted off or been rained off in the past few days. We saw kids out in sleeveless shirts and shorts in February. In upstate New York. Climate change is real folks. You usually don't see the ground all winter long.
The kids left again for another four days, this time to Montreal. They got themselves a night at a spa and daughter had her first massage. She likes them. I think they'll go back to Canada whenever they can. The exchange rate is in our favor right now, and the people were really great, although they said the Toronto people were way friendlier than the Montreal people.
We're going to be heading to NYC in a couple of days, and then onto Paris for our first month of European living, but we have enjoyed this past month with family.
No comments:
Post a Comment