With the birth of my new granddaughter, Emma, I've been anxious to get to New York to meet her in person. Skype is amazing technology, but you can't hold a baby through a computer screen.
Emma is a beautiful, good-natured baby, and we loved getting to know her. It was also a treat seeing my daughter Gina and son-in-law Laszlo, both of whom embrace New York life. They live in Hudson Heights, a gorgeous area of quiet streets with wide, uncrowded sidewalks and friendly neighbors, some of whom pushed baby carriages like ourselves. Laszlo's friendly parents Z and Ria recently moved a block over from them to help out with the baby, since beginning the day after Labor Day, they will both be working full time again.
I was also happy to see Gina and Laszlo's new home, since they re-located a year ago when Gina's primary office location switched from Columbia University to the uptown Columbia Medical buildings. They have a terrific place in a very convenient location.
There are a lot of parks in this part of Washington Heights, which is the name of the larger neighborhood in which Hudson Heights is located (or at least that's my interpretation of the geography), and we enjoyed the views through the trees and over the river at the largest one a short walk from their home while eating a local pizza for lunch one day. Ft. Tryon Park was made possible by the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller, who not only bought the estate, built the park and donated it to the city of New York, but also, according to Gina, bought the wooded land across the river in New Jersey so the view would always be pastoral. When people talk about taxing the rich, they conveniently forget that not only do wealthy people create jobs by taking risks with their money and buying yachts and other goods and services furnished by hard working people, which of course is exactly where "jobs" come from, but also donate sizeable amounts of capital accumutated over a successful lifetime to make the world a better place.
On the day of Emma's birth, a celebration commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the park's founding was held, and a dated plaque commemorating the event was placed at the base of a tree, which of course we interpret as an omen of great things Emma will accomplish in her lifetime.
We enjoyed Ft. Tryon so much, we returned on our last evening in New York to try to spot lightning bugs, which Gina said they had delighted in discovering earlier in the summer on walks with Emma. Yes, you can walk in New York City parks at night, or at least some of them.
That night we also walked over to Z and Ria's new place, which was very spacious by New York City standards and beautifully decorated, for delicious homemade cookies. Gina also made peanut butter cookies for us, so between that and the pizza, my low carb conversion hit a tasty detour while visiting New York.
I never was a fan of New York City, a victim of too many movies about subway gangs and gritty city street crime, but since Gina and Laszlo moved there, I have definitely learned to love parts of the city, and Washington Heights is one of them.
