"I'm Sailing!"

This could almost be a still from a movie about the ever-so-wacky adventures of Plaky called "What About Plaky?" Alas, it is not. But, yes, that is me actually steering an 1890's style schooner in NY Harbor (the busiest harbor in the world!). Fortunately, I was only steering for a brief time. There were actually many other guests sailing that Sunday evening and it was a wonderful sail. The actual captain of the vessel is standing off to the right in the picture. That is Captain Cait and she is a Doctoral Student at Hunter and was my Teaching Assistant this past spring. She is not only incredibly smart (quite true!) but an all around wonderful person who also happens to be one of only a handful of female captains in NYC.

The steering of a schooner (and sailing) is quite therapeutic. I understand why people find it so relaxing-because it is. There had been a light rain by the time we set sail (6-8pm) and it was really great. Kathy and I had sailed with our Houston friends Darron and Jen back in June and really liked sailing around the NYC Harbor. I wanted to take Emma out for a sail around the Statue of Liberty because, well, I just don't get tired of seeing her (the statue). Emma also brought along her friend Catherine and they seemed to really enjoy the sail. Kathy and I loved it also. It was quite romantic being out in the quite harbor, seeing the Statue, and the Manhattan skyline at sunset.

Since my last post we have done all sorts of things. Classes have started back up and I am teaching States of Consciousness again (I love it!) and an Intro to Psych lecture (100 students approx.) and it too is rockin'. Kathy and I went to Boston for a wedding and really liked "Bahstin". I had forgotten that they have a complete disregard for the letter "R" when placed in the third or later position in any word. For example, "yard" is pronounced "yahd". It's quite interesting. We did get to see the graves of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere among others. We walked through Boston Commons and swigged down beer at Cheers. The wedding was beautiful and Boston was just beautiful.

We experienced the 9/11 anniversary in NYC (amazing security everywhere) and the huge United Nations get together of world leaders. Have never experienced security measures such as those. It was almost overwhelming. Have also visited Governor's Island and very impressed by that. It's beautiful!

We are entering fall here and the weather is cooling. We are looking forward to experiencing an actual fall season for the first time in a very long time. We are likely going to rent a car and take a drive up through New England. Then, our sights shall turn to January and our next move. Our "year of change" seems to be flying by.