I’m at a total loss as to how I can write about my recent adventure in New York City. I scribbled dozens of pages of journal entries during my stay in “the Big Apple” trying to capture the landscape, the mood, and the events. It is impossible to transcribe everything that happened, so here are a few of my favorite memories from my five days there:

*Seeing the city from the air surrounded by all that water
*Standing in the taxi queue at La Guardia airport
*Incredible billboards and graffiti
*The elegantly appointed Victorian Inn at Irving Place in Gramercy Park where Mara Purl and I stayed
*Walking from 17th street to Rockerfeller Center at night with Mara as my tour guide
*The thick forest of buildings and the intricate canyons of the streets and avenues
*People shoulder to shoulder along the sidewalks, the flow of humanity like a great river
*The endless holiday lights beaming cheerfully
*All the store windows and edifices exquisitely decorated
*The magic winter kingdom created at Saks Fifth Avenue
*The ghostly visage of the Empire State Building half hidden behind more modern sky scrapers
*The gigantic Christmas tree and ice rink at Rockerfeller Center
*A man giving us NYC knit caps and soliciting a donation for the homeless
*The Chrysler Building and St. Patrick’s Cathedral
*A saxophone player on the street giving a jazzy rendition of Christmas carols
*A guitar player in Grand Central Station
*The horse mounted policemen
*Watching a crew shooting a film
*Eating at small cafes and getting tea at street side kiosks
*Ordering take out food from Duke’s
*The holiday tea at Lady Mendl’s famed tea salon
*Attending a party at the Time Life Building for “Women in Publishing”
*Multiple cab rides in which life’s greatest lessons are learned
*An ocean of umbrellas on the rainy days
*Attending a video-conference at Hunter College
*Eating at Pete’s Tavern where O. Henry wrote “The Gift of the Magi”
*Seeing a demonstration in front of the United Nations building
*Watching the start of a parade of young people all dressed in white
*Visiting the Japan Society and seeing Mara Purl and ensemble play the music for Jerome Robbins “Watermill”
*Sitting in a wing back chair at the window of my third floor room where I could look out at the multi-colored brick buildings and study a winter barren tree reaching up from the small courtyard below. This became my favorite writing spot