lornagrl

Happy Halloween....

If you plan to vote for McCain because he will not raise taxes....

If you are planning to vote for McCain because you think he will not raise taxes I have a blast from the past for you:

Read My Lips

Dog playing in the water at the Brooklyn Museum...

If your reading this on Google Reader it may be reading "no longer available on flickr". That is not true. than you will have to actually click on the post to view.

Yes, that's me laughing in the background.

Sick Passenger...

I was riding the F-Train into Park Slope this morning.  Somewhere between Ditmas Avenue and Church, I heard a loud thump,  like someone had dropped a brick.  It must have been very loud because I had my ipod on and I could still hear it. I looked up and noticed a woman in her mid forties lying face down and trembling.  A man knelt beside her and turned her on her back.

I said "I've got an ambulance, I mean a cell phone" and fumbled in my purse to get it.  I needed to do this quickly because I knew the train was going underground and would lose the signal.  Another passenger beat me to it and got a hold of 911.  For some reason, he handed the phone to me.  I told the operator that a passenger was having a grand-mal seizure and that we were on the Manhattan bound F-train approaching Church Avenue.  Then we lost the signal.  It was at this point that I noticed thick, dark blood coursing down her chin. She had bitten through her tongue.  The woman's eyes were vacant and open. I felt a lump come to my throat and some tears came to my eyes because for just a few moments, I thought the woman might be dying. 

When we got to Church Avenue the trembling had stopped, and so had the bleeding. Other passengers were holding the door open and yelling "We need an ambulance, we have a sick passenger."   People were asking the guy to sit the woman up because we were afraid that she might choke on her own blood.  Blood was all over her face as well, I looked in my purse because I thought I had a bandanna in it but I had nothing.  I asked if anyone had a tissue or a cloth and everyone started whipping out packages of Kleenex, baby wipes etc.  The man was holding her up and wiping her face.  It was around this time that her eyes started to focus and I think she was slowly becoming aware of what has happening.  We all tried to speak to her but she was unresponsive. She just looked at us blankly. 

A conductor came in and said that help was on the way, but it seemed to be taking an awful long time.  A young man came in and said he was a Doctor.  He asked us what happened and we all told him what we saw.  He took a look at the woman and spoke to her in Spanish. I asked if it was okay if she feel asleep and he said it was but we should keep her on her side. 

Finally the paramedics came in.  The picked her off of the floor and strapped to a chair.  She looked a little stunned as they were doing this.  The woman was by herself, nobody was with her but we made sure she took her purse. 

After they left, the MTA had to close the car because of all the blood.  So everyone got off and went on another car. 

There were a lot angry looking passengers on the other car. 

$1.50 a slice...

LAUNDRY!!!

Brighton Beach woefully needs more laundromats. There are only two on Brighton Beach avenue, each about the size of a walk-in closet and always crowded because, well, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH LAUNDROMATS!. 

This is a big problem for me.  I'm really picky about how my laundry is done, and while I hate to do it I prefer to wash my own clothes.  It's the only way I can be sure that the right temperature is going to be used, etc.  The last building I lived in had laundry in the basement, but there are no washing machines in this 100 year old building.  When I first moved here I made the grand mistake of trying to do my laundry myself in one of the laundromats on Brighton Beach avenue.  But it was hot, crowded, and there was nowhere to sit down.  Kind of like the subway with fabric-softener.  I swore I would never do it again.

It was such a miserable experience  I  decided to try dropping off my laundry.  But when I brought my laundry home, I was pretty certain that they hadn't used detergent, and they definitely hadn't used fabric softener.  So I went on the lookout for other laundromats.  

I found one on Neptune Avenue, and one Jewish holiday I thought I'd give it a try.  (This was back when I worked for a Jewish non-profit and would get Jewish holidays off.) Unfortunately this was on a Monday and what I didn't know (has anyone heard of this?)  Monday is WASH day and is apparently the worst day of the week to do laundry.  The place was absolutely packed  with husbands, wives and screaming children.  I had to spend an entire two hours standing in front of the washing machine, and fight tooth and nail for an available dryer.

Then I found a place that was actually in Sheepshead Bay that was nice, clean, not too crowded and open 24 hours.  I actually used that place for awhile, but it was too far to go and one time I nearly got caught in the rain and had to duck into a funeral home to keep my clothes dry. 

It got so frustrating that I actually considered buying a car. But it seemed rather silly to take on such a huge expense for something as mundane as laundry. 

Finally, I gave the drop-off place another whirl.  I found out that they will use Tide and Downy, but you have to tell them, and you must pay $1 extra for it...

So I caved. I've been using them ever since and have been pretty happy so far.

Ophelia and Billy Joel....

If your reading this on Google Reader it may be reading "no longer available on flickr". That is not true. than you will have to actually click on the post to view.

Life will never be the same, I can make an apple pie.

I went apple picking twice last week.  Friday was with some co-workers after an off-site meeting, Saturday was with a group from church.  Needless to say I ended up with oodles of apples, more than I could possibly eat. 

Last Sunday I was determined to make a homemade apple pie.  Now, I’ve never baked anything in my life, except maybe a potato or two, and maybe some cookies about twenty years ago.  So I have no idea what possessed me.  I’m not even sure I like apple pie.  But I was determined!

I had none of the ingredients in my house, so off I went to Key Food to buy staples that I’ve never bought before, such as flour and shortening.  I found this website that gave step-by-step instructions on how to make a pie-crust. (I used organic butter instead of shortening).  I had a little trouble rolling out a big enough piece of dough to make the pie, but I did it.

Then I made the pie filling, but I used too much nutmeg. So I didn’t share the pie with anyone but I was real pleased with how the pie-crust turned out.

I was invited to a bridal shower yesterday.  It was a brunch and I didn’t know what to bring. Since I had some leftover ingredients I thought I would make another apple pie (with a little less nutmeg of course.) I started baking at 8am for an 11am brunch.

This pie turned out nicely.  The biggest challenge was cooling it down enough to carry it on the train.  I set it out on the fire escape, covered in dish-towels to cool.

I didn’t have a piece of this one but I tasted the apples so I did okay with the nutmeg/apple combination.  The brunch guests liked it too.

Here is the recipe for the filling:

• 5-8 apples peeled and sliced.
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of flour (unbleached)
• tbsp of nutmeg
• tbsp of cinnamon

Mix well.

I think I’ll try a quiche…

Knitting Project Update...

I am determined to finish this by Thanksgiving so I can wear it this year. Here is a progress photo for your viewing pleasure.

Rats on the subway tracks...

I am utterly terrified of rats but I've grown used to seeing them on the subway tracks. While waiting for the subway tonight I saw two rats frolicking on the tracks next to an empty bottle of vodka.  There was a time when the sight of a rat would send me screaming into the night. 

The quality of this video is not very good, and flickr makes the video appear darker. The rats maybe hard to spot but they are there.

It was rather gross...