don't have much time right now -- i'm sitting in ben's father's office in Beth Israel hospital in nyc waiting for the good doctor to finish up so we can go for dinner. last nite we finally made it back to chappaqua, barely visible under the snow; i can only imagine the thick, total whiteness that once was buffalo. the greyhound trip was more pleasant than the train. one dippy disney movie and ben tried unsuccesfully to use various parts of me as a pillow and one stop at mcdonald's and there we were, dropped off in the midst of the world's most selfimportant city, all the more bustling because the air was swirling madly with fat wet flakes. we trudged thru that, unable to contact either of ben's parents, making it to a tech store run by haredi jews where ben bought, to his delight, an ultracool ultraexpensive scanner he'd been eyeing and owed for months.

ultimately ben's stepmother agreed to pick us up at the station and on the way back to the house we snatched snatch. we watched it after a dinner during which the three of them fussed over atmosphere and i still found it clever. today we came into the city to wander around -- still cold, but at least dry and indulgently sunny. walked thirty blocks then stopped to read in the old armory, each of us having come equipped with an apple and a fantasy book. then statues in central park which look menacing up close.
home tomorrow. my parents 25th wedding anniversary. and the countdown will begin.