TRAVEL IN WINTER: A DAY OF SMALL ADVENTURES
Arriving at the Airport
Fortunately, the Chief Penguin and I are planners and early people. We routinely arrive at the airport 2 hours before flight time—earlier if he sets the pick-up time. On Thursday, we arrived at the airport, having been driven there and unloaded the luggage, only for him to discover that, uh, oh, he had left his big suitcase back home just inside our apartment building. The good news, we live just 20 minutes max from the airport. The bad news, someone had to go and retrieve said black bag.
Awaiting the Return
Fortunately, the driver, a gem of a guy, was willing to do it and left immediately. We hung around at Delta’s outside check-in. Then he texted me when he had the bag and his arrival time back at the airport. Meanwhile the baggage handler had already checked three bags and given me all the tags so, when the missing suitcase was back—at the time the driver stated—we just handed it over. We still had almost an hour to boarding time to go through security and get to the gate.
On the Plane
All went smoothly, short line, moving steadily to security, and a nearby gate. We boarded the plane and prepared to taxi. Not so fast; the pilot came on with the first of at least three updates: our departure time had been pushed back half an hour; then next another 45 minutes, and then La Guardia was on ground stop operating with just one runway due to gusty winds, and the next update would be at 11:15. When I was certain the flight would be cancelled, the pilot happily informed us we would be taking off momentarily in a brief window of availability. We took off and the flight was quick and relatively smooth except for a brisk landing in the wind.
Manhattan at Last
We made out way to baggage claim, retrieved our luggage, and got in a waiting car. Traffic leaving the airport was slow and clogged; soon a sign indicated a crash in the right lane, expect delays. We crawled along and the usually pretty quick trip into Manhattan was a good 45 minutes. But, we had arrived where we wanted to be! Going out later all bundled up, it was bitingly cold and very windy; we understood why flights had been delayed. Later, a warm welcome at our favorite Barbaresco, a Manhattan in Manhattan for the C.P., and delicious veal and chicken entrees confirmed we had indeed arrived! Winter in the city.
READING: HISTORICAL ENGLISH SERIES
The Ashmore Castle series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is an English writer and author of the 36 volume Morland Dynasty series, and also the Bill Slider mysteries. Over about fifteen years, I real all of the Morland Dynasty and loved the combination of history and complex family relationships. Her latest series consists of 4 books published between 2021 and 2025. I read the first one when it came out in 2021, and in the past three days devoured the other three books. The titles in order are: The Secrets of Ashmore Castle, The Affairs of Ashmore Castle, The Mistress of Ashmore Castle, and The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle.
They are set primarily on a country estate and in London, beginning in 1901. The main characters are Giles Tallant, an archaeologist who reluctantly becomes the Earl of Stainton when his father dies in an accident, and his wife Kitty. His father left the estate in dire financial straits, and Giles felt compelled to marry a rich woman. He loveD Kitty Bayfield, and she came with a fortune.
Kitty’s best friend Nina marries an older successful businessman and industrialist, Joseph Cowling, although she secretly loves another. Add in Giles’ unmarried brother Richard, two younger sisters, Rachel and Alice, who need to be introduced to society, and his overbearing mother, along with a host of cousins and servants. Together, you have a set of very different individuals from diverse backgrounds, each with secrets, hopes, and troubles.
There are a lot of characters to keep track of, especially among the servants, but some of them like Crooks, a stalwart butler; Aftan, the earl’s personal valet; Mrs. Webster, the housekeeper; and Dory, an embroidery and sewing whiz, stand out. Their livelihood ultimately depends upon the good nature and support of the earl and his wife, leaving them little in the way of free license. As is her wont, Harrod-Eagles provides details on the political scene and the king and his cronies, with special attention to the suffragist movement and the constrained role of women at that time.
The novels are not fast-paced, but I enjoyed getting to know the inner lives and loves of this large cast over the four books. Recommended for fans of royal lives and upstairs/downstairs relationships! (~JWFarrington)
VIEWING FOOTNOTE
We finished watching Death by Lightning on Netflix today, and the last episode is stunningly good. Now, I think of James Garfield as more than just a slain president; he was a good man who tried to fulfill his role, and Chester Arthur, his dismal, unqualified vice president, rose to the challenge, and succeeding Garfield as president, oversaw the reform of the civil service system. A series definitely worth watching!
SNOW IN MANHATTAN
It is December and it is very cold here in the Big Apple. Appropriately, we have some early snow coating the trees and giving them a lacy appearance. This bracing, stay-inside-weather partly explains why I did so much reading these past few days!
Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
Travel adventures indeed. Flying these days can be particularly fraught. Good to surrender to a bit of OCD about timing. Wear the mask. Covid is presenting and modifying again, in larger numbers.