Halloween Parade, Ring worm, and still hunting for that apartment

Halloween Parade, Ring worm, and still hunting for that apartment

Teri, Nancy, and I went to the Nyack Halloween parade. It was mostly the usual things. All three of us bought folding chairs with us. Everytime I think about the folding chairs, I smile how everyone looked at me as if I’d grown a third eye when I first bought one to the parade. I was so uncomfortable about it, I offered the chair to an older woman who looked like she could use it. For the last several years chairs have gone from a luxury to a necessity/ luxury. I could stand for the entire parade, but I don’t want to, and I’d pay for it later. It was cold, and the jacket I bought with me turned out to not be an unnecessary excess. Nastia, and Sean went somewhere. Either to a casino upstate or to a friend of Sean’s, who is also upstate. So they didn’t go. Elena, she might have just said, “I don’t want to go.” She worked, it was a Saturday, at 6, and she’d just gotten home at maybe the time we were leaving. I think the highlight of her evening was having Ramin delivered to the house from a noodle shop in Nanuet. Some time in August or maybe September Nastia had a spot on her arm that looked like a bug bite. She scratched it and it scabbed over. No moe thought was put into it until one Saturday afternoon her, and I are having lunch at Panera, and I see this circle on her arm where the scab was. I the distant reaches of my mind, I remember reading the book ‘Old Yeller’, and in it Travis got a case of ring worm on his stomach, I think. It’s been more than forty years since I might have read it. I remark to Nastia, in that off hand way I do, “What’s going on with your arm?” Before I know what I have said, I say, “It looks like ring worm.” She gets all freaked out, and wants to go to Immediate Medical care. I was raised like Travis in ‘Old Yeller’. Spit on it, rub some dirt on it, and go back to playing. I’ve tried to evolve since then, but if it don’t hurt, leave it alone. Well she was all freaked out about it, most likely because I called it ring worm. So after lunch we head over to Immediate Medical care. I am such a loving, and caring person, I leave her there to go get gas. When I return she is just finishing up the form on her phone. Most of the people before us have been seen, so our wait is not long. We are escorted to a room. I ask Nastia if she wants me to come along. She gives a most definite yes, and I follow. The medical tech comes in, asks questions to Nastia. I try to stay out of the conversation to give her freedom to answer, and to give her a chance to act like an adult, and handle something on her own that will come up again.

The Doctor arrives, and she asks some more questions. She says it looks like ring worm, and takes some blood to be sure. Who knew Travis all these years later. The Doctor asks if she has had skin to skin contact with anyone since the bit mark. Ring worm is highly contagious. Nastia stumbles a little in her answer, so I can’t resist stepping in to say “Yes, Nastia, you’ve had skin to skin with your boyfriend, you live with him. Oh boy what an enlightened parent I am (say that with sarcasm, because I needed to show how enlightened I am) The Doctor says she will put in a prescription for the spot as soon as the blood work comes back. Now how does a 21st century person get ring worm? Beats me, but with all of these anti-vaxing people willing to risk their children's health on disproven voodoo science, I guess ring worm is the least of their worries.

Tasha's wedding and the car show

Tasha’s wedding and the car show

The two last things that happened in that very busy August were Tasha getting married, and Caliper Tire’s car show. Tasha and her fiance decided to have two weddings. The fist, a traditional wedding to honor the traditions of her family, and the second to have an American style wedding, well soft of. I was asked to take a Thursday off in August way back in the Spring. Me being me decided not to worry about it then because it is in the future, and I do not live in the future. Yes, I did remember to get the day off in plenty of time, and I’d also agreed to rent a room down in Jersey to stay over after the second wedding, because it was going to be late when it is over. The first wedding, on a Thursday, started early in the day. I’m writing this after the fact, and I’m not totally sure, but it was some time around 9AM or so we showed up. We milled around with all of these brightly dressed people for a while until breakfast is served. I don’t know what I ate, but I’m told it is vegetarian. We find seats in the middle off to the left. Originally we were seated on the aisle, but Teri didn’t feel comfortable there. When the ceremony startsed, a group of men dressed in brightly colored clothes men walk down the center aisle toward the podium in the front of the room. I could almost picture the groom arriving from another village to celebrate the coming wedding.

The bride would arrive in the same manner. There were goings on between the two in the front of the room I couldn’t hear. I believe there was a game they played, and maybe a dance, I really don’t remember. The bride to be left and changed. When she came back, she was greet by matching rows of sparking fireworks like fountains on either side of the aisle. They were married, and again, I think there was a dance, they did. We were then invited to a feast of many different dishes, some I think I might have recognized. Teri, Nancy, and I sampled a little of everything. By early afternoon we were heading home. That Saturday we headed back to the same country club to their version of ‘An American Wedding’ . We were seated in a small outdoor court yard. The weather was perfect for the ceremony. This time the groom, and his groom’s men brightly colored clothing was replaced with black suits. The bride walked down the aisle in a beautiful white wedding dress. A woman performed the ceremony, and again they were man, and wife.

We went into a hall for the cocktail hour with what seemed an unlimited number of food stations. Definitely more than one person could visit without getting full, and not eating dinner. The three of us wandered around separately, coming back to report what interesting stations we’d found. Trying to not fill up there was difficult. I could have been happy if this was all the food they offered. After an hour we went into the main dining hall, and sat down. The bride, and groom were introduced, some speeches were made, and at that point I expected to get up and share the brides, and grooms fist dance together as man, and wife, but this is a Tamal version of an American wedding. Soooo, the wedding party comes out. First the grooms, then the bride, or maybe the reverse, I don’t know, but dancing there was a lot. They danced, and danced these choreographed dances they’d obviously spent a lot of time on. The music was too loud, and it’s not because I’m getting old I say that. Everyone said that. The bridal party put on a great show, then dessert came out. After that I was tired, and the party was coming to an end. We took the shuttle back to the motel and it was the end of a nice night. The next morning Teri says, “Hey lets go out to breakfast. If only the Red Barn was close to here.” She checks, and it is twenty minutes away. We have a very good breakfast, than head home. The caliber Tire car show

Caliber Tire decided to have a car show on Labor Day weekend. I thought maybe I should have been asked if I wanted to bring the Mustang over to the show. So I was very pleased when Sean and Nastia asked if they could take the car over to the show. It was another wonderful late August, early September day. Not too hot, sunny, just really nice to be out. I went with Nastia to the show to see what was there and to take a picture of the Mustang in it’s first show. No prizes were awarded, the Mustang wouldn’t have won, but some gift bags, and discount coupons were handed out. I stayed a short while, and left. It’d be interesting to see how many coupons have been redeemed since the show.