On Friday, having taken Ellie out for her usual run in the park, collected the morning free newspapers on Broadway and had breakfast with Debbie while listening to Brian Lehrer on WNYC, Debbie and I went to Madison Square Park.
There, Dianne Weist was performing pieces from “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett every day for an hour, for 5 days.
She was wearing a sculptural costume which made it look like she was poking out of a rock. It was quite a tour de force.
On the way through the park we passed the dog park with lots of dogs enjoying themselves, as well as a farmer’s market with lots of pumpkins and herbal remedies.
In the evening, Debbie and I attended a concert at the Bloomingdale School of Music given by her piano teacher, Michael Cochrane and his jazz group. It was “A tribute to Herbie Hancock”
On a rainy Saturday, the best place to go was the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Debbie. They had a beautiful Delacroix exhibition followed by an exhibition of the old Dutch masters.
I really enjoyed the two exhibitions.
A quick visit to the permanent exhibitions led to my taking photographs 
of a Brancusi sculpture, a Georgia O’Keefe painting as well as a Picasso.
We ended up splashing out in the shop, buying some earrings inspired by some in the Met.
In the evening, we went to the Halloween ‘Baby Boomers’ get together at the Copacabana. We always have a good time there and the food they serve is surprisingly good.
This time we met 4 amusing dentists and spent most of the night dancing and laughing with them. There are familiar faces there – some I welcome seeing more than others!
On the way home, there was much jollity in the subway with young people gearing up for Halloween. 
Sunday morning I met up with Rachel in the ‘Forever Wild’ section of Riverside Park, where she can identify every bird in there. We returned to Debbie’s for breakfast and a chat.
I then took the 11.46 train to Harrison, North of New York, in Connecticut, to meet with Natalie and her friend – both English women who have lived a long time in the States. I enjoy the trains in the US
We had a delicious brunch at a nearby diner. At 3 pm, 10 lovely women who belong to Natalie’s ‘Karuna’ group joined us and along with discussions on toxic relationships I led two meditations. I enjoy these sessions at Natalie’s house.
Afterwards, Natalie and I had a lovely meal with her youngest daughter (and sweet Charley the dog who looks like a shrunken version of Alfie). After, I indulged myself watching 2 of the latest episodes of ‘Law & Order SVU’ – that haven’t arrived in the UK yet.
Natalie and I travelled back to the City together on Monday morning, taking the 9.15 to Grand Central Station where I once again inspected the astrological ceiling.
I then took the 1 train to the Battery and strolled around the tip of Manhattan before taking the 11.30 ferry to Staten Island.
Rudy met me from the ferry and we drove to Starbucks for a coffee and muffin before going to ‘Makerspace NYC’ – a non-profit community workspace.
Rudy works at the radio station there. He interviewed me for two hours on life and Mindfulness etc. I really enjoy our interactions.
Taking the ferry back from Staten Island to the Battery, passing the Statue of Liberty as it does, is always enjoyable. I arrived back to Debbie’s in time to cook supper before we went to Juilliard to attend the Composers’ concert. It was lovely to see these young men and listen to their compositions.
Marco Milo’s work was played on the piano. J.P. Redmond’s was performed by a mezzo-soprano, a countertenor and on the piano. Horacio Fernandez, a particularly engaging young man from Mexico, had his work performed on classical, electric and acoustic guitars. They will all go far. Again, another ‘must do’ in Manhattan. These concerts are free and the students extraordinarily talented.
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