Goodbyes and beaches

Well we said goodbye to BM this weekend at John F. Kennedy airport in New York and then went to visit some friends who live close to the airport. mbh's high school classmate and his lovely wife. We went to have Northeastern Chinese food in Flushing. I was the only non-Chinese person in the packed restaurant. I am not even sure you would have been able to order your food in English. Flushing always amazes me. It is as though you have just taken a drive in your car to China. (I just read on wikipedia that it has the second largest chinatown in the US but they do not mention which is the first) And of course the food that we ate was real Chinese food far removed from what you might find available at your local China King buffet. I found everything delicious except for the sea slug (I guess sea cucumber sounds better) which I refused to even try. I realize it is rather closed minded of me but I have gotten to the point that I just don't eat things if they don't appeal to me. But I could not get enough of the liang pi--a noodle made out of mung beans that is served cold with cucumbers, sesame seed paste dressing and all manner of other goodies in it.

Our friends also took us for a couple of visits to the beach. On Sunday we went to Long Beach. It is such a cute little beach town with a very very long beach of course. It was windy so there were some lovely waves to jump around in and so many many people were there all along the long stretch of coast jumping and screeching with delight as the kind and playful ocean caressed their bodies and jostled them up and down. It struck me somehow...this relationship between earth and humans and how much comfort and joy the magnificent oceans and warm sun give us even as we also depend on them for life. Anyhow it was Fun. whew! I needed that.