From DC, I drove up to stay with Samoa, my daughter, and Elona, my granddaughter, in their apartment in Ridgewood, Queens. Ridgewood is an interesting place. Very diverse. Samoa's apartment is the second floor of a row house owned by an elderly German man, the realtor was Italian. The convenience store across the street is full of food which is from Poland and labelled in Polish, but the guy you pay has a thick accent and I think he's from India or Bangladesh. The dollar store around the corner has every little household thing from around the world, and the people who wait on you there are perhaps Japanese. There are restaurants in the area -- Dominican, Mexican, Tibetan, Thai, etc. And there's a great German or Polish pork store with every kind of sausage, salami, etc., as well as a Mediterranean shop with 15 kinds of feta, and barrels of olives. On the street, you hear many languages. Still feels very much like a neighborhood.
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A hand knitted hat attached to a railing along Forest Ave in Ridgewood.
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Both my daughter and granddaughter had to work on Thanksgiving day, so we did some pre-cooking and I finished up everything. They aren't big turkey fans, plus there's no way to get a turkey small enough for two (I don't eat poultry), so we roasted a chicken with all the fixings -- stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with almonds and cranberry sauce. Elona made a delicious apple pie. What a feast we had, just us three! So cozy to cook and be together.
We read about the First Nation people who had lived in this area, and discussed whether Thanksgiving should be changed into a day of grieving the genocide the European settlers brought to them. Keeping this history clearly in mind, though, for us the heart of this holiday has always been being thankful for all the gifts we are given in this life, chief among them the people we love.
While I was in NYC, I had a chance to go to several of my daughter's gigs, which is my favorite thing to do here.
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This is Fat Boy Wilson (Samoa) and Old Viejo Bones (Ernesto Gomes) playing at 68 Jay St bar in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge) in Brooklyn. They play funky blues and songs they've written with Samoa on baritone ukelele and Ernesto on guitar, and harmonica. Lots of fun, it's a neighborhood bar, and I actually got asked to dance to a couple of their tunes!
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| Samoa singing at the Dead Rabbit bar in the Wall St area with Conal Fawkes, an amazing piano player. This gig is mainly 30's blues and jazz standards. Loved hearing this. |
Samoa and some friends organize a monthly Hootenany "On the last damn Friday of every month" at their local bar - Windjammer -- here in Ridgewood. The bar has a great back room with a tin ceiling. They put up little tables and chairs with candles like a cafe, and have an open mike first, then a number of featured players, each performing a few songs. Starts at 9ish and when everyone has played, they begin at the top of the list and go on into the wee hours.
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| Ali Dineen singing sweet and poignant songs she has written. |
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| Feral Foster, who is a blues force of nature, singing with Ali. |
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| Fat Boy Wilson and Old Viejo Bones performing with Charlie Perry on washboard. So much fun! |
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| Michaela Gomez and Samoa, singing 30's blues and jazz standards. Michaela 's guitar has just the right sound for this. |
And then Samoa sang with Arnt Arnzven at Sunny's Bar in Redhook. Sunny's has such a good vibe. After it was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, the neighborhood rallied to clean it up and get it open again. Arnt's playing is sweet and supportive of Samoa's voice on 30's blues and standards. Interesting to hear the same songs with different players -- whole other sound.
Since Sunrise and Extinction Rebellion were organizing worldwide climate protests for December 6th, I drove back to DC for Firedrill Friday.
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