Mostly I'm thankful that I didn't die on my trip to and from Brewster, NY. For a day involving 12 hours of travel on buses and trains, everything went pretty smoothly. Okay, the cab I had arranged for didn't show, and the path from the Port Authority to Grand Central was unexpectedly blocked by the Macy's parade. My sister and I still managed to catch our train, though, and had a nice dinner with the New York wing of our clan. Interested family members can find pics here, although my failure to change the camera's settings away "smoky bar" means that they're kind of lousy.

Only other thing worth noting: I read Cold Skin on the trip, and it was pretty good. Plenty short and plenty unsettling. All in all a good book for teachers to get in trouble with the PTA over.