the ed report february 26

 

Linda came to New York for another LIFE friend's book party, and so of course we went to see Ed. This was two weeks ago. Peter Meyer, also a LIFEer trained in from Hudson, NY, and we foregathered at Ed's digs at the Watermark. Or the Hotel, as he calls it. And I must say, it is pretty hotellike.

We had dinner with Mary Anne, 84, Ed's Watermark friend, who was married to a well known Indian photographer (he founded ICP with Cornell Capa, before they had a falling out).
 

 

Then we went up to the rooftop room, with the view you can see at top for a little bit, before making our several ways home. Peter took the following picture of Juliana getting Ed up to roof level on a little lift. Ed was so tired after all the festivities that he needed to rest for two days.

Yesterday I went back. The kids followed Linda into town in the interim, so I couldn't get to Brooklyn last week. The day before had been Ed's wife Alison's birthday, so the fam had all gone out to a gala meal. Result: Ed was somewhat tired. We hung out together and then had supper in the dining room. 

 Ed was worried about Mary Anne, his mealtime companion, who he hadn't seen for a while. He gets very anxious about everything these days. I tracked down her son, who told me she was in hospital. I finally spoke with her today.  She is getting over the Covid, and says the hospital experience was horrendous but curative. She must be in quarantine until tomorrow or something. She's still coughing, but very ready to come home to the Watermark. 

sorry for the blackout

We have been too busy eating to post. Will catch up presently.
 

shower saga

So while my face was undergoing reconstruction, so was my bathroom. Those people who are uninterested in construction may skip this post.

      The shower was either burning or cold. The new super kindly explained to me that the temperature changed according to whether anyone else was flushing toilets in the building, and I less kindly explained to him that as I had lived in the building since before he was born (47 years), I could tell the difference. As could my frequent houseguests.

He sent real plumbers, having let the handyman go, thank goodness, as he was not that handy. They plasticked up the hole so that the immediately arriving houseguest (about which visit more later) would be able to use the shower. Also me, of course.

Then the tile guy, another pro, came and put in actual tile. 

And then the painter, another pro, came to plaster the gaping hole in the ceiling where Toby's tub had overflowed (over and over) and paint the entire bathroom. All of those contracted appeared to be, like the super, of Eastern European origin. I have heard that this group has taken over building maintenance from the Puerto Riquenos, who have held these posts for three generations that I know of. 

   And herewith the reveal. All set for Hannah and family arriving in a couple days!

two weeks in

It's all good, fans!

 

selfies like you've never seen!

 Selfies like you maybe don't want to see! OK, trigger warning. These pictures have not been, ahem, doctored. Although doctors have been involved. It was not my fave January ever, what with Covid then what I believed  would be a fairly minor surgery. Might be TMI.

Before

 

After. They had to carve out a basal cell, biopsy it, and then carve it out again and biopsy it yet another time to make sure margins were clear. And it was deeper than the moh surgeon expected. 

He wound up having to take what's called a nasiolabial flap from my cheek to fill in my nose. I ave tried to understand how this works, but the best I can find are these diagrams. He was afraid he might have to use some cartilage as well, but didn't. I guess I had enough nose left.

 

Doc warned me that I would look as if I'd been in a bar fight and likely have a black eye, but I wasn't really expecting what ensued.

 

Life imitating art. Ooh, the colors! as Katie would say.

My phone recognizes me again as long as I'm wearing a bandage.

And today, a week and a day after surgery. She's a rainbow!