Days 7-9: New York and New Jersey

Days 7 - 9:  Southern New Jersey to Long Island and back.

Day 7 - 7 November 2015  Woodstown NJ to Syosset NY (ca. 155 miles)

Our migration progress hasn't been steadily south. Today we drove back north from Exit 2 to Exit 18 on the NJ Turnpike, across the George Washington Bridge, along the Cross Bronx Expressway, over the Throgs Neck Bridge and onto Long Island. We are visiting a friend from Fiji now living on Long Island. Bina Saxena is the mother of Aashu (see Day 1 of 
http://or-or-bust.blogspot.com/2015/06/days-0-3.html). 
We last saw Bina 43 years ago. Two of her other children live near each other in Syosset on Long Island New York. We stayed at the home of Aashmita (Bina's daughter whom we last saw at about 7 months old) and her husband Raju.

Today is Bina's birthday. Her three grandchildren, Saayana, Saayn (with cake) and Aariana, presented the birthday cake.

Bina took a long time to make a thoughtful birthday wish before blowing out the candle.

But it was one of those trick candles that relights after being blown out, so there was much delight in helping to extinguish the flame. Here Saayn and Saayna give it a go. 

Bina got it on the third try

to the acclaim of the all.

Midge and Bina had a lot of catching up to do after 43 years.

Aariana and Saanya shared a book with Bina and Midge

Saayn played the piano for us. 

Ved arrived from Albany at about 8PM.

Aariana stopped just long enough to let her mom fix her hair

then it was time to join her her cousin Saanya on her grandfather's (Ved) lap.

Saayn was exploring fractions and division, and was fascinated by repeating decimals on the calculator.

By 10PM the kids wanted to keep going, but sitting quietly with their grandmother seemed to be the preferred option.

Day 8 - 8 November 2015   Syosset NY to Woodstown NJ (ca 169 miles)

We awoke to a beautiful day. After their late night, the kids slept late, so we just enjoyed the sunshine and quiet.

Later, Saanya and her iPad joined us at the table while Aashmita prepared breakfast.

Nothing was planned for the morning, so Midge and Ed decided to visit Teddy Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill, only 5 miles away. [For those of you following our earlier blog, you may remember we visited Teddy's cabin at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota http://or-or-bust.blogspot.com/2015/09/days-71-74-many-glacier-campground-to.html ]. Sagamore Hill is now run by the National Park Service. 

When we arrived at 10AM we asked if we could have a tour, but nothing was available until after 1PM. However, when we were outside the house at 11AM the tour party looked small. A very understanding guide invited us to join his tour of the inside (NO photos allowed!). He was a Park Service volunteer with an encyclopaedic knowledge of both the home and Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt's home contains all original furniture and memorabilia. Some renovation was necessary to make access possible for visitors.  The East wing of the house (left of photo, but not visible) was added after Roosevelt became president, and served as a room for entertaining. While Sagamore Hill was Roosevelt's primary residence, he regarded it as a retreat for much of his time there.

Ice house and wind-powered water pump.

There is also an excellent museum that covers the whole of Roosevelt's life and includes many thoughtful displays.

At 1PM it was time to go to Aashish's house for a Havan to recognise Aariana's third birthday.

It is a new house and they have only been in it for a few weeks. There is some stunning lighting, including this in the kitchen area.

We all had lots of space to play.

Aashish and Saayn reviewed their picks for the football all-stars competition.

Saanya and Aariana wait for the Havan to begin.

Ved adds ghee to the rice and herbs.

Ved starts the Havan. He explained that we would all take turns reading.

We had an unplanned interruption when smoke from the fire set off the alarms, and then we finished  

Raju, Aarianna and Saanya relax.

Soon it was time for the birthday cake.

We had to leave, unfortunately, but with only an hour of daylight, Sunday afternoon traffic and a maze of urban parkways, we feel like the wimps of the highway.

In the end, it wasn't too bad. There was a bit of stop and go traffic getting off of Long Island, but by the time we cleared the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (toll $16), we had only to contend with the usual 12-lane turnpikes, giant trucks and weaving speedsters.

Day 9  9 November 2015  Woodstown, NJ

This is our last day in Woodstown before heading to Washington DC. 

In the morning we took a walk to town from the Friends Home where Midge's mom, Betty, lives. We walked along South Main Street and passed the house where Midge grew up. 

From there, we walked to the lake and shared the park with about 100 Canada geese.

After dinner we spent 20 minutes working on a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It's a communal effort, with passers by taking a few minutes to put more pieces into place. 

We had a three way game of pool. There was no danger that any one of us would run the table. We all struggled a bit, but in the end Betty sank more balls than Ed or Midge.

At 7.30 Midge's Uncle Frank and Cousin Chuck dropped by to see us. Here is Midge with Frank.

.oOo.