Quick Turnaround

My alarm didn't go off this morning when it was supposed to (4 a.m.), but luckily I woke up on time anyway. Well, almost. It was about 4:20, which caused a little stress, but I made it to the airport in good time all the same. Then again, there's very little traffic at 5 in the morning, in for Boston on a week day. I got to the airport, parked, checked in, went through security, and essentially walked right onto the plane without any waiting. So, except for the anxiety initially, sleeping later turned out to be a good thing.

The flight from Logan to JFK in New York City was quick, smooth, and uneventful. We barely got to cruising altitude before we were descending for our landing. Someone from the group I was going to in-service picked me up. Turns out he had his wife with him, also a teacher, who was a student of mine . . . 19 years ago!!! Teachers aren't supposed to have favorites, at least they're not supposed to say so, but she was a member of one of my all-time favorite classes. What a great surprise to see her again!

The workshop went very well, although I had less time than I expected. I led out in a Writing Across the Curriculum seminar for about 30 high school teachers. We talked a little bit about cross-curricular teaching as well. It was fun, and I enjoyed my time, however brief it was.

Once done with the workshop, I sat through the keynote session of the day, had lunch, and then it was back to the airport. The return preliminaries took much longer (perhaps the difference between NYC and Boston, 2 p.m. and 6 a.m.), but the flight itself was just as short and sweet. We even had the same flight crew!

Photos of NYC from when I was there at the end of June.

New York Kind of NIght

Well, we're on our way. Kind of. We have a two-day stop in New York City first. My sister's in-laws brought my nephew and me down this morning (my sister and husband went down yesterday morning). We arrived in time for the early afternoon concert in Carnegie Hall with John Rutter conducting. Rutter is one of the pre-eminent choral composers of the past few decades. He is very imposing to play for, believe me. But it's also a huge privilege to do so. They don't allow photography in the hall, so I didn't get any of the concert pictures =(

We then went to NJ to drop off our things in the hotel and then, having nothing better to do, went back to Brooklyn to a pizza place called Grimaldi's. It's supposed to be the best pizza place in NYC and people were lined up for quite a ways to get in. Bob held our spot in line while we went down to the East River and got ice cream and took pictures looking across to lower Manhattan, with the Empire State Building to our right, the Statue of Liberty to our left, and the hole in the skyline straight ahead where the World Trade Center used to be.

It was very foggy, so some things looked very ghostly =) It was a pleasant evening to walk around and take in the sites, though, which we did.

Photos: Trio of Posters showing the Carnegie Hall stage. It was FULL of singers and orchestra players this afternoon! John Rutter (left in gray) outside the stage entrance after the concert. Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Bridge and surroundings. A ghostly Empire State Building. Lower Manhattan at sunset (the "hole" in the middle is where the World Trade Center used to be). And even more ghostly Statue of Liberty.