O MEIN GOTT YOU LIVE IN TEXAS??/Live from NY

Drop off our bags with Pam in Park Slope, walk to Bagel World for bagels and lo fat veggie cream cheese and chat with Scott's Mom who manages the place when he's off or at the other shop on De Kalb. Get on the F train for an hour plus and arrive in Jackson Heights (which now resembles East Asia, South America and China all put together) and arrive at Abe's Mom's residence Regal Heights.  There she is in the lobby, hair  long and wavy and sparkling white, being spoken to by a lovely recreation therapist and holding a humentaschen (apricot or prune tart) in honor of Purim.  She sees us, introduces us to every one in eyesight and when we get upstairs and tell her we just arrived on a plane...she looks at us in awe and exclaims...."o mein gott..you live in Texas?"  This is all done EXTREMELY LOUD and INCREDIBLY CLOSE.  She is 95, has a great sense of humor, has a wonderful caretaker, Lucie, and a remarkable will to live.  Arrive back in Park Slope after another hour plus on the subways where we see a young woman push an older man in an altercation over a seat (welcome home) and then on the way back to Pam and Ira's marvel how coming home reminds us how quickly we get back into the rhythm.  We see my former hair cutter Michael, Abe runs into a young handball player, the streets are pulsing with activity, lot dirtier than Austin but it's what we know so well.  Ingrained in our psyches, makes us who we are.  More to come.