Today is Saturday, February 10, 2024.   Today is the Chinese Lunar New Year and it’s the Year of the Dragon.   For those who don’t know about the Chinese calendar cycle is, you just need to know that the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle is represented by 12 different animals.    They are in consecutive order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.    This information is contained in an online CNN article by Maggie Hiufi Wong entitled “Chinese zodiac fortune predictions:  What’s in store for the Year of the Dragon.” 

Your zodiac animal is determined by your year of birth, meaning those born this year will fall under the Dragon sign.  Those born in 2025 will be Snakes, and so on.

According to the article, I was born under the Year of the Goat.  The prediction for people born under this sign, according to the article, will need to plan their schedules wisely, otherwise stress and busy schedules will take a toll on their mental and physical health. 

As for individual luck, followers believe that their zodiac animal’s fortune depends on the positions of the Tai Shui – the stellar deities thought to rotate parallel to and in the opposite direction of Jupiter. 

The outlook for people with my sign is that we’re in a negative position with Tai Shui, whatever that signifies, but that we’ll generally find joy in pleasant relationships with friends and colleagues. 

Another prediction for people born under my sign is that money and fame could follow us when a breakthrough or a promotion at work occurs.  Well, since I don’t work anymore, I don’t think this will happen.  

And if I were looking for love, it seems that I could find someone very compatible through my friends this year.    Again, this shouldn’t apply to me this year. As a point of fact, this year will mark our 10th anniversary, by the way.

So happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Yesterday Elliot and I had a very pleasant dinner with my newfound cousins “Rivka” and “Dillon” at an Italian restaurant on 2nd Avenue and 70th Street.  The restaurant’s name was Bottega and it was very nicely appointed, with white tablecloths and warm lighting.    This time my cousins chose the location; the last time Elliot and I selected where we were going to dine. 

We were scheduled to meet at 7, and we just got to the site around 6:55, owing to a drawn-out, slow ride on the E.    For whatever reason, the train took its time to get to 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, where we had to change for the uptown 6.  We got off at 68th Street, which was just two stops ahead.

The people whom we were waiting for walked in a little after 7 and the fun began. Elliot and I were eager to mention our new fur baby addition.   Rivka and Dillon spoke about their upcoming trip to Japan in early March.  We tried to avoid talking about politics, but it did eventually rear its ugly head at some point in the conversation, but we knew that we were all in the same camp, which was unabashedly anti-Trump, so we didn’t have to pussyfoot around the topic.   

There was a sharing of pictures of grandchildren at the table – my cousins have three grandchildren – and of Atticus, which I shared with both Rivka and Dillon.   Elliot did show one or two pictures of his granddaughter “Sadie.” 

We said goodbye almost three hours later and walked down to 68th Street to get the 6 train to 51st Street where we changed for the Queens E train.   This time the E went as slowly as the first train heading toward Manhattan several hours earlier.  By this time we didn’t care how long it would take to get back to Forest Hills. 

We obviously worried about Atticus since we left him for several hours.  He was fine when we entered the apartment.  He didn’t come to the door as Jocelyn used to do, but he did greet us halfway in the foyer.    

Today we left him for an even longer period; we left around 11:30 a.m. to meet Elliot’s daughter “Emily” at a restaurant in Rockville Center around 12:30.    The restaurant’s name was Press 195 and it was on North Park Avenue.     The casual restaurant boasted knishes, burgers, salads, chili wings, and the like.  We ordered a serving of Belgian fries for the table, while I had a pastrami knish that came with a house salad.   

Our conversation was quite spirited, as Emily talked about issues with her house and we bragged about Atticus.  We also discussed what series or films we recently viewed.  Emily admitted that she recently saw Origin which is based on author Isabel Wilkinson’s seminal book Caste:  The Origins of Our Discontents.   Emily had generally positive reviews of the movie.    This is the film that is directed by Ava DuVernay.  

After our lunch with Emily, we drove to Huntington, Long Island, where we spent an hour or so at The Next Chapter, an independent bookseller located on New York Avenue.    Here we could have spent hours browsing the shelves, but it was getting late so we limited our browsing to about an hour.  I picked up an LP for $3 : the soundtrack to Broadway’s The Rink starring Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera, who just died at 91.   I bought it as a gesture to Rivera’s storied career.   I also bought another book on Truman Capote’s relationship with his New York “swans,” this one called Swans of Fifth Avenue, by Melanie Benjamin.   To me, it doesn’t look like a novel but nonfiction, but who knows?  It probably covers the same territory as Laurence Leamer’s Capote’s Women which is the basis of the FX series on now. 

When we got home, Atticus was up and came to us halfway as before.  Last night I saw him on the kitchen counter for the first time.  Atticus is just doing what a young cat like himself would do, which is to climb everywhere where he can.   Tonight he tried to help himself to my reheated dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.   

Enjoy tomorrow.    The temps today were in the high 50s and tomorrow it’s supposed to be 50.

Stay safe and be well.