One of the bright spots of working at my last job with a large magazine publisher up in Westchester, for which I commuted 70 miles a day across the George Washington Bridge, was a Toastmasters club, an unusually  interesting corporate club. I attended meetings and gave speeches the entire time I was working, and was club president for one year. The idea of going back one more time appealed to me.

I boarded a Metro North train at Grand Central and was picked up at the Chappaqua station by Diane, a former employee and continuing Toastmaster, who has remained my friend. I knew many of the people at the meeting, although the corporation has downsized and had a huge turnover. Everyone was pleased to see me; it was great fun, more appreciation than I ever got from people I worked with. (That’s another story I may tell someday.) Diane and I went out for lunch afterward and got caught up. She has become a successful realtor, a very different skill than she had been using when I first met her.

On my return to Manhattan I got off the train at 125th St. and Harlem. I wanted to go to an upper West Side branch library and found a bus outside the train station that took me most of the way there. Then I walked about 7 blocks from the bus–New York blocks, not even half a mile. It was an interesting neighborhood I had never been in before. (Pictures to come) From the library I returned to the apartment to catch my breath before meeting another friend for dinner.

It was hot yesterday, and more than a little humid. I have never liked hot weather; as I get older I’m finding it increasingly hard to deal with. I’ve been very lucky on this trip. On the whole the weather has been pleasant and even cooler weather is predicted for the weekend.

I met C. at Sharz, on 86th Street. She is the daughter of college friends and shares my interest in art. I haven’t seen her for several years. It was fun to get caught up with news about our families, her work and my play. Dinner was great: perfectly cooked salmon, green beans, basmati rice. Lovely evening.