Hey there Delilah ...

What's it like in New York City? Funny you should ask. I'm about to take off for a few days to find out. Having no other vacation plans until November, I'm buzzing back for a short visit to check out the Big Apple, bum around the streets, ride the subways, avoid eye contact with the panhandlers, stay clear of steam pipe explosions, drink un-drinkable coffee, gawk at the big buildings, hang out in the museums, and in general absorb a bit of the ambience of one of the coolest cities on earth.

And yes, for those of you who have been back there with me, I'll be staying once more at the Belleclaire Hotel on the Upper West Side, near the Natural History Museum. Prices are unbelievably good (for NYC); the hotel's not bad, if you don't mind sharing bathroom facilities with two other rooms (which I don't); and the neighborhood couldn't be better, just blocks from Central Park. No chance to watch the Yankees play this time, but I do think I'll return for another roam around the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, adjoining Prospect Park. Very nice comfortable area, wouldn't mind living there. (But who could afford it?)

Also, take note! This is the last summer that the amusement park at Coney Island will be open -- after over a century, it falls victim to our changing tastes in having fun. A tough but good-hearted street kid, stabbed through the heart by Mickey Mouse. The death of an American icon, whose gritty charms have been evoked in countless movies and books. I've got to see it before it dies.

And underlying my entire visit is my recurrent regret that I failed to take a year after college to live in this city. I may well have found myself lonely, overwhelmed, broke, stressed out, and probably unemployed. But what an experience, and what memories to look back on!

But for the next four days, anyway, I can still create a few memories.