Joe is from Long Island - a wise-cracking big-hearted man with an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to clearing out the fridge. "I'm just the lodger" he protests to us with a smile and a sideways look to Karen. Karen is the boss. She's also in the business of providing footings for indoor horse arenas i.e. the mixture of sand covering the floor. It's a technical affair depending on, amongst other things, climate, which explains the test samples in the fridge. The work requires a lot of travel around the country and the occasional tedious trade fair. Now, where are those samples? Karen searches the large fridge and wheels on Joe, who was last seen scarpering downstairs......
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| a right pair |
After our hasty dash here, we just want to relax and Thanksgiving week is the perfect time. We meet the neighbours, and visit the delightful Evie, a widow living two doors down. We're introduced to all their friends down at the local bar. Joe clowns around and tells us stories, keeps us entertained. Meanwhile Karen is trying to organize everything for Thanksgiving dinner. Joe seems more interested in the betting odds for the football games on that day, but also gets into the swing of things. I'm still glugging diluted apple cider vinegar to no avail. Come Thanksgiving morning I decide I need to see a doctor. I tell Joe the problem and he immediately offers to take me to a walk-in clinic in the town. I have to cough up $100 to see a young doctor of whom I ask for a prescription for antibiotics. He understandably wants to test a urine sample (the symptoms I suspect may be similar to sufferers of prostate cancer) and I explain that I can't afford any tests. He is sympathetic but thinks the ciprofloxacin I request may cause me tendon damage. I promise not to ride my bike for a week. He relents, and does a urine test just for his own peace of mind. The test shows I have a UTI. An hour later I have my antibiotics and immediately feel better, before I've even taken one.
The garden gets a quick tidy, the house straightened, the last bits and pieces shopped for. The friends call and the women get busy in the kitchen. Joe and I sit glued in front of the big screen telly watching the first football match and chatting to Tanya's husband. The traditions have to be observed. A couple more friends arrive and we all sit down to a feast. As Joe predicted, there were few takers for the pumpkin pie. "It's always the same" he declares, "hardly anyone really likes it." It takes us a few days to get over the gluttony. And polish off the leftovers before Joe throws them out. Karen has to dash off for a couple of days and Joe, who works evening shifts at an upmarket restaurant bar, is tasked with looking after us. He brings home some of the restaurants dishes to try.
Each day I'm feeling better. We like Karen's little town, they live in a very peaceful place. We have a lot of laughs with them and Karen is very generous - spoils us rotten. If our next destination wasn't New York we wouldn't be so excited when we leave.
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| with Karen and Joe |
