Can we also make a mention of Halloween in Seattle? Is that still on, still feasible?

Because, either way, if Barnes and Nobles Corporate Fascist HQ in NY agrees with the manager of the University Village store, I'll be kicking off the "FFoSM" tour in Seattle, and the book premieres that weekend.

So.....is it on? Anyone?

Deb, I am still up for it and planning on it, and I think Juliana is, and Plei of course. Maybe LJ or email would be better for planning though, since I think it will be a very small percentage of Buffistas who will be going.

Lee, sounds good. I'll start with the coordinating at my end (as in, poking the B&N people in the arse with a salad fork) next week, and we can take it to email or to the PF F2F thread for smaller events.

Well, I ain't going anywhere, and will happily show up for at least the first part of any gatherings with a baby in a strawberry bunting.

Yay!

It looks like you'll all be in Seattle for Halloween and I'll be in San Francisco...

The Next time Nilly is in Washington, a great place to take her for a view is the roof of the Washington Hotel. I had drinks there last night and you're looking over the Mall and onto the roof of the White House. It was great.

Adding my voice to the chorus of trusting Allyson.

Seattle is looking do-able, but there are logistical (and pouting) issues to work through.

Lee, I did get your email, but it's been nuts here. Sorry, sweetie. I'll be pinging back sometime today, hopefully, probably from my Gmail account. (That goes for Java cat, as well)

No rush on answering, Juliana. I know it's a hectic week for you.

Friday in New York (Nilly content: 50%)

Saturday in New York (Nilly content: 1%)

Saturday night in New York (Nilly content: 0.5%)

Sunday brunch in New York (Nilly content: 30%)

At the Met, msbelle and Jesse and Scola stayed outside to watch what Kate has deemed my "terrorist luggage." Inside the Met, Nilly was fascinated by the lobby. We probably could have left her in there all day.

Trudes took us through the Egyptian section, where Trudes and Kat ogled the gold jewelry. The thing about gold jewelry is it didn't deteriorate. There was "You'd wear that" after "You'd wear that." Nilly valiantly tried not to touch anything by making sure her hands were grabbing onto things on her person.

We saw the transplanted Temple of Dendur, complete with British graffiti. We wondered who took the time to chisel their damn name into a temple, and whether they had servants to do it for them. I would say Nilly was fascinated, but that's just to be understood. I had asked her if there was anything she didn't find impressive, and she claimed there was, but she couldn't come up with it. I said it'd be impressive for her to come up with something unimpressive.

Then Trudes had to leave, and Kat and Kate took a break, which left me with Nilly. This was the first time it was just Nilly and me, so the account you are about to get is a Sunil exclusive! For now, until Nilly writes about things.

Nilly said she liked impressionism, so I took her to the European gallery. As it turned out, she loved Renoir too, and for the same reason as I did, the warmth. "Look at this girl," she said. "I feel like I know her." I resolved to show her the awesome Renoirs I had seen on Friday, if I could find them. Our time seemed to be running out, however. We had to be out to say goodbye to Kate by four. Nilly could spend weeks in just this gallery, admiring the paintings. Luckily, I had already been there Friday, so I rushed around and told her the adjacent room had a bunch of Monets. She thanked me strongly, and thanked me again when I rushed off to find the Renoirs I wanted to show her. It's strange to be thanked for something partly selfish: I wanted her to see them because I loved them. I wanted to share them with her, whether she liked them or not. But Nilly is so gracious, so polite.

The Met is like a fucking maze. It took me forever to find them, and I even asked for directions a few times. Finally, I found them and then tried to figure out how to get back to Nilly. When I finally got back to the room I'd left her in, she wasn't there. Nor was she in the adjacent room with the Monets. Holy fuck. I'd lost Nilly.

Luckily, she was in the next room over, whew. I rushed us through everything to get to where I wanted to go, still a bit lost. I was afraid after all this hullaballoo that maybe she wouldn't even think the Renoirs were so hot. Thankfully, she did. She again thanked me for finding them for her. Then I quickly showed her the awesome pointillist paintings by Cross and Signac on the other wall, and we marvelled at them together.

Then we tried to find our way out to say goodbye to Kate. She was following me, her trusty but confused guide. We ended up getting out at exactly the right time. Kate said bye to Nilly. I wanted to take a picture with Kate. I expected the traditional arms-around pose, but I was surprised and pleased when she grabbed me in a hug. Spending a day in New York together does tend to cause some bonding. We'd come a long way from our tired conversation over ice cream.

I noticed Kate had some sort of tattoo in the small of her back...except it was higher than I'd normally seen. Are Buffista tattoos deliberately nonconformist?

Jesse having left with Kate and Kat also having taken her leave, Scola joined us inside. I asked msbelle if she wanted to go inside, and she said it was all right, she could go any time. She guarded my luggage.

On her recommendation, we visited the courtyward in the American wing with the Tiffany windows, another transplant. Nilly was fascinated, etc.