Laurie's light travel travel tips

I hesitated before sitting down to write my annual 'Wacky' - seeing that last year I opted to write about the new year instead - for obvious reasons: Covid cases are soaring statewide, nationwide and globally. But, I realized soon after my mother died in August, 2018, that humor - specifically "Two and a Half Men" and Graham Norton - would help pull me through. We are wading through communal grief, such that most of us cannot even begin to articulate its depths. However, in grief grows a greater understanding of life's precious gifts. For me, that has meant long walks here in Branford, Connecticut, revelling in the change of seasons. From the spring spurts of life in the guise of the crocus to summer's sweltering gasp, the autumnal song of the crimson and amber leaves scattered about to winter's frightening white march. Here were some of the WW highlights of 2021: By January 28, Connecticut had rolled out at least one dose of a Covid vaccine to 8.8 perc...

When I left New York the evening of December 24, 2019, I had just said goodbye to my young friend, former tutee Celeste, and was thinking about what would be my last Christmas with my cat, Wally . I had no idea it would be the last trip to New York in a pre-pandemic life, one that I, you, everyone reading this, no longer has. In 2020, I fantasized about trips into the City, but then I saw the horrific news, the mock morgues in huge refrigerators. It was terrifying. Then, God bless science, I was lucky enough to survive and .. get vaccinated. I thought after my second jab in April of this year that I should go to New York. I had planned it, and canceled, and planned a couple of times. Finally, after my booster (taken because of my age, being overweight, and on public transportation), I felt safe enough to realize what had become a 22-month-long dream. My biggest fear? The MTA ride in. But even that was fine. I had already inched my way closer to New York , first to Milford, then Stra...