For the past six years I have proudly posted about our trips to Kansas City to visit our three beautiful granddaughters. It’s always so much fun to go and have Grammy and Papa spoil them rotten. Jim and Autumn do not have any children, but in September they welcomed the arrival of their new kitty, Sylvie. Autumn has always loved cats and has visited shelters for many years just to spend time with the animals. Sylvie was adopted from a shelter and Momcat and Dadcat are pretty proud.

Papacat and Grammycat decided to spend Columbus day weekend visiting the new family and seeing how we could spoil the new addition to the family. As with most cats, she didn’t take to the new intrusions to her domicile very quickly. It took a few hours but eventually she decided she could attempt contact. Though she never sat in anyone’s lap, I think she knew we were family.

Papacat noticed that Sylvie was lacking in places to get above the crowd and have the ability to survey her kingdom adequately. So he and Grammycat took Mamacat to the pet store to shop for a new kitty condo that would provide a nice skydeck for her viewing pleasure. We settled on a 72″ structure that included a couple of hidey holes as well as multiple platforms for perching. We’re not so sure she enjoys the top yet, but there’s room for her to grow!

As always, we enjoy shopping, going out to eat, and watching movies with Jim and Autumn. It’s become our thing. Sylvie just adds a new dimension to our trip to New Jersey.

It’s been over 18 months since we were able to go into NYC and do anything. I checked out tickets for a show, but since so few are open yet, the prices seemed pretty high and the availability pretty low. Instead we opted for a day at the Met. We’d been there a couple of years ago with Autumn, but art museums always need multiple visits to truly appreciate. New York has vaccine mandates so we had to provide proof of vaccination prior to entering the gallery and our restaurant.

We got into the city about an hour before the museum opened so we enjoyed a walk in Central Park. Wow, have I missed this place. With my new walking routine, I was itching to speed walk the labyrinth of pathways. But Janet being with me, I settled for familiar sites and a leisurely pace. I can’t tell you how great it felt to hear the sounds of the city and see the people walking their dogs and enjoying a cloudy but beautiful Sunday morning.

The gallery opened and we joined the queue to enter. We spent quite a bit of time in the European paintings section. It’s kind of neat to be able to recognize the different time periods and painters. On display was Degas’ Little Ballerina. Though not a painting it is one of Janet’s favorites and we have seen casts of it in other museums. Janet also likes the mummies and art of Ancient Egypt. We always marvel that people made these artifacts thousands of years ago. I enjoy the rooms from old hotels and mansions. They remind me of the palaces and cottages we like to visit.

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We found a neat little restaurant called The Meatball Shop down on 2nd Ave. It was quite a walk from the museum, but really worth it. One of the best parts is that it’s a local restaurant completely away from any tourist activity. It was early in the day so there weren’t any crowds either. My dish came with crispy cauliflower which was to die for!! Yum Yum! We went ahead and splurged by splitting a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich between the two of us. Got to live a little sometime!

Our trip to see the grandkitty and the art museum came to a close all too soon. I’ve been back to Boston and to NYC in the past month. Things are looking good for this tourist living in the northeast.