Green is the new black

At the end of July, my Mom took me on a 4-day trip on a 3-masted schooner off the coast of Maine (a thoughtful b-day present). It has since been dubbed the "shush cruise" thanks to a vigilant posse of shushers who were intent on reading the latest Harry Potter in complete silence. It was the first time I've played Uno since elementary school -- it also marked the first time bowling took place on the deck of the historic Victory Chimes thanks to a game I improvised using water bottles for pins and the ball (at its height, the game involved 18 of the 30 passengers and 4 of the 8 crew...I could've been Julie on "The Love Boat!").

During the trip's last 2 days, a thick fog rolled in and obscured the horizon for good. In 5-foot swells, we labored back to Rockland through pea soup. Despite ingesting lots of Bronine and ginger snaps, I had motion sickness for over a week.

So, it was with some hesitation that I joined the rest of the CBS Watch! magazine staff yesterday for a day trip on a double-masted schooner (the Shearwater). We left North Cove in Battery Park, went around the tip of Manhattan and drifted up the East River 'til just after Roosevelt Island. Then we doubled back (at which time the drinks doubled with a game of quarters...Jeremy passed out soon thereafter). Being the only sober person aboard, I had plenty of time to search for the horizon (not easy to do in NYC). By the time we reached the Brooklyn Bridge, motion sickness was starting to set in...again.

Thankfully, we sailed out into NY Harbor where the horizon line made its debut. After meditating on the Statue of Liberty for a while, I was happy to get back to land and Gristede's for some ginger snaps. Allegedly, they have healing power beyond a Dramamine-Bronine cocktail. I inhaled an entire bag last night. Ugh, I'm so sick of being sea sick. Maybe I'll head to a Chinese market and get some ginger root to gnaw on...