I am busy, busy getting ready for my trip to New York. Things not to forget:  train tickets, umbrella, camera, notebook and pen, books for the trip, Dee’s birthday present, and perhaps the most important of all—chocolate chip cookies, which will travel in a tin layered between the clothes in my suitcase.

Dee is a cookie monster, and she has said, more than once, that chocolate chip cookies are my speciality. Well, everyone needs a speciality.

Last year for her birthday, I brought her homemade spiced pecans.  She was happy enough to get them, but I could tell she was disappointed that I didn’t bring chocolate chip cookies.

This year, no such mistake will be made.

On a more serious note…Ebola has reared its ugly head in New York City. A doctor who worked with Ebola patients in West Africa has contracted the disease and is being treated in a New York hospital. As someone whose middle name should be “worry,” I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t admit that Ebola is on my mind. However, it won’t stop me from visiting my daughter. In Texas, none of Thomas Duncan’s friends and  relatives caught it, and they were in very close contact with him. I figure my chances of getting Ebola are very small indeed.

Onward to New York City!