On The Town!

Once upon a time, some friends decided to take a road trip to the Big Apple. Dangerous, you say? For us or for NYC?

Our friend "B" brought an article to group one night, about a gay themed play in NYC Some Men running for a short, limited engagement. It had received very good reviews and we thought it might be fun to take a train, have a nice dinner and see a play. So, off we went. Unfortunately, "B" had thrown his knee out and the doctor told him to limit his standing and walking, so we had to leave him behind.


We wanted the day be as relaxing as it could be, so we built in a lot of cushion around our activities. We took the 8:10 am train and arrived at Penn Station around 10:30 am. The weather was beautiful...hard to believe we had a Nor'easter just a couple of posts ago.










After a leisurely stroll up 7th Avenue, we arrived at Carmine's on 44th just a few minutes after it opened. Our reservations weren't until noon, but we were ready to chow down.

I was the only one who had been there before, so I gave my 2 cents about how to go about this. We ordered three entrees: chicken parmigiana, veal scallopine marsala, and the daily special, 4 Italian pastas. We also ordered what we thought was the typical antipasti, and were served with this big oval dish with a variety of cold appetizers, scrimp, scungilli, provolone, roasted peppers with fresh mozzarella finger sandwiches, and more. Not what we expected, but we devoured it anyway.

The food is served in big platters, and you'd think that six guys could finish it off? We sent a lot a food back to the kitchen and we were all stuffed! Naturally, I always leave room for dessert. I asked if anyone planned on ordering dessert, and was greeted with....no! I suggested the Titantic anyway....it's a huge dish of brownie covered ice cream with sliced strawberries, banana and pineapple, lots of whipped cream and four pirorette cookies as the smoke stacks. Only John said, he'd have a little. After a few minutes, the waiter brought 6 plates and 6 spoons. A minute later the Titanic arrived and it was every man for himself! Women and children were trampled as each man grabbed for a spoon and dove into the mountain of whipped cream and ice cream!



Not hungry for dessert? Who said that? I think this Titanic was sunk in just under 30 seconds!

We decided to work some of this off, so next was a stroll up to Central Park. It must have been in the mid seventies or so, and it seemed like everyone was in the park. It was one of those sunny Sunday afternoons in the park with George. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Our play started at 3:00 pm at the 2econd Stage Theatre (2ST)and it was the last performance in the run. The play covered issues and periods and relationships over a period of about 80 years. It begins as men gather for a wedding ceremony, and ends at that same ceremony. To quote the Playbill, "in between is the play proper--flashbacks of how the nine males in the room got there. Each has a story related to the gay life, be it AIDS, or Stonewall."

It was the type of play where you are laughing out loud one minute and your eyes are filling with tears the next. Of course, for us, one of our favorite scenes was the one set at the group support meeting. We swear someone was evesdropping on our meetings!

After the show we headed down to the Penn Station area where we were being joined by my son Joe and my daughter-in-law Joy for bite to eat before we boarded the 7:45 pm train for home. We ate at the Stage Door diner (I guess that's what you'd call it). When you are seated they bring you a dish of pickles and dishes of cole slaw. Forget the bread sticks! It was fun conversation, but the day was drawing too quickly to a close. It was fun for Joe and Joy to meet some of my friends, and my friends loved meeting them!

Next road trip? Montreal? Toronto? Bora Bora?

Happy Birthday!

Today my oldest daughter, Adele, celebrates her 25th Birthday! Ya Hoo!!! This photo was taken at her 5th Birthday Party. Where did the 20 years go? I got an email from her today. She had a great day of celebrating...4 cakes! She always knows how to party!

I love you Adele!

What is Wrong With This Picture?

ANSWER: It was taken TODAY!

And we're being told to brace ourselves for a Nor'easter. Oh, joy! Oh, rapture! And yesterday was a nice sunny, pleasant day!

I finally took a good portion of yesterday to clean my apartment. Not that it was dirty, I mean how dirty can it get in a couple months? Only kidding. But I dusted and vacuumed. I guess many experts say to dust first (brush the crap to the floor) and then vacuum. My grandmother's words echoed in my brain, however. She was a firm believer in "Dust last because vacuuming raises dust." This was from a woman who every week had every piece of furniture moved out of place to dust and vacuum behind it. I remember seeing her end table lamps moved to the dining room table while she tackled the living room. I didn't do that good a job, but I think I'm good now until October.

Just as I was finishing up and about to take a shower, my friend Y-OH-Y called me to see if I had plans for the evening. I had mentioned to him a short while ago that Lisa Lampanelli would be coming to the Palace and tonight was the night! So we decided to take a trip to the box office to see about tickets and seating. Online told us that 2 seats together would be way at the top of the balcony, or near the back of the orchestra seating. We ended up getting 2 single seats, one behind the other, orchestra right, rows GG and A. Nice seats! Close, but far enough back so as not to be in her target range!

She came out with both barrels smokin'! Pow! Pow! Pow! She spared no one within her sights and some not within her sights....(those in the balcony). I won't attempt to review the show; I'll leave that to Y-OH-Y's expertise. She's not known as the Queen of Mean for nothing! I don't think I laughed much and so loud at a live show! It was nice to relax after my fourth week back to full time work. I guess I'll save that for another post.

Well, I'm going to go dig out my boots again.

Happy Easter! or is it Merry Christmas?

When I opened my front door to get my newspaper I thought maybe I was dreaming of a white Christmas!

I'm going to brunch this morning with some friends and then to my brother's and sister-in-law's (I know, I think it's supposed to be sister's-in-law!) for dinner this afternoon. I'm bringing this dish of dark chocolate covered strawberries, yogurt covered blueberries and dark chocolate espresso covered hazelnuts. I'm a regular Marcus Stewart! Thank you Target!

Have a Happy Easter and a Happy Spring!

I'm alive and well and NOT living in Paris

My, time flies when one is having so much fun! I've been at my new full time job for two weeks now. Things are going really well. I'm used to getting up early every weekday morning now. (I lie like a dog.) I feel like I'm getting into the swing of things there.

This past couple of weekends have been busy ones...and with each day Spring seems to be more and more with us.

I decided to jump start my return to the gym by switching gyms. Seems that Gold's is not honoring their "guaranteed" renewal rate, that I have in my contract, so I joined Best Fitness, which is closer to my apartment. So far, I've gone seven out of the last nine days. People on the street are pausing and whispering, "There's Hercules!" I never knew the treadmill could get you all buff like that!

Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with my ex-manager and the member service rep from the credit union branch that I left two weeks ago. We managed to get seated and fed and on our way within a half hour at Houlihans! Go figure! And on a Friday night! The gods were with us. We made it in time to see the previews.

It was nice to see some of the managers and staff that I worked with when I was one of the assistant managers at the theater just over a year ago. Got me a free movie pass! And I just couldn't wipe the grin from my face knowing that I didn't have to work the weekend! And one of the ushers came running up to me when we entered the theatre to say hello. The theater was just about full, so I asked him if he could find us 3 seats together....he promptly asked several patrons to slide over so that we could sit. It's so nice to feel connected! LOL!

So, the movie . . . 300. Anyone see it? Very stylized, but little substance, I thought. I mean, how many times was Leonidas going to bellow out, "Sparrrrrrtans!" But some of the body hacking became funny after a while. And I mean, c'mon! All these warriors just watching that guy ride up on the horse with his sword, and no one threw their spear? Or at least yell, "Duck Astinos!!!" Hellllloooooo!!! Didn't see that decapitation coming, eh?

And last night our credit union had their annual dinner meeting at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga. Very nice. The credit union is celebrating it's 70th anniversary so each table had a model of an auto or truck from 1937, which one lucky person at each table got to take home. I didn't get the model, but I did get the floral centerpiece. Lucky me!

So, spring has sprung, work goes well, I've run a little over 25 miles and I managed to mail out my Easter goody packages last week. Now all I have to do is wait for the Easter Bunny.