The New York Adventure

I never wrote about our trip to NY. Well it was a whirlwind and once we got back and started to recover we had to face Elliott’s ill health. Since then there’s been a myriad of things to write about, but really it does deserve some attention.

We were fortunate in that Ruth, Piccolo’s mom, offered to drive us for our redeye flight out of SFO on Sunday night. Unfortunately much to TGF’s dismay and annoyance this was not a direct flight so there was a stopover at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Predawn at an airport is a bit surreal. The lack of sleep (neither of us dozed well on the first leg) and her “inner gay man” came out in full force dissing people’s clothing right and left. If I wasn’t so grumpy I might have found the insightful if highly biting commentary amusing. All went well with the rest of the trip including renting the car.

I had never driven to or from Newark Airport but TGF was an excellent copilot though I relaxed greatly once we were in Westchester County and was breathing easier once we were on Route 9. TGF however was getting, well, a tad panicky. She and Sunny met, briefly during our last trip east. It was badly planned as we had we had flown in the evening before (the details posted here), I wasn’t able to get caffeine into TGF before the meet up. The normally chatty, witty, and intelligent Southern Babe I know was nowhere in evidence for fully the first 30 minutes. Thus her anxiety.

We arrived to joyous welcomes and hugs. Sunny proceeded to give the house tour and Karen was her witty self and doled out an appropriate number of compliments and leading questions. Whew. Later we went out to dinner at Umami with Sunny’s neighbor Barbara with her lovely but shy daughter Emma. The duck quesadilla appetizer was lovely as was grilled portabella and mozzarella. I had the pad thai – which was quite good. TGF had the truffled macaroni and cheese, which was magnificent!

Tuesday we did a small shopping expedition in order to pick up some make-up for TGF, because well she simply could not go to Broadway without the appropriate outfit (which we took care of earlier) and looking wonderful. The three of us headed to Bloomingdales in White Plains in such of Clinique – the only make up that can touch her delicate skin. I picked out a great lip colour, Pink Toffee for her. I picked up some Stila, lipstick (Piaf) mand eyeliner (Amethyst). With the exception of our first meeting, this might the only other time I have seen her with make-up on. Sunny thought she looked hot and compared her to Jeri Ryan. How much more of a compliment could she give her!

Lindsay, Sunny’s husband, was supposed to go with us to Broadway that night but his work compelled him and left him with deadlines that suddenly needed his attention. Luckily I suggested that we call Deborah to join us and she was able to make it. TGF and Deborah really hit it off at camp so this was a great bonus. TGF and I were starving so we all went for a really quick bite at Juniors which had just opened about 3 doors up from the theatre. Finally it was time to go to the performance of A Chorus Line. There was something incredibly thrilling about sitting so close watching my cousin, Jeff Schecter, on stage. It turned out that he has the first solo performance where he sings “I Can Do That”. There were a lot of great performers in this company: Yuka Takara is adorable, even more so in her own make up and clothing (yes we waited by the stage door after the show); Jason Tam gave a very moving performance (though in truth I found the writing itself a bit disjointed and lacking); Michael Paternostro, who is Jeff’s best friend was wonderful. Natalie Cortez has a great voice, emotions just pour forth. A significant amount of the show revolves around the character, Cassie, but I was far from impressed by Charlotte D’Ambroise’s performance. But Jessica Lee Goldyn gave an awesome performance of “Dance 10" (aka Tits and Ass). Oh and Deidre Goodwin - just Fabulous! Love her!

As I mentioned we waited by the stage door and gave kudos to a number of the actors while we waited for Jeff. Finally he came out. It was marvelous to see him, I think the last time I saw him was at our grandmother’s funeral over five years ago. Later TGF noted that his face absolutely lit up when he saw I was there – which is kind of how it felt. We don’t have a lot of shared history but a great amount of mutual affection. The director came out and complimented him on his number. It turns his number had been limited in dance moves because he severely twisted his ankle before they opened in San Francisco a month earlier. He had just been given the new choreography that afternoon – we would have never guessed! We all retreated back to Juniors so we could catch up a bit. By the way if any of my dear readers are interested in backing an independent comedy written by my cuz, contact me! I haven’t read it, cannot vouch for but he’s family, so I have to ask. After he left we wandered a few blocks out of our way (which my feet objected to though they looked fabulous in Aerosole shoes TGF bought me a year ago and hadn’t a chance to wear. I mean these shoes are killer!) to see the huge billboard (his is the third butt from the right) which has my cousin’s ass about three tall, at least.

The next day (Wednesday) we packed up and drove into the city proper, as in the five boroughs. I realize non-New Yorkers think “the city” only equals Manhattan but in fact “the city” is made up of all five boroughs. We drove through parts of the Bronx, Queens and finally our destination – Brooklyn. Even with a delayed start and some traffic snags we were only about 10 minutes late for meeting Jerry, my father, and Maddy, his girlfriend. We had a lovely lunch at an Italian place on Smith Street, which has in recent years become restaurant row – very different from when I lived there, many moons ago. Though TGF used codes so to give us an out (something we had discussed before) I decided that we should spend a bit longer with Jerry, especially since he really wanted to show me an apartment he is hoping to move into.

First we did stop briefly at the brownstone on Strong Place that is the closet thing I have to a family homestead. We didn't get to go inside but at least TGF now has a visual when I refer to the house.

The building Jerry is interested in relocating to is in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, right on the water.

It is right by this Waterfront Museum.

Let me tell you the place he planning to move to is a fabulous remodel of a nineteenth century brick factory building (his building is mentioned here, it's connected to the Fairway Market). TGF demanded that I take all sort of photos outside to capture the views and inside.

This is one of the views from the roof. Even I would consider such a place, and there is just about nothing that would convince me to move back to NYC, as much as I love it.

Once we had done the rounds and ohh’ed and ahh’ed over the place we took off to Greg and Janet’s. Once we arrived in their place we both took our first really deep breath since we arrived and were probably more relaxed than we had been since before we left the west coast. After lolling about for a bit, we headed to Bogota – a great restaurant about two blocks from their place. Really good food, excellent margaritas, fabulous company. So nice. Essentially we came back to the apartment and one by one we drifted off to sleep. After a light breakfast of New York bagels and some good coffee we took off back to Newark.

It seems that we have made peace with the transportation gods since everything went smoothly. We are grateful for that. It was a successful visit regarding TGF meeting the family. Lindsay officially welcomed her. Jerry was assured of his adoration of her. Maddy seemed to approve as well. And Sunny, well I am sure she was charmed though TGF is feeling shaky. Do they adore each other madly? No. But I do think that Sunny is feeling good about things and that’s a very good thing.