songbird's crazy world

As the month of May draws to a close, I have to reflect on May's theme: photos. Although I never used the NaBloPoMo prompts for the month, I think I explored the topic well.   Certainly I'm no professional photographer, but in this day and age, anyone with a cell phone camera and an internet connection can share their view of the world.  I'm not going to claim that my photos were super terrific, but I did enjoy taking them and posting them June's theme is Ready, Set, Go.  I'm not sure how that will work for me.  I'm not finding the writing prompts interesting or appealing.  I'll just do my own thing, I guess, and see how it goes.

Much as I love my Fitbit, movement is only part of the equation. I'm back at Weight Watchers. I'm actually doing well on program.  I've lost 16 pounds since March.  It's starting to feel good.

Yes, I'm really getting into the fitness thing.  I was never much of a gym rat.  I disliked gym class, I was never any good at sports, I'm not very coordinated. I like swimming and walking.  Six years ago, I lost 70 pounds.  Gained it all back, unfortunately, but at least I know how to do it... I walked it off, with occasional forays into the pool.  Back then, I was still a member of the Y, could use their pool and their track, though I avoided the rooms with all the fancy equipment -- too insecure to use the treadmill or Stairmaster....  I don't really have a place to go to swim these days, but walking...well, all you really need for walking is a comfortable pair of shoes. In nice weather -- spring through fall -- you can walk almost anywhere.  go to the park, go to the beach, or just walk through your own neighborhood.  I'll have to make a Plan B for the winter, of course, but that's months and months away. In the meantime, I'm enj...

A very funny musical,  On The Twentieth Century , is currently playing on Broadway.  Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Cy Colman, starring Kristin Chenoweth as Lily, and Peter Gallagher as Oscar, Andy Karl as Bruce, Mark Linn-Baker as Oliver, Michael McGrath as Owen and Mary Louise Wilson as Letitia. Combining screwball comedy with beautiful song and dance, it tells the story of a behind-the-scenes relationship between Lily, a temperamental actress and Oscar, a bankrupt theatre producer. Oscar is responsible for Lily becoming an actress, but she left him and the theater to pursue a movie career in Hollywood. On a luxury train traveling from Chicago to New York, Oscar tries to convince the glamorous Hollywood star into playing the lead in his new, but not-yet-written play, and perhaps to rekindle their romance. The revival was staged by Roundabout Theater.  Drew is a Roundabout subscriber, and got the offer for tickets long before the show...

A return visit to John's of Times Square .  Conveniently located on 44th Street in what was once a church, this is a lovely spot for pre- or post- theater dinner.    The place is always busy.  We got there at 5 PM on a Saturday and had a 45 minute wait. Although the place is famed for its brick oven pizza, this time around we opted for chicken dishes.  I had chicken scampi served over a bed of pasta, Drew had chicken marsala.  Both were excellent.  We shared an order of garlic bread with mozzarella -- also wonderful.  Service is, well...adequate.  Nothing to complain about, but nothing remarkable either. Two things to keep in mind, if you go. The wait staff wear shirts that say "no slices".  And they mean it.  If you choose pizza, you must buy a whole pie.  They do not sell pizza by the slice.  And if you're going to drink a lot of soda, order a pitcher.  As per the menu, they do not offer free refill...

So Becca spent a week in Punta Cana with the boyfriend I'm not supposed to know about.  From the pictures she posted on Instagram, he looks like a nice young man.  I suppose I'll get to meet him soon.  She says she had a great vacation. Jen didn't see her boyfriend at all this past weekend.  He bartends on Fire Island, and it gets crazy busy on holiday weekends.  She spent her time with her friends. Lovely picture on Instagram of Jen and one of  her friends playing miniature golf. Drew's annual Memorial Day barbecue was fun.  Smaller crowd than in previous years.  Shelley didn't come, of course.  Maybe for the July 4th party Drew will take Marvin out of the nursing facility on a day pass, but this time around ... And other friends have moved away.  Drew grilled burgers and hot dogs,  I made the pasta salad and the caprese salad, we had chips and dips and cheese and crackers, and cake and ice cream for dessert.  Too much foo...

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow Shining at the end of every day There's a great big beautiful tomorrow And tomorrow is just a dream away ..." Let's be very clear about this: I would be content to watch George Clooney read a phone book. So any movie starring Clooney is fine with me. Better still is when the movie is actually enjoyable. And yes, I enjoyed "Tomorrowland", Disney's latest movie based on a theme part attraction. A bit of background: I am from the generation that watched "Wonderful World of Disney" every Sunday night. We heard Uncle Walt tell us what a wonderful world we'd have in the future. We saw him talk about EPCOT, which he planned to build in Florida. And because I grew up on Long Island, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the New York World's Fair in 1964 and 1965. "it's a Small World", the "Carrousel of Progress", audio animatronics, Disney was a large part of t...

Sunken Meadow has a lovely restaurant/catering facility, right on the boardwalk.  The other night I spotted...well, some lucky bride and groom will have a fantastic wedding album.  

A bit of local history. Republic Aviation was, at one time, one of Long Island's largest employers.  In the 1940's, Republic's defense plant in Farmingdale turned out fighter planes for the war effort.  Republic continued to produce military aircraft throughout the Cold War, ceasing operations in 1982.    Today the site is a small, regional airport. Located in a hanger at Republic is a hidden treasure, the American Airpower Museum .  The focus, as you might imagine, is on WW II aircraft.    The museum owns several aircraft, including a few that still fly -- there are days when, for a fee, you can actually book a flight on one of the planes. A section of the museum is devoted to the WASPS .  During the war, there was a shortage of men trained to fly military aircraft.  So that every available male pilot could be sent overseas into battle, women pilots flew the planes from the manufacturer to shipping ports.    The women i...

So it was Wednesday morning, and I was getting ready for work, when I got the text message. Want to go to the Who concert tonite? The Who?  One of the most iconic bands of the 1960's?  Source of "My Generation", "Baba O'Riley" and "Pinball Wizard"? No, thanks, I'll just stay home and watch "Survivor".  Yeah, the sarcasm is dripping, isn't it? It seems one of Drew's friends had tickets for the show, but couldn't go, so he offered the tickets to Drew.  Nassau Coliseum, decent seats, of course Drew was interested.  A little aside about the Coliseum.  Hofstra University, my alma mater, is just down the road from the Coliseum, and my law school days coincided  with the Islanders' "Dynasty" years.  I'm sad to see the Islanders move to Brooklyn next year., but the planned renovations didn't meet the team's needs.  I'm trying to decide whether to see Billy Joel close out the Coliseum befor...

So it was time to revisit Red Lobster. It's one of our favorite chains, we were here last winter, and then again last weekend. Until recently, if you came to Red Lobster at dinner time on a weekend, you'd expect to wait 30-45 minutes for a table. Recently, however, although the restaurant is still fairly busy, we've been seated as soon as we walked in. I don't understand why this is happening. Although the menu has changed again, the quality remains the same. Cheddar biscuits hit our table even before our drink order arrived.the garden salad was fresh and contained a nice mix of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. We each ordered a "bake" -- steamed shellfish served in a covered casserole dish. Mine was the Maine lobster bake -- mini lobster tails, potatoes and corn on the cob. Very simple, well prepared, delicious. His contained a lobster tail, shrimp, scallops and mussels served over pasta. Also excellent. Looking forward to my leftov...

Almost everyone I know is suffering this allergy season, some more than usual.  They're calling it  "the pollen tsunami".  This past winter was very snowy.  The moisture is good for plant growth, everything is growing in abundance.  Very lush vegetation. Winter was also very cold, and lingered well into spring.  You know what happens when there's a delayed spring?  All the plants that were supposed to bloom in the early spring bloomed late, so as soon as the weather got warm, everything bloomed at once.  Very pretty, of course, but deadly if you're sensitive to pollen. My best friend these days is my little bottle of Claritin. and even then...well, I know it's allergy season just by the way I feel.

I got such a lovely  gift from Redford the other day.  A bunny. Or rather, what was left of the  poor rabbit after Redford caught it, killed it and feasted on it. The cat spent the rest of the day lying on the lawn, in the sun, enjoying his "food coma".  Seriously, if we hadn't seen his chest rise and fall with his breathing, we would have thought the poor cat was dead.  He really enjoyed his little hunt. While I got to clean up the remains from the front porch.  Just lovely.

I had to unfriend someone on Facebook this week.  I'm not happy about it, but I need to preserve my sanity.  One of Drew's oldest and dearest friends, a guy I've known for many years, turned out to be a vile internet troll.  He's very opinionated. So am I.  And we don't agree on very much at all.  Which would have been OK, except that he had to start an argument with me every time I posted something he didn't agree with.  And his posts didn't just put forth his opinion, they were personal attacks on me.  His internet persona  -- He's opinionated, smug and condescending.  If he doesn't like something, it's "garbage" or "overblown", and he cannot understand why everyone likes it.  If you post that you like something, and he doesn't like it, he questions your competency.  He routinely calls out celebrities for their bad behavior -- unless he likes them, then he gives them a "pass".    If you prove him factuall...

Becca is going on vacation with "friends" (read that:  the boyfriend I'm not supposed to know about.)  They are headed to the Dominican Republic for a week of tropical sun and sand. Meanwhile Jen is planning her summer weekends -- her boyfriend will be tending bar on Fire Island again, which means she'll be hanging out at the beach if she wants to see him.  Marvin's status is still in limbo.  There was some talk of sending him back to Shelley's house, despite all the issues, but he'd have to have a home health care aide.  since it take a couple of months to get approval for an aide, he's staying at the nursing facility for the time being.  Drew is still exploring ways to make it permanent.  In the meantime, he bought some summer clothes and sneakers for Marvin -- Shelley hasn't bothered to bring any of Marvin's things to the facility. She's still convinced, by the way, that Drew is "trying to take Marvin away from her," tha...

Audra McDonald   is quickly becoming one of my favorite Broadway performers.  If You haven't had the pleasure of seeing her on Broadway, you may remember her as Miss Farrell in the 1999 television version of Annie , or as the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music Live in 2013.  We had the pleasure of seeing her in Porgy and Bess on Broadway a few years ago, so when we heard she would be doing a concert at the Tilles Center, we had to get tickets. She sang for almost two hours without an intermission.  She sang Cole Porter, Gershwin, Lerner and Lowe, Kander and Ebb, Sondheim.  She also likes to include songs from lesser-known Broadway composers and lyricists.  Of course she included "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.  "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady   became an audience sing along.  Loved her rendition of "Over the Rainbow". She talked about her causes -- Covenant House (for homeless teens) and marriage equalit...

Another walk through Jones Beach, more interesting photos. Here we see some Canadian tourists enjoying the sand.                   The bandshell -- small venue for free concerts:     Bathhouse:       The water tower and the Jones Beach theater:       Waves breaking on the shore:          

Literally. One of my favorite summer dishes is pasta salad. It's easy to prepare, very forgiving.  Cook your pasta, add veggies, dress.  Voila, pasta salad. I have adapted a recipe I got from my sister.  Her pasta salad is famous in our family. I  like  to use rotelle or shells.  I'll usually throw in a bag of frozen peas (I don't cook them -- I defrost them by placing them in the colander where I'm about to drain my pasta, and let the cooking water do the rest), shredded carrots, red onion, and bell peppers.  I don't measure the vegetables, I just cut them up and add them until it looks like "enough". The dressing?  My sister adapted one she found by taking the oil out.  I don't have the original recipe, but I put the oil back in.  Here's what I use: 2 T honey 1 T honey mustard or Dijon mustard 1/4 C balsamic vinegar 3/4 C extra virgin olive oil Whisk ingredients together and serve over the pasta salad.  You...

So one evening last week we headed up to Lincoln Center, the cultural heart of New York City.  Hone of the Metropolitan Opera House, the Julliard  School, Avery Fisher Hall, the Vivian Beaumont Theater, the New York City Ballet, and even a branch of the New York Public Library. "Lincoln Center Twilight" by Nils Olander from Panoramio - Own work . Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons. Our purpose was to see the current production of The King and I . Most people are familiar with The King and I , either from the 1956 movie and/or from the many Broadway revivals and touring companies over the years.  The musical was written specifically for then-Broadway star Gertrude Lawrence, and became the vehicle that launched Yul Brenner into stardom.  (I saw the 1996 revival, with Lou Diamond Phillips as the King and Marie Osmond as Anna.)  The current production stars Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe.  She is absolutely amazing, she plays Anna as both t...

Today is Mother's Day.  I will honor my mother, my daughters will honor me. There will be a family get-together. But I am thinking of another Mother's Day, one from a lifetime ago. It was my first Mother's Day as a mother, Jen was 6 months old.  And we were all at my parents' house for a family celebration. And someone got the idea for a photograph.  Four generations. So we posed.  My grandmother, eighty-nine years old at the time.  My mother.  My baby daughter.  And me. Back then, in the days before digital photography and social media, you had to wait until you finished a roll of film before you took it to the drugstore to be developed.  And you'd get back one set, maybe two, of prints.  I'm sure I saw the finished product, but no one thought to give me a copy of it.  I suspect the photo (and all the other pictures taken that day) is sitting in a box in my mother's closet.  But for now it's a picture that exists only...

So I've been getting more actively lately, I've been doing some walking.  One afternoon last week I headed over to Jones Beach. Yes, the world-famous Jones Beach , the jewel in the crown of state parks on Long Island. I'm usually at the park on summer evenings, when I've got ticket for a concert at the Jones Beach theater.  And I'm there for the annual breast cancer awareness walk in October. But it's been a long  time since I visited in the off season, when there weren't throngs of beachgoers around.  I can to walk the Boardwalk, but found myself admiring the scenery.  The beaches, the dunes, the art deco buildings dating from the park's founding ... The amazing architecture of the bathhouses: A view of the bathhouse and the famed water tower:  In summer, this is a fountain:  A balcony  Interesting Wondering what this shack is for:    A seagull keeping watch  The beach and the dunes...