songbird's crazy world

 Last week, Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin.  This week, the real deal.

 It feels like fall.  I’m wearing jeans and bringing a jacket to the ballpark.  We’ve had to close our windows at night.  I feel a shift in my thinking.  8 think summer is over. Friday night at the Ducks game we got this little tchotchke  Styrofoam, lightbulbs and a battery, but the whole ballpark glowed. But ultimately  Sigh. But the Mets had a wild one Friday night. We listened to the game on the radio while driving home from the Ducks’ game. That looks almost like a football score. Saturday at the ballpark …. Real men wear pink Final score But then

 Sometimes the simplest meal is the best … I bought some ready to eat polenta, a jar of marinara sauce, frozen meatballs, and frozen cauliflower.  Heated it all in the microwave.  It was an interesting dinner. We went to the Ducks games Wednesday night and last night, and we will be going again tonight.  We didn’t go Thursday night.  Ironically that’s the night Jen went to the game with her coworkers.  We were home that night, watching the Mets lose to the Marlins in one of the sloppiest games I’ve ever seen. Five unearned runs … Remember last summer I talked about the sad house?  I encountered the house during one of my walks.  It’s about a mile east of here.  There was a fire at the house, and now it’s all boarded up. It’s been a year, and it’s still boarded up.  On Thursday I walked south.  About a mile from here I found an even sadder house,  There was a fire a few weeks ago.  The damage to this house is worse than the...

  Manic Monday Welcome to  Saturday 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!  Manic Monday (1985)  Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . I absolutely love this song.  In 1985 I had my first professional job, working full time in lower Manhattan, I had just moved into an apartment in Brooklyn, and Drew and I were seriously dating.  I’d hear this song on Z-100, the morning DJ was Scott Shannon.  A really great time in my life. 1) In this song, Bangles lead singer Susannah Hoffs sings that "it's 6:00 already." What time did you wake up this morning? I usually...

 Friends?  Frenemies Can you feel the tension? Duchess has been starting up with Shadow…so when Duchess wanted to go upstairs Shadow wouldn’t let her …

 More clouds, #skywatchfriday

 Spotted lantern flies, ugh!  An invasive species that causes harm to native plants.  They’ve been invading the East Coast for several years — we saw them on Staten Island three years ago — and they finally arrived on Long Island.  They’re hard to kill, they jump out of the way when you try to swat them.  But Shadow killed one in our living room! So Taylor Swift getting engaged to Travis Kelce is apparently major news.  My daughters are Swifties, so they’re happy.  I’m still amazed that the best gluten free meal I’ve had at any ball game or concert was at the Duck Club.  The burger I had last night was amazing. This was circling over the ballpark. Got a visit from our mascot, Quackerjack  And between innings I opened my Major League Baseball app to check the Mets-Phillies score. You can see how the Ducks’ night went The Mets, however …. Final score Mets 6, Phillies 0.

 This popped up in my YouTube feed …

We have tickets for tonight’s Ducks game. We have tickets for Friday’s Ducks game. We have tickets for Saturday’s Ducks game.   And we’re having another have tickets for the Ducks game on September 10. The season ends September 18.  But the Ducks are probably going to make the playoffs.  If they do, we’ll probably buy tickets.

 We’ve gone into Manhattan 3 times in recent weeks.  I love the cityand sometimes I miss the excitement of working there — though I do not miss the commute.  When we were in Chinatown there was a photo shoot happening on Mott Street.    And then there’s Times Square. Walk through Times Square and you’re going to see all sorts of costumed characters, including at least one Statue of Liberty.   Speaking of which, we saw an interesting variation on that theme in the courtyard of a small midtown hotel. We ate dinner at the Margaritaville Hotel, the restaurant mixes the expected tiki vibe with the Statue of Liberty. Yes, she’s holding a margarita. We went to a friends’ house Sunday.  They live two miles from Republican Airport, a regional airport that can handle small jets.  From their terrace you can watch planes taking off. You know I enjoyed that. Major League Baseball has announced next year’s schedule.  I just had to check …the Mets will play...

So Thursday night we headed into the city to see a show. Jonathan Groff plays Bobby Darin. The theater is set up as a nightclub, Darin’s favorite venue.  Groff tells Darin’s life story and sings all of his hits. Enjoy.         Groff at the Tony awards … three clips …

 We are so predictable, we go to the New York Renaissance Faire every year.  This year’s trip was Saturday. We saw all our favorite performers and a few new acts.  There was Jon Norton, the Flaming Ginger.   Then there was a belly dancing troop called Boom Boom Shake. Then my guy Aaron Bonk. You may recall we saw Bonk on our December 2022 cruise , we were excited to see him there because we love his Renaissance Faire show. Here are scenes from Saturday’s performance. We saw a performance by Mythic Madness, a comedic sketch by two performers that was an excuse for their demonstration of swordplay. I spotted this street sign … I’m pretty sure it refers to Robin Hood, but I’ll claim ownership anyhow. One of the highlights of the Faire is the Living Chess Game.  It pits Robin Hood and his band against the Sheriff of Nottingham and his troops. After that, we decided to walk around the shops.   And that’s when I found it … on the ground was a small leather pouch...