Category Archives: Wonderful World Beautiful People

Daddy’s Home

Late start tonight. Drinks with a former co-worker, Brenda. She’s a sweetheart and we’ve been trying to meet up for drinks after work for quite a while, but things being what they are and life being what it is I usually had to back out. Tonight it all came together and we had some appetizers and some drinks and reminisced about who’s who, what’s what and things like that.

All very pleasant, she’s a luv she is. She’s still working with people I used to work with, now it’s a different company having been bought out a year or so ago. Two Stella Artois for me and I was set. We had drinks quite near Grand Central and so I walked her to the entrance and kissed her good night wishing her a safe ride home.

I decided to take the Path train home since waiting for a bus at the bus terminal can be quite tiring especially after the rush hour. Bright lights and a bunch of people I don’t want to see, or be seen by made the idea of the Path train that much more appealing.

As luck would have it a train pulled into the station and I was able to find a seat in a nearly empty car where I sat and continued reading Alan Bennett’s memoir, Untold Stories. Got off the train in no time and made a bee line so I could do a pee line in the loo in the Hoboken station.

Beautiful late summer night, I walked along the river. Couples, tourists and joggers all out and some taking pictures of the beautiful New York skyline which you can’t see if you’re in Manhattan. It’s a nice trap, how it looks so much better when you’re not in the city, then when you’re there it looks like something totally different.

Right now I’m home, Bill waited up for me to come home so he could go to bed where he is now. Rachel Maddow- we love her, is being so right on. Everything she says makes so much sense even if I did read it online a few hours ago. It just sounds so much better hearing it from her.

Last week on the bus, as I talked with Casey, he had a personal question that required the ‘I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a personal question’ line. I gave the go ahead and he asked if Bill and I ever considered having kids. I can’t speak for Bill since the subject never came up but I answered, no. I don’t want kids and overall I don’t like kids.

I love my nieces and nephews and I like my friends kids (love Alexander and Lily and Ruby etc) but no thanks, none for me. I don’t think I would be a good parent. I had parents that did their best, at least one of them did. The other saw his kids as his duty and his competition.

When Zed was alive, when he did something wrong it was difficult not to lose my temper and I wouldn’t want to inflict that on a child. Plus it’s so much responsibility, responsibility that lasts maybe for 18 years, maybe longer.

I’ve told Bill that I would love to get a cat (but he’s allergic) or a dog, but they tend to die on you and the heartbreak I felt after Zed died was near unbearable. If I could get a pet that died the day after I died, then I’d have no problem.

Now that would be an argument in favor of children. They’re supposed to outlive their parents so that would be cool with me. But no, no kids. Too much trouble and I’m selfish. I’d be a lousy parent and to my credit, I know that fact which is a lot better than some parents who are worse than I would ever be.

Thanks anyway.

Ask Me Why

It’s a dreary gray Friday afternoon. I got out of work around 2:30 this afternoon and rather than walk across midtown enjoying a birthday cigar I took a subway which I rarely do. It was raining but not hard enough to warrant an umbrella since I only had to walk a block or so.

Now I have that ‘I might have napped too long’ feeling despite the fact I didn’t really have a restful nap. Phone calls and phone buzzing kept interrupting. Missed a birthday greeting from Chaz, but earlier I did speak with my sister Annemarie, as well as a voice mail from her and my nephew Earl.

Also heard from Queen Jane Approximately, Constant Connie, Sweet Sarah and Brenda Bubbles, Adorable Adrienne and Lovely Rita and Harpy and Julio and Stine with a picture of that adorable little man, Alexander.

Text messages from assorted nieces and maybe my brother Brian or his son Brian. I just can’t tell. Actually I can tell. I just checked and it was from my brother. My other brother Frank hasn’t called and that means if he doesn’t call later, he will call on the weekend and feel bad about not calling on my birthday.

It’s not a big deal. It would have been years ago. It might have been last year. But this year? Eh, no biggie. Last year Bill gave me a saucepan for a birthday present. I found it an odd present since I’m not much of a cook or a foodie.

I don’t watch the Food Network, or Armenia’s Next Top Chef or Gordon Ramsey or whatever. But since the spot where I get my penne, pesto and chicken in Manhattan, Cafe Fonduta went under I have been lacking pesto in my life.

So having watched the guys prepare the pesto, I think I can do it myself and finally have a reason to break out that sauce pan. It’s still in the box. I figure I can take a teaspoon of pesto, some heavy cream, some olive oil and imitate the guys. Or I can try to look it up online somewhere.

Perhaps there’s a video on YouTube that shows the How To.
Or perhaps you dear reader, would have a recipe to make a nice pesto sauce.

Bill just came home and we’re going to go out for some steaks at Arthur’s steakhouse on Washington Street. Hopefully it will be better than last year, when we went for my birthday after a few other things going wrong earlier in the day.

My churlishness towards the saucepan (embarrassing 365 days later) and the fact that some disgruntled mail room worker wished that I would die since I had decided to smoke a Padron and walk along Park Avenue during my lunch hour.

Birthday wishes also came from some new Facebook friends (Andres et al.) as well as a dear friend, Betti Cola. It’s still raining and my bones are tired after tossing and turning in the late gray afternoon but in a few minutes Bill and I will head over to Arthur’s where hopefully they will have their credit card machines up and running, unlike last year.

Just got back, excellent dinner with Bill. Arthur’s wasn’t too crowded, credit card machine in order and I was caught by surprise with a few waitresses singing Happy Birthday to me with a wonderful slice of chocolate mousse cake with a candle on top. I turned a thousand shades blushing.

A walk around Washington Street followed, me finally enjoying my birthday cigar in the misty evening.

That seems to be it for the day. Loveliness abounds.

Here’s some quite recent snaps as well as something else. Thank you for your good wishes

and here I thought I wasn’t going to write tonight!