Walk. The HIgh Line

OMG.

OMG.

OMG.

I have not gushed in a while. If I had a regular doctor he might tell me to gush more. I gushed today. Inside. I did inside gushing. Cuz, well let me set it up:

Later that day...

Set scene:

RAIN. Day.
Jon, Kurt and Pat walk from East Village to West Village. Destination in mind. Not sure. Broken umbrella, sore feet, wet trousers. Confusion. Ticking clock. Delirium and panic will ensue shortly.

Outside where we moving from east to west it is torrential. Others are home making soup or sandbags. That kinda vibe.

Under awnings we just kept hoping that it would let up. It did and we manged to go to the newly opened High Line park. Go ahead click on the link. It is Fantastic. A decrepit elevated unused bit of track is repurposed into a beautiful park mixing lush life life and urban decay. I have always loved life and decay (See: Venice, Savannah, New Orleans, my body).

Only part of it is finished and open so more will unfold. How wonderful that is. And for us to see it on a "moody" day of greys and drops which brought solitude and not people, was just amazing. It was like we had the park to ourselves.

I am gushing over this place. I really loved it. Tell me what you think. My photos don't do it justice. Go. Or at least check out their cool website.





Kurt and I pose for a photo. Jon thinks we are shooting an album cover.

My old place of work is broadcasting shorts on the High Line. Check it out here:

Merchant's House Museum

Kurt, Jon, Pat in front of Merchant's House Museum.


Some fans of this blog tried to snap my photo without permission. I had to stop them. So embarrassing in front of visiting friends.

Jon, Kurt and I went to the Merchant's House Museum at 29th E. 4th Street. It was a perfect rainy day adventure as it was a RAINY. Did I mention rainy? It was Kurt's idea and I loved it. The house was built in 1832 and it was family occupied until Gertrude kicked the bucket in 1933. She and her sister made no changes so it was perserved in structure and in furniture. Wow.

It became a museum in 1936! I wonder if my dad went to see it when he was a kid, but I kinda doubt it.

The self-guided tour tried to walk you through what it was like to live in that place during that time. Both as a family member and as a servant. I got a good sense of it and the lady who ran it was really nice.

I want one of those pastry boxes that keeps rodents away!


I loved how they explained the help's duties and about calling cards. (I want both!!!)



After a grueling day of seeing what life was like before texting and DVR, we went to Cremcaffe on 2nd. Jon and I had "Recession Specials." Perfect rainy day pasta and excellent bread.

Theodore Roosevelt Park

After a long day I get off the B train at 81st and walk by the Museum of Natural History and Theodore Roosevelt Park. I find it all so soothing. It isn't scary at night, but peaceful.

I have a lot of respect for Teddy Roosevelt. He was an accomplished man who did a lot with his life and with his wealth. I find him inspiring. I remember when I went to his house and how moved I was being there.

He is the only native of New York City to become President of the United States.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech by President Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Jon.

My dear, dear pal and best friend from high school is visiting me here from San Francisco with his partner Kurt. Jon and I go way, way, (okay) way back. It is would be odd, but funny if when you are young they would line you up in pairs and say "here is this boy who you will go through life with. Now introduce yourselves and go play." You just don't know. But here we are in NYC together at Belvedere Castle in the middle of Central Park in 2009. What a blessing in just that. Jon knows all and he is a trusted adviser and friend. And he wears orange well.

No small feat any of this!

David Dean Bottrell: Point Of Pride

David helping me move out of LA

David hanging with me in NYC


My friend David Bottrell, besides being my friend, is kind of a mentor of sorts. He may have forgotten that I look to him for advice and counsel, but it is true. I know pedestals can get wobbly, so I don't mean to put him on one, but HOT DAMN he deserves it.

When I fessed up to him that I was in my forties and didn't know how to date he said, "Neither did I so I taught myself." And then he told me what he did. Amazing. He taught himself. Just like that. If I didn't talk to David I would still be using "I don't know how to date" as a self-fulling mantra.

We met in a book club in LA and became good friends. We were both going through stuff as people do and shared it with each other. I was amazed at what I learned from and about him:

• A while ago his relationship ended. Major. And then he made a movie. Truly. Not about the end of a relationship, he just got up and made a first film as a way to dust off. It was a great success and brought him on a whole new exciting path. He had never made a movie before. No one told him he could. And a really good movie it was! It won awards.

(I got dumped, lay on a couch for what seemed like weeks and then got a therapist.)

• Out of making his movie he got a starring role on Boston Legal. He was great. David E. Kelley even thought so and continued to write him into episodes. He continues to act as well as write.

• He has read at Sit and Spin. Twice. Sit and Spin is this GREAT "Writers Reading Their Stuff" evening in Los Angeles. It is my DREAM to read here. ( I think I will say to David: "I don't know how to read at 'Sit and Spin.'")

• Today he just had a piece published on the Huffington Post. (below) The Huffington bloody Post!!


David Dean Bottrell: Point Of Pride

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I hope I don't sound (too) envious, because that would take away from me celebrating him! I am very proud of him and how he just keeps writing and doing and reading and standing and going. From 3000 miles I am going to keep him on my personal advisory panel. Good going David. You are a point of pride for me!

And the article is great. Very well done. Read it!

Monaghan Pipe Band and the ALS Walk

The boys of the Monaghan. There's your calender!! (Byrne, Kevin, Dan, Pat, (Phoenix), Paul, Ed)

Today I went to Yonkers - which I know of because 1. It was where Horace Vandergelder lived in "Hello Dolly" and 2. because it was where my aunt and uncle lived when they first came from Scotland to the US.

Today it was Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers to play with the Monaghan Pipe Band at the ALS Walk. There I met the magnanimous Pete Duffy, the man who reassembled the band. He no longer plays as he has been stricken with ALS. We came to play for him and even before meeting Pete I could tell from the guys in the band that it would be an honor. And it was.

What a great day. And a great cause of course. It put my own issues in some perspective.

Afterwards a bunch of us went with the Duffy family to Rory Dolan's in the Bronx. One of those central casting Irish pub/sports bar/restaurants that you know the people you grew up with will be at. It is always a good time and good craic with the guys, especially hearing about Kevin's night out or anything that Dan has to say. There is a Kevin and a Dan (and a Pat) in every band I have been in and the spirit and comeraderie is one of the big selling points of playing pipes for me.

Today I was blessed.

Pete and his boys. (Brian, Kevin, Pete, Eddie, Tommy, Kenny)

Playing for Pete in the pub.

Late Night - New York City Subway

It is Saturday morning. Early. Like 1:30am. Coming home from Princeton, NJ.

I had never seen how all the muck gets taken off the tracks. Here it is! Guys get down there with the crud and the rats and clean it up.

And meanwhile trains are still running!

Maybe I should ask if there are any openings.