OK, once again I had to get up at 5:30am. This time it was a wake up call from our Hotel on 7th Avenue and 31st Street. A recorded voice yelled into the phone "This is Milton parker from the Carnegie Deli" and encouraged me to wake up and get some real corned beef or pastrami....I don't remember it exactly because it's now 1:00am -- a long day since that recorded wake up call.
It reminded me of my first job after college at Circle in the Square Theatre, where one of my jobs was to arrange for producers' house seats for all the Broadway ahows (not just Circle) anytime milton or his partners needed tickets for themselves, their friends, their families, their good customers. For this, I got a terrific gift certificate from some fabulous place each December (Bergdorf's was one) and, most importantly, when I went to the Carnegie Deli, I was ushered to the front of the always long line, and when seated, I was given a CLOTH NAPKIN, not a paper one like everyone else. Henny Youngman got a cloth napkin at Carnegie, as did all the greats and notables when they ate there. I went into Carnegie about a week ago for some take out...only one of the faces seemed to be one of the old-timers, the rest didn't quite seem the same. Luckily the knish, pickle and pastrami DID seem the same! The take out was for a friend of mine...see http://isothegoldenegg.blogspot.com for the details on that. (Yes I am DD!)
Speaking of old timers -- why did I get up at 5:30 on Thanksgiving morning? Because once again, my partner David and I had to be at Macy*s by 7:00am to join Santa in an executive board room to get ready to be in the parade. We were the elves driving the reindeer on the Santa's sleigh float -- our ninth year! What a trip riding in the stretch limo with Santa and Mrs. Clause, helping them get in the sleigh (A very high, so not always easy situation) and then riding down Central Park West and Broadway to herald square.
It's impossible to relate the feeling as we see the crowds smiling up at us, screaming "Santa" sitting on their balconies and window sills from the extraordinarily huge apartments lining CPW the San Remo, the Majestic, the Dakota anyone?), the kids dressed in their Thanksgiving best jackets and dresses or still in their pajamas (the probably 3-year old in nothing but her panties this morning), the older people already sipping cocktails, the woman cooking who refused to look at us, theose who refused to smile and those who beamed like the children in the next apartment, waving and calling to santa as if they were still 5 or 6 years old; the family with the beautifully taxidermied turkey in their window, the crowds lining the rocks and trees in Central Park, or blocking traffic on Broadway, gathered in office buildings, seemingly everywhere....they say 3 million people watched us today in person and did I hear 100 million on TV?
Pulling the reins on the reindeer, ringing the sleigh bells with the foot pedals, smiling for the cameras. This year we got a lot of time on NBC....could it have been because Al Roker's daughter was a Christmas Tree on the float with us this year? Exhausting, fun, pictures once they get uploaded.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
When Your Rooster Crows at the Break of Dawn
This title of this is a quote from one of my all time favorite songs -- Dylan's "Don't think Twice" which is sung fabulously by my friend Barb Jungr -- get all of her albums if you don't have them yet (www.barbjungr.com). The reason for the blog title will become clear shortly.
I know I'm not a real farmer....I have two goats, a few chickens (sell the eggs) and 3.6 acres, almost 3 of which are plantable. But I'm a boy from Brooklyn (at my age, some boy!) and am not one to rise with the sun. Neither is Cyrano, our Portuguese Water Dog who will stay asleep on his or our bed long after I've gotten up, showered, dressed and started my day. My preferred alarm-set time is between 8 and 9am, luckily I can usually stay in bed that late. NOT SO THIS MORNING. This morning, the phone rang at about 5:30am that's FIVE-FREAKIN-THIRTY-A-FREAKIN-M. It was the security company that monitors the alarm system at the museum where I work. I live closest, so I'm the first they call. I drag my sorry ass that didn't get into bed until about one the night before into some clothes and stumble in the pitch darkness to haul that sorry ass into the car to drive the 1.2 miles to the museum. Did I mention it's November? Did i meantion HOW DAMNED COLD it was?
Of course, it was not a burglar, merely a fault in the fire alarm, so i deactivated it, reactivated it, and had a brief chat with the friendly Town of Deerpark police officer who got there just before I did. He of course was up, dressed and at work when HE got the call to check things out. We talked local town politics for a few minutes and home I slogged to shrug off my clothes and curl back under the down comforter.
As for the title of this blog: I'm not the only one in near proximity who has roosters. I have five right now -- all beautiful, some nasty, some timid, but all obviously well trained by me. I say this because as I was walking to my car in the 5:40am darkness I could hear from the neighbor's yard the familiar, raucous ERR-er-er-er-ERRRRRR this is the call of the cock. From not too far away came the response: a riotous ERR-er-er-er-ERRRRR. What I noted, and have explained to a few non-fowl-owning neighbors was that none of the cacophony was coming from my barn. My roosters, keep hours like I do and were fast asleep. My roosters are sensible birds, and of a class not to mingle with lesser birds who feel they have to get up before the sun even. Now if only I could get them to kill a fox or two!
I know I'm not a real farmer....I have two goats, a few chickens (sell the eggs) and 3.6 acres, almost 3 of which are plantable. But I'm a boy from Brooklyn (at my age, some boy!) and am not one to rise with the sun. Neither is Cyrano, our Portuguese Water Dog who will stay asleep on his or our bed long after I've gotten up, showered, dressed and started my day. My preferred alarm-set time is between 8 and 9am, luckily I can usually stay in bed that late. NOT SO THIS MORNING. This morning, the phone rang at about 5:30am that's FIVE-FREAKIN-THIRTY-A-FREAKIN-M. It was the security company that monitors the alarm system at the museum where I work. I live closest, so I'm the first they call. I drag my sorry ass that didn't get into bed until about one the night before into some clothes and stumble in the pitch darkness to haul that sorry ass into the car to drive the 1.2 miles to the museum. Did I mention it's November? Did i meantion HOW DAMNED COLD it was?
Of course, it was not a burglar, merely a fault in the fire alarm, so i deactivated it, reactivated it, and had a brief chat with the friendly Town of Deerpark police officer who got there just before I did. He of course was up, dressed and at work when HE got the call to check things out. We talked local town politics for a few minutes and home I slogged to shrug off my clothes and curl back under the down comforter.
As for the title of this blog: I'm not the only one in near proximity who has roosters. I have five right now -- all beautiful, some nasty, some timid, but all obviously well trained by me. I say this because as I was walking to my car in the 5:40am darkness I could hear from the neighbor's yard the familiar, raucous ERR-er-er-er-ERRRRRR this is the call of the cock. From not too far away came the response: a riotous ERR-er-er-er-ERRRRR. What I noted, and have explained to a few non-fowl-owning neighbors was that none of the cacophony was coming from my barn. My roosters, keep hours like I do and were fast asleep. My roosters are sensible birds, and of a class not to mingle with lesser birds who feel they have to get up before the sun even. Now if only I could get them to kill a fox or two!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
weather or not
What a weekend of weather! Driving across the top of the mountain ridge on Friday, one could only see fog and clouds, with the mountains peeking through. White haze everwhere blanketing the valley, which had disappeared below. That evening, fog made nearly invisible everything around. The heavy mist coating each branch and blade of grass. In New York city that night, only 80 miles away: cloudy skies, dry, warmth to the point of hot (for November, certainly).
Yesterday -- so much rain and water in the yard that if they weren't still feathered, we would have had chicken soup! It ruined the day for our finishing the construction of the new storage shed -- now we must wait until next Saturday. The fence gates we were going to build must also wait. Time is running out, as the fences and gates must be finished so the goats can run free while we go away in a few weeks.
Today, when I'm not available to do anything around the house, the air is crisp, the sun is shining -- it's a perfect day! Next job after these is putting upo the new greenhouse, so we can get a jump on next year's growing season....I already have my seeds for organic edible marigolds I'll be growing next year.
Yesterday -- so much rain and water in the yard that if they weren't still feathered, we would have had chicken soup! It ruined the day for our finishing the construction of the new storage shed -- now we must wait until next Saturday. The fence gates we were going to build must also wait. Time is running out, as the fences and gates must be finished so the goats can run free while we go away in a few weeks.
Today, when I'm not available to do anything around the house, the air is crisp, the sun is shining -- it's a perfect day! Next job after these is putting upo the new greenhouse, so we can get a jump on next year's growing season....I already have my seeds for organic edible marigolds I'll be growing next year.
Friday, November 7, 2008
This week
Well, the fence posts are in, waiting to have the rails put up and the gates made. The goats can soon run free, instead of being on a looong leash so they don't wander in the road.
Yma Sumac has died, Gerard Damiano has died. Footnotes to American culture? Perhaps. I wonder about all these people the younger generation has never heard of, and in the case of Yma, probably wouldn't even "get". From all genres of the entertainment world there are these people who have impacted our society in small ways, but how do we explain them? Someone about 20 years younger than I am said to me a few years ago, "I don't watch anything in black and white -- it's boring," when I brought up "The Honeymooners". I had no answer to that...how can one respond to a dismissal of Capra, Wilder, Welles -- Casablanca has no value anymore? All of D.W. Griffith, Chaplin and Keaton should be dumped in the ashcan. It's hard to compare Damiano to Griffith and the other directors, I know, but he did break the mold and his films were as reviled as "Birth of a Nation," though for obviously very different reasons! :-)
Happily there is youtube, so just maybe the digital generation will be able to get a bit of insight into our now "camp" heroes like Yma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LUSUel_kck&feature=related (one of my favorites of her recordings) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOgE0b5DzLo&feature=related which is Yma on Letterman Show in 1987 Somethings just are, if they have to be explained to you, it's already too late.
And my college resident advisor has been named Obama's chief of staff... had I stayed in touch I might have been able to be the next White House Chef. (I could bring the goats and chickens to the South lawn).
Yma Sumac has died, Gerard Damiano has died. Footnotes to American culture? Perhaps. I wonder about all these people the younger generation has never heard of, and in the case of Yma, probably wouldn't even "get". From all genres of the entertainment world there are these people who have impacted our society in small ways, but how do we explain them? Someone about 20 years younger than I am said to me a few years ago, "I don't watch anything in black and white -- it's boring," when I brought up "The Honeymooners". I had no answer to that...how can one respond to a dismissal of Capra, Wilder, Welles -- Casablanca has no value anymore? All of D.W. Griffith, Chaplin and Keaton should be dumped in the ashcan. It's hard to compare Damiano to Griffith and the other directors, I know, but he did break the mold and his films were as reviled as "Birth of a Nation," though for obviously very different reasons! :-)
Happily there is youtube, so just maybe the digital generation will be able to get a bit of insight into our now "camp" heroes like Yma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LUSUel_kck&feature=related (one of my favorites of her recordings) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOgE0b5DzLo&feature=related which is Yma on Letterman Show in 1987 Somethings just are, if they have to be explained to you, it's already too late.
And my college resident advisor has been named Obama's chief of staff... had I stayed in touch I might have been able to be the next White House Chef. (I could bring the goats and chickens to the South lawn).
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day Ramblings
What a day! Got to bed at nidnight last night after seeing my good friend Barb Jungr in concert in NYC with my good friends Ellen Kaye, Dani Almany and Peter Yannello...a spectaular show, as always.
This morning, I got up at 4:30 am -- yes, it was very dark, as I walked the dog and fed the goats and chickens by flashlight after a quick shower. THen it was off to the races; the political races. As a poll inspector and Chairman of District 1, Deerpark Town, Orange county NY, I had to be there at 5:30am. (it's now 10:50, so forgive the typos -- it's been a looooooooooooooong day).
Highlights...all the young children coming in, wanting to help mom and dad vote....showing so many firtst-time voters how the machines work.....the adult first-time voters who were finally energized to actually come out and vote, whethere they voted the way I hoped or not...Mrs. JM walking into the polls, her eyes as bright as her dyed crimson hair. Chatting away, signing her name, walking into the voting booth, voting and walking out....Mrs. JM turned 100 in March of this year...our town's oldest voter!...The excitement of opening the machines and reading off the numbers of votes and hoping that the winners in our district for President and Congress would also win everywhere else.
Nature's balance...with the happy news of the election results comes the sad news from Los Angeles...I've learned that Yma Sumac has died. If you have to ask, you are not worthy, but go ahead and google her -- adn see the photos and hear the songs.
This morning, I got up at 4:30 am -- yes, it was very dark, as I walked the dog and fed the goats and chickens by flashlight after a quick shower. THen it was off to the races; the political races. As a poll inspector and Chairman of District 1, Deerpark Town, Orange county NY, I had to be there at 5:30am. (it's now 10:50, so forgive the typos -- it's been a looooooooooooooong day).
Highlights...all the young children coming in, wanting to help mom and dad vote....showing so many firtst-time voters how the machines work.....the adult first-time voters who were finally energized to actually come out and vote, whethere they voted the way I hoped or not...Mrs. JM walking into the polls, her eyes as bright as her dyed crimson hair. Chatting away, signing her name, walking into the voting booth, voting and walking out....Mrs. JM turned 100 in March of this year...our town's oldest voter!...The excitement of opening the machines and reading off the numbers of votes and hoping that the winners in our district for President and Congress would also win everywhere else.
Nature's balance...with the happy news of the election results comes the sad news from Los Angeles...I've learned that Yma Sumac has died. If you have to ask, you are not worthy, but go ahead and google her -- adn see the photos and hear the songs.
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