le week-end
Party at horvendile's. With music! And Scotch! And chocolate!
After a semi-chaotic Saturday morning that included the acquisition of antibiotics for Leo, then oversleeping before I picked up Andrew after karate, then searching for his cell phone which was lost when his karate bag's zipper exploded in a parking lot, I collected tangledstories around 1:40 and we headed over to Joysey to collect misch, regrettably stopping at the Carlyle Group-owned Dunkin' Donuts en route because there were no Wawas on our side of the road. Curses on NJ's apparent OCD, which manifests wherever there exists a roadway that might possibly be divided.
After gathering teh Misch, we hit Wawa for sammiches and coffee, Canal's Liquors for a bottle of MacLeods Speyside Single Malt, and the Pepperidge Farm outlet for party-type snacks. (Mini goldfish omg! And mini Milanos! What is it with adorable foodstuffs anyway?) We made good time until we hit Brooklyn, when traffic abruptly slowed, but we still made it to Gordon's by 5:30 to join Melissa and Gordon and Jessica for Pizza With Jim. Yay! Then we set out the snackstuffs as people arrived, and settled in for a fun concert-audience participation session. Jim sang about 15 songs, including Jumblies AND Prince Charming AND Meanies (with a Self-Designated Meanie!, which kind of boggled his mind) AND a reflective new tune called Compassion, so there was a very happy Lori. He was bemused by our penchant for audience participation, as well as all the inside jokes until we explained them, and I think he left feeling like one of us. Cool.
Gordon and I stayed up late cooking breakfast (him) and cleaning up (me), then got up in the late morning for challah french toast bread pudding OMG, with candied bacon (bacon dredged in brown sugar, then baked; it would have sent wuvmuphin straight to heaven do NOT pass Go) before I decided to take a nap. (I was still recup-ing from the D.C. trip, not to mention 3 good slugs of Scotch the night before.) Then it was time to head to the Bronx, using Paul's trusty GPS thingy, for a concert by Antje Duvekot at the Society for Ethical Culture in Riverdale. It was such a lovely time. I haven't seen Antje in forever, and I'd forgotten how wonderful she is - she looks like an angel, sings like an angel, and if angels exist they play guitars
antje duvekot's guitar
painted by antje, photographed by Gordon.
Seriously, looking at her guitar made me want to start painting all sorts of random objects in ethereal glittery decoupage-y ways. As for the Ethical Culturists, they just seem pretty all-around groovy - crunchy, compassionate, and activist. Their motto is "The place where all meet to seek the highest is holy ground", which really struck me (and Gordon too) as the "vibe" I love in a group. We both think it sounds like the best parts of Falcon Ridge, hopefully minus the drama and occasional bad actors. I'm not a big joiner, which is probably why I've never mustered the energy to seek membership among the U.U.'s or a liberal Quaker meeting, but I felt so at home among these people and in their sanctuary that the idea crossed my mind. Except, you know, they're in New York, and I'm not. There's an Ethical Society in Philadelphia, so maybe I'll look into it, at least to see what resources are available and whether occasional fellowship is offered without full membership.
After Antje's show Paul and Rebecca and I headed home. I think it's the first time I've hit all 5 NYC boroughs in one weekend. :) We stopped for food on the NJ turnpike, we listened to some strange stuff on the Folk Show, and the ride home was fine despite some rain in South Jersey, so after dropping off all passengers I was home before 11. Yay!
After a semi-chaotic Saturday morning that included the acquisition of antibiotics for Leo, then oversleeping before I picked up Andrew after karate, then searching for his cell phone which was lost when his karate bag's zipper exploded in a parking lot, I collected tangledstories around 1:40 and we headed over to Joysey to collect misch, regrettably stopping at the Carlyle Group-owned Dunkin' Donuts en route because there were no Wawas on our side of the road. Curses on NJ's apparent OCD, which manifests wherever there exists a roadway that might possibly be divided.
After gathering teh Misch, we hit Wawa for sammiches and coffee, Canal's Liquors for a bottle of MacLeods Speyside Single Malt, and the Pepperidge Farm outlet for party-type snacks. (Mini goldfish omg! And mini Milanos! What is it with adorable foodstuffs anyway?) We made good time until we hit Brooklyn, when traffic abruptly slowed, but we still made it to Gordon's by 5:30 to join Melissa and Gordon and Jessica for Pizza With Jim. Yay! Then we set out the snackstuffs as people arrived, and settled in for a fun concert-audience participation session. Jim sang about 15 songs, including Jumblies AND Prince Charming AND Meanies (with a Self-Designated Meanie!, which kind of boggled his mind) AND a reflective new tune called Compassion, so there was a very happy Lori. He was bemused by our penchant for audience participation, as well as all the inside jokes until we explained them, and I think he left feeling like one of us. Cool.
Gordon and I stayed up late cooking breakfast (him) and cleaning up (me), then got up in the late morning for challah french toast bread pudding OMG, with candied bacon (bacon dredged in brown sugar, then baked; it would have sent wuvmuphin straight to heaven do NOT pass Go) before I decided to take a nap. (I was still recup-ing from the D.C. trip, not to mention 3 good slugs of Scotch the night before.) Then it was time to head to the Bronx, using Paul's trusty GPS thingy, for a concert by Antje Duvekot at the Society for Ethical Culture in Riverdale. It was such a lovely time. I haven't seen Antje in forever, and I'd forgotten how wonderful she is - she looks like an angel, sings like an angel, and if angels exist they play guitars
antje duvekot's guitar
painted by antje, photographed by Gordon.
Seriously, looking at her guitar made me want to start painting all sorts of random objects in ethereal glittery decoupage-y ways. As for the Ethical Culturists, they just seem pretty all-around groovy - crunchy, compassionate, and activist. Their motto is "The place where all meet to seek the highest is holy ground", which really struck me (and Gordon too) as the "vibe" I love in a group. We both think it sounds like the best parts of Falcon Ridge, hopefully minus the drama and occasional bad actors. I'm not a big joiner, which is probably why I've never mustered the energy to seek membership among the U.U.'s or a liberal Quaker meeting, but I felt so at home among these people and in their sanctuary that the idea crossed my mind. Except, you know, they're in New York, and I'm not. There's an Ethical Society in Philadelphia, so maybe I'll look into it, at least to see what resources are available and whether occasional fellowship is offered without full membership.
After Antje's show Paul and Rebecca and I headed home. I think it's the first time I've hit all 5 NYC boroughs in one weekend. :) We stopped for food on the NJ turnpike, we listened to some strange stuff on the Folk Show, and the ride home was fine despite some rain in South Jersey, so after dropping off all passengers I was home before 11. Yay!