Summer Summary

Photos, any good ones, by H. Darr Beiser

So where did summer go, anyway?

<24h in NYC (May)

Took the Magic Bus (Vamoose) to New York City on the New Year’s Eve of Summer, Memorial Day Saturday. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Suites, not glam but location, location, location and in a garden of sorts itself, the heart of flower district. Wet plants lined the sidewalks, color brightened the block and fragrance filled the air. 

By noon we were on the High Line for my first time. I drifted through a cloud of fellow travelers in a state of wonderment about how New York does everything right and grand and funky and fun. And the people! Clowns to the left of me jokers on the right. Irony and sweetness side by side. A sign warning of topless bathers. A children's playhouse, soon afterwards.

The Park

We hopped off the High Line for lunch at a stunning space, the Garden Room at The Park with tables right up to the sidewalk where we sat and served as marketing bait.  People stared in and quickly surmised that they too must have lunch there. Our waitress, Maria, straight from central casting, thin as a whippet, lips as big and red as the apple itself, slinging a Brooklyn accent and BLTs at Manhattan speed.

From 100 floors above

Then over to One World Observatory. Buy a reserved time ticket. Do it now. If you like miraculous recovery stories, this is one of the best you’ll see. On the elevator ride to the top you'll see 500 years of New York history in 60 seconds in images all around you. Then you'll arrive in a darkened space for a quick orientation. And then the big reveal. I mean big. All of Manhattan, all the time, all around, “the North, South, East and the West of you.” And sometimes you'll pause from the heights of new construction to consider the depths of destruction below.

Fleet Week-At the One Bar
bars and stripes, shiny shoes and heads

That evening we went to see The Crucible. My six-word review is “too many Goodys, not enough goodies.”  The next morning I had brunch with a bunch of people I love. 

As if all that were not enough, then I got to fly to Spain for 10 days. 

Did I tell you I saw Paul McCartney in Madrid? (June)

Macca!

Yes, I did. There we were, Judy and I walking around Plaza del Sol in the late evening trying to find our hotel. This was one of our favorite past-times.  Invariably we would declare defeat and take a cab only to find out we were half a block away or see that we had passed it on our walk and ruled it out as the destination. Judy espied a small poster on a darkening sidewalk advertising a Paul McCartney concert two days later. And because Judy is able to make dreams come true, sometimes with the help of a concierge, we got tickets. To watch the first concert of a summer tour, at the Estadio Vicente Calderon soccer stadium. Paul had just gotten rights to perform the original Beatles songs for this One on One tour and he did one after the other.  With impeccable staging and production and Paul's prettiness, his 70-year old bounciness, his endearing way, giving us the music of our lives for hours. The setting was extraordinary, the air was warm and we got to see the sun taking its sweet time to disappear around 10:30 p.m. The Spanish crowd says Ole Ole Ole. They sing the lyrics with their Spanish accents. And everyone loves Paul. I mean, the little kid on his father’s lap, the father, his grandfather, the 20-something who came alone and sits in a state of wonderment and awe. Fireworks at the end seemed redundant.

Sun reluctantly sets at 10:30 p.m.

Fourth of July

In our neighborhood we go all Norman Rockwell with this Holiday. A parade, politicians, a picnic in the park, the Star Spangled Banner, hot dogs, moon bounces.

But sometimes we add a touch of the absurd, like a reunion of all the fourth-graders who performed in the Wizard of Oz.

Yes, that's my flying monkey in the middle

Driving from Bethesda MD to Memphis. In a Day. (August)

Nutrition is important on a road trip

I can’t really recommend this. Unless you are doing endurance training for the X games. The day seems to never end, and on top of it you get an extra hour because of the time change.  Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any longer…it did!

Tennessee is one long-ass state. Once you’re across the border you think okay, good, we are in the state of our destination. No. The state drags on for as long as its name. Maybe even adds a few more vowels. The only thing that puts this state out of its misery is the dead stop at the Mississippi.

Running in Memphis:

Riverwalk or run in Memphis

Speaking of the river... I’ve been in Memphis a few times now because my son goes to college there. I’ve hit the major highlights, Graceland, Sun Records, the Civil Rights Museum, Beale Street and BBQ.

But this time I discovered Memphis as a runner, and it turns out they have this really big river there with a nicely developed riverwalk park alongside it. Oh yes, ye old Mississippi. Learn all about it at the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island.  And it has bridges, and views, and history and grand houses. 

Ready for my Maytag delivery

Had lunch at a fun and funky restaurant called The Beauty Shop, original 50s apparatus in tact, you can sit under a bonnet hair dryer in a slippery plastic chair. The hook is that Priscilla used to preen there.

Menu items include Watermelon and Wings (white szechwan pepper, sugar dust, sweet chile lime sauce, greens, toasted cashews, Maytag blue cheese) a decorative presentation of watermelon wedges and wings makes your meal appear to be in flight . . . . And my delicious order, Grilled Romaine (maple glazed bacon, tomato, scallion, spiced pecans, Maytag blue cheese dressing).  What's up with all the Maytag blue cheese. Could this be another salute to the apparati of the 50s?

Connecticut (end of August)

Farmington River

To my horror I didn’t get to New England this summer.  But I did have a late August weekend in Connecticut. My father, a Mainer, taught me that Connecticut is not really part of New England.  Some would disagree. But for me it was close enough. I visited my cousins in Farmington and feasted on the flavors of faux New England.  That I so love. Like breakfast from a Dunkin Donuts drive-through.  Like the unrelenting density and intensity of green. Like having a couple of sweet runs over the rivers and through the woods. And hearing some R’s dropped and crashing on the floor.  

So I had a Memorable Manhattan/Madrid/McCartney/Memphis/Mosquito filled summer.