Yankee Stadium Drought Is Over

On a recent rainy Tuesday night, I went to a Yankee game with tickets my non-baseball-fan boss had won in a raffle. The seats were not under an overhang, so during the one-hour rain delay Mary O. and I wandered around looking for some place to sit down. A Yankee employee took pity on us and gave us passes for the Audi Yankees Club, a fancy membership-only bar and restaurant. We scored a table near the window overlooking the field to sit out the rain delay and wound up watching the first few innings of the game as well. Despite my previous experiences with ballpark cosmos, I decided to try one, and it was delicious —made with Triple Sec, so not perfect—but ice cold, just the right amount of lime and cranberry juices, and served in a nice glass.

It never did stop raining, and the Yankees wound up blowing a five-run lead. But in general, May was pretty good for the Yankees. Mark Texiera came to life. And Nick Swisher hit four home runs in the Bronx, versus zero in April. The Yankee Stadium dry spell is over, for Nick and for me.

Photo credit: Mary O.

Drinking, not Drunkeness

Good post on Divinipotent Daily, a blog written by my friend and former boss Michele. She and I have shared a drink or two over the years; when we worked together, we regularly had a glass of red wine with lunch at Nino’s, and more than once she took the entire department out for cocktails. I remember celebrating Martini Week at Roosevelt Hotel’s Madison Club Lounge, and we once went to the Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station. We’re due for a gin and tonic soon.

Anyway, she writes about a wide variety of topics (this month included the Blues and her Aunt Ella). One of this week’s post, Alcohol By Volume, is interesting, as is the Malcolm Gladwell article she mentions. Both are recommended reading.

http://divinipotent.blogspot.com/2010/05/alcohol-by-volume.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/15/100215fa_fact_gladwell

The Ride to Montauk: Whatever works.

Barbara has already signed up for the 66-mile route. Judy (of the vintage cocktail glasses) and I, upon learning that the ride snacks include bread from Balthazar, Briermere Farms pies and other delicacies, are planning to sign up for either the 30- or the 66-mile ride. But first I have to get a bike. Then I have to train. Here's one method that just might work.

www.ridetomontauk.com

Finding the Cosmos (in a manner of speaking)

Just a quick un-illustrated post because even though Barbara has drawings ready to go for what I told her would be the next topics, I haven’t had a chance to write them yet. But here are two things of note from the last few days:

1. Shortly after writing in my last post about how I was tempted to make the switch to small cocktail glasses, my husband and I went to a couple of estate sales specifically looking for them but didn't find any. A few days later while walking on Earl Street in Northport on my way to borrow a bike for a test drive before signing up with the Ride to Montauk that Barbara is already committed to (more on that in the future), I found four vintage small cocktail glasses right at the curb as part of post-yard-sale detritus.

2. A few days ago while cycling around Salem Lake in Winston-Salem with my husband and my sister Kathleen as part of the training for the Ride to Montauk (see, I told you there'd be more), we rode past a trestle over which one of those endless freight trains was traveling. “Look, memorize this scene so you can tell Barbara and she can draw it,” said my husband, too late for me to see what he was pointing at. Apparently, one of the cars on the train passing through the bucolic spot was decorated with a graffito that said in gigantic letters, “Cosmos.”

As signs go, these seem significant. Certainly, they're enough to give me pause and consider my place in the vast universe. Or cosmos, if you will. Everything is connected....