Tuesday, September 22, 2015

How To Be The Perfect Guest - Showing Up For A Party

     "Ken is the best guest.  He arrives happy and lights up a room.   He seems genuinely grateful to be in your home and circulates easily through a crowd--greeting friends and introducing himself to strangers.  He's intuitive and can spot a newcomer and draws them in."  So says an appreciative host, for whom I am appreciative, too.  I've been told things like that for years.




     A party definitely takes on the personality of the host.  Whether stress or ebullience, the host's energy permeates the occasion's ambiance.  If you think that entertaining is stressful, you're sadly wrong... and probably ill-prepared.  Similarly, choosing the best guests is important; their energy influences the mood.  Always an excellent guest, I apply my "spark plug" good energy to keeping things pleasant--and occasionally applying it to sweeten a lull in the milieu.  It's what a good guest should do, and it "works like a charm".




From the moment the first guest walks in until the last candle is blown out, consider it it a performance-art what you ought to enjoy--like painting a canvas or reciting amorous poetry.  


Creative generosity mixed with flexibility.  Control freaks have the most wretched parties.



A confident host/hostess and a lovely gathering of people are things of beauty!



Refer to my 4/15/14 entry about social abilities, and maybe you'll take away some ideas/inspiration...
http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2014/04/dinner-with-ken.html

Advertisements Show How Little We've Progressed

Ever notice how few interracial or same-sex advertisements exist in our country? (land of the free & brave & pursuit of happiness)? Even the same-sex Tiffany ad (below) is pretty "tame", compared to the "regular" one. ???!!! Imagine an interracial same-sex ad? Wow!



     Let's even consider the slim parameters for "Gay" films!  (If they aren't lumped together/categorized together with "LGBT").  They're either full of repression... or sex.  

How about some "normalcy" plots, simply involving homosexuals?  

Monday, September 14, 2015

Walking Tour : Cold Spring - a picturesque 19th century small town

     From Grand Central Terminal, a MetroNorth train gets you to New York's Village of Cold Spring in approximately an hour.  


     Unlike other areas that require a car/taxi ride into town, Cold Spring is a historic site built around the railroad.  So, you can exit the train, walk along the platform, ascend stairs, and go right onto Main Street.  



     The community is part of Philipstown.  Its history began with Adolphus Philipse in 1697, when he bought the land from colonial-era Dutchmen.  From the British Crown, he elicited a royal patent declaring the 250-square-mile territory to be his.  Philipstown was established in 1788 as one of the county's three original towns.  Cold Spring incorporated itself as a village in 1846.


     On the southern border of the Hudson Highlands Park, Cold Spring is nestled in the deepest part of the Hudson River Valley.  Population of 1,983.  The bucolic village is full of quaint picket fences, turreted Victorian homes with carpentry ornamentation, breezy porches and verandas with rocking chairs, and a colorfully picturesque Main Street.



A cozy and bright "secret garden" affords a superb place for recitals, public readings and lectures.

     Lewis was enthralled with the curiosities within a slew of antique shops along Main Street.  I admired this 1920s Art Moderne cocktail shaker...



     Those rockers and log-burning "porch heater" are restored antiques and well-used.  On the corner, we saw someone's backyard full of chickens (and a rooster).  The poultry had their own miniature playground, juxtaposed with the family children's toys.  Such unique pets!





     The village has an air of Andy Griffith's "Mayberry", or "Carmel" from old Any Hardy movies.  Shop owners are trusting and don't watch what customers are doing.  No surveillance cameras.  Doors and windows are left open.  Even a police car was left running on the street (it remained there for 10 minutes).  


Below, that shop owner's sign really gave a "small town" feel.





Above, an Italian café has outdoor seating along its curvy brick pathway, which connects Main Street to the homes on the block behind it.  How cozy!  (and you meet your neighbors, too)


Lewis loved these tall Victorian windows and "Savannah"-ish iron fence.  That property had a turn-of-the-century detached garage, accessed down a gravel driveway with a rickety wooden gate (with a spider's web shimmering in the summer sunlight).




The "gingerbread" millwork on the homes is beautiful.  On a side street, a Catholic redbrick church is tucked in the middle of two lovely homes.






My eyes were on the varying porch woodwork, while Lewis spotted an old-fashioned "home delivery" milk container that is still used in Cold Spring!




That cupola, above, is atop a 19th century barn/carriage house!



How clever!  Someone tied twine to keep a flowerpot on their fence.  And non-exisistant vandals left it alone.

Below, another antique wooden fence still gives access to the public park's soccer field.  It reminded me of a scene from To Kill A Mockingbird.



Notice all the toys left in the local playground.  No theft.  Honor code.  Trusting.






The churches were left unlockedas they should beand available for prayers even while unattended.  We noticed real candles (not electric) in the windows.  That's an old sign of "welcome" and hospitality.



     Getting hungry, we entered Brasserie Le Bouchon for dinner.




     It's a cozy French restaurant that Lewis admired ESPECIALLY for their duck foie gras.  We each ordered one, as a first course.  Raised/butchered locally, it was tender and flavorful.  Seared to perfection, it was worth the entire trip, by itself.  Voila!


     We overheard the table behind us, as the father gently told his son (named Wilson), "Remember that we're out at a restaurant, so keep you elbows off the table, keep your utensils in their places, and keep your napkin in your lap."  He was like a dad from "black & white TV".  Bless him for his civility and child-rearing skills!  


I ordered the $28 grilled platter of seafood (above): mussels, cockles, huge prawns, zucchini, potatoes, and octopus (the octopus alone costs $14 in my neighborhood).  Lewis savored the HUGE sea scallops over the creamiest risotto.  


We finished our bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and bypassed dessert (since we had purchased locally hand-made ice cream as soon as we arrived in town).  

     A pleasant stroll down Main Street put us back on the train platform, just in time for our ride back to the city.  Fireflies blinked in the bushes, as the train rumbled to a halt.


     The hour ride homeward was delightful, and we watched a sunset form over the pastoral landscape.  We arrived back to the stately Grand Central Terminal just before its Gourmet Market closedallowing us to grab some delicacies to bring home via the subway.


     In fact, Cold Spring reminds me of the "small town USA" vibe around the university that I attended.  Use this link to see it...


     Please go to my previous blog entry to see how we learned about Cold Spring...