What a Storm

Last night did we have a storm.

It was around 10:30 or do when the wind came up. I opened my front door to see what was going on because of all noise the wind was making. At the time I didn't even realize it was the wind The wind was so strong it almost blew the door out of my hand.

I quickly got into the house. Not sure what was going on. Stuff was blowing all over the place. For a moment I thought it was a tornado or like the storm a couple of years ago that blew off part of a neighbor's roof.

I was deciding whether to gather up the cats and go downstairs when the rain hit. Rain as in raining sideways. Make a tremendous noise against the house. and it lasted for a while. The lights in the house flickered. The street lights actually went out more than once.

The rain slowed ever so slightly and them along came the thunder and lightening. One struck very very close. Scared the cats and me. Thought for sure I'd loose power but some how got lucky and didn't. In about an hour it was over.

Over in the sense the storm passed now comes the clean up. At least a million and a half people are without power and it is supposed to be 100 today. The only thing I dim't have is Internet service. I'm doing this post from my phone

I have a feeling I'll be staying in for most of the day. There's a possibility of more storms tonight.

Chef's Best

I volunteered for Chef's Best on Tuesday. It is a fundraiser for Food and Friends:

Chef's Best Dinner & Auction is Food & Friends' signature fundraiser. More than $850,000 will be raised through the generosity of sponsors, table hosts, auction bidders, ticket purchasers, friends and guests.


This year, 60 of the region's most talented chefs will generously donate their time and talent to provide tastings of their specialties in order to support the more than 2,800 individuals who will receive 1.2 million specialized meals from Food & Friends this year alone.

I helped out with the Silent Auction. I walked around the tables answering questions and as one person put make sure the items didn't develop legs. It was a very fun time. Here are some of the items up for bid. Also some of the food too.

Preparing for the Guests

A great deal went into preparing the food at the different stations. Since I was there before people came in I got to see the set up. It was impressive.

In the Main Ballroom

I got a break and headed down to the main ballroom where the food was everywhere you looked. I met up with my friend Louise who I volunteer with at Food and Friends. She'd been before so I just followed her lead on how to sample all the wonderful food.

More Food in the Main Ballroom

Many stations to get to and so much food to sample.

This was one of my favorite stations. They had the best ravioli!

Happy 86th Birthday and a 10th Anniversary

I'm a day late with this but I fell asleep on my couch last night and didn't get around to this.

But HAPPY 86th BIRTHDAY to my dad, Jack.

Here's a picture from last year with Jennifer and Ed. We'd all gone to a baseball game. We had 85th birthday wishes posted on the scoreboard.

I'm very happy to say that my dad has come through hip surgery really well. He went to the surgeon a couple of days ago. Everything seems to be healing well. The surgeon said it's time for my dad to start using a cane. The cane that has a four pronged base. Most if not all of the pain in his hip is gone (he usually get some discomfort after doing his exercises but that's to be expected) as well as pain in his knee.

Now to the 10th anniversary. This is the 10th anniversary of me presenting and offer on the house I now live in. More importantly it is the 10th anniversary of my offer being accepted on this house.

So a fantastic day all around!

Times Square at Night

After the show we went for a late night snack at the Carnegie Deli. We split a piece of seven layer chocolate cake and a piece of cheese cake. It was yummy.

Nothing better sums up a trip to New York then seeing Times Square at night. It is always full of people and just so very beautiful.

Then it was back to DC on the 1:15 Monday morning bus.

Broadway Bares — Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

The end of my Sunday trip was Broadway Bares. I went up on Megabus with a friend that I volunteer with at Food and Friends. We had two other friends that also volunteer at F&F's meet up with us there. They met us at the theater where we say The Best Man.

We had dinner at a nearby pizza place. Then got in line for show. It was great!

Part of the warm up entertainment.

The finale with some 200 dancers on the stage.

More of the finale.

Judith Light addressing the crowd after the show.

The event ended up raising $1,254,176 which was a record. A very fun night for a wonderful cause. Can't wait to go next year.

The Best Man

That's the play I saw when I went up to New York last Sunday. It was amazing. The cast was amazing: John Larroquette, Eric McCormack, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury and Candice Bergen.

From reviews of the play. Here from the Hollywood Reporter:

Truman-esque former President Artie Hockstader (James Earl Jones) fuels suspense by being cagey about who will benefit from his influential endorsement. Given that the play is so period-specific, the color-blind casting is a little jarring, but Jones is so darn terrific as the plain-spoken, farm-raised elder statesman that any reservation is instantly erased.

Jones is not the only octogenarian to steal the show. In two hilarious scenes, Angela Lansbury injects a jolt of color and incisive character detail into Mrs. Sue-Ellen Gamadge, chair of the party’s Women’s Division. Somehow simultaneously gracious and bluntly candid in her opinionated assessments, she shares priceless insights into what the women of America like and don’t like in both a President and a First Lady.

This from Newsday:

In one room is Larroquette, commanding as the womanizing liberal intellectual -- and perhaps too thoughtful -- candidate. In the other suite are the savvy Eric McCormack as his younger, ruthless competition and his equally savvy sex-bomb wife (Kerry Butler).

Jones is both subtle and magnificent as the folksy ex-president, a power broker who works his endorsement like a high-priced tease. Lansbury is irresistibly cunning as the gorgon chair of the women's division who declares "We women like . . ." and "We women don't like . . ." with all the ladylike delivery of a threat.

Bergen is heartbreaking as Larroquette's long-suffering wife, shy but nobody's fool, with Michael McKean as his smart press secretary and Jefferson Mays as the squealer in the mouse-brown suit. (Perfect costumes are by Ann Roth.)

Jones performance was nothing sort of incredible. He was just great. And we had great seats. We were going to be in the back of the orchestra (not that that would have been a bad seat) but got moved up to be in row D dead center. What a great afternoon.

Here are a couple of pictures of the cast coming out to sign autographs after the show.

You can just see James Earl Jones under his baseball cap.

Eric McCormack signing autographs

John Larroquette who was really wonderful and signed autographs for many people.

Catching Up — Almost

Well I won't be doing that tonight. More to come from the trip to New York and the Nationals game. But it's been just way too hot here to do much of anything except sit and enjoy the air conditioning. I did find this funny picture from the internet.

The Wonder that Is New York City

After the Pierpoint Morgan Library, we headed toward the theater where we were going to see The Best Man. Here are a few things that we saw as we walked. Shalom Brothers Oriental Rug Gallery just struck me as rather odd and ironic. The other pictures show the incredible lions at the New York City Library.

And the last picture gives you a look at Times Square which as always was full of people.

The Pierpoint Morgan Library

This was the first stop after we got off the bus. It had been overcast on the way up but now the skies began to clear.

Our goal was to go to an exhibit on Churchill there. It turned out we didn't have enough time but we did have a wonderful lunch there. Here are a couple of shots of what we did see at the library. I'm looking forward to going back and seeing more of it.