As we start the weekend…

I should probably talk about last Saturday. Kathy and I went into the city to see the Gates. They’re the big orange portals that straddled the paths in Central Park for a few weeks, designed by an artist named Christo. We had a good time wandering through the park, taking pictures and looking around as the sun began to set. It was a chilly, gray day, and the orange gates looked imposing and terrific, like an army marching in formation.

We had tickets for a show later, so we headed out of the park and started looking for a subway. Before finding one, we found a choclatier called La Maison du Chocolat, where all the chocolate smells like money. (“Everyone likes money. Why do you think they call it money?”) Rather than buy a box of 2 or 6 bonbons (which we’d polish off in a heartbeat), I went into the back and ordered two hot chocolates – a bittersweet and a sweet. And was then told: “$15.20.” Yikes! Nonetheless, Kathy and I soon were ambling down 5th avenue, savoring our seven-dollar hot chocolates. Of the two, the bittersweet was better.

We headed downtown to the Theatre for the New City to see the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. We had left some time for dinner, so we found a little bistro we thought was called the Anyway Café, but all interior indications pointed to Ame Russe, “a French bistro with a Russian heart.” We had a delicious dinner (duck ravioli for her; chicken stuffed with spinach, goat cheese and roasted peppers for me) with some martinis, and noted too late that they had a lot of interesting vodka infusions. But… we had to go. The circus started at 8!

The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus is putting on several shows around the city; the one we saw is called “From the Gutter to the Glitter.” In it, Mr. Pennygaff and Philomena Bindlestiff demonstrate a variety of sideshow and vaudeville acts, including sword-swallowing, fire-eating, top-throwing, trapeze artistry, whip handling, and balloon snorting. (You read that right.) Tickets were cheap–$15 apiece–and we had a blast. I even took part in a beer-chugging contest—who can down a bottle of Budweiser without using their hands at all—and got my ass kicked by a girl. But at least I didn’t spit the brew all over myself, like contestant number three did. And hey—free beer. Well, free Bud, anyway.

After I bought a top and getting it autographed by Mr. Pennygaff, Kathy and I headed to a little pastry shop to get desert. Then, sensing it was too early to go home, we went back to visit our Russian friends.

A live band began playing since we’d left, and the truth is, while they had some talent, they didn’t seem to have rehearsed at all, and the singer’s reach exceeded her grasp quite a bit. But Kathy and I found a little table against the wall, and ordered two shots of vodka—one infused with apples, the other with blackcurrants. Both were terrific, but the apple was the real treat of the two. As we were deciding what to try next, the manager (who’d recognized us when we came in) sent over two more complementary shots. Delicious, and slowly down the hatch once again. But I had my heart set on a lemon shot, so Kathy ordered another apple, and we had a third before heading back into the cold.

Hell, even the train ride home was enjoyable. At the theater we’d found a free magazine called Jest, which had us in stitches the whole ride home. A history of the Groundhog Day groundhogs. Polygamist Valentine’s Day cards. A jaywalka with badass attitude. And one of the funniest puzzles I’ve ever seen (but can’t describe without ruining the joke). Even the ads were funny.

Some days you get wall-to-wall good days like this, and when you do, you’ve just gotta appreciate ’em. Even if, as I suspect, this one was meant for someone else.

Rob