Golden Gala

Greg is the most thoughtful father and has given his Carmen ticket to Beth. His generosity provides a wonderful tonic for what would otherwise be a very blue New Year’s Eve for her. Instead of brooding over what might have been, she has an opportunity to distract herself with the ultimate dress-up event. I wear my gold sequined “Helen Mirren Oscar” dress for the first time. I was even able to find gold/rhinestone heels at a Nine West on Montague St. I pose for my admiring men, take the elevator down to my “limo” parked directly in front of the door, and head out to pick up my princess. (No wicked stepmother in this fairy tale). There is no traffic at 5:00 p.m New Year’s Eve and I speed across the Brooklyn Bridge and up to 69th street in 15 minutes.

We park in our reserved parking spot under the Met and the two enchantresses hobble their way into the theatre. Beth looks gorgeous in her lapis blue Diane van Furstenberg cocktail dress, but the skirt fits so snugly around the knees that she has to walk like Madame Butterfly with tiny footsteps. Of course, I haven’t worn stiletto heels in 15 years and feel like I’m about to fall face forward onto the concrete. We both feel that we fit in with the society gowns (of course, these women can probably take one look at my dress and know that I bought it in a tent in Hong Kong). The entire Grand Tier is set-up for the gala dinner planned for after the performance which means that the audience is tightly spaced during the intermissions and pre/post performance promenades. We attempted to get iPhone/Blackberry photos of our Met experience with mixed results.

The opera itself, a premier of Carmen, was spectacular. I’ll leave the formal critique for another time, but was pleased that Anthony Tommasini agreed with me when he headlined “That Daring Gypsy Strikes Again, and Anew”…”With this gripping new ‘Carmen,’ the company rang out 2009 on Thursday with a solid success…[uncovering] the rawness and daring at the opera’s core.” What a thrill to witness the premier of a beautiful opera that has always been my favorite.

The curtain falls and the Bravos and Bravas begin. One self-appointed critic shouts out a single, jarring, “boo” in our area. Beth and I are pleased to overhear other audience members dressing him down. The drama continues even after the curtain calls! (the angry fan challenged him to meet outside the theatre for a whipping).

Beth and I hobble across the Lincoln Center Plaza to our Pris Fixe meal at Fiorello’s. We share a small cubicle “dedicated to Luciano Pavorotti” with another female twosome. Our meal is the usual well portioned, hearty Fiorello’s fare and the restaurant buzzes with New Year’s Eve anticipation. We are given tiara’s, horns, noisemakers and a glass of champagne and at midnight we ring in the New Year (with Dick Clark-who I thought was dead-on TV). Beth is amazingly happy and determined to move forward with her life. A pleasant discovery: our dining “partners” are also a mother-daughter combo who had also been at the Carmen premier.

No need to worry about a cab on New Year’s Eve, we have our limo! Of course, this means hobbling 2-3 blocks back to the ramp to the parking garage under Lincoln Center and then through the subterranean maze of different garages. But at last at 1 a.m. I whisk my princess back to a New Year’s Eve party and I park the car and spend the night in her apartment. Rest assured I have taken the stiletto’s off and returned to my warm, comfy boots once I’m in the car.

Who knows what 2010 will bring?

Winter Wonderland

December 31-New Year's Eve

We awake to a white/grey curtain pulled down over our beautiful Manhattan and Brooklyn views. I can no longer see the skyline I photographed the night before. But I can look down to see a wonderful layer of snowfall on the trees below in the Pierrepont St. Park and along the Promenade. Greg and I go out for coffee and muffins and do the first of many grocery shopping trips. Montague Street has everything one could ask for and the grocery is only 2 blocks from our front door. The streets are so beautiful with the snowfall that we drop off the groceries and go for a cigar/camera walk.

The photos capture the delicate beauty of snow in this neighborhood. The brownstones and wrought iron fences pose for their portraits. They are wise veterans and used to thousands of photographers over the years who want to capture this urban beauty on film. We take photos of each of us in our new neighborhood, with our building in the background. I pan up to apartment 11B-the 12th floor apartments do not have a terrace, so we are the top apartment with a terrace on the left side. Our terrace is twice as long as the other units.

Moving Day

December 30- Wednesday

The troops are well organized and Greg and Ted drive in the Honda and Kim and Beth in the RAV. This gives Beth and me ample time to talk and time for me to watch her to see how she’s doing. She’s a real trooper. There is only one minor “mishap” when Ted misses the I 81-I 380 cutoff while Greg sleeps and they go slightly out of their way. We arrive in Manhattan about 4:30-5:00. Beth and I arrive ahead of the guys so I park the car and take a bathroom break in her apartment and check out her New Year’s Eve selection for our night at the opera.

Perils of Parking.

Whoops, that lucky parking spot was in a no parking zone (why was everyone else there?) so I return to find a $65 ticket. I decide to expect unnecessary expenses for the next five months and to prepare myself for “wasteful” spending.

We encounter rush hour traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge, but this helps us stay in a caravan and the two cars make it to 2 Pierrepont and “stand” illegally in front of the building while we unload the cars. Ted, Greg and I get the two cars unloaded in an hour-I am able to document this time because I had noted the large clock on the landmark Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower building said 5:30 while we were creeping across the Brooklyn Bridge and it is 6:30 when we get a lucky break. A building tenant comes out and tells me he is leaving his parking place and he’ll give it to me. I have to rush to get Greg into the Honda and positioned to take the space. Two other cars are also lining up for this golden opportunity and I now realize why the man was making such a big deal about us getting our act together. Cars can park on the Brooklyn Heights streets for an unlimited time except for one day a week when there is street cleaning. And on that day one can park on the alternate side of the street which is normally no-parking. So an experienced Heights resident knows how and when to position their parking for the long term. I am extremely lucky with this spot, for I leave the car until my New Year’s Eve trek to the Met and have an easy walk to my “limo” in my long gold dress. More about this later.

Greg, Ted and I return the van to Avis at a convenient location that is closer than our parking garage. We walk back home, stopping for a great Italian meal on Montague Street. The night is clear and beautiful, chilly but not too cold. I take a test photo from my iPhone of the Manhattan skyline from our terrace. This does not do justice to the skyline, but captures the moment. There will be many more Manhattan skyline photos to come...I'll try to challenge Woody Allen who first mesmerized me with this view in the movie "Manhattan".

Transitions

December 29- Tuesday We spend a hectic day packing all our final items and cleaning out the refrigerator, taking out the trash and recyclables, accessing how much space we’ll need in the cars, and bearing with the bitter cold. Beth, Ted and I have a relaxing dinner at Maxi’s and then head out to Avis to check the available SUV’s. The RAV is perfect, but I have forgotten my driver’s license so we drive back home to get it. Beth drives out to the airport with me again while I get the car. She is fielding a phone call with Riple who is upset about a set-to he had with a partner. We drive our separate cars home whereupon I discover that I’ve lost my driver’s license. I call Avis who find it in the parking lot and once again I head out to the airport (trip 3).

Upon my return, I find Greg comforting Beth who has just broken up with Riple. The proverbial straw broke the camel’s back-Beth’s attempt to alleviate his frustration with his partner through a lighthearted comment about their future marriage causes Riple to say he can’t handle and thinking about getting engaged while he is unhappy with his job and therefore they should break up. He actually was hoping that Beth would offer a third option and agree to a status quo of no engagement. We all know that this has been inevitable given his state of mind and after some bitter tears Beth resolves to move on with her life.

The eagle has not landed

On December 30, the Alexanders will move into our Pierrespont apartment in Brooklyn Heights and I will begin my blog from our beautiful 11th floor apartment overlooking Manhattan and the East River. Stay tuned.