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The best of summer

The Lake House was the best part of the whole trip. A dream realized.

I haven’t been writing here because it’s been a slow second half of the summer. I’m grateful for that.

Was all over New York State from late June into July – flew into Albany, then ended up at a wedding in Hudson, NY; was at a lake house across the Hudson River in Athens (on Tommy Trail!), which my brother obtained through Airbnb, then we all drove down to NYC and spent time in The Hamptons, too. Sort of a letter “L” shape for the early summer.

I felt sick at the wedding, not sure why, I think it was the heat – it was brutal from upstate all the way to the Hamptons – hot and humid.

One of my cousins feels that I was making it up because I didn’t want to be there – at the wedding – which makes no sense. I took two planes to get there, took an hour Uber ride to the house from the Albany airport, sent in two RSVPs (paper and online), made a special trip to get a gift card at Macy’s before I left home, had to lose a couple of pounds to fit into my suit pants, which was a joke with my friends and me for a month or so until I actually fit into the pants.

I bought a train ticket down to the city – arranged to be in the lake house with my family, originally I was going to get a hotel room and at the wedding, I did not touch any food or drink, until the end of the night when I had some ice cream, because who can pass u a big set-up of desserts anchored by a bar of ice cream sundaes?

I never ended up taking the train down the city, because I drove down with another couple of cousins, so that worked out well.

The wedding ceremony upstate in Hudson, was on the Hudson River and then across the street at the Basilica, an old factory that is an event venue now. I do regret not spending time on the river – I didn’t notice, but I am sure some of the guests grabbed a drink and took it across to the river and spent time there, where it looked like they had docks and boats – right there on the Hudson. Something I love.

I thought the Basilica was an old train station/depot, but I read that it was a factory in the late 1800s. Either way, a very impressive structure.

Just that should prove I was sick, for me to miss the Hudson River, which is right out my window, is a non-starter. That’s one of my favorite places.

Seeing Madame X, almost seeing Manhattanhenge (it was a bit cloudy), Mister Softee, MOMA, Brooklyn adventures and so much more. We did a lot.

Now I’m home, where it’s quiet – easing into autumn, which is my favorite season – where we will visit the Hudson Valley again, for pumpkin and apple picking! And ComicCon, can’t forget NY ComicCon!

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The cop’s hand signal

I felt old the other day when I had an interaction with a police officer.

Our streets had been blocked off due to construction in one area, so there were cops directing traffic on certain intersections.

I came up to one intersection, a block from where I live. It was a full stop, and the cop directing traffic looked at me and made some hand signals. It was sort of like a dog pawing at you with both paws, you know, “Paws up,” Lady Gaga style.

I thought he was signaling me to slow down, but I wasn’t moving. Then I realized, he was signaling me to put down the window so he could speak to me.

I was a bit taken aback, since the signal I would have given is the winding motion or cranking motion signal, like winding down the window – which isn’t a thing anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. But people, including me, still use that motion for opening a car window.

Strange and funny.

The cop wanted to ask me where I was going, that’s why he wanted me to lower the window.

I didn’t think about it until later, but that was a funny way of indicating me to lower the window. I guess that’s how it’s done now.

The good news is that the work on the streets was to take two weeks to complete, but the city got it done in four days! Unheard of – the City of Miami Water & Sewer Department got the job done in less than half the time. So no more cops, street closures or hand signals.

Impressive!

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He’s in Iceland, the island

I had to get in touch with one of our neighbors. I saw our maintenance man, Rick (not real name) who really is clueless about so many things, but of course knows all of our business around the building, and I asked him if Gary (not real name), my neighbor, was home.

Rick, the maintenance man, said that Gary may not be home. He noticed Gary’s boat was gone from it’s dock out back. I told him the boat was gone for awhile, it may be out getting work done or something, so I texted Gary, asking if he was home. He texted back and said he was in Iceland. “Iceland?” I responded. “Yes,” he replied.

I told Rick that Gary was in Iceland of all places and Rick responded, “See, I told you the boat was gone.”

I replied, “You think he took that small 15 foot boat to Iceland? Iceland is way up in the North Atlantic, almost in Europe!”

Rick laughed and thought I said, “He was on an island.” Miami is surrounded by islands, but if he was on an island, I wouldn’t say, “He’s in Island.” I would say something like, “He’s on Key Biscayne.” Or, “He’s on Eliot Key,” or “He’s in Key Largo,” etc.

We both laughed, but I found it odd that Rick would think I said, “He’s on Island,” rather than “He’s on an island,” which is almost equally as odd since that’s not an expression I would use.

Either way, maybe we are both right, because Iceland is an Island.

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Here’s my biz idea for the summer

It’s melted, but that’s my Mister Softee in NYC.

I was at a wedding in Hudson, NY earlier this month. Hudson is a beautiful villgae upstate in the Hudson Valley. My brother Chris got us all a beautiful lake house which was fantastic, but I digress.

I’m here to talk about a business idea. I keep seeing pop-up vidoes online about how to make money and different businesses to start – most are online digital things, but in this case, I have a business on wheels idea, which is perfect for upstate New York – it’s a Mister Softee truck! That’ s me above with my melted Mister Softee in NYC earlier this month, I did a story on the 10 With Tom shirt here.

You see, at the wedding, there was a big ice cream table where you made your own ice cream sundaes, and I joked with the lady behind the counter that I would like a large pile of ice cream, “sort of like Mister Softee.” The lady frowned and said they didn’t have Mister Softee in upstate New York.

I was surprised since it’s all over the New York City and New Jersey area, including Long Island, and I know there are many Mister Softee trucks in New England, which is just a stone’s throw from Upstate New York. And I’ve heard they are in 18 states, even parts of Florida.

So the thing is, if you are looking to start a business and have the franchise fees – Mister Softee is it – in Upstate New York! Mind you, it’s a summer and spring biz, so the rest of the year you can be shoveling snow or something as a business but perhaps you can sell Mister Softee in the summer months, which is sorely needed.

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Exploring Madame X: John Singer Sargent’s iconic portrait

My cousin Michael took me to the John Singer Sargent exhibit at the MET museum last week. I had never seen so much of his work in one place before. Of course the center piece were all of the drawings and paintings of the famous Madame X, dead center was his most famous painting of all.

Madame Pierre Gautreau known as Madame X in John Singer Sargent’s painting from 1884 was born in Louisiana as Virginie Amelie Avegno. She moved to Paris and was part of society there.

John Singer Sargent in his studio with the famous painting.

Sargent wanted to do something to enhance his name and he asked the celebrity at the time to sit for him, it was unpaid and not a commission.

The original painting had Madame X with one of the dress straps falling off, which caused a lot of ridicule in Paris at the time. Sargent painted the strap on but still, it was the talk of the town. It became his most famous piece of work and he painted and drew Madame X many times over the years.

Originally controversial due to its provocative pose and the fallen strap (later repainted), Madame X marked a turning point in Sargent’s career, showcasing his masterful technique and flair for drama. Virginie herself was a trendsetter in Parisian society.

Emile Hervet, wrote in La Patrie newspaper in 1884, “We regret to say that Mr. Sargent has produced the worst, most ridiculous, and most insulting portrait of the year.”

Sargent eventually sold the painting to the MET himself and it’s had a home there ever since.

If you watch the HBO series, “The Guilded Age,” you would have seen John Singer Sargent in the final scene of one episode. He painted Gladys Russell, who is supposed to be Consuelo Vanderbilt.

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Striking a pose at MOMA

Taking pictures in front of Starry Night.

I’ve been in NYC awhile now, but I haven’t done my usual museum visits because the weather has been nice. It’s been brutally hot, but it hasn’t rained, and I’ve been saving museum visits for rainy days.

The news keeps saying there will be rain daily, but so far, so good. Nothing.

The New York City news shows the weather report what seems like every five minutes. Seriously. Every news report – early morning, mid-day, 6 pm and 11 pm. It’s all about the weather. Which is always wrong.

I did finally manage to stop by MOMA to visit my old friend, Starry Night. I noticed that people take a lot of photos in front of works of art, you know, with the person in the photo. They pose in front of the paintings; not usually sculptures, but in front of famous paintings.

I did notice a blind couple touching the sculptures, which I guess was allowed, but I found it strange that they were in most of the painted art galleries. Not sure how that worked.

I often find myself looking out the windows at the highrises, I don’t know why, but I do it. I did a cartoon about this a few years back, you can see it here.

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How my t-shirt created a buzz

Me, my shirt, and a melted Mister Softee.

I’ve worn a couple of my business t-shirt around NYC this summer. The business ones didn’t draw much attention, but my 10 With Tom shirt has.

I wore it the other day and went to get breakfast at this small coffee ship I’ve been going to. The place was very crowded. I went up to the counter and ordered and the lady asked my name for the order. I said, “Tom,” but she did hear me.

She asked, “What was it?” I pointed to my 10 With Tom shirt and said, “Tom.”

She smiled and asked about what it was. I explained that I interviewed people and other things and she asked to take a picture of it, I guess so she could remember to check it out later.

When I turned back around the whole place was looking at me – people had been standing around waiting for their orders.

Another lady asked about it and people were interested.

As the day went on, I noticed people looking at it and I noticed readers, likes, and subscriptions went up, so the shirt did what it was supposed to do.

I was all over the city and on and off the subway all day. So I got a lot of advertising in as I went about my daily business.

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The city, the Hamptons and the white feather

From the lake house last weekend, to NYC this weekend, also with The Hamptons, thrown in.

I didn’t see the NYC fireworks in person this year because they moved the location again. I found the perfect, easy-to-get-to spot on the east side a couple of years ago and the city moved the fireworks to the west side.

This year, they moved them back to the east side, just barely, having them south of the Brooklyn Bridge. I would have gone, but we were at Coney Island earlier in the day and I didn’t feel like trekking all the way back to Brooklyn and to go down to the City Hall area is a mess, with all the people trying to navigate the subway, I’ve done that before.

So it was Bryant Park, behind the NY Public Library for a nice concert in the park. The Empire State Building with lit up red, white and blue, and the moon shone right next to it. The weather was perfect, too.

The next day, the family all went to my cousins’ house in The Hamptons, which is always great. Some of us stay overnight, others go and come back to the city the same day.

There was lots of food, which didn’t stop coming out to the backyard picnic table. Non-stop food.

I did finally see my first white feather. I was walking down Lexington Avenue, early Sunday morning, and there it was, right on the sidewalk in front of me.

White feathers are supposed to signify a message from the spirit world – a loved one, trying to send you a message. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I have been hoping to see one for a long time, as I always see doves around my house.

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The lake house

For the longest time, I wanted to move to upstate New York.

We do go up to pumpkin pick in the fall, but really not upstate, while we travel an hour or so from NYC, upstate is considered further up, and we did that this past weekend.

One of my cousins got married in Hudson County, at a place called the Basilica, so we all headed up to there. Other cousins, my immediate family and everyone trekked up.

I took two planes from Miami. The smaller plane from Washington, DC to Albany was quite cramped. My carry on bag didn’t fit! I had to cram it in.

The best part was the lake house one of my brothers arranged. It was something I had pictured in my head for a long time. And there it was in person.

It was very large, on a lot of acreage, on Lake Sleepy Hollow – not to get confused with the town of Sleepy Hollow, which is south of this place.

My cousins, my family and I enjoyed the area, only it’s quite boring if there are no other people around. While I had always wanted to live up there, I think I need more civilization.

The wedding was beautiful and I met up with relatives who I hadn’t seen since the last wedding a few years ago.

It was a memorable weekend. something I’ll always remember. A few days later, we drove down to the city and I’m in NYC now for a small while.

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It’s ‘Jaws’ time of year

It’s the 50th anniversary of Jaws this weekend. 50 years!

It’s one of my favorite movies. I think I’ve seen it over 50 times. I can repeat all the dialogue as they are saying it. NBC had a showing on Friday night, but they screwed up the whole thing by having a commercial every five minutes – totally annoying and not worth it.

You can see Jaws all over the place if you want to, so you don’t have to deal with NBC’s commercialization.

AMC or one of those channels is always showing it, mostly in summer months, but I’ve already seen it twice in the last month or so.

I grew up in Miami, so I was at the beach almost daily. Sometimes for an hour, sometimes for three or five hours. Sometimes with a lot of people, sometimes alone. And I’ve always been in the water – the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, and I’m happy to say in all those years, I have never come across a shark, not that I know of.

I’ve had stingrays, fly over my head, and I’ve had schools of hundreds of small fish swim around my body in shallow water – it’s very ticklish – but never sharks.

The thing about the movie is the town – Martha’s Vineyard, which is the town of Amity, in the movie. I am not so much into the climax secenes, the last part of the movie when they are out in the boat going after the shark. But of course the most famous line come from that, which I used in the cartoon above, “You’re going to need a bigger boat!”

That line was apparently adlibed at the moment by Roy Scheider, police chief, Martin Brody. He had tried using it in other scenes, but this time it was perfect. The line was actually used by the cast and crew throughout the filming of water scenes. The crew boat – the boat that was used for the cameras and film crew was too small and always a problem while shooting.

Every time something didn’t fit or there wasn’t room, an inside joke on the set, or rather out in the water, was, ‘”You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Roy thought it was funny and would slip it in during takes at various parts of the movie, which of course were not used in the finished cut of the film, but the part where it did fit and was funny and added levity to the scene was just perfect and to this day, it is one of the most famous movie lines.

Another thing that I love, which I have never seen in other movies, is that in almost every scene, you hear the people speaking in the background – when they are on the beach or in town hall or wherever, or even in the kitchen in the house, you hear the background people speaking, along with the dialogue spoken by the main characters up front in the scene. Ever notice that?

I saw the Jaws animatronic used in the movie some years back at a Universal tour in Hollywood. It’s still so popular today. I think it was in the Gilligan’s Island lagoon, of all places.

I love the small town life. New England is one of my favorite places. I always think of moving there or near there for part of the year. Every time I tell someone that, I get, “But the winter! But the cold!” And that comes mostly from Miami people, who bundle up when it hits 70 degrees.

I would like to be up north for three seasons, and down in Miami for winters.

In a week I will be in Hudson New York for a cousin’s wedding. That’s some place I might consider. It’s almost New England, it’s a few miles from three New England states – Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. At home, I often watch the NBC Connecticut 6 pm news on Roku, and I like it up there. One thing – I had to look up spelling for Massachusetts and Connecticut, so I guess it’s best that I learn how to spell the places before I consider moving there.

I go upstate pumpkin and apple picking every fall, but New York state people will tell you that where I go – Poughkeepsie (had to look that spelling up, too), Sleepy Hollow, etc. are not considered upstate, Upstate is further up the Hudson River, apparently.

So I’ll check out Hudson with my family next week and we may go to the Berkshires in Massachusetts, which I always wanted to see.

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