Ollie and Jacomo are back for a summer run. I’ve been getting requests and lots of followers on social media, which is odd, since we’re not promoting the feature, but people seem to love the wile rabbit Ollie and his buddy Jacomo, the hedgehog. The Jacomo, “I Live for Summer” t-shirt has been selling, too, so it’s time to bring them back.
I enjoy them because they seem to write themselves, they took on their own personalities right way.
The Paris Olympics start this week and by dumb luck, Ollie and Jacomo happen to be right there in Paris! So we’ll follow their French adventures while they are overseas!
I just started drawing up the adventures, and as usual, they seem to be writing themselves! The cartoons will be all set to roll on Monday.
Saw this on CBS Sunday morning. A story about an Italian artist named Jacopo Cardillo, known in the art world at just Jago. he’s called the modern day Michelangelo due to his incredible sculptures.
One of his current marble pieces was placed in NYC this week, I missed it by a few days, hopefully it will still be there when I return in the fall. It’s called, “Look Down,” it s a sculpture of a baby, laying down on the ground. It’s in Thomas Paine Park, a small park a few blocks north of City Hall.
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Glad to be home, I had to leave NYC to get some cooler weather – in Miami!
NYC was brutal. Heat indexes over 100 made it unbearable at times. This red hoodie cartoon reminded me of my favorite red hoodie, which I brought to NY with me, thinking I might need it at nights like most summers, but even the nights were warm this year, there really was no cool air other than the airconditioned places. I heard a weatherperson on tv describe it as the Northeast having “no airflow.”
I was living on iced coffee.
MOMAMOMAStarry Night, MOMAPicasso, MOMAJP Morgan LibraryJP Morgan LibarayThe METSelf Portrait, Van Gogh, The METThe METThe METThe MET
One day, I felt I was getting heat stroke, really – I wasn’t sure what to do, but I managed to get back to the a/c and my bed and I drank a lot of color water, and in time, I got back to normal. I wondered how I would get back across town, from uptown to downtown, as I waited on those roasting subway platforms.
Also, this year Manhattanhenge was a bust – too many clouds blocking it both nights.
But in spite of all the heat, I did have a lot of fun. A lot of my family from Miami was up north and we had good times mostly in The Hamptons. In the city I did a lot of my favorite things and went to many of my favorite museums, including Cleopatra’s Needle, behind the MET Museum and the JP Morgan Library, which I had passed a few times, but never visited.
Ate in a lot of new places – three Greek restaurants ironically. But I forgot to check out Maria Loi’s place, Loi Estiatorio, which I see on tv a lot. I like her Mediterranean cooking style.
I’m looking forward to cooler temps in the fall, when I return for NY Comic Con and pumpkin and apple picking in October and Thanksgiving and so many more things in November.
Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park
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A few of us went to McSorley’s Old Ale House the other day. It’s the oldest bar in NYC, founded in 1854. Able Lincoln visited the place! Along with dozens, if not hundreds of celebs.
The 170 year old saloon is located at 15 E. 7th Street. Interestingly enough, across the street from LaSalle, which was my father’s high school.
McSorley’s only sells beer and only sells two types – dark or light, and they price – $2.75 per glass! You get two glasses with every order because of the head on the beer, so to compensate, it comes in two glasses.
I went back a few days later to buy t-shirts, I wanted to buy four. The bartender told me the price was $80.00. I asked, “Per shirt?” He replied, “No, total, tax included!” I think they are usually $25, but since I purchased four, they reduced the price a bit.
So beers are $2.75 and t-shirts are $20.00 – probably the best deal in town. And of course, the history is even better.
The place is full of history – all sorts of items around the bar, old photos on the walls, an old stove in the center of the room and so much more. It looks like a movie set, but it’s all real, all authentic. It’s a museum that you are drinking in!
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I went to the Brooklyn Museum to the the Paul McCartney exhibit, “Eyes of the Storm.” They are random photos Paul took during 1963 and 1964, an important time for the Beatles.
He didn’t plan any of it and that’s what makes it so great.
I’m not a fan of the Brooklyn Museum, it’s impossible to navigate and they have a rude staff, but I went for the Paul exhibit.
Maybe it was just a bad day for me, that same day I was sitting in Union Square along with dozens of other people, and the rainbird type sprinkler came on. Hard. And it hit me right in my face along with wetting my whole right side from head to toe. Some stupid teens thought it was funny, but it did feel good in the summer heat.
On the subway a big heavy guy in one of those big ass wheelchairs ran over my toe. He backed up right over me. My toe is still hurting, hope it’s not broken.
And a chocolate Mister Softee dripped onto my new white sneakers. The cone had a hole in it. The guy in the Softee truck offered to give me a new cone, but I told him no problem. Then I saw the big stain, that looked like a black bullet hole.
Oh yes. On another train a guy comes up to me. Puts on a rubber glove and shoves it in my face. I don’t know what that was about. We were the only two on the car. I ran out at the next stop.
Just a random Wednesday in paradise.
The actual subway car. That’s not the guy with the glove, he got off and the nut with the glove got on after that.
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I noticed a similar behavior with all the hotel h9usekeeprs in New York City. I’ve stayed at a number of places and it’s always the same. The housekeeping ladies are bullies.
It’s like this – they never show up to clean the rooms when you want. Since the pandemic, it is sporadic, some places won’t even bring clean towels or take the garbage unless you specifically ask for it. But either way, you never know when they are going to show up, but it’ s always at an inconvenient time.
The other cay I was out from 8 am to 5 pm, I only came back to send something via email that I couldn’t send from my phone. Just then the housekeeper showed up, I told her I needed a few minutes – five minutes and she could do the room. She then did what they all do. She stood there and sort of folded her arms, basically saying, “I’m here now, get out.”
I don’t get out, I never do. I tell them to go away. And they really are obstinate. Do they get paid per room that they clean?
But it’s the same at every place I’ve stayed. They stand there daring me to slam the door in their faces, or at least, shut the door politely.
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A bunch of us went to see The Who’s Tommy musicalon Broadway last night. I loved it. There were a few slow moving parts, but the music and the flashing lights and loud production was the thing.
Two small kids played Tommy at ages 4 and 10 and what was remarkable was that they didn’t have much or any dialog but their presence and silence and they way they were swung around and turned upside down and just thrown around as if they were dolls was amazing. When the stage was full of other singers, dancers and actors, you couldn’t keep your eyes off the young kids.
Of course, I knew most, if not all of the Who’s music and that made it great.
The story of course is of a boy who witnesses a murder, in his own house, at age 4, and that causes him to turn into himself and he becomes deaf, dumb and blind, as the song goes. It’s a great, loud production.
I heard various reviews from the people I was with and it seems as if I am the one who was the most enthusiastic. But at the end of the musical, the whole audience was up on their feet cheering and singing and leaving the theater smiling. A day later I can still hear the music in my head.
The musical is at the Nederlander Theater on 41st Street in Manhattan.
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Got to NYC yesterday. The city is packed. I’ll be here for a few weeks. I already got my Mister Softee ice cream, and it wasn’t so hot and humid, so it didn’t melt all over my hand.
This Thursday is July 4th and people have started their holiday this weekend.
It’s gonna be a long week, I have a lot of family plans. We’ll be in The Hamptons, Connecticut, and we’re going to The Who’s Tommy on Broadway this week. Plus a lot more things. I visited that Portal thing in Madison Square, right next to the Flatiron Building – where we can see Dublin, Ireland and they can see us live.
It’s funny how people are so flabbergasted at it and can’t believe they are seeing Dublin live, but can’t we do that on our cell phones and zoom on our computers every day if we want?
I’ll visit the usual museums – MOMA, the MET, etc.
I’ll take you along.
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This 1957 cartoon was posted on Mike Lynch’s blog the other day. It’s by cartoonist Tom Hudson.
It reminded me of my new GE washer/dryer, which started out at a reasonable price and ended up being way over priced.
I have a very small space for the washer/dryer in my condo unit so I am limited as to what I can get. I found one at Best Buy. It was delivered, but it didn’t fit in the space all the way, it was sticking out a bit. The delivery guys who installed it blamed the vent in back, but the previous unit had the same dimensions and vent and fit in fine for all these years.
I tipped them $40.00 ($20.00 each) and they left.
I decided to live with it. Only it started making strange grinding noises, so I went back to Best Buy and managed to find the washer/dryer I liked to begin with. It’s ventless, so there is no worry about the size of the vent in back. We swapped out the units.
I didn’t get the unit I liked to begin with because I didn’t know I had two plus behind the washer/dryer, but when the guys were installing the first unit, I saw I had both – 110 and 220. So now I could get the washer/dryer I liked, an LC brand. The first unit delivered only used the 220 socket.
The new washer/dryer was delivered and installed, but then the delivery/installation guys told me the washer didn’t work! They said the 110 socket was not working, where the 220 for the dryer was working fine. I was told to get an electrician to check the breaker.
I tipped these two guys $40.00 ($20.00) each and they left.
By now, the original $1400.00 unit cost me another $940.00 for the new LC unit and the $80.00 for the tips for the drivers – $2420.00 total.
Now for the electrician – another $120.00 – for nothing. Because it turns out the 110 electrical socket was working fine. The installers just must have had the plug in there too loosely.
So another $120.00 for a total of $2540.00 for my original $1400 unit.
But I like the new washer/dryer and I’ve been happy with it. And contrary to reports on ventless dryers not drying the clothing fully, that’s a myth, because mine come out great. The towels come out dry and fluffy, too.
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This one with the rooster of course came from our neighborhood rooster. I wrote about him a couple of times before. Well, the other day I was walking and and I heard him crowing non-stop – it was about 8 am. I kept looking for him, but couldn’t see him. I saw the female chicken and babies but no rooster.
Then I looked up and there he was – up on a fence outside a neighbor’s house. I wanted to video him crowing, but he shut up as soon as he spotted me as I took this photo, but no video of him crowing.
The rooster up on the neighbor’s fence.
I have a friend who says Miami is the home of Peacocks and Palm Trees, we have to add roosters to this list. The other day when I was driving out of Publix, I had to stop for a family of chickens crossing the parking lot. Literally. They stopped right in front of my car and there was no way to get around them. I got out of the car and shooed them away. When I looked up, I saw a police officer watching and laughing at me. Just another day in the life.
This Temu idea came from the fact that I bought this beautiful trench coat on Temu – for $37.00! That’s it, no shipping charges and no sales tax. The thing is, I was looking for a coat like this for the winter and I went to Macy’s and the prices were $495.00 for the coats I wanted. I was actually prepared to pay $300.00, but I couldn’t see myself paying $495.00 for the few days I’m up north in the winter.
I tried them on in the store and fell in love with them, but I just couldn’t. So I ended u buying the coat on Temu. I’m not sure how, I am not a Temu shopper and I am guessing the good old internet saved my cookie from Macy’s and sent me ads online including the Temu add.
Anyway, the coat is beautiful, but knowing it was from Temu and $37.00 bothered me. Perception.
The Kors coat I bought from Macy’s.
I saw an ad on tv for Macy’s one day sale, where things were up to 70% off and I ended up buying the coat from Macy’s for only $137.00 plus sales tax. I had to order it online because when I went back to the store they had all been shipped out somewhere to make way for Spring clothing.
I ended up getting a gorgeous Michael Kors Wool Cashmere Blend Overcoat. It is so nice. To be honest, I don’t know if you can tell the difference between the Temu coat, other than the colors – Temu is black, Michael Kors is Charcoal.
But I’m all set for winter now. It seems way to dressy for me, I usually wear a bomber-style jacket in winter. But I’m looking forward to walking around the city in this new overcoat. I noticed that the charcoal coat at Macy’s is now $199.00 but all the other colors are back to the original price of $495.00. When I purchased the coat, they were all $137.00. The games retailers play.
I tried giving away the Temu coat, but I always preface it by saying it’s from Temu, and that sort of lessens the value in people’s eyes, so no one wants it.
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