First off, we played on the Great Lawn in Central Park, which is always a treat. They are some of the best fields in Manhattan, plus the views of the city around us are breathtaking, especially as the sun sets and the buildings light up. We scored six runs in the first inning, and one more the whole rest of the game, and held off the other team to win by two. At the plate, I'm still looking for my first hit of the year, but I had a sacrifice fly my first time up, and the second time, with a man on third, I hit a come-backer to the pitcher and ran to first, thinking for sure I was going to be thrown out. But instead, the pitcher saw the runner break from third and tried to throw him out and they fumbled the ball, allowing him to score and leaving me safe on first. So depending on if you score that a fielder's choice or an error, I think I got another run batted in (RBI), giving me two on the night, and the margin of victory. So at least I'm contributing.
Today I woke up early after a fitful night's sleep and picked up Tara to go to breakfast at our favorite diner. As you probably know, the Pope is in town and was at St. Patrick's Cathedral giving mass on TV while we ate. We were a little concerned that this might interfere with our plans to visit the Met, but since the church is so far from the museum (both on Fifth Avenue), we figured we'd avoid the Pope show altogether.
However, when we got close to the Met, we saw a sign that said Fifth Avenue was closed from 86th all the way to 42nd, which is before the Met. We went down Park and tried to get in at 81st Street, and there was a NYPD traffic van two cars ahead of us. As we crossed Madison, the van pulled over, and were likely closing 81st behind us to prepare for closing 5th Avenue for when the Pope left St. Patrick's, so we barely made it to the museum garage in time before we would have been shut out.
At the Met we walked all the major galleries and some of the special exhibits that are getting ready to leave next month. Here's a picture of me in my colorful spring outfit at the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian wing:
From the Met we went to Hiram's Hot Dog stand in Fort Lee, NJ for lunch, and then stopped at the Papa Beard's bakery to pick up some chocolate cream puffs. Then we stopped by National Wholesale Liquidators, where I bought a gigantic can of stuffed grape leaves, and some flatbread for myself and Bug. Since it was getting late, and we were both suffering from gallery fatigue and food lethargy, I took Tara home and went to the Chinese grocery store for some tofu and baby bok choy to make for dinner. I got home and promptly crashed for a couple hours until everyone came over for Saturday night dinner.
All in all, today I think Tara and I finally got back to being ourselves again. Time, love and beauty can cure most ills in this world. And while I recognize the value of putting troubled times behind us, I also believe in the value of having some record of how we got where we are, and learning what lessons we can from that history. As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I don't want a repeat of the negative parts of this past week.
