Catching Up - And Happy Pride Day!

I note from the last post but one that I had described my upcoming shopping trip. Well, mostly I got around to it.

I started out at H&M, and I looked at the blue and white dress that I had been drooling over - and it occurred to me that in fact, I HAD summer clothing. And because H&M has wildly weird sizing - in that sometimes a 6 is a perfect fit on me, and other times I have to go up to a 12 to make the damn thing button...and there was this monumentally long line for the dressing room - well, the hell with it.

So then I was going to go to the Payless on 14th Street, but I was walking down 5th Avenue, and that particular Payless is way closer to 6th Avenue, and it was hot, and...so I figured what the hell and went into Filene's and DSW instead. And I actually found four really good bras, and an actual pair of really affordable ($29.99 on sale) black flats at DSW, so success!

And then a hop over to Barnes and Noble and a treat - Fathers and Sons by Alexander Waugh, after which I've been lusting, and it's just out in trade paperback. This is a must read. It's the story of the Waugh family (you know, like Evelyn Waugh as in Brideshead Revisited), and it's absolutely wonderful. Alexander Waugh doesn't spare any of his forebears, all of whom were at least somewhat eccentric and sometimes very eccentric. English eccentrics are usually more eccentric than anyone else can possibly manage (in re which, read Edith Sitwell's book, titled, oddly enough, English Eccentrics).

OK. We are now up to date. Saturday night I went uptown to go to a pal's birthday party and found that ALL of my particular ingroup from Richard III was there. I don't know why or how this happens, but somehow in every show you get a few people who are exactly on your wavelength, and these three guys (Tom, John and Larry) and I are. (Not to mention the fact that it's an extreme kick to bounce off with three men in tow and watch various sweet young things thirty years my junior go, "Wait. She's old! She's got THREE MEN with her! They're all STRAIGHT! How does she do it?" Hee, hee, hee, hee. Boy, that's fun.) Oh, and I actually wore a dress! I get so sick of jeans and a t-shirt all the time, and what the hell - I was in Midtown on Saturday night and it was a birthday party. So I got out this really great dress that I actually bought at H&M last year which is pure Audrey Hepburn - black and white checks, sleeveless, boat necked, tiny waisted with a small sash, and just below the knee - and wore it with my new ballet flats (well, I SAID Audrey Hepburn). The outfit actually needed a Vespa and William Holden, but you can't have everything. I FELT gorgeous, which is the main thing, right?

Yesterday was Gay Pride, my favorite day in the Village. I was supposed to go to my friend Steve's to watch the parade, but I was too hungover to move very far, and anyway it kept pouring and I find droopy wet feathers and moist sequins sort of depressing. (Not to mention that Steve is a real flamer, and what with that hangover and all, I just didn't think I could deal with the shrieks.) I did get out to see a bit of the parade and have a couple of therapeutic beers, however, at my local joint which is right where the parade ends - and a seven foot tall drag queen (well, you know, platforms with six inch heels will do that) insisted on having her picture taken with me. No, I don't know why either. But it was kind of fun, and her outfit was amazing...a sequinned, beaded teeny bikini and a marvelous feathered cape. I've always wanted to be able to dress like that - but at five foot three on a good day, all those feathers would be wearing me, and I'd look like a strange small bird...not to mention that the shoes would kill me in eight seconds flat. I've also always wanted to wear enormous hats, like the ones you see in the Ascot Gavotte from My Fair Lady...but, given my height, I look like a gnome under a very large mushroom. Sigh.

I am now off to the pharmacy, then to CVS for cigarettes, and then, I think, to PC Richards, which is having an awesome sale on microwaves. I think I mentioned that ours died last week, and I'm going nuts without it. Not that (with the exception of vegetables, which it does to perfection - 10 minutes for an artichoke! Asparagus that stays green that you can't overcook!) I ever cook, per se, in the microwave, but I tend not to be able to decide what's for dinner first thing in the morning in time to take something out to defrost. And reheating leftovers makes them go all wonky when you're used to doing it in the microwave and it's a nuisance. I don't want to stand around for ten minutes carefully stirring something so it doesn't scorch when I could have it in a minute or so. I'm the poster child for instant gratification.

And Sarah was right about the fireworks last night - they really made up for last year's piss poor effort!

Love, Wendy