Christmas Eve

Well here we have the day before Christmas, 2013. Where has this year gone?Sandy and I just got back from New York City two days ago and man what a trip! On Sunday we were down in Central Park and then to Rockefeller Center. The sky was overcast, but by lunch the temperature had soared to the upper 60s, and people were wearing tank tops and shorts. It was hot. Early in the morning we left the hotel and it was sprinkling rain so since we were heading uptown to the Park we decided to get off the subway at 59th street and go into Bloomingdales for a cheap rain jacket. Wrong! The jacket that would have been suitable cost $450, but it was on sale for 40% off. This was for a jacket that costs $39 back home. But in all fairness back home doesn't have a subway stop in its basement either. Come to think of it back home doesn't have a basement at all. We didn't buy the jacket and the rain had stopped anyway. We usually buy our clothes, and pay money that goes straight to Arkansas instead of Bloomingdales. We then walked through the park watching runners and dog walkers, on our way up to 75th street to visit the Whitney Museum. We are big museum fans and had not taken advantage of the Whitney. It was generally a total waste of time and $40 admission charge for 2. The fifth floor was their permanent exhibition and I loved some Edward Hoppers and a couple Georgia O'Keefes. There were a couple of nice Calder mobiles in a stairway, and lower down was a whole floor dedicated to Robert Indiana , which was a lot of stenciled letters and numbers in black, white , yellow, and red. The remaining floors were dedicated to crude doodlings and arranged garbage. I think it was a case of the Emperor's Clothes. The day before we were eating lunch in Grand Central Station, and as usual there was a multitude of people, but it was the last weekend before Christmas. I had to go to the restroom and saw immediately that the line to the ladies room next door stretched out of sight, but that the mens' room was without a line. I went in and walked up to a vacant urinal and was doing what I came to do when I heard feminine voices very , very close to me! I looked over my shoulder and women were coming and going out of the mens' stalls, an arms length from those using the urinals. It was somewhat of a shock to be using restrooms with the girls but no one seemed to mind, so why should I? When you gotta go,you gotta go! As I was leaving the restroom I had to sidestep an attractive blond heading  in. I said,"Excuse Me" and she just nodded, on her way to relief. I shouldn't have been shocked as I have shared bathrooms for 40 years with a woman. The only difference is that I know this woman. We went to see "Beautiful", the musical about Carol King and it was fantastic with all her music and the songs she had written. I think the highlight for me was when actors portraying The Righteous Brothers sang "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". They were fantastic. Saturday evening we saw "Motown " and it was almost as good. The Marvin Gay actor was almost Marvin Gay. The Temptations sang "My Girl" and all was right with the world.