Bloggy Bears Picnic

Yesterday at around noon Monkey and I crawled off the Greyhound at Port Authority and after a quick phone call to our guardian angel, hopped into a cab and headed uptown to the Metropolitan Museum. No, not this angel.




This one! Fellow blogger RJ met us at the museum and treated us to a very nice lunch. It was the first time I have met RJ in person and all I can say is what a gentleman. After lunch, where various topics including the Met, the Christian Right, psychology, Edith Wharton and New York among others were discussed, Dan and I were ready to head over to meet the bloggers. RJ, who is kindness itself, offered his services as Sherpa guide, though he had not originally intended to go himself.

We managed to get slightly lost, due to rather vague directions and RJ a native of the city was a wonderful tour guide and told us about the history of the park as we wandered so it was no penance to meander our way around and it was a great opportunity to see some of the park, I don't think either Dan or I was upset by the fact that we wound up taking the overland route. Happily, we spotted Joe & Co. and RJ wound up staying and catching up with friends, which allowed us to enjoy his company some more, which we were quite pleased about.




Joe, whom we had never met was in fine form, holding forth on favorite movie lines, including quotes from an obscure B film from the 80's, "Liquid Sky" which I remember seeing at the old Orson Wells in Cambridge. We also got to hear a brief history of Delta Burke's early career as a beauty queen. (She went to the same high school as Joe.) and the effects of the wind on a rather heavy application of make up. At the same time, Joe was also able to keep up a running commentary on the disco that the skaters were getting their groove on to. We were also supplied with all known gossip about various skaters. I also found out that the reason that I was getting hits on my blog from Bigmusclebears was because of this post.which Joe had created a link to on his profile. Hey, if it works, it works.

Next the Farmboyz arrived, and as I promised I got a picture of them together for Lynette, since I didn't want her coming up here just to kick my ass. (I mean the woman packs heat) Father Tony took a terrific group shot that is up on his blog. I like it because I am in the back, you can barely see me and my paunch is cleverly hidden behind Joe's head.



However, being a Vermonter, I did not ask them all of the questions that Lynette had supplied. We New Englanders are a reserved lot, and we do not ask searching questions the first time we meet someone. Sadly this photo does not do the boyz justice. They are far better looking than you can tell from this snapshot.

I also got to meet Glennalicious who was a pleasure to talk with. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of him, or David from Someone in a Tree. Actually I didn't get a chance to meet David. I did however go over and say hi to Mark and was introduced to Tim.

The instigators of this weekend, Mark and Brian showed up fashionably late and I said hello to them. I didn't get a picture of them either. I know, I know. Why did I bother if I wasn't going to get lots of photos. It all got a little hazy after that. I was introduced to several other people, who I can remember facts about but for some reason my brain by then had grown a teflon coating. One fellow was from New Haven and is computer consultant and I had a very nice conversation with him. Another is a fellow blogger here in Boston, yet another was a hanger on, who I can tell you is from Methuen, went to Northwestern and now lives in the West Village. However if you asked me to give you their names, I will draw a complete blank. They say you never actually forget anything, however I would require hypnosis to bring back much of anything else.

Finally, it was time for the provincials to head back to Boston, so I got one last shot of Monkey with Joe.



I learned several valuable things on this trip. 1: I am too old to take flying trips that eat up about 10 hours of my day in travel time. Next time plan on staying over night. 2: People who do not really drink anymore should not suck down 20 ounces of white wine in the summer heat, even if they are drinking it out of a Sprite bottle. 3: The people who work in Port Authority are asshats and if you are not careful you will be sent up 2 levels to the wrong platform, only to be sent back down to the level you were on in the first place to the gate on the other side of the platform. You will also be about 2 minutes too late for your bus. (As luck would have it, they had overbooked so we were hustled onto a less crowded bus that traveled express to Boston.) 4: Bloggers are really nice people and so even those of us who are very socially awkward wind up feeling at our ease in a very short time. 4: After far too long a time not visiting, I really love New York. It has a vitality and energy far different from my little town.

As you can guess, I had a great time. I will be heading back down for another visit with RJ, so that he can give the tour of the Metropolitan that he had offered after lunch. Next time though, I'm coming down the night before and I'm getting a room.