First foray on a New Year’s New England winter day. Villages frozen in time. Continuity and comfort.
Stuffington Day 2012
Thanksgiving for wonderful family gathering! Slide show.
Indian Summer
SideTrek Route 5 North to Bernardston on a sunny 70-degree day to try FarmTable restaurant. Outside umbrella, please. Crabcake okay, if light on crustacean. Burger tasty. Sass Pinot Gris delightful. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale delicious. Took home a loaf of their bakery’s olive bread, it was so good. Lunching al fresco on a warm mid-October afternoon, priceless.
Hopped over to Northfield on Route 10. Meandered along the Connecticut River on a back road that parallels Route 63. Through Montague, Sunderland. Hatfield farm-stand stop. Mums and bread in tow. Perfect IndianSummer Saturday.
Nora Ephron
A modern writing genius. The girl who fixed the umlaut. Say hi to Stieg.
Weekend Sol
Lots of sun, son this weekend. Ben Piccata. RecipeDetours.com.
Taking time out from Facebook, still think it has jumped the shark. How to monetize the advertise to thirteen year-olds? Any money to be made has been. Spanish banks out of pesos. Uh, Euros. Jamie Dimon cannot intervene in every trade. Get real. They take like a nano- second. Joshua voted out, finally. Could never stand his screeching. Love Phillip ‘Cocker’. Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation collection has moved to rave reviews.
Elaine’s landmark on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is sorely missed and no replacement has yet been found. Wish I could buy it. Those were the days.
Couch Hunters
Cough, cough. Sniff, sniff. Couch Hunters’ International weekend. Why would you move half way around the world for a bathroom with two sinks and a walk-in closet? Just asking. I mean some of these house hunters’ condos in exotic locales could be in Kansas. Telephoto lens slice of the sea. Clogged head speaking.
Margin Call, newly released movie on-demand. Yay. It was reminiscent of my banking days past crises with added fluff, but fun. Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons. Worth a watch. Hillary’s flipped out on all the Sunday shows. Is there a country McCain wouldn’t invade and occupy? Sniff. K9Queen celebrated bday in Hawaii.
ChicAgo
Ben’s Hurricane Irene layover yielded an unexpected glorious day on Lake Michigan. Art Institute’s extraordinary collection worth it.
My recollection there is hosting a closing dinner in front of the Chagall windows during a 1990’s blizzard.
VMA show, Gaga’s non-Guido brilliant. Tony and Russell branded Amy Winehouse worthy of Billie Holiday status. Jazz, blues genius rarely heard. Songstress, poet. Bennett’s duet with her, ‘Body and Soul’ confirmed all of that. Rare talent. Bruno Mars’ ‘Valerie’ tribute spot on. Here’s to Joe.
Violet Glory
On stage at the Javits Center stands Ben with 3 other honored undergrads behind faculty illuminati during NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences graduation. 1,800 classmates cheer him on from the floor as he is introduced recipient of the Borgman-Phi Beta Kappa prize for most outstanding undergrad honors thesis: ‘Functional Data Analysis of Economic Bubbles: Creating a Coherent Shape of Inflationary Phenomena’.
As Ben crosses the stage with his diploma in Economics (highest honors) and Journalism (magna cum laude), President John Sexton reaches for a heartfelt hug. Ben says, ‘Thank you, John’. John replies, ‘Thank you, Ben’. Kleenex please. 
Next day, Violets in Yankee Stadium? A sea of purple stands. Joe’s smilin’. No, not joltin’ Joe. He’s there too with E.A. and Ellis. Bill Clinton emerges from the dugout right in front of Ben & Co. Bill’s speech had that politically charged Clintonesque touch of pure inspiration. Best of all, no purple rain.
Soixante
Everything sounds better in French. Mais oui, it’s official. Lobsters. Champagne. Cristal Saint-Louis, 1586. Merci mes chers amis. Ocean House, allons-y.
Mad Treks
It’s a mad world on MadMen these days. Betty is getting more evil. Is she revealing an incestuous past? Did she allow Sally to get too close to her Dad, Sally’s grandfather? Meanwhile, Joan and Peggy are running the show in the AdWorld. Don’s still dating Bethany, the Mount Holyoke “gymnast”. Pete Campbell went to Deerfield, someone on the show must be from ’round here.
Trailer for new movie “Howl” looks interesting with James Franco playing a young Allen Ginsberg, activist poet; Jon Hamm as lawyer in his obscenity trial. Today’s lifeonpurposeradio.com guest Judy Belushi, John’s widow 11am
Side Trek . NYC 