Out and About in the City

Yesterday we were at an art auction in downtown Boston, and as usual, the trip had an educational aspect, but not in the ways one would anticipate.

Hint: if you like to avoid eating with small children or if you have small children and would like to go out to eat, Legal Seafood in the Park Plaza neighborhood on a rainy Friday is just the ticket. I ate the spicy fish and chips (Yowza!) and S.O. had gumbo. Drank a glass of Fernaccia from Tuscany that hit the spot.

Fashion. Black is the new black. You can mix black and brown. Who knew? A black top and slacks with a tan safari type jacket is the cat's meow.

Jeans go with everything, especially with long legs. Ballet flats good. Long blond hair always good, the less styled the better. Boston didn't look so unstylish yesterday, but maybe because I am so friggin' out of it. My navy blazer and tan slacks looked so . . . yesterday, so suburban, so matronly.

If you have a new house and need good art on the walls--we are NOT talking Kincaid here, hie yourself to one of the Skinner auctions and pick up some nice paintings under $400.00. Hard to believe, when some of the shopping center art in its yuckky awfulness goes for thousands. Portraits are especially a good bargain. Tell someone it's your great aunt.

Weird man on the subway, asking for spare change. Usually someone weird on the subway, but that's the not-so-discreet charm of the city.

Get out and about. Away from the TV. You didn't want to hear about Sarah Palin's trip to Ireland anyhow. The plane refueled. Hey, I saw the coast of Vietnam once. Does that count?
O.K. enough.

Grapeshot

When Old Money Marries New Media

The Sunday Styles section of the NY Times featured an article about Blogger Melissa C. Morris, a NYC "society wife" who apparently caught the bachelor of the decade a few years ago. Lots of people are asking , "how did she do it?"

I read the article and her blog and the answer would seem to be that not only is she attractive but she's smart and also nice and looks like she might even be lots of fun. The gentleman in question was probably ready to marry and settle down. There's such a thing as being in the right place at the right time.

So . . . sometimes endless speculation has perfectly reasonable answers if anyone takes the trouble to think about it.

The thing is, if you're a computer person and programmed and analyzed and did all that work for a living, you can't ever stop analyzing anything and everything. And thinking about stuff. Like why no one is publishing your ever-so-cool books.

I've noticed a lot of good published authors are having a hell of a time. It's kind of like the movies. Lots of huge blockbusters, and then a few "little" films, like Juno sneak up on everyone. Saw Juno yesterday, compliments of Netflix. O.K., I am not the first one out of the blocks to see big movies, or small movies. Haven't even seen Sex in the City yet.

I have 15 pages and 3500 words on the new book which now has a working title, "In Flight," but nothing to do with airplanes. The character even has a last name, someone from my home town. Not too worried that she'll freak. After all the book has to be finished, polished, find an agent and then a publisher, and be bought and read. How likely is all that? I only have control over the finishing and the polishing. Sounds like jewelry. In a way it is.

I dithered over finding a gangster name that didn't belong to someone I googled. Finally harkened to a name back in fifth grade. Writers remember every bloody thing.

What else is new? While we're on the Times' Style Section: Cool Fendi handbag, cool Ralph Lauren pink blouse. He never loses his touch. The photos of the big HEAT WAVE showed quite a few women wearing black. Don't they know?

The first car ever was black and in Houston. No A.C. I arrived everywhere drenched with sweat. Black is not a good hot weather color. Black and white, that's different. Cool.

$695 Gucci shoes on the front page of Sunday Styles. I would break an ankle. Father's Day already history. Chanel fall clothes showing up. Summer sales. La Di Dah.

I made beef tacos last night. To die for. Tonight will be Kielbasa with sauerkraut and new potatoes. Drop a comment if you want the sauerkraut recipe. Can't just open a can. Sorry.

Made tuna salad out of the remaining tuna from the affaire nicoise. Again, drop a comment for my tuna recipe. A few little tricks. Shabby secrets, that's all.

Ye gods, this turned into a long post.

Grapeshot

Almost forget. Here's the link to the socialite blog. Cute graphics. Cute dog.
http://melissacmorris.blogspot.com/