October NYC Weekend

Brad and I had a great weekend in New York! After a Saturday spent shopping and meandering in the glorious weather with my Shorewood friend Priscilla (while Brad caught up on some work in the hotel room - oh, and Big Game was on TV so he might have caught a glimpse of that too), we met up with Brad and Priscilla's husband Tom and had a delicious dinner at ABC Kitchen. Priscilla and Tom's son Casey (who was Mary's classmate at Shorewood) is a student at Columbia, so it's always a treat to see them when they're in town to see him.

We now interrupt this blog post to bring you a message from Big Game. Mary traveled with the band to Berkeley for the 115th meeting of Stanford and Cal in football, otherwise known as Big Game. For this highlight of the football season, each band section dresses up in costume. The tenor sax section chose to dress up as lumberjacks (I have no idea why), which is no hill for a climber from Wisconsin who owns her fair share of plaid shirts. All she had to do was add a fake beard and voilà  - I can't tell if it's Mary in the photo or Ole Swenson. (By the way, that's Mary on the right, with her friend Lisa on the left.) Lest I be disowned by my daughter and husband, I should also note (in case you didn't hear) that Stanford won 21-3.

Okay, back to New York! Sunday morning was another picture perfect day. (The sky really was that blue.) Brad and I did some walking around (that's the Empire State Building behind us) and read the paper over breakfast and coffee. It was definitely a relaxing way to spend the morning. (And Peter, it was nice to talk to you too!)

On Sunday afternoon Priscilla and I went to a matinee and saw The Heiress.  (As soon as he snapped this photo for us Brad left for Florida, and Tom was already on his way back to Wisconsin.) Not only was it a treat to see a Broadway show, but this one starred David Straithairn, Jessica Chastain, and Dan Stevens, making it an extra special treat. The show was well done (it's an adaptation of Henry James' novel Washington Square), the set was beautiful, and thanks to Priscilla's excellent ticket-buying skills we had prime seats. After the show, guess what we did?

You guessed it - we went to the stage door! (My children expect nothing less of me.) Jessica Chastain came out first and she was so gracious and lovely, posing for photos and giving out autographs. (And I should also note that she was superb in the play.) Unfortunately I wasn't close enough for a good photo, but you get the idea.

By the time Dan Stevens came out I had gotten to the front, thus the better photo. He also spent a lot of time with those of us who waited around, thrilling all the Downton Abbey fans. Afterwards Priscilla and I had dinner before she headed back to her hotel and I caught my train home. (But there's more! Stay tuned this week for further blog posts from the weekend!)