Saturday Routines

I don't watch Jersey Shore which may come as a surprise to some who believe there is no limit to the idiotic reality TV shows that fascinate me. Jersey Shore isn't one of them, but I know that GTL is a saying from the show -- it's the denizens' Saturday routine -- what they have to accomplish before going clubbing that night.

GTL stands for Gym, Tanning, Laundry.

To keep you up on popular culture, that's no white power/black power fist sign, but rather a characterization of fist pumping which is what you do when you're dancing on the Jersey Shore.

Earlier today I was thinking that my own Saturday routines have gotten messed up -- from the holidays (yes, still)and traveling and today I was getting back to them.

My routine is not GTL, but it's GLP.

My G is groceries -- I get pleasure by having fresh milk, laundry detergent, food that actually forms recognizable meals. My L is the same --Laundry and I was getting caught up. I know I've said this before, but anyone who has done time in a laundromat can't help but be grateful to have a washer/dryer, and I am. Today I was so grateful that I didn't have to go out into the cold lugging a bag full of dirty clothes to some disgusting laundromat.

Finally my P is puttering. Another pleasurable activity -- sorting through junk mail that's piled up during the week, straightening up, doing mini-declutters.

So to answer what I did today, I have to respond: GLP. Oh, and I won't be clubbing tonight either.

O the snow...

Back when I was about seventh grade, I discovered that I liked poetry but was not sophisticated enough (by a long shot) to appreciate poetry that didn't flow like music or didn't rhyme. I bought my first book of poetry which I still have called "World's Best Loved Poems."

These poems are really patriotic (jingoistic) and some are like little morality plays. That doesn't make them wrong or bad -- and one of them which I've always remembered and still have parts memorized began with O the snow, the beautiful snow...

It begins:

O The snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below,
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of people you meet.
Dancing,
Flirting,
Skimming along,

Beautiful snow! It can do no wrong.

It goes on for a few more stanzas about the beautiful snow until we get to the morality part... "Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell, fell like the snowflakes from Heaven to hell..."

And so it goes. Girl gone wild. Nice girls did, even at the time of the Civil War when this poem was written (by a man).

I hadn't thought of this book of poetry in a while, but about a week ago I was watching Celebrity Ghost Stories where ... well, this is fairly obvious, but a celebrity relates some ghostly encounter. This celebrity was a woman named Gabrielle Something and she was on Beverly Hill 90210. She spoke of her special relationship she had with her grandfather and their "thing" was a poem that they used to read to each other and this poem they shared is also in my book.

Here's a typical stanza:

Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

The grandfather dies, and a few years later her daughter and she were cuddling and all of a sudden the daughter starts whispering this poem into Gabrielle's ear -- who, of course, was stunned since she'd never shared the poem with her daughter but eventually thought it was this wonderful thing.

O the Snow, the Beautiful Snow

Yes, here we went again with the snow. Central Park reported 19 inches overnight. Right now this is the #6 in the top 10 snowiest New York Winters. 1995 was the snowiest, and I remember that -- there were a few big storms, but it seemed as if every other day it would snow a few inches.

When I went out today, the sidewalks were clear. New York City is fairly strict that the sidewalks have to be shoveled one hour after the snow stops falling. I saw my super when I went out, and he had four buildings to shovel, was out at 3 am, got no sleep at all last night.

So the sidewalks were clear, but the corners were bad -- icy ramps (how the sidewalk is designed at the corners for wheelchairs) leading to Lake Slushalot. Huge puddles of slush that even young skinny people can't jump over. When the gutters are cleared, it wouldn't be too bad.

Tonight I am grateful that I don't have to shovel a car, I don't have to shovel a building and I have a warm clean bed!

Great Sandwich

Years ago, when I used to go to the Paris Air Show, there was the Paris version of fast food which was sold from stands at the show. This was the most wonderful sandwich. It was wonderful crusty French bread in the form of a baguette.

Then it had a very, very thin layer of unsalted butter with another very thin layer of Grey Poupon-style mustard. Then, unlike the US where we'd have 1/2 pound of meat, there was one perfect slice of ham. It was heavenly. They'd sell the sandwich for $3 in a white paper bag with the end twisted.

I remember one year where I actually had my own car and driver that I bought one of these sandwiches, feeling like Queen of Sheba, in my car and laughing at myself as I gnawed away at this perfect sandwich.

Today I came about as close to sandwich as I could. Got this demi-baguette in the grocery store -- it's a commercial bakery, but a fancy one. Ok, so I didn't use real butter, but I did make it thin, and had Gulden's instead of Grey Poupon.

When I buy any deli meat, I have come to learn that if I say "sliced very thin" -- well, I'm just another whiny, demanding customer. So instead I say "As thin as you can do it, please" -- now, the good counter guys see this as a challenge, and when I unwrapped my ham, it was a work of art -- paper thin slices, no thinner than paper thin -- just perfect.

Really, is there anything better than a perfect sandwich?

Tom in My Neighborhood??

When I went out today, there were a bunch of semi trucks on the corner that indicate a movie or tv show is being filmed nearby. Turns out that my neighborhood is being used for an episode of Blue Blood, which is a TV show where Tom Selleck plays NYC police commissioner, and he is the elder statesman, graybeard, old wise man in the show.

Didn't see Tom, but I will keep my eyes out for him. He still looks plenty good to me!

Fran's Ice Photo

Fran says: Tues morn, Jan 18 Connecticut Ave -- Icy branch of a tree in front of my apt building. Freezing rain last night created slip-sliding conditions today.

What is this a photo of?