T'was the Day Before ...

And Mama was on a cleaning frenzy. While sorting out all of the books / magazines / papers lurking on the shelf beneath the coffee table I found this:

Click to enlarge and look at the last letter on the left -- it finishes at the top of the next column. Yup, Papa Squid was published at the tender age of 9. The New York Times Magazine, August 1, 1976. I found 3 copies of the magazine in an envelope under the coffee table. What it was doing there, I will never know but that is it's permanent home now.

After the frenzy, we headed out to the opera. Hansel and Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera. Orchestra seats. It was, to quote my son, awesome. (Actually, I found the first act a bit slow but the second was really good and the third was great.) Wednesday, Mike and I will return to the orchestra section for War and Peace. It runs 4.5 hours long. Don't expect to see a review until my brain wakes up sometime late Thursday, maybe Friday.

The tree at Lincoln Center.

The ornaments are different from last year. See the musical notes on some of them?

We then persuaded the kids to walk downtown to the newly reopened Second Avenue Deli. Off of Third Avenue.

On the way, we passed the giant Menorah at Grand Army Plaza, not to be confused with Grand Army Plaza.
No, it is not lit. Chanuckah is long over.

Continuing our walk South and East, we discovered this statue outside of The Lever House.

Yes, yes it is kind of disturbing.

Moving right along, we passed The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, all lit up and pretty for the season. The Waldorf is, as you may remember, the scene of my very first prom.
After walking through the Hemsely Building, MetLife Building (know as the PanAm Building to us old timers) and Grand Central Terminal (not to be confused with Grand Central Station which houses the subway), we finally arrived at the Second Avenue Deli only to discover that the wait was at least 30 minutes. We walked on, heading back towards home.

Crossing Fifth Avenue, I had to stop and take this picture and finally find out what the ribbons were all about.
They are Peace Prayers. The yellow represent prayers for those in the Service who have lost their lives in Iraq, the blue, prayers for lost Iraquies and their families and green, prayers for peace. More can be found here.

Then on to Hill Country for dinner. Mmmm ...

Now to put a few more rows on Squidette's blanket. I was not going to start it until after the New Year -- and hence not count the yarn so far acquired in this year's total, but my fingers got to itching and my brain to planning and so I did both. We only have 5 of the 24 requisite skeins so far -- the rest are on order through Knitty City (yes, it costs more then ordering on line but I'd rather support a local business, especially since we went there to see the colors in person instead of guessing off a monitor).