Spring and fall are my favorite seasons.  My Cherry blossom is finishing up now (pic at full bloom) and my magnolia has just burst into pink beauty.  The Forsythia and unknown shrub with white flowers are both in full bloom.    I have also just found out that two different friends that both moved out of state are now moving back (one to the Hudson Valley, the other to Northern New Jersey) this summer, for totally different reasons.  I am happy!

I experimented with a new theater club this year.  For many years now, I have subscribed to the Roundabout Theater Company, buying season tickets to all of their plays (about eight).  I like them because they produce classic drama, often transforming literature into live performance.  Since subscribing, I have seen Gabriel Byrne in A Touch of the Poet, Harry Connick Jr. In Pajama Game, Cindy Lauper in Three Penny Opera,  Rosie Perez in The Ritz, Clare Danes in Pygmalion, and so many others.  So, I branched out a bit this year with three plays from The Manhattan Theater Club.

I saw the first play in the series a few weeks ago, The Four of Us.  It walked the view through the lives of two friends, a playwright and a novelist.  We sat in a small, intimate theater.  The actors change the set between scenes as part of the performance, and we left the theater totally compelled by the story.

Yesterday, my cousin Michele and I went to see the second play in the series, From Up Here.  While still a relatively small, this theater had substantially more seating and a fully produced set and staging.  This play had a full cast and its storyline really affected me.

The play gave the audience a snapshot into the lives of a suburban family grappling with the aftermath of an overly sensitive son that threatened to kill his fellow students.  The writing in this play was superb.  The acting was compelling and the story left me, the viewer, thinking (and crying).

When the play ended, Michele and I went for a walk through Central Park. We walked up Sixth Ave, past the horse-drawn carriages lining up along Central Park South.  We watched the street vendors and artists selling hand-drawn sketches of passing tourists.  We took in the beauty of the hundreds of different flowers and trees in different stages of blooming.  People lined the lawns with picnics.  Dogs chased Frisbees, and couples embraced on park benches. 

We reveled in the New York Springtime!  Before heading back upstate, we stopped in a Jamba Juice and ordered shakes – Mango-a-go-go for me and a Orange Dream Machine for Michele.

By the time we got home, we were hungry and I did not feel like cooking a large meal, so I prepared a simple Italian supper…

First I set out an antipasto of cheeses, Kalamata olives, roasted peppers, Soprasatta and some dates. All of these cheeses I served came from the Southern half of Italy, Fiore di Sardenga “Flowers of Sardinia” (one of my favorites), Drunken Goat Cheese (semi-soft goat cheese fermented with port wine)  Primo Pecorino Sale (a young semi-soft Pecorino), and Incanestrato, and marinated mozzarella (cow’s milk) knots. 

Next, I made a big bowl of homemade ravioli stuffed with herbed ricotta from the deli and my homemade sauce (previously canned last summer from September Heirlooms).  I made enough so that I could have lunch for the next day or so as well.

I am really enjoying these long, leisurely days.  Tomorrow I am starting a new job, and life feels good.