NEW YORK

Shauna, Mike and Zack live on this little backwater of a street called Fifth Avenue, just across from a quaint little establishment called the Metropolitan Museum and a rural area known as Central Park. Nothing like quiet, simple country living ...

Saturday evening, after returning from the Ellis Island trip, Shauna and Michael took me out to the Saint Andrews Golf Club for dinner. Mike is an avid golfer, and from what I understand, Saint Andrews (located a little north of the city in Westchester County) is the oldest golf club in the country. It's one of those places where, if you got a chance to look over the membership roles, you would see names that you recognize. Not only did I get treated to dinner (which was fabulous - I had the Chilean sea bass, after interrogating the chef who informed me that indeed, measures were successfully being taken to reverse the over-fishing problem) the wait staff surprised me with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday (OK, we're not going to get real picky about the actual date).

They did, of course, clean me up a little bit before taking me out there. Mike loaned me a tie and jacket. So, once again, as a homeless unemployed itinerant, I managed to get myself into a place I wouldn't have been able to get into on my own back when I was a respectable, hard-working taxpayer (I love the ironies of this life).

Sunday morning was a perfect day in New York - sunny, about 80 degrees, a lot of people out of town. Shauna took me to the Frick Gallery (walking distance from her place), which is a huge mansion that now displays the art collection of the late Mr Frick. Unfortunately, photography was not permitted in the gallery, so I have no pictures from there. Too bad, the art collection is astounding - everything from El Greco to Dutch masters to Monet. The building itself was worth the price of admission. The central room, bigger than the footprint of my old house in Scottsdale, housed a fountain and pool (not the swimming type) under a high arched ceiling. I'll have to see if I can poach some pictures off of the offical website.

In the evening it was time to leave, so I hopped on the subway (which I still find confusing) caught the bus out of the Port Authority and headed back to Doylestown.