Headwear, haircuts and turtles

Yes, love was in the air again in New York as the doey eyed happy couple returned for a quick visit....and boy were they loved up! Bless.

In between gazing into each other's eyes endlessly we managed to see a few sights and even get amongst it with the "Ladies". But not before I was forced to have my unruley mane tidied up by the talented (and slightly tipsy) Leisl.

The girls were allowed to head off by themselves to explore Harlem. With guidebook in hand a nice safe walking tour route described we felt certain they'd be safe. But alas they found themselves somewhat lost in a large park (not on the walking tour) and unsure how to get out. As they started to worry about being mugged they noticed a young man and decided to ask him for directions. Fortunately for them they had stumbled across a beat. The lovely gay ballerina escorted them out of the park to safety. No more solo adventures for them!

Central park was considered to be a safer excursion and we all headed off for lunch at the boathouse cafe and then a little row around the pond. Lucky Leisl and I have been working out. No help from Nikki and Claudia other than giving directions (we ran aground twice!!).




Shopping, good food and we even managed to palm off some of our clothes on them to take home so we can buy more.

Liberty, Justice and Sangria for ALL.....

So where did I leave off??

That's right....Aimo's departure and the impending arrival of CLeisl.

In between we managed to squeeze in a weekend visit to the Nation's Capital and lend our personal support to President Obama and reassure him of Australia's continued friendship and support on behalf of Julia. Perhaps a tad premature given the current state of political affairs in Oz.

The weekend started off with a fleeting visit to the Native American Museum and a desire to return to the cafeteria to sample some traditional eats! Followers - be warned!.....the food sounds interesting and nice but really it's just a lot of corn stuff. Corn soup, corn dumplings, corn syrup....not so nice.. trust me!

Much nicer than corn soup was the free jazz concert in the Sculpture Garden at the National Art Gallery. Jugs of Sangria, a cool fountain to dangle your feet in and a perfect sunset. Ahhhh.......

The next day we checked out the Newseum which is a new museum dedicated to the media and coverage of significant world events. They had a hunk of the old Berlin Wall out could touch. Little Tugs was in her element and only closing time could get her out of there. She loved it sooooo much we had to go back the next day for more. Luckily the world cup final was on and they had the biggest tv screen I had even seen so I was happy too.

The Holocaust Museum was not so happy but very interesting. Well worth a visit...but bring a cardie, it was icy in there! I'm not sure if they were trying to give us an insight into how the concentration camp peeps felt in the bitter European winter but it was certainly enough to will us to escape!!


A visit to the Capitol Building was short and we didn't get to see the actual rooms where the actual politicians make the actual laws but we did get to see where Senator Teddy Kennedy got sick at one of the Obama inauguration balls. Old Teddy was rushed to hospital and then died.

Speaking of dead Kennedys we toured Arlington Cemetery where JFK and Jackie O are buried. Sadly so are several hundred thousand US soldiers which have been killed in all the US wars. And just to cheer this blog post up...Arlington is just one of a hundred such military cemeteries in the US!!!!

And what's a visit to Washington without stop at the Pentagon? And yes, it's just like it is on TV...big and five-sided. Being mere civilians were we unable to get an inside look, and photo's are strictly forbidden (I'm sure they had all sorts of spying devices positioned around the building - like men pretending to be shrubs that would follow us but stop the minute we turned around) so all I have is the 9/11 memorial to show.




With not much time left we managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Air and Space Museum. One could probably spend about a week in there quite happily but with limited time I stuck to the essentials. See space ships and touch a moon rock! The hubble telescope photos of galaxies and stars were oh so pretty!

Basketball, Bridges and Boys in Budgie Smugglers

Hi Fans,
I know it's been a while. I hope you haven't missed my wildly entertaining words too much but it's just been busy, busy, busy here.

Firstly there was Cyclone Shaw that passed through town, then this heat wave (sorry Sydney-siders for rubbing it in) and finally a deadline for work. I know!!! It was a complete shock to the system, having not had one for quite some time but I managed to get everything in on time, so don't worry.

Now I know you don't want to hear about my boring work....New York...New York...I hear you chanting.....so here it is....in reverse chronological order (sort of).

July 4th fireworks: I have to give the Yankees a big thumbs up...despite not having a harbour bridge to do the firework waterfall thing off they certainly put on a good show. Clover Moore, Channel 9, Richard Wilkins and 'Chick chick boom' girl could learn a thing or two!!! Firstly, there was no lame 104.1 TodayFM simulcast and secondly, there was some of the coolest fireworks I've ever seen...like ones that turn into smilie faces. They had me applauding and whooping out loud!

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in a fancy new building is great if you like modern art. There were only a few hideous gold picture frames to be seen. Well worth a visit, especially on a 100 degree (in the old scale - that's super hot for those who live in the 21st century and prefer to use the metric scale) day. I've posted a few of my favourite arty pieces on FB so check 'em out if you're keen.

The Museum of Art and Design (Columbus Circle) has kooky art made from natural stuff like bugs, feathers, butterfly wings and twigs. All very cool but a bit ewwey sometimes. Not for the squeamish!!! One room was entirely covered floor to ceiling in black rooster feathers. It was like having a room lined with feather boas....oh...so soft!



NY Pride....Well here I think the Yanks could learn a thing or two from the Aussies. First the parade goes for FIVE HOURS...in the middle of the day....in the stinking heat. Hello...DUMB! Then at the end of the parade they have a fair which consists of a few blocked off streets with stalls selling food and free hep C testing pretty much...No picnic, no shady trees, no doggy beauty contests and how any drag queen can survive the day without her entire face sliding off is a mystery! They have a 'Loidies' dance party the evening prior on one of the piers which in true lesbian style is at a sensible hour...6.30 to 11pm. About 3000 wimin attend and stand around for the first few hours chatting and checking out the talent before they get sufficiently 'relaxed' to have a wee wiggle. Then right at the end they have a couple of shows. One of which was a Amy Winehouse-esq looking lady singer with two skinny pretty mostly naked go-go boys? HELLO...WOMEN'S PARTY????

New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden. Since the Liberty don't quite pull the crowd you get to sit almost court side for about $40 TOPS!!!. Tugs won a lucky seat price and was most appreciative of the signed team postcard even if she was envisioning a team top. The Liberty put on a good show even but were monstered by none other than our own Lauren Jackson who top scored as always!! Entertainment in the quarter time breaks was cute little mini dancers and cheerleaders all about 5 to 10 years old. Some of those kids can cut some moves!!!Whoa!



Oh and bridges.....Manhattan has some good ones...being an island and all. The Brooklyn is the most famous and amazing to walk over. Next to it is the Manhattan Bridge which isn't a pretty or as historic but it's way bigger and sometimes size does matter. It can carry 8 lanes of car traffic and 4 subway lines!!!! And me! BIG!

Off to see Michelle, Barrack, the kids and Bo this weekend. Tune in next week for another installment.

Island in the stream...that is what we are....

A weekend of island hopping it was.

Hop 1: Manhattan to City Island.
A ye olde ship building and fishing island in the Bronx and a very long way on the subway. It has one main drag at the end of which is the biggest fish and chips shop I've ever seen. The food is so deep fried even the seagulls know it's bad for you and stay well clear.

It also happened to be 'graduate from high school day' so there were lots of pimply teens in mortar boards and gowns celebrating the achievement by raising their cholesterol levels higher than their grade point average.

Hop 2: Manhattan to Long Island to Fire Island.
Another long train ride plus a shuttle bus and ferry this time and you land on Fire Island. It's a skinny but very long island off....yes, you guess it.....Long Island. The Island has no cars and takes about 10 minutes to walk the width (from bayside to beachside)....and a few days (probably) to walk the length.

There are no roads, only boardwalks and that's how you get everywhere. If you have luggage or shopping you pull it along on a red radio flyer cart (see pics). All the houses are built in the dunes and are connected by the boardwalks.


We landed at The Pines which is a 'No Straights in the Village' kind of place. There are just lots of beautiful gay boys, bars, a cafe and gourmet food market. Oh, and massive boats just moored in the marina. The houses here are amazing. Ocean views and pools all built into the sand dunes.


Cherry Grove is the next little village about a 25 minutes stroll through the dunes away. There are more pretty gay boys and also a few handsome (?) older lesbians. Again lots of houses (not as flash) connected by boardwalks with cafes, bars, restaurants and a couple of hotels.



We were there on Sunday afternoon so things were winding down for the weekend but I'm pretty sure both places go wild most weekends (if the empty condom packets in the bushes are anything to go by!).

Cocktails anyone???

Well it's been a busy few weeks with visitors from home and slipping back into tourist mode. Highlights include....

Roller Derby - Manhattan Mayhem defeat Queens of Pain -thanks to a dubious call from the Ref that put Suzy Hotrod in the sinbin for the final jam.

Cocktails on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art......my kind of museum visit. Cheers!!

Bingay.....at Lips in the West Village. Drag queens have nothing on Mitzy and Naomi but was fun none the less. I did like the half-time shows but without the entertaining calls for each number it's really not the same.

Staten Island - sailed past Lady Liberty in all her glory for an afternoon at Staten Island. Most people just do the round trip and don't bother getting off on the island. Other than us, the only people that did get off were either on day release from the psychiatric ward or drug rehab centre or orthodox jews having a picnic with their 14 children. Mazel Tov!

Boston - small and quaint and full of history...and rude cab drivers. Did a brief city tour and boat cruise. Saw the USS Constitution (oldest navy ship aptly named 'Old Ironsides'). Conference was a waste of time but Tugs enjoyed a few days exploring including a trip to spooky (and not just because of the witches) Salem and the JFK Museum.

Yankees vs Indians - on the bleachers which is a little like Bay 13 at the SCG. On a scorcher of a day the Yankees thrashed the Indians 11-2 thanks to a Grand Slam by A-Rod - clearly Cameron Diaz is doing wonders for his game. The heat did nothing to dampen the horny housewives trying to flirt with the outfield players. The highlight was when the whole Bleachers section erupted into a chant of 'asshole, asshole, asshole' at some poor unfortunate patron who happened to be wearing an Indians cap.

Beat it, beat it. No one wants to be defeated...

Yes, I was at the home of the late Michael Jackson. We'll not his actual home....but possibly his spiritual home. Or at least the home of his musical career. Or birthplace...whatever!

Wednesday night at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem is Amateur Night, and there was nothing amateur about it. This is where the Jackson 5 and Alicia Keys amongst others were discovered.

The night kicks off with some kiddy talent which we missed most of due to the exceptionally slow service at the Southern Soul Food restaurant called Sylvias. Although when that mountain of ribs did come half an hour after our order, despite letting them know we were in a hurry, it was worth it.

Young hopefuls step up onto the stage in a packed theatre and give it everything they have. And if the crowd like it they cheer, if they don't they boo. If they get more boos than cheers they get kicked off.

And trust me....the folks up in Harlem sure like to make their opinion known! When a Chinese R'n'B singer came on if felt like we were suddenly transported to the set of a Jerry Springer show. The poor guy won't be pursuing a career in music after that! Ba bye!

Definitely a night worth having even if I did feel like the straight white geek in a crowd of cool, grooving black peeps!

Roll out the red carpet

The last few weeks have been the Tribeca Film Festival, originally founded by Robert De Niro and friends to revitalise the Tribeca area of Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 bombing of the World Trade Centre.

The festival is spread out over several areas of the city and there are hundreds of films to see - and if you go pensioner style to the matinees it's also an absolute bargain.

We got the grey-rinse 3-pack on which we could see three matinees of our choice. Since we are ladies of leisure, this suited us perfectly.

Our first film was a doco called 'The Other City' about the AIDS epidemic in Washington D.C. which due to archaic laws banning needle exchanges has the highest infected population in the U.S and the highest rate of new infections. It was a bit of a tear jerker.

Our second film, also a doco was called 'Monica and David' about two people with down syndrome who fall in love and get married. The movie chronicles their early married live together and was a bit of tear jerker....but this time it was happy tears.

Our third film was a screening of shorts, one of which was an Australian entry called 'The Wake'. The two highlights of this session were 1) a great lesbian short about a girl who fakes a suicide attempt to get the attention of her ex whom she's hasn't gotten over. Strangely this was a hilarious movie despite the subject matter and 2) hearing a hush come over the crowd and whispers that Robert De Niro himself had snuck in in the dark.

After all the films there was question time with the film maker and sometimes the actors too. I was completely amazed at how quickly some of the short films were made. I am almost inspired to pick up the handy-cam myself. Surely it can't be that hard!!!