At The Vet With Bradley

Sign Of The Times

Remember stationery stores? The small ones have been put out of business by chain stores and on line retailers. Pomerantz stationery store in Philadelphia was a very nice store at one time.

Macy's Delightful Flower Show

Here are a couple more photos I took yesterday of the annual flower show at at Macy's downtown Philadelphia store.

Temple GLBTQ Alumni Happy Hour

Yesterday Dan and I attended the first ever Temple University LGBTQ Alumni happy hour, held at the Pennsylvania 6 bar and restaurant downtown Philly. Free drinks and good food were in abundance!

Vegan Lunch

Sometimes it's east to eat vegan...like today at Tootsie's Express in the Reading Terminal: delicious giant lima beans, boiled cabbage, roasted potatoes and green beans.

Macy's Annual Flower Show

Macy's center city Philadelphia store features an annual flower show in March. This year the theme is "Hidden Gardens." This beautiful dress made out of live flowers is part of the display.

Downtown Day Photo: Wedding Cake Competition

At Liberty Place shopping center in downtown Philadelphia there is an exhibit of fancy wedding cakes. A competition will be held. This one is a "Day of the Dead" cake!

Friend At Breakfast

A cute photo of Loki on my shoulder taken by Dan this morning.

Dan's Tour Phila. Museum of Art

Dan is giving a tour at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for members of the Senior gay men's social group this morning.

The Master Takes A Bow

84 year old Paul Taylor joined his company for a well deserved round of applause Saturday afternoon.

Upper West Side Spring Afternoon

A beautiful day in New York.

Paul Taylor Dance

America's greatest living choreographer. We've been enjoying his work for 30 years.

Koch Theater?

How did such a disgusting individual have this Lincoln Center theater named after him? Answer: inherited money.

"Luce" Italian For Lunch

On the upper west side, a fine Italian eatery.

On Schedule

Amtrak PHL-NYC is a fast trip these days...90 minutes!

Selfie On Amtrak

Headed to NYC today for the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Heavy Duty Repairs

To the prewar building opposite our Philadelphia home.

Headed Downtown

Lunch, window shopping, the bank, drug store, Staples, and a free organ concert are all on the agenda for my "downtown day" today. First day of spring...hooray!

Leather PrIde Display At William Way Center

This original sign from the 247 Bar is on display at the William Way GLBTQ Community Center in Philadelphia. I remember the bar well from the late 70s and early 80s.

Hotel Le Toiny

One of our favorite restaurants on Saint-Barth. The views are spectacular and the food is always first rate.

Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life:" The Ultimate Antidote To Reifenstahl

In the current (March 17) issue of The New Yorker, there is a book review of a new work entitled "Five Came Back: A Story Of Hollywood and the Second World War," written by Mark Harris. The book focuses on five Hollywood directors, and the roles they played making war propaganda films. In the review, writer David Denby recounts how Hollywood director Frank Capra was shocked when he saw Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 film, "Triumph of the Will," an ode to the Nazis. Capra felt that the film was a powerful pro-Nazi morale weapon. Capra and the other directors...John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, and William Wyler were assigned to make propaganda films for our side films with the aim of inspiring us to fight and win. But in his review, Denby notes that Capra made the ultimate antidote to the Riefenstahl film after the war ended:

"It's A Wonderful Life" (1946) was nominated for five Oscars but was a box office flop-a failure from which Capra never really recovered professionally. In the end, however, the film became a double triumph for him. It grew to become one of the most beloved of American movies, as, as such, it provided his final answer to the Riefenstahl film that had troubled him so many years earlier...its vision of a democratic community, seen now, seems like something Americans would have gone to war for.

St. Barts: Seeing Underwater Without Getting Wet

In St. Barts you don't have to be a scuba diver or even get wet to have a look at the beautiful fish and sea life. In Gustavia, the "Yellow Submarine" takes visitors out on short excursions so that they can enjoy the underwater world.

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Au Revoir St.Barths

What a great week Dan and I had at our home away from home on St. Barths. A special highlight of the week was a meetup of fellow fans of this special paradise from an on line forum that was held midweek. It was great to meet so many forum friends. Our second time being on island for Carnaval was also a special treat. We enjoyed so many wonderful dining experiences returning to some old favorites and discovering some new ones. I had a fantastic week of scuba diving visiting several new sites for me and seeing so many beautiful underwater vistas. At age 65 with the strong possibility of heart surgery looming I'm never sure when my last visit will occur to the underwater world that I love so much. So today we return to the cold north land with our photos and memories, and to our beloved pets, whose furry appreciation will sooth the longing for our special island.

St. Barths Restaurant: On The Rocks

We returned to the Eden Rocks Hotel and its Jean Georges restaurant, known as On the Rocks, last night. This time we were joined by two new friends, Peter and Paul, from New York. We had met them while dining at La Table de Jules, in Lorient, where they are staying. They were interesting companions for dinner and the setting over the beach, from high up in the restaurant in St-Jean, is spectacular. Jim had a first rate lobster salad to start with, and that was a dish he had not tried previously on this vacation. I had a tomato, mango and avocado salad, which was not exceptional but healthy. For my main course I enjoyed a snapper with a side dish of asparagus, while Jim had home-made raviolis with tomato sauce. But the desserts were the best items on the menu. Jim had the Moelleux au chocolat, and I had an amazing banana soufflé, with bits of chocolat; it was smooth as could be, and probably the best dessert I’ve had on the island so far. Today we’re off to the beach of Grand Cul de Sac. –Dan

St. Barts: Diving The "Non-Stop" Wreck

Friday, for my final day of diving for this trip, my dive operator John visited yet another wreck lying in the relatively shallow waters just offshore, the "Non-Stop" wreck. It appears to be a relatively intact twin screw powered barge that sits upside down in about 50 feet of water. John explained that it hit a rock, which is now marked with a special buoy, near Les Gros Islets, and sunk, spilling its cargo over a huge area of the sea floor. As with any wreck, the site is attracting a wide variety of sea life. Lobsters, in particular, seem attracted to wrecks with the many crevices into which they can go. In the photos are a blue tang, groupers, trunkfish, a beautiful queen angelfish, a delicate little arrow crab, a featherduster worm, a spotted moray eel, and a couple of lobsters.

St. Barths Feathered Friend

We always enjoy visits from these beautiful little birds, called bananaquits. This one joined us briefly for lunch yesterday.

St. Barths: Two Excellent Dining Experiences

Yesterday, as a spectacular follow-up to Jim’s swim on the windy beach of Flamands, we ate lunch at La Langouste (The Lobster.) Dan first ordered a lobster salad, with medallions in a mango-type sauce, accompanied by pieces of Japanese ginger and greens. Jim’s fish soup with aioli sauce was a typical French item, tasty and savory at the same time. We both enjoyed baked fishes for the second course, a sea bass flambé for Jim and a more delicate red snapper for Dan. Both ordered the ‘moelleux’ or chocolate cake with molten center for dessert, the best we’ve had on the island so far. After Dan enjoyed playing Chopin at the Anglican church, and Jim had a swim in our villa pool, we drove to Gouverneur Beach so Jim could do some snorkeling. Then we traveled to Lorient for dinner. We returned to a fairly unappreciated restaurant, in its second year, La Table de Jules, facetiously called a ‘bistrot gourmand.’ The Pomerol ‘Plaisir de Siaurac’ was the ideal red wine to accompany our meals. For starters, Jim had a delectable goat cheese salad, and Dan’s ‘bouchees d’escargot’ was a snail dish with mache salad and pureed beets. The escargot, dripping in butter, melted in the mouth. For the main course Jim ordered the ‘Armorcaine fruits de mer’ an assortment of sea foods on a bed of tagliatelle. Dan’s mahi-mahi with a red wine reduction was an explosion of flavors. This five-star meal ended with a rich mousse au chocolat and another fondant de chocolat for Jim.