NY State of Mind Day 2

May 14, 2012

NY State of Mind Day 2

Primary and Pat set off early in the AM for the 92 miles give or take bike ride to Sag Harbor. Primary changed a flat tire before he even left the house. I heard some grumbling but stayed in bed and before I knew it I was rushing to get on the road. But first, I had to save my little mutant maple tree from my neighbors' sheers. He wants to lop off one of its' three little trunks in essence MAPLE MURDER! Crazily, I had given permission the night before; but now in the light of day I knew something had to be done......

Intended victim

I managed to obtain a stay of execution and got myself and a Starbucks onto the LIE. Picked Pat up at Deli Delight on Montauk Hwy in East Quogue; he decided 70 miles was enough. I enjoyed his company the rest of the way, talking about how Sag Harbor differs from Montauk and if Dad, now on the road alone and phoneless, would make the rest of his trip unscathed. OOOPs as I am typing this I convinced Primary to work on killing some of the thousand bees that are swarming around our front door. After the deed was done he took a bee inside for identification and discovered they are mining bees. Good bees. Sorry. Planet. So Sorry. Bees.

Great Landing Spot

Packing up the bikes

Piled in and moved the car to the street

Right next to this sweet spot

So beautiful I stayed outside

Thought the two would be ready for lunch. But they wanted to let me shop a little first, pick out something for Mother's Day....anything I wanted they said!

First shop I entered, I decided to try on a t-shirt, went into the fitting room and my cell rang. The Primary. Guess he was hungry after all. I left the store and ran right into him. "Compose yourself", he commanded, "Billy Joel is down the street." I said nothing and started walking. Inside my head, "BILLY JOEL, BILLY JOEL!!!!" Honestly the primary had every reason not to trust me. Years earlier I may have tackled a few elderly women as we were all waiting to shake hands with Jesse Jackson. We don't run in to celebrities often so my track record looks pretty bleak. The celebrity in question though was special, from the time Dennis sang New York State of Mind in 1979 on that crazy road trip before we had any kids, to singing We Didn't Start The Fire at the top of our lungs with the kids, to Brendan going off on New Year's Eve to MSG to see him perform in person, right up to the Showtime special we all watched at Christmas without any heat, The Last Play at Shea (OMG), we knew how to enjoy the Piano Man. We all did catch a glimpse of him when Glen Cove co-hosted America's Sail in 1998; but this was different. Except for insisting we eat our lunch al fresco at the same restaurant where Joel was eating al fresco, I was well mannered and brought no shame on the family. The primary was border line, quickly downing 3 beers and making friends with a young couple, their dog!!!(not like the primary at all) and their beautiful baby boy Landon.

Billy dined at the table just beyond Pat

Feeding the Primary is key

Will not be duplicating this recipe at home

Waitress, servers, bus person were wonderful. Food tooooo! Waitress asked if we wanted anything else and really no, I said, Billy Joel, sunshine, Stella, delicious food, no nothing else. just the check please.