Sunday, April 26, 2009

Park Sloping

On Saturday, we took the Q to Park Slope which is a Brooklyn neighborhood called such, according to my husband, because it slopes down from Prospect Park which, again according to my husband who knows stuff, was the park preferred by Olmstead over Central Park.( More on that and our trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens some other time.) We arrived at Bill Hawley's spacious secret apartment for dinner and good company. There were Stash and Jeff and Frank, two charming dogs, a savory stew, home-baked bread and home-made ice cream. A moment of silent reverence for the departed Bea Arthur was the only break in the chain of lively, including the merits of adult circumcision, sex in the navy, how to define camp and whether to bother, the new influenza in Mexico, Bloomberg's contentious third term, Team New York Aquatics, the Jersey shore and stalking Patrick Stuart. Rule of thumb: when a group of gay men of no previous acquaintance gather for dinner, politics and religion may be avoided, but nothing bonds better than the sharing of coming out stories, especially the ones that involve Jewish or Italian families.


Here are Jeff, C, Bill, Frank, Stash and I.




Nothing tells you more about a man than his refrigerator magnets.

10 comments:

Stephen said...

When I lived in NYC in the 70s, Brooklyn was nowheresville (except for Brooklyn Heights). Now is is such cool/hot place.last time the husband & I were in NYC, we spent an entire day in Brooklyn & loved walking everywhere.
You evening sounds like it was swell. Wish I had been there. Love your blog(s)!
Stephen (society of jesus 1969-72)

ewe said...

you certainly get back and forth quite frequently.

Patrick said...

I had heard that about Olmstead and Prospect Park as well. Of course it came after Central Park, so he was able to utilize any lessons he may have learned from that. I still can't get over the fact that CP was his first design project, ever. Talk about starting with a bang.

I love those magnets. "Stop using Jesus as an excuse to be a bigoted asshole" is probably my favorite. Pithy. To the point.

Bill Hawley said...

Dammit, I freakin' blinked in the group shot. I really enjoyed having you and C and the rest of the fellows over, Father T.

Stash said...

I had a lovely time.

*waves*

dantallion said...

Stalking Patrick Stewart? Do tell...

Anonymous said...

I just have to know what type of wine was served with the savory Stew ! I saw a bottle in the background.

Tony Adams said...

Dear Now,
I brought two different Argentinian Malbecs, and Stash brought a Patagonian Malbec (who didn't eat much).

Mark said...

So many smiling faces! It looks like it was a great get together! :-)

Mark said...

So many smiling faces! It looks like it was a great get together! :-)