Frank’s Latest

After a lot of missed calls from Frank we connected last night and began to talk about his availability via telephone. I was surprised to learn that he spends days and nights in the lobby of his apartment building close to the phone. He doesn’t have a phone in his room.

One thing led to another so I asked him about the practicality of waiting for a call from his family that probably wasn’t going to come. That irked him a little but then I asked if he thought that Kelly, Jon, or Lise might be pissed at him for anything and he answered, “yes.” I said that patching things up with someone who is angry with you starts with an apology and that changed the tone of the conversation. He became pugnacious and I’m not sure what would have happened if we’d been in the same room but it could have become physical.

Today he left a message saying, “If I’m so wrong then you should send me a priest.”

Astoria

Saturday we took the N train all the way to Ditmars Blvd and walked around Astoria. It was fun to walk down 31st St and see the taverna’s and all the Greek names.

We stopped at a record store and K bought a CD of a contemporary pop star whose music was playing on the store’s sound system. Then we stopped at Titan Foods and were overwhelmed with Goodies that K remembers from childhood. We got olives and diples and taramousalata. The taramousalata was made with potatoes and not much garlic. A far cry from what I’ve come to expect.

We stopped at a coffee bar and K ordered Greek coffee while I went for expresso. The pastries were sweet and the atmosphere comfortable. We sat next to an exhaust fan that was kicking up a breeze and a man in back of the room lit a cigarette. No one seemed to care. I think Greeks have a different perspective on smoking.

We cut over to Steinway and walked for a long block. It was kind of boring. Lot’s of women’s clothing and shoes. Nothing Greek there so we cut back to 31st and wondered how people lived so close to the elevated train.

We got down to Broadway and used the Not For Tourist Guide to find a restaurant called Uncle George's. It was a diner atmosphere with all the expected Hellenic cuisine on the menu.

The Sunday project was to consolidate both of Mom’s storage bins into one. It is done and it seems like a landmark achievement.

Gia had arthroscopy on her right knee a week ago last Friday 2/9 and is still in a lot of pain. This after being told that she should be up and around the following Monday. The doctor didn’t declare success after the surgery saying that there was so much inflammation that it was hard to tell the state of the joint. I’m concerned.

Friends and Food

K, C, and I have spent the last 3 Thursdays at Keepers just clearing stuff out of my Mom’s storage lockers. Progress has been slow but soon we’ll have cleared enough space to consolidate the remaining stuff into one locker.

On Tuesday I went out with Richard T for cheap Guinness Stout at a college bar close to Cooper Union and afterward went for kebob’s at The Olive Tree Cafe on MacDougal. Richard said it’s popular in the Russian community. The food was good and the company entertaining.

This was a second try at getting together. We set off together on Monday but got separated in the Subway.

Wednesday was Vic and my every other “Thursday” get together. We started at his place where he showed me some of the finer points of kitchen cabinet installation. Vic pointed at a seam between cabinets and even after he showed it to me I wasn’t really sure it was there. So close to invisible.

We ate at Pop’s, the Cajun place we’d ordered from at Halloween. I had a sandwich that was so huge I didn’t feel like breakfast in the morning. We ended at The Hunt Club in The Grand Summit Hotel. They’d advertised dancing and it’s a candidate for taking the girls (and maybe the men) dancing. Seemed like a fine place.