NYC special. In which I attend to the divas.

If you recall, our last attempt to visit NYC was beleaguered by blizzard. Not quite snowstorm Stella from our multi-day-delayed 2017 Spring Break visit, the snow stormlet of November 15th did keep us from reaching our hotel until just before midnight on Friday the 16th, about nine hours later than (obsessively) planned. Our re-routed route unfortunately did not sync with our luggage's travels (which somehow managed to travel via our original itinerary) so our LaGuardia-arrived luggage did not meet up with its JFK-arrived owners until 42 hours into our five-day "weekend."

When asked at JFK baggage help to list the contents of my gate-checked bag I was a little embarrassed to admit that the nearly empty pilot case contained but one item. If you don't know me by now to know that I was fleamarket traveling with an expectantly empty suitcase then you might guess that I was fairly flustered to admit to the very helpful and friendly American Airlines staffer that I was transporting bubble wrap in my otherwise empty suitcase.

To wit, said suitcase would eventually encase a few additional new-to-me items on its homeward bound journey a few days later, but not until I had attended to the divas we had traveled 1,700 miles to see.

More on our Broadway divas in a blog bit, but first a flashback... Among my favorite journeys with Mari was a punctiliously planned "divas concert tour" during Spring Break 2011.

It was all due to an alignment of divas which is likely never to happen again for another 75 years (I suppose that's Haley's Comet, but you get the idea). It started with Lady Gaga in Dallas, then Celine Dion in Vegas two nights later, and finally Miss Jackson at Radio City Music Hall at the end of our jet-set week.

Our divas on Broadway pre-Thanksgiving fleamarket visit to NYC last week did not involve any actual diva sightings (unless you count Miss Peppermint of RuPaul's Drag Race fame), but would include three musicals devoted to divas and their transcendent tunes.

I was saddened to learn just this week that Head Over Heels will end its run prematurely in January. Mari and I enjoyed the beautiful new-to-us historic Hudson Theatre as a lush backdrop to a very clever reimagining of a medieval tale set to a modern beat. If you are looking for a lively musical with a contemporary spin and if you love the music of The Go-Go's and Belinda Carlisle, then please head your heels over to the Hudson before January 6, 2019.

During our recent stay, Mari and I also enjoyed Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and The Cher Show. Legendary music and divas from our childhood came alive for us once again. Mari and I have fond live concert memories of both Donna Summer and Cher, but their Broadway musical bios transport the lives of both remarkable women beyond the dance floor. You'll be truly inspired and not just to get up and dance.

Of course, Mari and I carefully planned our visit to include a full Saturday and Sunday. As you know, dear reader, that means fleamarketing our favorite fleas. A full morning at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market followed by our favorite sloppy Joe at Schnipper's is nothing short of a perfect New York Saturday morning. (Currently I'm in love with the Mac and Joe--half mac and cheese, half sloppy Joe, but the sloppy fries are a comforting favorite.)

Here are both sites again.

annexmarkets.com

schnippers.com

We met a wonderfully friendly new vendor on our Thanksgiving-chilly Saturday morning. We detected her beautiful accent as she greeted us with a warm smile, hands searching for warmth in the pockets of her long wool coat. We told her we had traveled from steamy South Texas to enjoy some wintry cold weather and I teased that I would likely be putting away my winter coat and boots for the season after returning home in a few days. We soon learned that our vendor was originally from St. Petersburg and we were thrilled to tell her how much we had enjoyed our visit last summer.

While fleamarketing often brings secondhand goods and childhood memories flooding back into our lives, it is always heartwarming (especially on a blustery Saturday morning) to relive that universally musical truth, "There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all." The comforts of home are often found in surprisingly faraway places.

Let me share with you a few items that made the return journey with us to their new home. You won't be terribly surprised to find a couple of new old tea cups.

I purchased the tastefully tarnished (tarnish equals character) sextet of silver-plated appetizer forks pictured above from our new Russian ally to add to my collection of... well, appetizer forks. The arrow-tipped tines on these slender miniatures reminded me of the herring forks I had purchased last summer in Stockholm. Those have yet to stab their intended briny morsels, but always serve up happy memories whenever I open the silverware drawer.

So, along with having enough bowls and dishes for the next neighborhood block party, there are quite a few herring and appetizer forks, too.

Spotted among various assorted sundries (including a delicately precarious balance of household goods and garage tools) from another vendor, the miniature fluted Salisbury bowl pictured next did not have a lid, but I am guessing it is a sugar bowl. The blue floral "Harvest Time" pattern with gold rim made this English bone china bric-a-brac hard to resist at four dollars.

Also standing tall at four dollars from the same vendor is the six-inch-long cast iron owl trivet. We have a few of these old trivets in our kitchen festooned with various degrees of undulating loops and regularly put them to practical use. The newest addition to my owl collection will likely not join the parliament on display over my computer, but I assure you he will be in safe hands in the kitchen where he can serve a more utilitarian purpose, perhaps joining us for tea occasionally as he cradles a tepid teapot.

The vibrant pink and burgundy roses of the Queen Anne bone china teacup were barely visible beneath layers of neglect at another vendor's collection of household goods. Had I not been so deep into my hunting and gathering I likely would have missed this British beauty altogether. For five dollars I couldn't resist rescuing yet another teacup and saucer.

That sound you hear is the sound of Mari rolling her eyes in my general direction.

You may recall an earlier antique find from our previous snowbounded visit to the Grand Bazaar NYC. Tucked inside (recently renamed) MS-245, the vendors nestled in the comfortable environs of the school cafeteria offer a beautiful array of collectible goods. On Sunday morning, I walked eagerly and directly up to a familiar table and the familiarly familiar vendor I had looked forward to seeing once more.

On our last visit I had purchased a beautiful bone china Limoges teacup and saucer that was over a century old (NYC Markets revisited, episode 5). Delighted to see vendor Sharon Murphy again, I reminded her that I had last purchased from her during our 2017 Spring Break and that I was hoping to export another antique back to South Texas. I had never seen the not-exactly-romantic sounding Schleiger 381 Haviland China pattern, but I could not pass up another 100-year-old delicate Limoges beauty from Ms. Murphy's collection. Be sure to visit her colorfully curated online shop should you also have a teacup fiend in your life.
teacupsfromsharon.etsy.com

My final purchase was back outside in the school parking lot where an inviting variety of vendors had gathered for a beautifully crisp Sunday before Thanksgiving. As usual, you will find here a diverse assortment of household goods, clothing, books, collectibles, decor, and furniture for sale on any given Saturday or Sunday. Some items cleverly crafted, others carefully curated, all with their own story and all awaiting the opportunity to become part of your story.

Two of these Schumann bread and butter plates from Bavaria, scalloped edges and all, made their way into my fleamarket backpack that afternoon. Ready for an afterschool snack, evening dessert, or halftime treat to share with my own beloved diva, these delicately detailed reminders of a fall fleamarket journey with Mari will always bring me home.

Before I forget, that's us up top at the Bryant Park Holiday Shops. You will love strolling the park, shopping the vendors, tasting the treats, and enjoying the festive atmosphere. I'm guessing you will especially enjoy the experience after dark when the festive glow is at its brightest. Visit the site for helpful visitor information.

bryantpark.org

I hope you will return with me once more to our fiftieth state next time.

Hawaii, episode 13. In which it is high time for tea.

We'll get to my wardrobe choices later, I promise, but let us focus on more pressing matters... like tea. While revisiting our London visits in episode 12 of that series, I confessed to being a long-time subscriber of TeaTime magazine. Here's how we met.

It was during our first visit to Hawaii that Mari and I found ourselves on an airport shuttle bus with a good 45-minute ride ahead of us to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. In between admiring the spectacular views (of the Pacific at my right and Mari at my left) I chanced an eavesdropped glance forward at the older couple seated in front of us. The wife was animatedly paging through a magazine and pointing photos out to her travel-weary husband. Fortunately for me I paid a great deal of interest and noticed the colorful publication gripped so excitedly by my fellow mainland traveler and presumed purveyor of tea for she was reading a magazine previously unknown to me, but now decidedly familiar.

Aside from its regular reporting and colorful presentation of seasonal tea celebrations (and temptalicious recipes) each bi-monthly issue of TeaTime highlights one or more local tea rooms that pay proper tribute to the art and everyday luxury of drinking tea. Often "local" means close to mainland homes, but sometimes it is far and away like Brighton's Tea Cosy, the royally royalty-themed shop we visited as we embarked on our grand Olympics adventure in 2012.

On our most recent visit to Waikiki, Mari and I decided it was high time to enjoy high tea Hawaiian style. Last summer's (July/August 2017) issue of TeaTime featured an article highlighting several locations to enjoy afternoon tea in Waikiki. Among them was the Westin Moana Surfrider resort, an easy-breezy just-less-than-a-mile walk from the Hilton. Mari and I enjoyed an awesomely tropical full service tea on the veranda facing the ocean at the century-old historic hotel.

Other than the spectacular views and attentive service, we especially enjoyed the tropically local enhancements (like lilikoi and coconut) to traditional tea treats that we have come to enjoy during our UK travels.

Please visit both sites to learn more and to make a reservation.

teatimemagazine.com/the-tea-experience-afternoon-tea-on-waikiki/2/

The TeaTime site links directly to the Surfrider page, the second page of the article.

marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/hnlwi-moana-surfrider-a-westin-resort-and-spa-waikiki-beach/

Recently, Mari and I revisited a favorite that I highlighted during Mari's 50th birthday revisit to California.

We had first discovered Duke's Waikiki during our 20th anniversary Honolulu revisit in 2010. It is next door to one of my perennial favorites, The Cheesecake Factory, so it took Mari a little persuading to convince me to try something new and local, but I am forever grateful that I did.

You can reread more about Duke's (and Duke) in that earlier post (Rose Bowl, episode 2), but here are perusable pics from our recent visits.

Yes, that's intentionally plural.

A perfect combination of setting, service, and surf beckoned us back to Duke's more than once.

I want to make a special aside to thank my wonderfully supportive and generous former co-workers for treating me to the spectacular fresh seafood buffet at Duke's two days in a row this past June. Other than your years of support and friendship, McAllen ISD librarians, I treasure your kind words and warm wishes shared in my yearbook and I want you to know that I held onto the generous (green) note enclosed in my retirement card so that I could use it to pay for lunch at Duke's and remember you all once more.

Here's the view from our table.

Almost as beautiful as my view of Mari above.

You may still be wondering about that pineappled pose above, correct? That was back on the first day of my favorite shirt's appearance in laundry rotation (you'll see it again in a final post) when I took it for a casual walk down the beach for lunch. While not a recommendation from a magazine article read on the airport shuttle, The Steak Shack was indeed a recommendation from our most recent shuttle bus driver.

Mari and I have had the great pleasure of meeting and greeting so many friendly and knowledgeable tour guides during our travels, but we have also been driven countless times by the capable and well-trained hands of many local men and women on so many routinely mundane cab rides and shuttles to and from airports.

I am always thrilled when a driver goes the extra mile to inform me about a site new to me and I have learned over the miles how valuable a resource local drivers can be.

Our airport shuttle van this past June was driven by an exceptionally entertaining and knowledgeable young man who did his best to entertain his passengers along the traffic-glistened route to Waikiki hotels as he offered warnings against tourist traps as well as a few personal recommendations.

We were delightfully rewarded when trying out one of William's dining recommendations, just a half-mile walk down the beach from the Hilton.

Can you blame me for enrobing myself in tropical pineapple attire for a sandy and leisurely lunch jaunt?

Open daily during prime tanning hours (10:00 AM to 7:00 PM), the Steak Shack offers wonderfully flavorful plates of grilled steak (or chicken) with rice and salad at incredibly reasonable prices for varying appetites. William had promised the Shack offered food just as good as local steakhouses for less than half the price and he was deliciously dead on. You'll find the Steak Shack beachside in front of the Waikiki Shore Outrigger resort. The beachfront atmosphere was a complimentary (and complementary) bonus.

While I don't (never say never) drive a tour bus or airport shuttle, I do enjoy receiving and offering recommendations for local specialties. If you are willing to walk a ways away from your colossally inclusive resort, you are likely to find local specialties as well as a bit of relief for your travel budget.

While at the Hilton, however, Mari and I took daily advantage of the proximity of two ABC store locations on site. From our first visit way back in 2004, we heard frequent jokes from locals about the ubiquity of these very convenient convenience stores. Kind of like seeing a Starbucks or 7/11 on every corner of the mainland, but they are there for good reason (convenience, of course). ABC is also one of the unfortunately few places where you can find kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts. Unless you live near Vegas and Guam locations, you can also shop the site.

abcstores.com

Among my daily provisions were the Meadow Gold tropical yogurts pictured above (yes, those are resort prices for sure). I fell in aloha with the tropical flavors, particularly the pineapple. Who would have guessed I liked pineapple? Imported from tropical Midwestern dairylands, my "local" morning nourishment provided the proper start for which my maturing beach body begged. Other, soul-nourishing cravings were occasionally satisfied at the Honolulu Cookie Company by their famous pineapple-shaped shortbread.

I'm not kidding.
Pineapple-shaped shortbread cookies.

See for yourself.
(Locations in Vegas and Guam as well.)

honolulucookie.com

Next time, I look forward to taking you on a private island tour with the help of a new hoa (friend).

Hawaii, episode 12. In which we take our sea legs for a walk.

After our (always) melancholy departure from our first cruise, Mari and I found ourselves with some free time following our walk off the Pride of America gangplank. We had a pretty good idea where we could spend a few hours before checking into the Hilton Hawaiian where unbeknownst to us that morning we would receive our unexpectedly magical 20th anniversary upgrade at afternoon check-in.

That's us up there on the sprawlingly lush Hilton grounds back in 2010 and that's one of my favorite jaunty hats that I would fleamarket find the day following our cruise.

Mari is posing pretty in pink with this past June's tropical blooms and her own boldly-brimmed chapeau while I'm doing my best not to frighten the tropical parrots off their perch with one of my soon-to-be vintage shirts.

During our first visit to Waikiki in 2004, Mari and I discovered the Ala Moana Center, where I would return solo several times that last week of July while Mari was dutifully performing her APA duties at the convention center.

I hesitate to label Ala Moana a shopping mall because it is so much more than that, but it is essentially a shopping mall.

While Mari and I love fleamarketing for so many different reasons, we sometimes find ourselves walking the mall during our travels, hoping to discover local specialties that not only characterize a community, but help us remember our travels.

Like our 2008 spring trip to Minneapolis (another tag-along long weekend for me) during which The Mall of America became an easily accessible daytime "hangout" for this urban hunter-gatherer, I learned that there are shopping malls... and there are shopping malls.

As you can see from my pronounced pose at left, the Ala Moana Center is an indoor-outdoor shopping center that is a unique blend of everything you expect from a shopping center and everything you don't.

Here are some of the resident koi spreading their own aloha spirit to mall visitors. Ain't she sweet?!


As Mari and I were revisiting one of our favorite shopping centers post-cruise, we both experienced a strange sensation. While we had not suffered any level of sea-sickness during our first cruise, even on the roughest days (which were never very rough), we both experienced land-sickness while walking Ala Moana.

Our "sea legs" were a surprise souvenir of our week at sea and I am ever thankful that Mari also experienced the physical sensation that we were still at sea because it was (and still is) rather difficult to describe. Thankfully, the sensation wore off after that first day back on shore and neither of us has experienced it since, at least not to the same degree.

Since that post-cruise visit in 2010, a double-decker Target now anchors Ala Moana at the north end. Alongside my favorite Aloha Flea, the Aloha Shop inside Target is one of the best sites for affordable souvenirs including clothing, household goods, and gourmet foods including volcanic salt for those of us salt collecting gourmands.

Over the years, Mari and I have also enjoyed a variety of performances by local groups and teams including the hula students I photographed above during our most recent visit.

An easy and direct mile from Waikiki beaches, the mall's easy-breezy open-air design never lets you forget your heavenly surroundings and takes full advantage of postcard-perfect weather. Be sure to investigate the helpful site to plan your visit and to check the updated list of ever-changing merchants and restaurants. There is also a calendar of events and performances.

alamoanacenter.com

Browsing is all well and good, but shopping's the thing for amateur fleamarketers like us, and I had a goal during our most recent visit. Actually, I had a bowl goal or a goal for a bowl.

However you put it poetically or rhetorically, I had decided a few months prior to our travels that I was going to treat myself to a koa bowl. I guess I don't need to mention my bowl collection because everybody has bowls for flip's sake (no need to call hoarders-not-so-anonymous). It's not really a collection (is twenty too many?), but there are quite a few bowls in our home. (thirty?)

That's me with my most recent goal-in-a-bowl purchase outside Ala Moana. Perhaps you'd like to sneak a peek inside that yellow shopping bag?

As much as I fear the repercussions, I'm ready for a block party, or at least to put out a different bowl of snacks for each quarter of an ND football game (for the entire season).

This is the newest addition and it will not be seeing a single crispy chip, cheesy puff, nor chocolatey chunk any time soon.

I simply like looking at my koa bowl under the display light in the living room entertainment center. It will forever remind me of the natural beauty of Hawaii as well as serve as remembrancer of my years in education. It is my retirement gift to myself and the photo really doesn't do it justice. The 5-inch diameter bowl appears to glow from within and is so much lighter than it appears. Native to Hawaii, koa was traditionally carved into canoes, but has long been used for carving decorative household goods as well as musical instruments. In Hawaiian, its name implies strength and translates as "warrior." (Might as well be "educator.") Regardless, it was the bowl's simple and elegant beauty under the display light at the Martin & MacArthur shop that made me koa-cave.

Thanks for being polite and not asking.

On our 20th anniversary trip, Mari had gifted me the koa-inlaid pen pictured below. I love admiring it, but rarely have used it. Like all things collectible, its beauty outweighs its utility so I fear its fate is to be admired, after all. (You realize I collect pens, too, right?)

Sign up at the site to learn more about the beautiful products being made from koa and about the creative and talented artists, to read the blog, and to receive e-mail specials.

martinandmacarthur.com

Ala Moana also offers a great variety of dining options including a favorite of ours, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Taking a quick ride on TheBus (Numbers 8 or 13 will get you there directly from the beaches) or hoofing it a mile along Ala Moana Boulevard from the Hilton will also help keep you on budget. While the Hilton and other Waikiki hotels offer the convenience of on-site restaurants, the menu prices can best be described as out-of-sight, especially if you are staying longer than a few days.

Recently, Mari and I took a break from browsing to enjoy a local specialty, shave ice. Not a snow cone and not shaved ice with-a-D, Hawaiian shave ice is unlike any such frozen treat, but entirely like what you would expect from a tropically lush natural paradise. Better than any ice cream (except maybe the hazelnut gelato I had in the Piazza San Marco in Venice).

That good!

A few fun foodie recommendations next time.

Hawaii, episode 11. In which we coast Kauai.

Mari and I were thrilled when our cruise ship finally reached the westernmost stop on our Hawaiian voyage. Although not the westernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago (that honor goes to the "Forbidden Isle" of Niihau), Kauai would mark the furthest point west NCL's Pride of America would travel during our week as well as the furthest west Mari and I had ever traveled.

Like our Sunday-Monday shipboard stay in Maui, we would dock overnight in Nawiliwili, where we would enjoy two days of shore excursions before sailing back to Honolulu.

Our Thursday "Jewels of Hawaii" excursion saw us tour busing to McBryde and Allerton Gardens in Spouting Horn Park on the south coast of Kauai. The lush nature preserves and bountiful botanical gardens will forever make my barely green thumb even greener with envy when I chance a glance at our own South Texas excuse for a back yard. My parents' agricultural genes missed my generation altogether I'm afraid, but Mari does her level best to keep the yard inviting for our neighborhood wildlife.

Visit the National Tropical Botanical Garden's appropriately lush site to help plan your own outing.
ntbg.org/gardens/mcbryde

So we had reached the final full day of our cruise and Mari and I finally decided to be a little adventurous...

Faced with excursion options that would have us in the water and in the air, we opted for a quiet day on our own exploring the local environs.


You didn't think I had lost my mind (or a bet) and boarded a helicopter, did you?!

Sometimes, NCL will offer an excursion to simply take you into town, allowing you to return on your own at designated times throughout the day. Compared to excursions which involve extended driving and tour guiding, the cost is minimal (but not free).

This was our first cruise, so every day and every port was a learning experience and we quickly learned that in many ports there is free local transportation typically sponsored by local businesses to get you to their shopping centers.

In Nawiliwili there were several such transports available including a nostalgic novelty trolley to Harbor Mall and a more streamlined pedestrian van sponsored by Ross at a massive outdoor retail center anchored by CostCo and The Home Depot just two miles away along Kaumualii Highway.

harbormall.net

Strutting above are some (very) "free range" locals we came across at the shopping center. For some reason, feral chickens are fairly common throughout the islands, so be on the lookout as you are driving or you may get your feathers ruffled.

Sorry, but I just had to.

There was an early sail time of 2:00 PM that afternoon, so we spent just a few hours doing our best to stimulate the local economy that morning and we were excited to find a shop sponsored by an art guild which featured crafts by local artists.

I think my one and only souvenir from the Garden Island is the intricately inlaid wooden dish (about 8 inches square) pictured above left. While it is crafted and hand-inlaid of local wood, I realize it is not koa wood since I didn't stimulate the economy much beyond the $39 price tag.

My little souvenir porcelain plate was all of 49 cents (thanks to a 50% off red tag sale) at my favorite Salvation Army thrift store in South Austin a few years after our cruise and I like to display it with our Hawaiian souvenirs even though I am technically not its original purchaser nor did I bubblewrap nor transport the delicately diminutive (3.5 inch diameter) remembrancer to the mainland.

Back on the ship for our final cruise day (always a melancholy occasion for this sentimental souvenir hunter-gatherer and fleamarket explorer-envoy), I asked Mari to snap me with one of my shipboard meal mainstays.

I know.

I am a fiend for cheese (also for most things cheesy) and the dining room's daily "Cheese Tray" offerings did nothing to shed me of that nom de fromage. Pride of America's daily offerings of smoked salmon for breakfast and jumbo shrimp cocktail at dinner also provided prerequisite protein for enjoying spectacular views like these Friday afternoon sights off Kauai's Nā Pali Coast.

The early sail time that afternoon allowed us to cruise casually along the northern coast of Kauai, home to Nā Pali Coast State Park, before turning back around and setting a final eastern course for Honolulu. The cliffs on Kauai reach 4,000 feet and are set off spectacularly in Mari's souvenir photos by blues brimming their best hues from above and below.

We were not quite ready to leave our floating tropical paradise the next morning, but we did manage to carry away an unintentional souvenir. More on shaking off our sea legs next time.