alternate title: learning the art of being a flaneur.

chrystal came to visit over memorial day weekend, and we took full advantage of mostly great weather and having no agenda. below are some of the highlights from her visit.

top gun: maverick.

chrystal was very excited about the new top gun movie, and i love going to the movies, so this was a fun way to spend our friday afternoon. i am not a huge fan of tom cruise, but i am forever a fan of top gun.

a library rooftop happy hour.

the public library was hosting a rooftop happy hour and poetry reading on friday evening, so after we met up with maggie we made our way to midtown to partake. we made it in time for ada limón to read some poems from her recent collection, and by the time she finished the rain had cleared and we were able to take advantage of the rooftop for a bit.

couch time with grace & frankie.

after a late friday night, we spent most of saturday on the couch. chrystal was about midway through season 5 of grace & frankie, so we started there and watched straight through to the end of season 6. one of my favorite things about chrystal is that while she is happy to be on the go, she is equally happy to have a couch day and recharge.

brunch with anders and kathy.

anders and kathy were in town for the long weekend, and as luck would have it anders and chrystal had met at a rhodes event years ago. we had a delicious brunch together at veselka and had a great time laughing and stuffing ourselves with lots of delicious food.

wandering around manhattan.

after a stop at the strand, bidding farewell to anders and kathy, and having a few drinks at pete’s, we set out for a walk through manhattan. when i told my friend michael that we didn’t have a destination in mind, he introduced us to the concept of being a flaneur, a french word for someone who is strolling with no set destination in mind; after that “let’s be flaneurs” became the motto of the weekend. we wound our way through washington square park where a great festival was happening and over through the west village to the hudson river. we eventually found a bar called orient express and posted up there for a few hours to enjoy drinks and air conditioning and lots of conversation.

a really good slice of pizza.

chrystal had never had a proper slice of new york pizza, so since we were in the west village we figured a stop at joe’s was in order. it was delicious and the perfect cap to a pretty great day.

strolling through central park.

after lunch on monday maggie, chrystal, and i once again decided to be flaneurs and walked the northwestern part of the park. we meandered wherever we wanted until we wound up at the lake, after which we made our way to the upper west side to say hi to fred’s.

friends meeting friends and all becoming friends.

maggie and chrystal had met during c’s very brief visit in february, but this time we were able to spend much more time together. on friday arjune joined us for dinner and then abi met us for drinks after. on sunday we got to see anders and kathy, and after lunch michael joined and spent the rest of the day being flaneurs with us. i have said it many times before, but one of my favorite things in the world is to bring my people together and watch them get to know each other and become friends. it makes my connector heart so happy, and this weekend was no exception.

next on the schedule is a labor day visit from jeremy from which there might not be any survivors.

xx