A Bird in the Hand
October 7, 2009, by Connie Stetson
For Connie Stetson, accompanying her actor husband to New York City was all glitz, glamour and excitement, but coming home was a true revelation.
Hi all—the lovely Mrs. Stetson here.
Lee and I had a perfectly wonderful trip to New York City enjoying the many sights (our hotel was right in the shadow of the Empire State Building) and sounds (does the horn honking never stop?) and smells (ahhh, the smell of falafel in the air….) We hit the ground running our first night there and had a great Turkish dinner with my dear old friends, Barbara and Jim. Day two we set off walking, did some shopping, and then readied for our black-tie gala celebrating the premiere of Ken Burns’ The National Parks—America’s Best Idea on Ellis Island.
I showed up quite glamorous in my black satin trousers, white tuxedo shirt, stiletto strappy sandals, Cathy’s fabulous black and white embroidered shawl and oodles of pretty great looking faux pearls, and except for the satin, the shawl, pearls and stiletto’s that’s what Lee wore too (the lucky, cuz’ my feet were killing me!!). He looked mah-velous, darlings. We sat at the muckymuck table with Ken Burns, Dayton Dalton, Shelton Johnson, Gerard Baker and their lovely Missesses, Roxann and Mary Kay. We enjoyed our desserts to a live performance of Alison Krauss and Union Station. Pretty darn good.
The next day was a concert in Central Park for PBS. The weather was just perfect for smiling and nodding! We hobnobbed with Counting Crows, (why, oh why could I not have been twenty-two and covered in tattoos for just that day?) Peter Coyote, Carol King, Jose’ Feliciano, Eric Benet, Adam Arkin and Peter Yarrow, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and of course, Ken Burns and Dayton Dalton, Gerard Baker from Mt. Rushmore, and Shelton Johnson from our own Yosemite National Park. Lemme tell ya, we ain’t got NUTHIN’ like this in Mariposa. I was in a tizzy of excitement.
Thursday we dashed off to TKTS for half-price Broadway theater tickets and bought seats for a premiere of Memphis, a musical about the birth of rock n’ roll and race relations. Yup. Pretty darn good. Friday, a perfect East Coast fall day, we walked through Central Park and went through the zoo, and that night took my friends Nancy and Bobby out for her 50th b-day to Tree, a restaurant I saw featured on the Food Channel’s, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Yup. Pretty darn good.
As we flew home on Saturday, I found myself sowing seeds of discontent. I live in the sticks, the tullies, the weeds. There is nothing up here…well, there’s that park, but what about art, theater, music, food, shoes, accessibility to all the finer things in life? What about the NY Times, falafel, public transportation—I mean, it takes me two hours just to get to a Target. What about that? The glamorous, lovely Mrs. Stetson wants, no needs more!
Well, maybe it was the jet lag making me snarky, because this morning I woke to a perfect Sierra day. A cool, almost chilly wind made all the treetops swish and sway, a covey of about twenty quail casually meandered around my little orchard, I could see the beginnings of fall leaves changing color, the sky was sapphire, and as I was walking back into the house, I heard a very loud thwap! I went out to see what hapless bird had broken its silly neck on my window, and there, only just stunned, was a beautiful young hawk.
I gently and carefully scooped him up in my hands and let him rest there. Brown and rust, with black stripes on his tail, probably an immature Cooper’s Hawk getting a look a Mojo, my cat, to see if he’d make a nice lunch. Magnificent. After about fifteen minutes he shook off his encounter with his reflection, flew up to a nearby tree branch, and I thought, “Yup. Pretty darned good.” They ain’t got nuthin’ like this in New York City.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Ahhh, the lovely Mrs. Stetson, wonderful memories! Thank you for sharing them. Yup, you said it, New York will be there for your next trip, but home sweet home, is just the best….
October 7th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Connie, when you moved out to the sticks all those years ago, I wasn’t sure you’d make it. Not exactly Green Acres, but close. But, you’ve thrived out thar, and you clean up real good! The beauty of our times is that you can go from the big city with all the culture, diversity and good shopping it holds to the simplicity of nature with all its slow and fierce beauty. “Yup” you got it going on–from country bumpkin to black tie, hiking boots to heels (stilettos? are you crazy?)–you, the lovely mrs stetson–know how to rock it!
October 7th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Like you, Connie, I now live in the sticks. Last night, while waiting for my son to finish his improv class (yes, even in the sticks ART must go on…), another parent asked me if I’d ever met any celebrities during my four decades in Los Angeles.
Where do we begin with a question like that? To list the number of “famous,” “infamous” and simply “celebrity-type” people we’ve lived next door to, dined with, bumped into at parties, had over to dinner, served on committees at our children’s schools with, had their children over for playdates, attended birthday parties of and for…my goodness!
So, I smiled, and said, “Not too many.”
I’ll take a walk in the woods–a stone’s throw from my front door–and the sound of autumn leaves crunching underfoot, the sight of a colony of mushrooms marching up a moss-covered log, the crystalline, cold air scented with pine over the life I lived back in the celebrity-infused Big City.
(But, like you, I find the occasional trip back to big city life ever-so-fun–partly because I know I don’t have to live there!)
Enjoy.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Pru–It’s so funny about people and celebs. I was a Groundling and knew some pretty famous funny people–IN THE 80’s, and folks still want to to hear about it. Lee got his start as an actor in Hawaii 5-0, and people are just awestruck. I have never understood this coo-coo fascination about our brushes with celebrity. And autograph hunters (unless you’re 9 years old) are just creepy, stalker wanna-bes.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Everytime I get asked that “do you know, see, meet any celebrities????” question I want to scream: Are you kidding me? Who cares? How the hell can a “celebrity sighting” compare with El Capitan or even something simple like a quiet pond out in the middle of nowhere? I mean, do you really think it’s a giant thrill to watch a celebrity buy toilet paper at Gelson’s? At some point, I’ll be joining you small town folks although I will say my particular brand of country is Umbria.
P.S. That National Parks documentary is fantastic and your husband was a great John Muir.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:25 am
For those who haven’t yet met the “Lovely Mrs. Stetson” read her earlier post here: http://www.fiftyisthenew.com/2009/08/26/the-lovely-mrs-stetson/
October 7th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Crikey, Conz, some people think this whole state of Minnesota is the sticks! But you know better. We are hip, hot, innovative, independent, media chancers on the cutting edge of all technology. I sometimes catch glimpses of this while driving home to my quiet cottage in St. Paul. Oh how I yearn to emulate The Lovely Mrs. Stetson, she elegantly straddles hiking trail to 5th Ave in her Manolo Blahnicks. Teeter on LMS, I cannot wait for your next instalment. By the way, I almost wrote Lee a fan letter after seeing him on the Burns’ National Parks show. He was just too cool.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I escaped from the city and came to Mariposa and have never looked back. I am so glad you are here in the sticks with me Connie. You add some much needed diversity which is something I do miss here. I loved the Ken Burns special and was so proud of Lee. Your trip sounded great. Thanks for sharing. I do love visiting the cities and have been fortunate to travel around the world with my husband. In fact I really met you over in China on a tour. It is a small world and a small town I live in. I wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s no place like home.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Like you, when I return to urban life I get sucked in. Oh how I miss it when I’m not there. I left DC after twenty years and now enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountians of Asheville, NC where I can sit on my deck and watch the woodpeckers or maybe even panic at the young bear napping on my deck. In DC, our celebraties were all the politicos and one had to be news junkie to survive – hear, one has be able to converse in plant and animal species. I loved the Ken Burns documentary on our national parks – now that is something to write home about. Next time – please share some photos.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:24 am
What beautiful word pictures you paint, Lovely Mrs. Stetson. Thank you for sharing the energy and excitement of a city created for the senses, and the nature and nurture of a place designed just for the soul. You are blessed to be able to enjoy both.
October 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I can totally relate… I absolutely love and need to be immersed in nature and absolutely love and need to be immersed in NYC…yin and yang!
October 14th, 2009 at 9:00 am
You remind me that my original plan was half time sticks, half time Big Apple. Or even sometime Big Apple. Working on getting back on that trajectory. I need equal parts sticks and city.