Cleaning, cooking, bed making and laundry; these were the activities that consumed our first day off of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The old saw says home is where the heart is, for Dave, home is where the washer is. I slipped in a Forest Park bike ride, for 15 miles. I saw Charles, of Charles and Sarah, the two Great horned Owls that have occupied the park, every winter since 2009. It was a cold ride, in a mostly empty park. Good news, Stienberg Rink is open for the winter!

Rey had arrived, just before I returned home. He and Dave relaxed the afternoon away, talking sports and watching TV. Dinner will be at Lemon Grass, Vietnamese, on South Grand. This has become a family Thanksgiving eve tradition. They serve a mean dish of sesame tofu balls that we order as takeout, after eating dinner there. Dan, Dave and Rey will head out to a party, leaving Anne and I home alone again, at least until the wee hours.

“My Dinner with Andre”, was a semi-autobiographical, 1981, indie movie, starring Andre Gregory and Wally Shawn. This two actor movie was set across the white table-cloth of a NYC restaurant. Ostensibly a dinner conversation, Mr. Gregory proceeds to hold court, and then the conversation and eventually the audience captive for the movie’s 110 minute length. After his tour de force performance Gregory never appeared much more on-screen or on stage. Mr. Shawn is most famously remembered as Vizzini in “The Princess Bride”.

You only think I guessed wrong! That’s what’s so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders – The most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” – but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line”! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha…

I once met Wally Shawn. It was on a flight from Saint Louis to LA. He was in first class. I was not. Back then you could travel from coach forward and use the first class restrooms. I must have eyeballed him too much, because on my last return from the lavatory, when our eyes met, I saw fear in his. It was the celebrity’s fear of the fan stalker that I saw in his eyes. I stayed in my seat for the rest of the flight.