Incredible news: I'm going to the Met today! Was invited by Frank-Next-Door and we're leaving at 9 am. He had been planning to go with Desi S., our artistic director at the theatre company, but Desi became ill. Frank's wife, Barbara, had other plans, so Frank asked me. I had been booked to go to a luncheon today with Susan and Barb H. (to benefit the Tuckerton Library, where Susan is on the board), but immediately accepted Frank's offer. Rushed across the street to Susan's to explain and apologize, and she was perfectly fine with it; said she would have done the same.
We drive from here to Jackson and board a bus at a church there. That takes us to NYC, where we see the opera, Turandot (composer Puccini's last), and after, to dinner in Jersey City. Boy, do I feel like a club-hopping sophisticate!
Went down to Ventnor yesterday and spent time at the Historical Society talking to volunteer and fellow St. Jamesian, Madeline D. Stopped at the school--now Holy Family--to ask after the whereabouts of the pictures I archived and framed for them several years ago. The secretary wasn't quite sure, but will call me. (Yeah, sure, uh-huh, and that'll happen when Obama earns the now-forever-devalued Nobel prize.)
Called sweet Jen just to say hello. Things okay there, although T. had a little stomach upset. Hope I can get to see her and the boys before too long.
Later, just because I was still in a get-out-of the house mood, went to Manahawkin and looked over stuff at Kohl's and Target. Didn't buy anything, I'm happy to say. Went to the Barnegat Library and picked up a few books. Cooked myself up a satisfying fall dinner of salmon, broccoli, and butternut squash, then--Frank called and we're going to the Met!
P.S. Called Mary Ann Van O., who runs "Sunday At The Opera" at our clubhouse, to tell her the good news. Coincidentally, she's going to a theatre up north today in order to view on closed-circuit T.V. the same performace I'm seeing in the flesh. I credit Mary Ann with introducing me to opera and allowing me to realize I actually like it.