Dateline: NYC

There were ‘Buckeyes’ in ‘The Big Apple’ last week. The ‘Buckeyes’ were from Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus. And they were there to ‘horse around.’ The Masters of the USA, Canada, meet in USA, Canada, meet in NYC every year. This was the 100th anniversary of the MFHA – so it was a huge turn-out.

Over 300 MFH’s attended the Thursday evening dinner at the Hyatt, and over 850 MFH’s and guests attended Friday evening’s Ball at Ciprianis. The international guests included the presidents of the Irish, Belgian, British and Australian Masters Associations. The ballroom at Cipriani’s was once a Merchants Bank and the three-storied, marble-columned, coffered ceiling-ed hall is awesome.

Saturday morning the Masters met at Francous Tavern on Wall Street – where Gen. George Washington held his farewell dinner for his officers. The famous painting of Washington with his foxhounds hangs in the tavern – the Inn was built in 1738.

New York City has visitors with famous faces all the time. Some make the first page of the New York Times – like Prince Charles and Camilla. Charles was pictured ‘missing’ a basketball shot in Harlem. President Bush was pictured “lecturing’ to big-shot CEO’s. A funeral attended by  former-President Clinton and Sen. Ted Kennedy at St. Bart’s was ‘mentioned.’ But pedestrians do get a glimpse of the VIP’s when a procession of 12 police cruisers with sirens and light lead a limo followed by 12 more cruisers screams through the gridlocked traffic.

The Winter Sales are fun – at Bloomies, Macy’s Saks, Bergdorfs. And this past week
there was a three-day amnesty   on ‘sales tax’ for merchandise of less than $300. The ‘designer resale’ shops must be checkeed out. The week of the MFA meetings, the art galleries all       advertised their equestrian    paintings, and with the Westminster Kennel Club show coming up mid-Feb they’re showing their ‘canine’ pictures.

The early morning walks on Beekman Place are a treat for the dog lovers. It’s easy to make dog friends with a treat in the pocket. The owner of one new dog friend said they’d be gone over the weekend at their country place…’See you Monday.’

In the lobby of the Beekman Tower there was a luggage cart loaded with small dog traveling cages. They are marked ‘Avian Entertainment.’ “What do you have in there?” asked Nosey. “Five crows!” was the answer. And off went the cart…

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