Huck and I just finished reading “A Cricket in Times Square” by George Selden, and it didn’t take long for me to see Chester Cricket as a kindred spirit.  He lives in a beautiful cage in a dirty old subway station in the most magical place on earth, but he longs to be back where he came from, surrounded by trees and grass. What makes his days and nights at 42nd Street matter are his family the Bellinis and his friends Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat.

Last weekend we said goodbye to Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Dottie, Broadway theatre and the Bronx Zoo.  Four of my favorite things.  Ronnie and Dottie treated us to the beautiful musical “Once” on Friday night followed by a nightcap at the Marriott overlooking Times Square. Sunday afternoon our dear old friend Charlie accompanied us on our last visit to the Bronx Zoo, what with our membership expiring in a few days. And sometime in between these two milestones, we even sort of said goodbye to the beautiful old cherry blossom trees in the church-yard, for they will soon be removed and hopefully re-planted elsewhere during the renovation.

To say we have a lot of happy memories (and pictures) immersed in all of these locations and people is like saying it’s been a long winter.  If I had a pet cricketer I’d have him put these feelings into a heartbreaking song that would make even the most hurried New Yorker stop for a listen.  And then I’d join him on that train out of Grand Central.

“There was all of his love, and goodbye too, in that one chirp.”