THE BIG THAW . . .

It's on. The flannel pajamas have been broken out for the 2004 Autumn/Winter season, thank you very much.

The baseball game this afternoon (yes, I've seen TWO Yankee games in a row now, and God willing, I'll be waking up tomorrow for a third) felt like Opening Day in 1996: freezing, blustery, precipitative (not a word, I don't think), wet and shivering. There's great value to sitting in Row X, the very last row in the Stadium -- aside from being very distant from the bathrooms and food, you can see everything AND the food & beer vendors still venture that far north, saving you the trouble (unfortunately, cheese fries and Italian sausages don't make the walking vendor cut). However, it's a veritable wind tunnel up there. My cheeks are chapped, my hair is mussed, and I am currently suffering the throes of a deep bone-penetrating damp freeze.

Thus, the flannel pajamas. A nice, long, for-once-free Saturday evening ahead of me. What to do first? Eat. Nap. Have a cup of tea. Have a stiff drink. Read a book. Watch a movie. Hmmm ...