The Jackalope takes a tour of Harlem











Linnea and I decided that before we make our weekly Sunday night dinner with our CSA vegetables, that we would take my Jackalope for a spin though Harlem.

WOW I had no idea nobody knew what Jackalopes are! We had kids and adults alike scream, shout our run up and pet it. Out of 20 people who said something, only one person knew it was a Jackalope and gave a smile and a laugh. Everyone else asked if it was real and if they could pet it. Amazing!

'Jack' checked out the slide, gazed at the geese and even borrowed my glasses to get a good look at the local flora.
The dog, Casey, was especially curious about our Jackalope and gave her an old college sniff. At one point we let Jackalope chill on the benches so she could admire the waterfalls in Morningside Park. You can see here that one man found her most curious.

If you are ever bored simply take your Jackalope for a spin through your neighborhood or even the mall. You will certainly be the bell of the ball.

Hamptons Hysterics








Justin and I had a much needed respite from the Big City this weekend at Jamie Drake's delicious home, 'The Drake Estate' as we like to call it.

We took the Hamptons Luxury Liner out there because Justin insisted it is the chicest way to go. Well we get out of the tunnel and the bus breaks down! We end up in a car service with a driver who doesn't know where the Hamptons are. Great.

Friday night we had a quiet dinner with nine guests and a very giddy cocktail hour afterwards.

Saturday was pool, sun, lunch for 19 people and a quick trip to the gay beach where we saw our own version of the Montauk Monster. Dinner that night was for 12 and Justin and I started a dance party afterwards.

Today was calm and cool and most of the house guests left so we had a day on the DL before Jamie graciously drove us home.

Thank you Jamie for an amazing, amusing and relaxing weekend.

A lounge at Lucy's






Last Sunday Lucy invited up a select few to her parents maison in Westchester for a dip in the pool and sip at the bar and a feast at the table.

Matt and I took the train up and met Lucy and Megan at the station. We had barely darkened the door before we had a glass of wine in our hands. That’s my kind of house warming!

Steven and Tina escorted us out to the pool and we had a hearty goss then took a plunge before the deluge that poured down for the rest of the afternoon.

But a little precipitation couldn't harm our lackadaisical Sunday in the country.
Megan was quick to pop open another bottle of Vino and Lucy had us all play 'Celebrity' in the living room.
Whoever thought of putting Louis Pasteur in the mix was a major buzz kill.

Just as we were winding down our game Tina found the party box in the attic and we spent several hours trying on wigs, fondling party decor and gorging on homemade guacamole dip.

Dinner was served and I wasn't scared to pile my plate with Halibut, Swordfish and Tuna. Never a soul goes hungry in the Lang household!

Unfortunately our Metro North train beckoned so we bid the crew adieu and headed back to the city, but not without a bottle cleverly disguised in a plastic bag. I know, I know, Devil-may-care!

A'int nothing to make you feel better than a letter


Today has been a high stress day.
Hell it has been a high stress week!
Writing gigs for people who don't know what they want, dramatic dinners and heat on the streets in Manhattan.
I need a cool breeze! Or at least a Bacardi Breezer. Kidding.

But today in my fit of frustration I head downstairs to collect the mail.
What do I find but a hand written letter from an old friend.
Now I am NOT discrediting any of you people who send kind 'Thank Yous' for birthday dinners, presents or nights on the town.
Keep em coming!
But a letter from someone who truly doesn't know how to use a computer, who I have known since a child, and who has been corresponding via snail mail for some 20 years means a great deal.

Marie Thomas worked at the Ponte Vedra Beach Club in Jacksonville Florida for eons.
I grew up here every summer until I was in my teens.
And Marie was there every year. She saw me fly my first kite, curl up in bed exhausted after my first swimming lessons and lay prone on the floor in anguish from my first sunburn. I can still remember the floors of our little cottages we would rent for two weeks, now demolished for mega resort rooms.

We send each other cards for birthdays and Christmas and occasionally just for fun. This letter was all about her big birthday party. He daughter had 70 people to her home and served up some mean soul food. Wish I were invited!
She always asks about my parents, sisters and my grandfather, 'Mr. Crawley'.

In these days of email and text messaging, there is no better feeling than to peel open an envelope (that is not a bill), sit back, read and smile.

Hamptons Hideaway






After a high stress week in the city, a weekend at Mark & Mary's was exactly what this dandy needed.
I took the train out on Friday night and met up with Ian and Max at the house.
We cooked and managed to finish five bottles both nights. Well done liver!
Keenan Duffty and his amazing wife Nancy dined with us Saturday night and I taught Alistar to say, "Whats shakin bacon!"

But besides moving in a new couch and making Alistar a harmonica strap out of his train tracks I slept super late, did some major swimming and had much needed therapy with old friends.

We did it! Fried Green Tomato's!






As you may know- Lucy, Linnea and I signed up for a CSA. Each week we get a pot of gorgeous veggies from upstate. Well this week Linnea and I decided to cook up a mean meal. Luckily PHJ, Rod and Lucy decided to take part.
What did we make may you ask?
Coconut curry chicken
Green beans with ginger
And to all of our amusement-Fried Green Tomato's!
I have never cooked such a delicacy but thanks to the Mary Mac Cookbook from Atlanta we figured it out.
Oh and my mother's emergency call explaining that we must refrigerate our fried goodness before the actual fry.
We ended up with a damn good side course. Not to mention our dip: mayonnaise, hot sauce and cayenne pepper dipping sauce.
We had one of the best dinner parties ever.
But I can't accept all the thanks- Douglas Little did provide the malachite plates.
Doesn’t everything taste better on such a stone?
It a’int easy being green.
Love-

Frick Garden party










Mama swept into town yesterday afternoon just in time to change into her Daisy Fellows garden attire and head to the Frick with some other 'Young Fellows'.
(Mother no slip?! Very Princess Di of you in that silhouette!)

Mint juleps were sipped, hats admired and an amusing garden tour was taken where we discovered there is a four story vault underneath the Koi pond built to shelter the art in case of war!

Dinner was lovely as the sun set over the pond at the Central Park boat house. And in true Sparks/Lang fashion, a sing along was conducted in the cab with our amused driver.

Wish yall were there!

Picnic Wrap Up











BA is boarding my flight but I just wanted to post these before I head back to NYC.
Our last night was PERFECT!
Cornelia thinks PHJ emailed God for this weather.
The most ravishing sunset, gorgeous crashing waves, final chat ups and GRILLED BANANAS DRIZZLED IN CHOCOLATE!

Rod is spread out on the Works on Whatever beach towels Lucy and I bought for his bday pressie. Glad they arrived in time for the picanica!

Saturday house crawl






After we all peeled ourselves out of bed from Maharaja madness the Miles' invited us over to their home for a tour of the gardens. I spent a fun filled evening there two years ago and it was great to be back and see the gardens filling in and of course my favorite chicken!

Then Kim gave a ring and asked me to come around for an afternoon cocktail. Deal! Their house was amazing. Right on the cliffs overlooking France. They built an infinity pool below (you can barely see in one shot) that is 15 feet deep so that guests can jump from the cliffs and into the pool. Wheeee! I brought my bathing suit to test the waters but after a tour of the grounds and a long fun chat I had to dash out to get ready for the sunset picnic.

Tired yet?
One more night to go!

India in the Evening











You would think that after a lush bash at Gorey Castle that the rest of the trip would be low-key lunches and quiet dinners. Not on a Philip Hewat Jaboor weekend!

Friday night (July 4th!) Philip hosted an exotic Indian costume soiree at his home, Maison de la Fontaine. Everyone had brought costumes, many of them from his 50th birthday party in India we attended five years ago.

Again, I was rummaging through his closet to find proper attire. My bags had STILL not arrived but luckily I did hear they would be in my hotel by nights end.

Philip Astley-Jones let me borrow some slippers and Rod and PHJ provided the rest. The evening was a total success as everyone looked like one giant acid trip and indeed as the night grew longer and champagne kept flowing the colors were bleeding into one fantastic kaleidoscope.

I sat next to Kim Turbeville who is a documentary filmmaker. She and her husband Nigel live in a Napoleonic fort on the north tip of the island that she invited me to visit on Saturday. Yes please!

To my left was Raquel, Alex's girlfriend (Alex is PHJ's nephew). She is from Madrid and we had a lengthy discussion about bullfights. Ole!

During dessert PHJ finally introduced me to Philip Ozouf, a senator from the island he has wanted me to meet for ages. He is quite fun and openly gay in politics. Hoping to work with him on an article about Jersey for a certain travel magazine since he is also head of tourism. Fancy that!
He took Jonathan, Luke and I on a club crawl that was fun in theory but everywhere we went was just rotten.

It didn’t hurt that we were in Indian drag and everyone thought we were the entertainment.

The night ended in a nirvanian blur.... Namaste PHJ for another wild one!

The Birthday Bash at Gorey Castle











Last night Philip outdid himself!
We all got dolled up, me in my borrowed clothes and others in their loveliest finery (I think Ruthie won in her fishtail gown) and headed to the East Coast of the island to Gorey Castle.

After an exhausting climb up 80 ancient stairs we made it to the top terrace of the Castle where a cavalcade of gorgeous men were waiting for us coddling cool bottles of champagne. The views were magnificent and we all waved at France (well I gave it the finger) and clinked flutes.

After an hour of mingling and boozing we all teetered down to the first floor of the castle where Philip had erected an enormous tent for dinner.

I sat next to Rosie who lives in a chateau near the Loire. I've been invited for a weekend of riding next time I'm across the pond. Hoorah!

After dinner we had a very special guest, issy van Randwyck, PHJ's favorite cabaret singer serenade the crowd.
I was in on her performance because Philip asked me to go through the guest list and tip her off on who everyone was so she could include them in the songs.

She opened by saying, "Oh this castle isn't Gorey at all! Its quite lovely actually. If only Jamie Drake could spruce it up a bit and Stephen Cox could create some lovely sculptures it would be just heavenly!"

Now Cator did get a bit tipsy so I wrote down two other things she said that I loved but I cant remember why she said them:
-Think Pygmalion and not Bacchanalian
-There is a big black drag queen smiling down on us from the sky!

Now if only I could recall the rest!

When Issy wrapped up she came to sit next to me. I hadn't seen her since India so it was a fun catch up.
Jamie gave an amusing speech as well- He said "After the fireworks, my outfit looks rather demure!"

Oh did I mention that?
There were amazing fireworks between dinner and dessert.

THEN the chef brought out three cakes that were in the shapes of several of Rod's hats. AMAZING.

The evening drew to a close, Kate, Lucas and I hit a cheesy club and I was in bed by 2.

Good times!

(Oh and sorry Adrian! I know you didn't want to be splashed about on my blog but the only good picture of the castle is the one I took with you love!)

Rod's 40th birthday bash in Jersey Part 1






NOTE TO ALL:
We are NOT in New Jersey.
Why is New Jersey new?
Because it was named after the Island of Jersey in the English Channel!
Now most of you probably know that by now since I have posted my last journey to Jersey here but just to set the record straight.

65 of us from all over Europe and America (and Australia!) have conveined on the island to celebrate Rod and all of his glamourous 40 years.

Here are some highlights.
Must dash. His birthday party at Gorey Castle is tonight and I have to get dressed!

I am trying my damndest to have a blast but the fact that my luggage has YET to show up is sending this dandy through the ringer. The chickens certainly helped my spirits!

More soon!
Love to all-

Gay Pride at Gracie Mansion






I don't do alot to celebrate gay pride. I am proud and I am gay but running around in hot pants isn't my way of showing it, as you can see in my NEXT magazine interview here:
http://www.nextmagazine.net/features/index.php

BUT there is one event I always try to attend and that is Gay Pride at Gracie Mansion, hosted by Mayor Bloomberg.
I have been going for the past five years ( I think since it started) and each year it gets bigger and bigger but still is a load of fun.
Eric met me there this year and we had a hamburger on the lawn, caught up with random people we never see and enjoyed the grounds and the house, if only from the exterior.

We walked into the tent as 'Everybody move your body' was blasting from the DJ booth and bee lined to the bar for some white wine.

Usually Bloomberg does a meet and greet where you can shake his hand and they send you a picture of this historical event.
But this year they ditched that idea and instead Bloomberg lead a camp Match Game show. Co-hosted by Issac Mizrahi (who gave the Mayor the tie he was wearing for Valentines Day), the Mayor asked several people including Issac questions about New York and the LGBT lifestyle which was amusing for five minutes but was a bit drawn out.

On the bright side Bloomberg gave us great hope for same sex marriage in NYC and let us know he has pledged a full fledged campaign for boosting LGBT tourism to NYC.

After several glasses of wine, saying hi to Mr.Jamie Drake (who I will be spending next week with in Jersey!) we bid adieu and headed downtown to the Gansevoort to meet some of Eric's friends at a gay Law Party.

Never a dull moment on Pride Week!

A weekend away in Dellis Cay











Last weekend Nadine Johnson (that of the uber swank Nadine Johnson PR firm) scooped up 30 writers, plopped us on a private jet and took us down to the Turks & Caicos for the ground breaking of Dellis Cay.
www.delliscay.com

This damn island is going to be the hottest design driven island in the world once it is complete.
With 'starchitects' such as Piero Lissoni, Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid and Chad Oppenheim building villas, home and a tiny Mandarin Oriental hotel on the property, it is a modernist dream come true.

We arrived Friday afternoon and quickly peeled off our urban wear for flip flops and tees.
After the ground breaking event we dove into the buffet set up on a perfect sandy beach and watched the sunset.
I got to know my friend and amazing photographer Matthu Placek much better as well as his main squeeze, James Kaliardos
from Visionaire. There were so many other amusing people on the trip too! I met the girl of my dreams, Holly Kirkwood from London who spent many a drunken night on the beach with pondering life (yes it was only two nights but felt like weeks).

We dove, drank, gossiped and danced. Donna Karan sped by on her yacht and invited Nadine to dinner, two people managed to break a bed, I woke people up with a blender by accident and James and I met a booty shaker at Nikki Beach who might just turn up at a V party at Art Basel!

Oh there was so much more, but nobody wants texts when there are pictures like these.
Enjoy!

And thank you Nadine, Eunice and Marina for a remarkable weekend. Cant wait for the reunion trip in 2010 when the hotel opens!

Beatrice at three months!






Had a quick lunch with my darlin' God daughter today chez elle.
Daddy Mark is out of town so I headed down to Tribeca to have lunch with Mary at home.
Alistair was napping so it was just the girls!

Mary bought Bea her first piece of art. Isn't it lovely?
Baby B got down on her damn binkey! Look at the mark it made on her face when she passed out and it fell out.
Awwwww!

Olivia's Birthday DInner






Last Friday we celebrated Olivia's big birthday at her abode in the Village.
As usual she had an amazing spread of euro fare and copious amounts of champagne.
We all feasted, drank and chilled out.
Although Fay and Olivia had a 'boob off' which Alexis thoroughly enjoyed.
When we ran out of turlet paper I headed to the bodega and bought the largest amount I could find. Only the best for my girl!

Fay and I bought her a great book on the Weiner Werkstatte and a candle but my favorite pressie was the glowing gummie bear.

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE!