Easter parade

I went into Manhattan last night, with my parents, sister, and my sister?s husband, for dinner and a Broadway show. We saw Nice Work If You Can Get It, starring Matthew Broderick, which is still in previews. It was pleasant enough, good fun if not particularly memorable, and if Broderick himself was maybe a little stiff ? my sister thought he was ?clunky,? which I think is a little unfair, if not completely inaccurate ? the show was entertaining. It?s a jukebox musical of Gershwin tunes, some of them awkwardly shoehorned into a silly, paper-thin story ? and not all them, I?d wager, either of the Gershwins? best ? but most of the cast (including, for the most part, Broderick) is game, and I think we all had a good time.

Of course, when we arrived in the city, we discovered that the restaurant where we?d had our reservation was closed for the holiday weekend. There was a sign on the door, apologizing for the inconvenience and redirecting us to one of their other restaurants around the corner, but it was still something of a shock. We?d discover today that they?d sent an e-mail (complete with a 30%-off coupon) to apologize and let us know, but in the end it worked out okay. I still prefer the first restaurant to the second, but we had a nice meal nonetheless. (I had roasted duck breast to start ? creamy lentils, duck confit, sherry caramel ? and then suckling pig ? with bacon onion marmalade and toasted almonds. Although the goat cheesecake with sherry poached pears for dessert was probably the best part of my dinner.)

Anyway, that was yesterday. We got home late, after midnight, so I didn?t post anything here about it. Today, we didn?t do much of anything. I did the crossword puzzle, watched Community, went with my sister and her husband to buy Easter plants for my mother, and probably ate a little too much candy. No writing group again this week, because of the Easter holiday, but hopefully we?ll start meeting up again next week.

In the meantime, I still have a lot of Kaleidotrope submissions to get through. I?m starting to get queries ? rightly so ? asking about submissions I may not have even had a chance to read yet. It?s not quite at the point where I?m seriously thinking about hiring on a slush reader ? what guidelines would I give them? ? but it is a little overwhelming.

At least I?m temporarily closed to submissions, so I can get something of a reprieve. Meanwhile, the latest issue is still there for your reading pleasure? Just saying.

Happy Easter! (Or Passover, or Sunday, or whatever.)

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