Mother’s Day

In her late 50’s my mother decided she wanted to get a college degree.  It was the spring of 2000 on the Friday before Mother’s Day when I went with her to register Brookdale Community College, the local community college.  Remembering my first days of school, it was a poignant reversal of roles while driving her to the campus.  Having spent my entire professional career in academia, the collegiate setting was all too familiar to me.  I could tell she was nervous so I put my arm around her as we walked to the registrar’s office.

It was later in the afternoon when we were finally done with the registration process, making her initiation into the college experience complete.  She was relieved and excited, but mostly relieved.  I recall the sky was exceptionally blue and clear that day as we drove away from the campus.  We were both hungry so I suggested we stop somewhere to get something to eat Along the way back to her house, we were passing through the town of Red Bank, where I remembered there was an old inn next door to the hotel where I had my wedding reception.  The Molly Pitcher Inn, situated along the Navesink River in Red Bank, NJ, had been recently renovated (it was a wreck when I’d gotten married), and now it had a formal dining room with  a wall of glass overlooking the river.  We stopped for dinner and began what was to be a yearly tradition of going to the Molly Pitcher every Friday before Mother’s Day to celebrate Mom. 

I always make the reservation for the first seating so we have our pick of tables with the best views.  We start with drinks at the bar before being seated.  Mom typically orders a Cosmopolitan because it comes in a “pretty glass.”  She likes the restaurant because it’s “fancy” and she gets to dress up (men are required to wear jackets to dinner).  Occasionally, over the years, my brothers have joined us for dinner and one year my wife even came along.  The Friday before Mother’s day avoids the mayhem of crowds at places like the Molly Pitcher Inn on Mother’s Day Sunday and is something my mother looks forward to all year.  It is a moment to enjoy her company in a beautiful setting over a delicious meal and it makes her feel special.  And when she moved about an hour away from the Inn a few years ago, I promised her we would always go back. 

We did have to miss one year.  It was in 2002 when my mom had colon cancer surgery on the Friday before Mother’s day.  While I was helping her sit up in her bed at Memorial Sloan Kettering and as I had my arms embraced around her to help lift her up, I remember thinking at that moment that it was the exact time we would normally be getting seated at the Molly Pitcher Inn.  She looked up knowingly, and I whispered a promise to take her there the following year for dinner and a cocktail in a pretty glass.

senojev asked: Great work to which I aspire! Thanks for sharing all of your experience with the masses who struggle to achieve your results. I have almost finished reading your Journal and have a question on the March 27, Color Management note. You say that you increase the cyan hue by 30-45 and saturation by around 30. In an earlier note, you note that you used Color Balance. Am I correct in adjusting the cyan in Hue and Saturation? My Color Balance adjusts hue in shadow, mid & HLights.

I first adjust the Cyan: >Image>Adjustments>Color Balance.  I slide the arrow towards the Cyan aprox. -35 or so (it will appear as -35 in the left Color Levels window) keeping he “Tone Balance” at “Midtones”.  I then adjust the Hue/Saturation: >Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation.  I slide the Saturation arrow +30 or so.  Finally I Multichannel: Image>Mode>Multichannel.  Hope this helps.  Tony

Courtesy of http://www.cocktailians.com (thanks Nina)

August 22, 2008