For those of us who have been around “awhile” (meaning pretty old) Million Dollar Movie and the aptly titled Picture for a Sunday Afternoon were a staple. Back in the days where there were very few options, these presented old movies on your TV…imagine that, being able to see movies at home, what an experience. Well, I thought I try to paint a picture for this Sunday afternoon, and I’ll start with the prologue from this morning.

I set my alarm for 5:45 and, of course, was up 15 minutes earlier (the old body clock still working). The goal was to take advantage of the “senior hour” to shop at Stew Leonard’s since, as mentioned above I’m friggin’ old so why not get out there and take advantage of that. Off I went, with my gloves and facemask and quite the list (which I had rewritten according to where the items were in the store, talk about being prepared!!). 6:05 AM pulled into the parking lot, not too many cars, but, frankly, more than I expected at that time (though I think the idea of Sunday, even in this timeless time, had something to do with that, some habits die hard and Sunday is always a busy day at Stew’s). I picked up about 15 sheets of disinfecting wipes to aid me in my trip and keep me from having to double down when I got home, and in I went. Everything I came for was there, as I went around the aisles, people being very nice about keeping distant, yet moving with purpose, no “lookie lous”. The only kerfuffle was when I got to the fish section they were just stocking it (remember they don’t fully open till 7 AM) and I was aghast that they didn’t have the shrimp that was one of the items Sue needed. Well, as luck would have it, my friend the fish monger asked why I looked perplexed and when I told him his answer was simple “I got you”…and out he came with a cart full of 2 lb bags of peeled and devained frozen shrimp that they were just about getting ready to put out. BOOM…next was the produce section where, again, all was there. Coming around the final turn was hand sanitizer and blessedly Clorox cleaning and disinfecting spray!!! again another unexpected but joyful find. Off to home in under an hour and then able to put things away, sit and enjoy my morning coffee and prepare for the highlight of every Sunday. Each Sunday, still in the morning, btw, from 10:00am till 1 PM is FMOdyssey with Fred Migliore. He broadcasts from a college station WFIT in Florida, and streams it on his website FMOdyssey.com and also WFIT.org streams it as well, for me, it’s my new best friend “Alexa play WFIT on TuneIn” (actually I have a routine programmed where I simply say “Alexa, Fred Time”). For those lucky enough to have grown up with WNEW-FM in the 70’s and 80’s, or just NY free form radio of all kinds, Fred is a welcome companion. It is impossible to do justice to the soul curing journey he takes you on for those 3 precious hours each week but in these times of turmoil it is more important than ever. Usually accompanying Fred are Bloody Marys, and often Sue’s incredible Eggs Benedict (today we opted to just keep the Bloodys and pass on the bennies). I spent the most delightful 3 hours (as usual) listening to the music, engrossed in the stories, listend to Fred make connections I was often unaware of and mostly going down various rabbit holes while listening, looking further into connections he was making.

While we were listening, we talked and made the decision to do something a bit “normal”, we drove to Greenwich Prime Meats (the Manero’s butchers shop) to get Salad, Onions, Garlic Bread and for Abbey THE dog, bones. This is where the Picture for a Sunday Afternoon really begins…I-95, the CT turnpike was eerily empty in both directions, so the “normal” activity we decided to do was colored by the sense of that (granted it was GREAT not sitting in traffic, but the cause was not so terrific). Sunday at GPM is usually busy…not so today, while they only allow three at a time in the store, there was only one other person inside when we got there at 1:40 pm and my order was filled immediately. After a brief detour to drop off some hand sanitizer and Clorox spray (remember the trip this morning) for some friends, home we came, things put away, and then a very calm hour and a half spent sitting in the sun and reading while Abbey THE dog was perched on her lounge watching over her back yard kingdom.

This has been a tumultuous week on many emotional levels (you’ll know why if you have been following), but I took a page from Fred’s opening words this morning and tried to find the light, The Picture for this Sunday Afternoon was calming and hopefully more than temporarily restorative.

Outtro…Picture for a Sunday Afternoon