This is Al, the sweetest man on earth; secretly, I think of him as the father I never had. Kind, brilliant, loving, and still around in his late 80’s as spunky and adventurous as ever.

Al was a friend of my late father-in-law and family. In the 70’s when Mr.Souci and I were traveling through Ireland, we met Al and his wife in Dublin, by coincidence, and had a few meals together.

Al’s lovely wife passed away of cancer a number of years ago. My father-in-law died suddenly some years after. My step-mother-in-law and Al, the surviving spouses, became an item. It was not all that long that they were companions and thought of as a couple, but we were all so happy to see them together. And then, my step-mother-in-law became very ill with cancer, and Al, as frail was he was, was like a dutiful husband, tending to the most personal tasks. Until the end.

We like to think of Al as family, and we took him out to The New York Botanical Garden and to dinner, though he always insists on paying. Cane and all, he marched on, over hill, vale and to the gift shop.

Last evening was Members’ Night at the gardens; we didn’t stay for either of the two offered concerts, but took the little sightseeing train through the park. As we were there recently, you can click here to view the photos of the gardens if you wish, from a previous blog, we decided to stop over at the Rockefeller Rose Garden as we hadn’t seen it the last time.

The Henry Moore sculptures are throughout the gardens.

Here’s Al with a reclining figure. You can get an idea of the scale. I’ve included a few more Moores. As for the rose garden, it has passed its peak for now and was resting. It is starting to show some buds for another round of glory, but nothing extravagant for now. I found a beautiful ginko tree. The stone building is an old snuff mill, and the water is the Bronx River.

Al wanted to go to dinner on Arthur Avenue, the “Little Italy” of the Bronx, rather than the café in the gardens. Can’t blame him. So a short distance away we had a great dinner at our favoriteAnn & Tony’s

After dinner I suggested we go across the street for some dessert. And people watching.

It’s not Italy but if you turn your imagination on, you can get away with it.
The sorbetto is terrific-I had the coconut. And yes, that is the fruit that is filled.

And so the art of watching people. The student with the book and a cup of coffee, the young ladies, the young men, the young men looking at the young ladies…you know how it goes.

We brought Al home and the first thing I noticed was the beautiful Raphael Soyer lithograph that had belonged to my step-mother-in-law, that reminds me of them in happy times. We felt Al should have it, and there it was proudly displayed on his wall.
After all, he is family.