We're back

Whew, it's been busy. I've been back at work, "part time." Between a new job, finishing a book proposal, advising and editing NYU students and, oh yeah, Thalia, Avenue Oy has been sadly neglected. But Thalia just made her debut on someone else's blog, and I wanted to share. She's the one in the space-age red stroller. Don't worry--Bryan's there, he's just hiding behind the guy in the shorts.

We went back to our internationally famous corner pizza place, DiFara's, on reopening day. The Department of Health had shut Dom the pizza man down for a couple of weeks because the place was sprinkled with mouse droppings. Uh, ya-ah! Of course DiFara's had mice, that was obvious. More than once when I was standing at the counter waiting for slices, I'd see flour-coated mice scurrying around the base of the oven. So what? Like I said to the reporter from Brooklyn Courier-Life who was there to cover reopening day (hey, DiFara's closing for two weeks is big news!): "If you really want to be sure you're not eating at a place with mice, then eat at home and don't go to restaurants. This is New York--you're going to have mice in restaurants."

OK, on to what you're really here for: pictures of Thalia June. I'm just going to let Bryan's cellphone camera carry on the conversation from here. Enjoy.