Astoria Characters: Nick The Balloonatic

Once you’ve learned how to make a balloon dog, you can make everything else your hands and your eyes can imagine. Allow the great Nick The Balloonatic Rotondo to demonstrate. Check out Nick’s balloon earrings. From his black pack, he plucks a straw-thin canary-yellow balloon and puts the end of it on what he calls “the Cadillac” of all pumps. Before you can blink an eye, he’s twisting and turning the long yellow tube, forming the body, head and wagging tail of the pooch. Now,…

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Astoria Characters: The Present on the Porch

On my front porch, smack in the center of the top step, there appeared a mysterious package. I had spent the morning masked in Manhattan, and it was the first thing I saw when I opened the gate upon my return. This is what I saw on my porch. I have received more than my fair share of misdelivered parcels – I could tell you about the Pampers that arrived during the pandemic, the license plates that were for a neighbor around the corner or the time I chased the UPS driver down Ditmars…

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