City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York as we approach the longest day of the year.

It has been quite a while since my last post and so I will offer a bit of a smorgasbord sampling of what has been going on around here.


At the beginning of June, I had a relaxing week off, which gave me the chance to do some catching up with old friends. I took the above photo at lunch at a Scandinavian cafe with some friends I have known for over 30 years. During my week off I got together with many friends, and still knew that there were many others with whom I couldn't quite make the coordination. We resolved to continue to try see each other soon.

During this time off, I also attended to overdue tasks, like making enquiries about our national Social Security and Medicare benefits. I was delighted to discover how helpful the Social Security office folks were.

Other accomplishments included some more clearing out of Stuff from my apartment. This required me to really give a cold, measured look at some things I'd been holding on to...revising my own autobiographical archival approach, if you get my meaning. I filled up a few bin bags and disposed of them, and also took lots to a thrift shop.


I'll admit that there is still quite a bit more around here that could perhaps leave the premises. I am just not ready to say all my farewells yet.

Spurring some of this re-assessment was a series of sad news. During the past few weeks I have learned of the deaths of folks who are around my age, folks that I will so miss.

Let me do a bit of a skip outside my apartment now, to show you view of Broadway as it appears in my neighborhood. Pictured below is the Beacon Theater, a former cinema palace, that went through some transitions to become a concert venue for many bands. I was lucky to the Kinks perform there several times, and did not mind the dangerous conditions of the errant springs in the theater's seats.

The Beacon eventually had a grand renovation, and a week ago was the location for our NYC Broadway theatre awards, known as the Tony's. From my photo, you can see that even on the night of the awards, a demonstration was underway under the front marquee.

Folks were protesting the lack of a certain musical being included in the nominations.

The following photo shows how the red carpet interviewing area for the stars attending the ceremony needed to be set up at the back door area. So much for glamour.

I am delighted to report that Mark Rylance did win the Best Actor award for his performance in Jerusalem.

Moving along, I also spent some of my time off relaxing with good books and various crafting projects.

These are the socks that I made for a birthday gift for my brother. The little AERO needle package of double point needles once belonged to my beautiful great auntie who taught me how to knit many many years ago. I love the idea of using her needles.

I am so pleased to report that the socks were a hit with my brother.

There are always lots of needlecraft projects underway around here, and the following photos show a fair isle style scarf I am playing around with. It's fun to mess about with a harmony of colors, and relaxing to do it without much thinking involved.

Part of the apartment clear out involved trying to bring some order to my various bits of yarns and other crafts and art materials. What I want to do is to jettison my aged, rickety easel, and replace it with a drawing table and a table easel.

If any of you have any advice for me about drawing tables or table easels, I would welcome your comments. I am not totally sure that this apartment, even post clear-out, will accommodate these proposed additions, so will move slowly towards my decision.

I am going to let the next photo, of a linen scarf, serve as a segue into other topics.

It is such a pleasure to read many blogs from all over the world. I have remarked on this before, but the thrill of being connected continues.

Let me give an example. I recently read a post by Jane Brocket
in which she mentioned a book Four Hedges, written and illustrated with magnificent wood engravings by Clare Leighton. What a delight to discover that my fabulous library had a 1935 first edition of this book that I was actually able to check out and take home.

I am going to show you two of the beautiful illustrations.

Aren't these exquisite?

My work days continue to be demanding, so I am never quite sure when I might be able to get around to my next post.

So, I would like to end this mid June post with a tribute to a wonderful musician, Clarence Clemons.

He brought so much happiness and touched many folks with his beautiful saxophone artistry. I am so sorry to think that we won't see him play again.

Let's remember our favorite Clarence Clemons solos, and smile at at their soulfulness.

Here's a little bit of Sunday afternoon sunshine filtering into my living room window.

Best wishes to you all.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

For a few more hours, our calendars cling to the month of May, and for a while longer will claim we are in springtime.

I'd like to apologize for being so long between posts. No need to offer my usual excuse.

Let's get on with what I might show you of what is now going on in this hot city. A Chinese artist, Mr Wei, once lived in New York, and made a living as do many other artists, by doing portraits of tourists passing by the sidewalks near Central Park. He is now under detention of some sort in China, and so was not able to see the official unveiling of his sculptures that now ring the fountain in front of the Plaza Hotel. This hotel is now primarily given over to expensive condominium apartments, and is just across from the street called Central Park South where Mr Wei once drew those portraits.

I will not dwell on the ironies or the politics of this confluence, but will let you see some photos of these sculptures that I took a few weeks ago.

Do you all know which animal is associated with the year in which you were born? I am a Rooster. Morning person. I currently struggle with a work schedule that is trying to convert me into an evening or even a night person.

I think that a similar exhibit is going on in London. I do not know exactly how these sculptures were commisioned, or any other details of how it was decided to locate this show in front of the Plaza. It would not be too difficult to do some research.

There are so many things that I have wanted to do during May, and I admit that few of them have been done.

Today was a beautiful day, if a bit hot and humid, but a great day to meet up with a dear friend and have a belated celebration of her birthday.

We went to sample iced coffee and fruit tarts at a lovely little cafe called Cafe Lalo. It has some European hints in its decor and menu. The pace of the place is leisurely, and friends may sit and talk for many hours without any interruption from the gracious staff.

On such a glorious afternoon, it was another pleasure to leave the cafe and walk over to Central Park to see what was currently in bloom.

In a word...roses!

Pink roses, rosy roses. They all had such delightful scents.

As we walked through the Shakespeare Garden, we saw other flowers in bloom, peonies, columbine, iris, and some flowers that I could not name. Can any of you identify the blooms in the following photo? Their deep color was velvety.

The ferns were in full furl, and made a lovely backdrop for these pretty yellow iris.

I am always rather surprised that more folks do not visit the Shakespeare Garden. And also very glad that it retains its tranquil atmosphere.

As we left the Garden, we walked towards the lake and came across this very bucolic view. It's hard to imagine that just a short distance away were lots of folks piloting rowboats all around the lake with great energy.

Right here, it was just May greenery and calm reflective water.

Tomorrow we will enter a new month, June, and before long we will have our longest daylight period of 2011.

This year is going by so quickly. I am hoping that summertime will grant us more relaxed days and nights, perhaps including some mid-summer night's dreams.

Best wishes to you all.

City Views, Country Dreams

Hello from New York on an evening in early May.


I've had the luxury of two days off from work in a row. Yesterday was a day to tend to many errands, and then enjoy the fun of meeting up with a dear friend to sample delicious coffee and pastry, while having a long-postponed catch up. Our conversation ranged over many topics, from sudden current events, to family matters, to travel plans and wishes, to springtime's beauty.

We had a quick walk in Central Park and visited the Turtle Pond. The friendly turtles were very disappointed that we had not brought them a snack.

Today began with my having to take care of yet more errands, but with a list scribbled on a little square of paper clenched in my hand, I managed to get past those errands by midday, and then got to treat myself to my first visit to Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen exhibit that has just landed on the second floor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.



While I was still in mid-town on errand duty, I had snapped this photo of one of the Bergdorf Goodman shop windows now devoted to showing McQueen styles.

The BG windows are as imaginative as ever, but this time around I would give my applause to those who designed the Met's settings for the McQueen exhibit. The various gallery rooms offer lots and lots of atmosphere, information and ... if you are patient and wait for other eager viewers to move out of your intended viewing space, the possibility of really, really seeing how beautiful, crazy, traditionally inspired, historically reverential, beautifully tailored, and sometimes even scary, garments might actually exist.

Most of the rooms in the exhibit are moody and dark, with display cases holding four or five or maybe, three mannequins. There is dramatic lighting. There is music that is eerie and beautiful. There are lots and lots of captions and credits on labels. No way to read much of this because of the crowds with their elbows.

Over the years, of course, I saw many magazine photos of many of these designs, and saw some of the garments for sale in some expensive shops. However, the impact of having so many designs now displayed at the Met is so much more dramatic. How I do wish that Alexander McQueen were still alive, and able to quietly visit the exhibit and see the reactions of all those folks who are being introduced to his talent.

If you are in New York this spring and are at all curious about fashion, you would be very wise to pay a visit to the second floor of the Met.

It seemed so odd to leave the Museum and return to the early afternoon sunshine. I made a point of taking a photo of the tulips along Park Avenue for a certain resident of Vienna. The tulips are a bit past their prime, but still putting on a fine show.

And then, I hopped on a crosstown bus that obligingly arrived just when I hoped it would. As we traveled westward through Central Park, I took my camera out and clicked just one final photo, of the area of the Diana Ross playground, to show some of the beauty of springtime 2o11.

Rain is due tomorrow!

I will be returning to work, and taking along my umbrella, and know that from time to time, my mind's eye will return to the fantastic visions under glass that I was fortunate to see today.

Sometimes a city view can provide a city dream.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York on Easter night.

What a busy day I have had today, filled with fun. I was up early this morning, wondering if our weather was actually going to provide the forecast thunderstorms and other showers. If so, the annual Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue was going to suffer.

The sky still looked very iffy when I decided to take my camera over to the parade. At first, I did not spy very many bonnets with my little eye, but did see some very fashion conscious folks, like this gent in the plaid suit.

In front of this church I saw some of the expected balloon entrepreneurs, and began to find a few hats, too. However, it seemed as if most were wearing very casual attire. Too many jeans.



The fellow in the following photo showed some originality in his bonnet.

Now these ladies decided to find some pretty vintage styles for their sashay down the Avenue.

Eggs on a bed of feathers are featured in this confection.

I am not too sure what this designer had in mind.

I asked this young lady permission to take her picture, and the answered yes with a big smile.

The crowd did continue to build as I got closer to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center.

There were quite a few family groups who all decided to go in costume.

These ladies had interesting hats that were also lady like.

These ladies obviously like daffodil season.

Can you tell that one of the gentlemen has covered his top hat in jelly beans?

The next photo shows more vintage styled parade goers, caught quickly, not posed.

These two little girls were wearing very big bonnets!

The lady in the next photo designed her own very stylish hat. She looked more glamorous than most in the Parade.

I think that the following gentleman designed his hat, too. It is clever, if not too glamorous.

I am not sure it the next photo shows a family group or a group of milliners.

And here is a bit of elegance and grace.

Just one glorious flower, artfully placed, can carry a lot of impact.

I made my way down to the esplanade at Rockefeller Center and saw more bonnets, lots of lilies and quite a few azaleas.

Can you just spot that little bit of blue sky emerging from the clouds? It began to seem as if the thunderstorms might pass us by.

The gentleman's conical hat is covered with marshmallow "Peeps" candies. Very sweet.

This lovely family had actually attended a church service before their walk down the Avenue.

This shows the top of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and a bit of the scaffolding that is now covering much of the building.

This happy couple had wonderful bunny ears and great smiles.

Here's another custom made hat. The gyroscope type shape is not part of the hat...it's part of the Atlas sculpture at Rockefeller Center.

This lavender-based group looked great as an ensemble in their ensembles.

The gentleman in the blue jacket is famed New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. He is also the subject of a current documentary film. He has been taking photos of street fashion for decades. I think that we might have taken some similar photos today.

These two little girls met each other just before I clicked this picture. I think that they are adorable.

I had such fun at the Parade, but my Easter Day treat was not yet over.

I returned home for a quick lunch and then decided to try my luck at getting a ticket for the theatre.

What luck! I bought a ticket for a very good center row seat and got to see the remarkable actor Mark Rylance in Jerusalem. The entire cast was perfect, the play caught up the audience from its first moments. We gave the performers a standing ovation at the final curtain. This is fairly rare for New York audiences.

Another Easter note. My supply of Cadbury creme eggs have begun to disappear. How can this have happened?

Hoping that you all have had a fabulous weekend!