August demonstrates a foot-and-a-half of snow

Yesterday and last night we got a good dumping of snow - but it's light and fluffy and vacation week for many

Christmas 2010

Laina and I had a good Christmas with a brunch at our house for friends and family.

Mitch's Life Photos

We've put together an album of Mitch's Life...well, at least some of it. And if you can't attend the memorial celebration here is a chance to see more photos of Mitch than you ever thought possible. And of some of the rest of us too. A real trip down memory lane. Click on the photo to start.

2010-05-22

We had a wonderful time at Camila and Paul's wedding. If you'd like to see more photos, please check my picasa page

Beautiful Day in the Lower East Side

Sunday, February 7
I met Leena at her apartment and we walked south along the East River. Lots of cyclists, joggers, stretchers....but not us. We just talked and looked and enjoyed the sun.

From South Street Seaport there is a lovely view of Lower Manhattan. We people watched and then headed into Chinatown in search of lunch.

Here's the Eldridge Street Synagogue - once in the midst of the Jewish Lower East Side and now smack in the density of Chinatown.

We ended up back on Grand Street at our usual Vietnamese restaurant for a shared bowl of pho and summer rolls.

And a highlight of the morning was a straggely urban crocus (you can tell by the cigarette butt next to it) - a harbinger of a spring

that can't come any too fast

.

Metropolitan Museum on a winter's day

With Mitch in the hospital again, and a few days of nothing but snow, I was ready for a break. So I met Leena at the Metropolitan Museum for a mini-vacation. Bunches of forsythia greeted us in the grand entrance hall.

Our exhibit goals were two and I'd better mention them now because there are no pictures. The first was a series of Romare Bearden collages picturing a street in Harlem. The museum's web site offers a high-tech educational feature about Bearden and the collage series which is great. The actual works are hidden in the middle of the contemporary art galleries and not near as flashy as the web offering. The second exhibit we wanted to see was a charming exhibit of Victorian photocollage.

And to get to our destination exhibits we first travelled through classical Greece and Rome

Then a journey into Papua New Guinea

With a quick stop for a view of some elephant tusks carved in Africa -

That's the lovely thing about this giant museum - In your travels you pass the most beautiful scenery. Wonderful design and art and color and beauty from so many cultures. And so many time periods.

And of course we had to wander through the Impressionists, where one could spend a day or two. And we climbed around the contemporary galleries

looking at art and people And searching for a view of snowy

Central Park below.

What a wonderful mini-vacation with my best friend.

And back at the hospital by mid-afternoon!

The Silk Road at the American Museum of Natural History

I've been wanting to see the Silk Road exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History so I seized the opportunity to drive in Sunday morning. I found great parking on 78th Street a block from the museum. In fact I found parking so easily that I was at the museum 20 minutes before it opened at 10:00 a.m.

As the museum is across the street from Central Park I took a little walk through the park. On Sunday morning there are lots of runners, walkers and bicyclists - nothing like the number there would have been if the weather had been sunny and a bit warm. But I walked briskly, wishing I'd worn my long underwear (then I would have been overheated in the museum), and admired a cardinal, squirrels, runners and tourists. The water in the Lake was frozen, and I'm sure there were skaters on Wollman Rink, but I didn't walk that far.

Then back to the Museum for the Silk Road. I was surprised that there was an additional charge for the exhibit - guess I've gotten used to the Metropolitan with no extra charge. I though $24 was a bit steep, but hey I can afford that. Supposedly admission to the museum is pay what you will, but the cashier wasn't having any of that for the Silk Road.

The exhibit is well done - polished and slick and draws a good crowd of adults and kids to admire the lifesized camel models and silkworms (live), and artifacts. The layout follows a Silk Road journey from Xi'An in China to Baghdad with stops at Turfan and Samarkand. Each visitor gets a passport and all children and adults stamped them religiously at each city. It's an engaging exhibit. However the traffic flow suffers bottlenecks and backs up very easily. You can take the journey yourself on the American Museum of Natural History website without the crowd. Try it.

As a special event for the exhibit there was a concert of Japanese gagaku music at noon. Gagaku ("elegant music") was originally brought to Japan in the eighth century from the Tang Dynasty Court in China. It is the oldest traditional orchestral music with roots in the Silk Road period. I went for a while. It is paired with dance, but this performance was just music. Want to hear it? Check out this youtube clip.

I think it must be an acquired taste . Then out into the rain and back home.

Christmas 2009

Mitch and I had a lovely Christmas at Laina and Ish's with Nardi and Mary. Beautiful decorations, wonderful food, good company and lots of presents!