Columbus Day

Monday was Columbus Day and so we decided to walk across Central Park at 72nd Street and catch the end of the Columbus Day Parade. We're greeted by these mounted policemen as we enter the park. It's a holiday, school is out and so are the people.
This entrance is right across from The Dakota, which is where John Lennon lived and is also where he was murdered. Just inside the park is this memorial to him - Imagine. Part of the memorial is Strawberry Fields, a large proximal grassy area.
The weather was absolute perfection, warm in the sun, cool in the shade. Boaters are on The Lake, and you can see the twin towers of San Remo in the background.
We decided this trip to take advantage of sit-down breaks and spend some people watching time, instead of going from destination to destination. This is the first time I've noticed the hanging plastic buckets below Hanson Cabs. You know what they're for, right?
I expected bands and typical parade fare, but what we got was float after float, just like this one - people dressed in black waving Italian flags. One of the parade elements that I didn't expect were the Colombians - their country is named for Columbus - and who proudly participated. Their ladies walked the entire long route in 3" heels!
The costume for men was a black suit - no exceptions - almost the same for women but the children had no rules. Enthusiasm ruled and much Italian was spoken. We're on 5th Avenue, just across from the Frick Museum.
This was the weirdest float of the parade - mermaids with ugly makeup, doing arm belly-dance moves. Maybe it would make sense if I could read Italian. Anyone running for public office was in this parade, but I didn't catch on right away until the Cadillac convertible passed by us. Ian explained that the beefy guys walking aside and holding the door handles were body guards. Right out of the Sopranos - I swear.
This is the front of the Andrew Cuomo contin-

gent. He's walking and on the other side of the banner, waving to the crowd. His followers were passing out Cuomo/Duffy plackards and I'm kinda sorry I didn't take one, just for the novelty. However, we were on our way to the Guggenheim, and I knew I didn't want to carry one that bad badly.
The parade was long and clearly a hometown favorite. Now I will know in the future why Macy's has such huge advertisements on Columbus Day. New Yawk goes crazy for this holiday.
We are walking up 5th Avenue and are right across from the Met, when I can't resist this image. I think it's probably what happens when someone won't sell their property at any price. I can't decide if they win or lose.

I have an overlong blog again and again I apologize. If anyone saw the Vikings game Monday night and all the rain - one and a half inches fell in Central Park in an hour. We were a block from the apartment when the rain began to fall and drenched by the time we got to the door. The lightning storm we watched from the living room window was spectacular. We unplugged the computer, but we didn't unplug the power cord which was fried. We just got a replacement this afternoon.

This is the Guggen-

heim - finally. I'm not sure how many miles this walk took. This is my favorite museum and I think it's because of the building and the way the curators can assemble an exhibit. You walk the story, a spiral from the bottom to the top. It doesn't hurt that I'm a fan of FLW's work.
I hope this allows you to see how you are moved through a single show. It's not like rooms where you walk in and wait politely for someone to move so you can see the piece on the wall. There is no clumping up of people. It is the perfect art space and I cannot imagine why this idea hasn't been replicated.

I've been licking my chops for this exhibit - Chaos and Classicism - European art from the end of World War I to the Berlin Olympics in 1936. It was the most powerful exhibit I've experienced and I bought the catalog, which has the historical backnotes. This period wasn't just art but also about the ideal, how Mussolini's fascism and Hitler's Nazism idealized the classical ideal of the human body as Utopian.

This is my only must-see museum in New York. I have loved the exhibits and the building never fails to thrill me. I just read The Women by T.C. Boyle last month, about Mssr Frank Lloyd Wright. His personal life wasn't admirable but his works live on and on. I'm a fan - of his works.
After our museum tour, we took the subway down to midtown, but because we were too early for the restaurant we'd planned to eat at, we spent some time at 30 Rock. Rockefeller Center was built just about the same time as the art we had just seen. I couldn't help see the parallels between the glorified Classical Roman forms in Fascism and Nazism as in our own WPA images. I think globalism isn't as modern as we thought it was. I've been left with a lot to think about.

Governor's Island

Today is the last day to tour Governor's Island for this season. We took the subway down to Battery Park and then walked to the Battery Maritime Building to catch the free ferry to the island. The island ownership is part National Park Service and part New York City.
I absolutely fell in love with the Beaux Arts architec-

ture and the steel, cast iron and stucco elements. Because it's just the ferry building and gateway to the main event, i.e., Governor's Island, I wasn't able to find anything about it until we got back tonight. Poor Ian. I didn't bring a computer and have commandeered this laptop.
There are three ferry buildings in a row - Ellis Island, Staten Island and then our's. This is the Staten Island ferry pulling away from its berth as we begin our crossing. Staten Island is one of the five boroughs that comprise New York.
We took the 45 minute National Park Service ranger-led tour, and let me tell you that it was worth waiting for. We're in front of the sally gate to Ft. Jay and he's telling us about how the island was fortified, a player in the Revolutionary War as well as the War of 1812. Ft. Jay is akin to St. Augustine, Ft. McHenry or Dolphin Island, all five point fortifications, if you've ever seen any of them. The sculpture is original to the gate and a little worse for wear - the eagle is missing a wing.
The second National Monument on the island and last on the tour is Castle Williams. It's been many things in its existence, from a Civil War penitentiary to childrens' classrooms. As you can see by the scaffolding, it's being repurposed again.
From here you can look back at the south end of Manhattan and see Battery Park, Castle Clinton and the three ferry buildings.
The military structures are reminis-

cent of a college campus. I heard that comment often today. Much of the early 20th century architecture is attributed to McKim, Mead and White. I am rabid about historical architecture so was lapping this all up. This building was a barracks for 2,000 enlisted men, one of the largest constructed in the US.
This is the central point of the monster barracks and the only way from one side to the other for a huge walk - we know this! So much going on, including SCA reenactments. I won't show you trapeze set-up for interning high-wire artists, the active Catholic church, or the colonial housing that the Coast Guard lived in until they closed the post in the 1994. You must come. Really.
This is the layout - officers quarters on the left and enlisted barracks on the right with the parade ground in between. All of the buildings are in stages of being repurposed. The first permanent tenant, a maritime charter high school is now in session. The island is evolving and not well advertised. Ian stumbled across it as we got ready for this trip.
Returning on the ferry, I couldn't resist this image of historic and modern vessels, passing one another. I apologize for this overlong blog, It's really two subjects -the ferry and the island - both about architectural history. Thumping head - isn't that New York?
I absolutely love this building, and just so you know - I have a Smith-

sonian poster in my bathroom of traditional architectural styles, and you know that I'm the only one who has one. I'm reining myself in the best that I can.
Our ferry is docked, and if you take this ferry, you must watch the actual physical act of docking. We are directed through what you see as car crossings. However, if you look above, you will see the platforms that were lowered to original ferries. The historic waiting room and ferry loading were from the second story. David Byrne from Talking Heads staged a concert from the second level.

We finished this day with Indian food and a surprising visit with our Indian waiter, Columbia engineering student. I felt like I had walked into a Jhumpi Lahiri short story. Way to kick off a NYC visit!

Holiday Eve

These are the bags I've finished and will have at the November craft show. The three I just finished this week are on the right. I have carried one of these for so many years that I've lost track. However, last week I purchased a bag with a zipped top to take on the subway, just as a precaution. Every time I walk by it I wonder who left their bag here.

I have a box of hats already, so I don't think I'll try to make anymore. They're left over from the Brewery Arts Center venue. Oops - somehow my toes became part of the image, which tells you that it's warmed back up again.
My trip knitting is socks. I had completed an entire sock with this yarn but it was just about 5 stitches too snug for me to be comfortable with. Hand-spun socks snug up a little after a few washings, no matter how careful I am. I've frogged my earlier project and am going with a 10-stitch repeat called Fishtail.

Our flight departs tomorrow morning at 8:00. It will take all day with layovers and we've planned the next day, Sunday, to take the ferry to Governors Island. That's the last day it will be open this season and I have never been. We only have a three days with ticketed items, and so the rest of our time is when we feel like it. I want to walk the High Line this time, and of course, browse The Strand, a used bookstore with 8 miles of books! The Guggenheim is a given, and the current exhibition parlays on the Kandinsky we saw last year - the European years between WWI and WWII. There should be a little Bauhaus and maybe some Annie Albers.

I hope that we can go to the Museum of Art and Design on Tuesday and also eat at their restaurant for my birthday. I argued with myself about their exhibition catalog from last year and decided against it, which I have regretted. Ian wanted to surprise me with it as a gift and found that they're going for $1,000. Yikes!!

I wore myself out packing, leaving enough room to bring home fabric from Mood. We see Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown on Wednesday. It's with Patti Lapone, from Evita and the voice of Don't Cry for me Argentina. It's still in previews which means it costs us less. We are seeing the reprise of La Cage aux Falles with Kelsey Grammer on Saturday. Both musicals are matinees - the "real theater" is past our bedtime!

We also have Yankees tickets for Monday, the 18th, definitely past our bedtime. Ian has spent a week, scouting out these tickets. Our first tickets were for a game that wasn't going to be played after they lost to the Socks. Tickets are just about impossible to get. Good thing he's a professional researcher! We got the cheap seats up high in left field and they were more than we've ever paid for theater tickets. I am really looking forward to being there in the spirit of the game. I hope I'll be able to see Mariano Rivera pitch his closing magic. I can't decide between contact lenses and glasses. I want to see it all! I'll see you all back in two weeks~

Catching Up

I finished my second t-shirt this morning. I won't do the v-neck again. It was really hard. After I'd fought with the fabric and marveled at it's drape, I realized that I had purchased polyester double-knit. It's impossible to wrinkle and I will pack it for NYC. I like this one even better than the first. I would have modeled one of them, but I managed to finish both on a bad-hair day.
I've finished knitting three bags while watching baseball. We finally got tickets today for the Yankees game on the October 18th. We don't have a game time or an opposing team yet, but we will see the Yankees play in Yankee Stadium. I am beyond excited. Our last tickets were refunded when the Yankees became the wild card team. We watched them beat the Twins tonight - I hope it's just a warm up.
And while we watched Yankee ball, I felted bags. They're small which worries me since everyone now seems to carry a modified backpack on their shoulder. I'll have these at the November craft fair and hope someone who doesn't need to carry their office about will find them interesting.

And a friendly reminder - if you've never felted in your washing machine but are so inclined, remember to zip up your project in a pillow case because this the felt that would otherwise go into your washing machine pump. I'm passing on a lesson learned by another.
Our butterfly bush (buddleia davidii) has struggled for the past several years and the late summer left it in twig stage until July. We are thrilled to see it "bush" with the last couple weeks of nice weather and all the rain we've been experiencing. I hope this isn't a one-time bush.

Sew and So

We have had thunder-
storms and rain for the past three days. This is unusual, but last winter was unusually wet, with snow on the ground all of December, which makes me wonder how much we are going to be affected by climate change and global warming this year and beyond.
I'm not sure how we'll handle much more rain. We don't have ground cover and it doesn't percolate easily. The dogs are a nervous wreck. A simultaneous bolt of lightning and clap of thunder this morning at 2:30 landed three dogs on our bed. No one slept well. Another electrical storm passed overhead this afternoon and we were without power for hours. Ian ran the generator to refill the pressure tank for water in the house and I'm thrilled to finally have the power back on. It is pouring rain as I type.
After Project Runway on Thursday, Ian asked me again if I was sure I didn't want to go to Mood this year. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it's a reality TV show that pits budding fashion designers against each other. They buy their fabric for each challenge from a fabric store called Mood in the garment district. I hadn't planned to go to Mood last year, but in the Super Shuttle from the airport everyone was talking about their plans and I spontaneously offered that I was going to Mood. It was the first I had heard of it!! My fellow passengers were so jealous - shut up - no way - you're not - that I decided I was.
These are the pieces of double-
knit that I bought and didn't sew. When Ian asked me again, I said no again since I hadn't done a thing with these.

Growing up, I couldn't wait to turn ten so I could join 4H, and my first sewing project was a clothes hamper that hung from a clothes hanger. I sewed all my clothes through high school and helped my mother make my wedding dress. I sewed my childrens clothes and mine as well, until it became cheaper to buy them. Lately sewing has become a form of personal expression rather than an economic one.

It's been raining for days - I can't walk the dogs nor can I go outside lest I sink in the mire. I decided to see if I could still sew and chose my least favorite of the pieces to start on. I haven't sewn with double knits in at least 20 years. I buy several t-shirts every season, so I reasoned, why not sew one?
I think I got back on the bicycle pretty well. I think it's cute and it fits. I was sewing on the second t-shirt, which is quite a bit more difficult, and that's when the power went out. Sigh. I want to hone my sewing skills because ultimately I want to sew with my own hand woven. Meanwhile, I told Ian - yes please. I'd like to go back to Mood next week.

My Camera's First Outing

Melissa and I went on the Reno Harvest of Homes tour today, which was a tour of six historic homes. I stopped at Costco first to buy an 8 mg chip for my new camera and then forgot to take pictures until the very last house, but it was the best on the tour. I have seen plein air artists painting this 1902 house over the years.
The artist who has lived here for almost 30 years has filled the interior space with wonder and freshness, but photography was prohibited. The only pictures permitted were outside, and her creative energy spilled outside the walls.
Her yard was an extension of her creative home. She had a love a crazy random mirrors. Do you see the reflection of the woman bending over? This garden is filled with her love of the unusual. I heard someone say that she wanted to go home and get creative.
Another lady on the tour shot this on my camera. So - this camera is a no-
brainer. The instruction booklet is minimal because there's just not much to it. I love the tiny size and the unbelievable fast shutter speed, though I haven't tested in on grandchildren. For my current experience I rate it at an A+.




I was caught by the floral urn, but look again - check out the little toilet float garden below it on the left.






We really liked this side yard seating area. The garden was fully garden and fully art, which is a bigger challenge than you might imagine in the high desert. I loved the most that her garden wasn't gardener dependent.