after two days of misery. Just a bit queasy as I rebalance fluids. I guess I better stop eating in cheap Chinese restaurants, although this could have come from anything. It was one of the few times in my life I didn't want to eat.
Renee and I will be going to the Museum of Art and Design and then to an opening at the Center for Book Arts. Tomorrow morning I get on the train and go home.
Woke up feeling awful this morning. Something I ate yesterday is trying to kill me, but I think I'm winning. At least I've opened my eyes, dressed, and have enough energy to sit at the computer.
Continuing my story of last week, I met Rose at the Jewish Museum on Thursday. Knowing we would never be able to look at an exhibit until after we spent time talking, we went down to the cafe, bought coffee and sat for more than an hour, catching up. Then we went upstairs to a marvelous exhibit: They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust. You can see lots of it online. We spent an equally long time looking at the exhibit, then finally went back downstairs for lunch.
I met Rose when I was working on my MA at Fairleigh Dickinson U. We had several classes together and being the older people in the program even though she's considerably younger than me, became friends. She's a young grandmother and very involved with her family. She is also an Orthodox Jew, which sometimes makes it difficult for both of us. In spite of everything we remain fond of each other and enjoy spending time together.
Thursday evening I went to Phyllis's for dinner. She still cooks lovely things and enjoys it, not like me.
Friday morning I walked over to the Guggenheim to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit. Nice show. In the evening I met Ann and Evy for dinner then went to the American Folk Art Museum, primarily to see a quilt show by Paula Nadelstern
Saturday I met C, the daughter of one of my dearest college friends. We had lunch then spent the afternoon walking through Central Park.
Sunday I went down to Chinatown, actually to go to a fabric store where I bought some netting, then had the lunch that probably did me in. Back to the Stitch and Bitch in the evening.
I have now seen all of my New York friends, except three. I'm meeting Mary B for dinner tonight, even if I don't eat, and I imagine I'll get to one of the others, also.
Monday I went shopping. When Renee was in Pittsburgh she kept telling me my clothes were too big for me. I decided I'd get something new before she came back next week. It's not easy for me to get anything. I've lost weight everywhere but my waistline, making pants very difficult to find. I took a long walk and managed to get a new smaller pair of pants (elastic waist), 2 shirts and a jacket. Jackets are my favorite thing. I have a closetful, mostly too big at this point that I'll try to alter. Still tired from Sunday, I spent the rest of the day at the apartment.
Tuesday I met my friend Phyllis at the Metropolitan Museum. We spent most of our time at a great show of treasures from Afghanistan, had lunch and looked at another couple of exhibits. I especially liked this one on the roof of the museum, a gigantic tree root by Roxy Paine.
In the evening I met Julia and we went to an off-Broadway play about addiction, Dance of the Seven-headed Monkey. It was interesting, but, as with many off-Broadway efforts, needed work. Here are some photos from Times Square.
The indoor ferris wheel at Toys R Us.
Wednesday, after I finished that last post, I met Sybille in Central Park for a walking tour of part of the park neither of us had ever seen. The tour was called Central Park Adirondack. It began near the Harlem Meer and went to 100th St. and Central Park West. Then Sybille and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking, something we do best.
So many things to write and I'm soooo lazy. Going back to Saturday afternoon, Eli had to get to a travel agent and the bank before 3 pm. Nothing like leaving everything to the last minute, but we made it. After the business was finished we met one of his friends from childhood and taxied to the apartment where we finally left the luggage. We both needed some exercise so we walked down to 75th Street looking for an early dinner, and where I've been to two good Turkish restaurants. Friend of Eli is a vegetarian; the Turkish restaurants didn't do it for him. In between those two was a Persian restaurant, Persepolis. It turned out to be a great find–I'm hoping to get back there once more before I leave. Needless to say, having dinner with two good looking young men was very special.
Sunday was busy. Eli went back to JFK for another plane trip. We got on the subway together until we got to the E train. Then he went east and I went south. It's hard saying goodbye. He's been all over the world alone, but I can't help but worry about him.
I went to Brooklyn to look for Julia at a flea market in Dumbo. It's an interesting neighborhood to walk in–mostly old warehouses, some with extensive renovations, many interesting shops, even for me, the non-shopper. The flea market was in a huge, empty lot under the Brooklyn Bridge, next to the Fulton Ferry Park and the river. Here is Julia and customers under Brooklyn Bridge.
Most of the vendors were selling vintage clothing, stuff I gave away long ago. The only thing I found of interest was a sewing chatelaine for $170. Too much money, not enough interest.
More flea market.
Empire State Building from under Manhattan Bridge
Decorated fence in Dumbo
Brooklyn Bridge I never walked across last year, from Fulton Ferry Park. When I couldn't walk across the bridge last year I knew I was really sick and got the pacemaker.
Having had enough of the flea market I walked back toward the subway and had another one of those amazing New York experiences. Housed within a small storefront area was Jane's Carousel, a restored 1922 carousel that will be placed in a pavillion in the park. Read about it and see pictures here.
Next to the carousel was Jacques Torres ice cream, obviously perfectly placed for me.
After a short rest back at the apartment I went to Chelsea to meet up with my photographer friend, Jacqueline Hassink and another of her friends. She had been in Japan again and had new photos to show me. She told me she will return to Japan in April to photograph cherry blossoms. She is trying to tempt me to join her. It is very tempting. I am not finished with Japan.
To complete this busy day I went to Teaneck, New Jersey, to meet with my stitch and bitch group I haven't seen for two years. That was a great delight. Much has happened in the two years and it was fun catching up.
Yesterday Eli and I flew to New York. He will go on to Israel today; I will remain in Renee's empty apartment for another 10 days, then visit with Renee for a couple of days after she returns. We flew into JFK and took Airtrain and the subway into the city, which worked well. Unfortunately, I could never do it alone. There are just too many stairs. I would have a terrible time wrestling my bag up and down, even though it's quite small. Unlike Japan, where there is almost always a clearly marked escalator or elevator, the MTA believes all of its passengers need exercise.
I brought my photo transfers with me, particularly to work on during my train ride home, you know, the nine and a half hour Toonerville trolley ride. I thought I had something I liked, but now I'm thinking this will only be practice and I'll start all over again when I get home. It's a good thing the obi is 18 feet long, so I have lots of fabric to practice on.
I made the second transfer on paper using Liquitex Matte Medium. With this technique you let everything dry thoroughly then wet the back of the paper and carefully rub it off. I began the process Thursday night and didn't like it at all. Too much of the ink comes off with the paper, leaving only a faint image. I had trouble spreading the medium and felt that was the problem, so I went to an art supply store to see what else I might use. I was going to buy some kind of gel medium. The sales clerk and another woman in the store advised me that the best way to make the transfer was to get photo transfer paper.
I didn't want white showing in the photo background so I Photoshopped the photo with a gray background almost matching the obi fabric and trimmed the white border before ironing the transfer to adhere it. I seemed to have burned one spot on the background, didn't have a good technique for pulling the paper off, getting some funny marks, and tried to iron it from the back, accidentally removing a couple of bits of transfer. The thing that really bothers me is the burn mark. Also I hate the way it feels. I'll see how the stitching goes; maybe I can figure out some way to disguise the burn mark. There's always more obi fabric.
I finally uploaded everything from my camera. Pictures from New York, from almost 2 weeks ago, are in the album, NYC April 2009.
Driving back to Pittsburgh after a
lovely week in New York. Renee gave Steve a birthday party, taking
all of us to see Guys and Dolls. It was a great treat. I enjoy being
with Charna at a performance; she always get so involved. She performed in the
play several years ago and remembered all of the lines. I find that I enjoy these revivals of old
musicals much more than the new ones. I loved South Pacific when we
saw it last year. Guys and Dolls is right up there. In a real way
these are our operas. I don't see why they don't bring back all of
those old musicals. We need a New York Musicalia along with the
Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera.
Pennsylvania is a very large state.
Sometimes it feels like we're driving forever. It's sunny today with
a very cold wind, bitter when we got out of the car in Allentown. Trees are just
beginning to get buds, but the grass is green. There were forsythia
and magnolia blossoms in NJ but I haven't seen any here.
We made the trip in record time–not much traffic today. I'm back home with laundry to do and mail to sort.
Last night was the Seder: family, good food, the usual. Renee got a new Haggadah for us: The 30 minute Seder. I like to think of myself as open to change, and I often hated the books we used in the past, but I didn't like this one either. I appreciated the brevity, but found it a strange mix of instruction and poor story-telling. After all, we are telling a story during the Seder. Earlier on this wonderful spring day I walked from First Ave. & 93rd St. to Lexington and 56th to have lunch with friends. We sat, talking, almost two hours, then walked in Central Park. Lovely afternoon.
I ate too much last night and didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I didn't drink enough wine to call it a hangover, but that's sort of what it felt like. I had two dates today: big motivation. Met Jacqueline for coffee and a look at her proof sheets–lovely photographs of temples and gardens. Makes me want to return to Japan. I'd like to go from October to May so I could look at the gardens in all seasons. It won't happen, but I can dream.
Met Jean for coffee in the afternoon. We met when I was active with Empire Quilters, years ago. She and Mary are people I've maintained as friends. I come to New York now as much as to see my good friends as to do things in the city.
my favorite occupation. Renee is cooking for tomorrow night's Seder and most of my friends had other things to do. I took the subway down to Bowling Green, at the bottom of Manhattan, and went to the Museum of the American Indian. It's one of my favorite places, second only to the Met. They had two exhibits I hadn't seen: wonderful native women's dresses and some of the work of Fritz Scholder. The women's dresses were the best; each unique and a work of art.
I walked from the museum to Chinatown to meet Julia for dim sum. Broadway abounded with tourists taking photos of I don't know what. Then again, perhaps my photography mystifies other people. I walked past the famous bull, past Wall St, past a new red sculpture that looks almost like the construction machines working at the ground zero site. I'll post pictures next week when I return home.
After we finished dim sum, Julia and I walked around Chinatown. We came upon a wonderful scene on Eldridge Street: several large cherry-picker type machines being used to install red silk Chinese lanterns. This will become a movie site next week for some kind of Disney movie. This is the block that houses the Eldridge Street Synagogue, now museum, next to a Buddhist Temple.
I walked down Canal Street after I left Julia, but there was nothing as exciting as that movie set.
Renee and I walked to the Met yesterday and spent a couple of hours there. It seems to get more crowded each time I go there. We looked at some drawings from India, a show sent from the Korea National Museum, and the Late Interiors of Bonnard. I wasn't turned on except for some of the Indian drawings. In the evening we met my friend Mary for dinner, then went to a book signing at Dashwood Books. The photographer/conceptual artist I met in Japan, Jacqueline Hassink, has just published a new book, Car Girls. This was more like an artist opening than a book signing–I'm not sure how many books were signed, or sold–and it was fun to be there. Going to openings was a constant part of my life for many years, but not at all for the last few years.
I posted a brief summary of blog class 3 at Silver Streakers.
100 Books Before I Die 