Life In NYC

SCHELTENS AND ABBENES. BOUQUET. 2008. 48 X 40 INCH ENDURAFLEX PRINT.

Still life, like this one, fascinate me  – I also  love the work of Beth Lipman who interprets still life painting in glass. This amazing image by the photography duo Scheltens and Abbenes is part of a show currently up at the Danzinger Projects. I can’t wait to check it out.

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Tim and I took a little staycation this week. Thursday it was an early breakfast at Peels (with Sam, Dave and cutie Henry), dropped Alex off at home with our sitter, caught the new Sherlock Holmes — which was really funny and watchable — (we snuck in with sandwiches from Grand Daisy), dinner was Japanese takeout (it was so nice not to have to do dishes!). Friday we did breakfast at the bar at Balthazar, got back to back acupuncture treatments with Nancy and then had a post shopping late lunch at Lucky Strike in SoHo. At night we’ve been matching the British TV show Rosemary & Thyme, which is basically a show staring my mother and my godmother as gardening detectives. Delicious.  I especially love the amazing English houses and gardens that are the real stars of the show.  Then, last night we watched Soul Kitchen, which I really enjoyed (again, funny and watchable!).  Both are available on Netflix streaming, if you do that.

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We got our Christmas tree last night (!! I’ve never gotten a tree so early and I LOVE it !!).  For those of you who don’t live in NYC, they sell trees on every other street corner.  The same hippie guys come every year to our corner — they literally live on the street corner in a van for the entire six weeks before Christmas.  They are so sweet and a dose of country in our chaotic city.  I love this photo my sister took of the three of us. Ashely and Aron recently posted about how nice it is to have someone take a photo of your family — so true!   My smile is so genuine it makes me realize how fake most of my smiles are in photographs.

We had a nice Thanksgiving in New York — we checked out the Parade and had an amazing Korean-American Thanksgiving in Brooklyn with our oldest New York friends.  I still have a little glow from the warmth of their family and the delicious meal.

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Our Thanksgiving plans changed at the last minute and instead of being in Boston with family we’re staying in NYC.  This is our first Thanksgiving in New York in all the years we’ve lived here. It’s more peaceful than I would have thought.

I’ve been thinking about a Barbara Pym quote Stephanie sent me: “The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things … the trivial pleasure like cooking, one’s home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard.”

So, today I’m thankful for all the small things in my life. I’ve been doing some letterpress printing at The Arm in Brooklyn.  The quote “All is not yet lost” hangs on the wall as you enter and I find it so reassuring, especially in these troubled times we’re slogging through.  Then, I stopped yesterday to take this photo of how beautiful the yellow ginko leaves are against the rainy dusk.  Happy Thanksgiving!

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I’ve wanted to blog about this building on the way to the Brooklyn Ikea for years — like every time we drive by I think “I should take a photo and blog about that” and by the time I get my camera out the moment has passed.  However, this past weekend I managed to anticipate my desire and snapped this one photo as we cruised past.  It was only when I went to post it that I realized I’d captured a cranky Alex and my oddly disembodied hands too.  While I know that snapshots with rearview windows in them are a clique of the snapshot oeuvre, there is still something about this photo pleases me; it captures an amazing cultural sign — I mean I always think about what 99 cent dreams must be and it also perfectly captures the chaotic energy of heading to Ikea with a 2.5 year old in tow.

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I can barely believe I get to type this, but, I’m a published writer!  This month in Magazine Antiques you can read all about a designer I discovered in the course of my (three years!) of research on Whiting Manufacturing Company, a 19th century silver manufacturing company based in New York City.  (Read the article here or buy it wherever magazines are sold).  PS: You can subscribe to the magazine here. It’s a must for anyone interested in the decorative arts!

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It was a chaotic short week, wasn’t it? Here I’ve been juggling preschool applications (!!) and getting geared up for a busy fall.  To cap it all off last night I did a sleep study at Cornell Weill (I’ve been tired a lot recently). Sleep studies are odd things; you get electrodes and wired up and then you sleep with someone monitoring you. As nice as the technician was (thanks, Pat!)  it’s still very 1984. I came home early this morning to a full house (cleaning lady, babysitter, some friends stopped by for a visit). After everyone cleared out at noon, I took a sweet nap. When I woke up, the house was calm and quiet. And I just sat for a few minutes and watched the shadow move across the dresser while listening to the Zac Brown Band on Spotify.

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I’m quoted in this very nice New York Times Sunday Styles article by Stephanie Rosenbloom on what New Yorkers did during Hurricane Irene!

Abbey Nova, a design historian who blogs at Designscouting.com, and her husband spent the weekend at their home on the Upper West Side with what Ms. Nova described as her stranded-on-a-desert-island list of people, which consisted of five other adults, three 2-year-olds (including her son, Alex) and a 4-year-old. Turns out, the Saturday of the hurricane was one of the nicest days she’s had as a New Yorker.

“Time definitely slowed down,” she said. On the agenda: naps, pizza, a screening of “Police Academy.” “It just reminded me of the importance of taking time out,” Ms. Nova said. “I think we sometimes overlook the community that we build. We’re busy with our jobs, we’re busy with our kids. To me what was remarkable and unexpected about this weekend was how I connected with my neighbors.”

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We stopped for lunch in Middletown, CT yesterday and walked right into an impromptu, infectious concert by Asphalt Orchestra, a NYC based street band.

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IRENE.  We ended up with an LED lantern, these awesome  iphone travel batteries, and a shortwave radio/cell phone charger.  I was particularly proud of the shelf-stable coffee and milk.  On Saturday Leigh, Nancy and I had an UWS block party, moving from house to house with the kiddos (I made these cookies) and then, on Sunday morning, my sister made eggs and we all watched Police Academy.  Sunday afternoon Tim, Alex and I went for a windy walk and ate ice cream.  Freedom tasted good!

PS I’m sending love and light to all my friends and old neighbors in Vermont who are getting pounded by Irene.

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Welcoming Tim home :: Ted and Honey’s and getting some good advice :: seals and jelly fish :: best of all Frank Pepe’s pizza.

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Yesterday my sister and I walked through Central Park on our way to the East side where we were running some errands (you can’t see our huge Ikea bag in these photos but we were schlepping, for sure). We happened upon the Boat Basin, where you can rent remote controlled boats.  I didn’t even know this existed (my sister couldn’t believe I’d missed the Gossip Girl episode…) and was totally entranced.  We rented boat number 78 for 30 minutes ($11) and it was that perfect kind of summer fun that is part care-free (who ever has time to rent a remote controlled boat as an adult), part sunshine (I sun-burned my scalp in the process), part laughing with your sister in a way you haven’t since you were 12. Thanks, Tatie, for a wonderful afternoon.

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