Earliest Evidence of Writing

Here's a picture of one of the items on exhibit from the earlier post about the Pierpont Morgan Library. The red piece is about as big as a thumb, and when rolled on soft clay, creates this beautiful drawing. Isn't it something?

Tour of the Pierpont Morgan Library

Today I toured the Pierpont Morgan Library on 36th and Madison. My $15 admission included a headset and computerized audio tour of this awesome place. What an accumulation of wealth this guy had managed! The library houses thousands of ancient manuscripts, three original Gutenberg Bibles, original hand-written music by Beethoven and Brahms, etc.

My favorite items on display were the collection of "the earliest evidence of writing as manifested in ancient seals, tablets, and papyrus fragments from the Near East." Picture a piece of stone or marble the size of a wine stopper. Intricately engraved on to these pieces -- some as small as your little finger -- was artwork that, when pressed and rolled onto clay, made reliefs into the clay. The little clay tablets were used to identify personal belongings once they were dry. Here's a picture of one of my favorites.

On special display were a group of diaries from the collection -- all handwritten by famous and common people from as far back as the 1500s. Very interesting. I'm really glad I went.

What do you mean we can't catch a cab?

Two days ago I reserved tickets for my hubby and me to see one of the films featured at the MOMA for the New Films New Producers event. Paul agreed to take off a little early so we could catch a cab from his office and be there at 6 p.m.

When he met me outside his office building at 5:30 we started walking towards the venue and periodically looking back to try and wave down a cab. But at that time of day, there was no empty cab to be found. We kept walking. We ended up half-running from 43rd to 66th and when we got there and got our tickets, we were told the actual viewing was 20 blocks south.

So we decided our $28 dollars for the tickets was our contribution to the New York arts scene and headed to Paul's favorite place to have wine and pasta on 86th. For this trip we found a cab.

Jaw-Dropping Quilt Exhibit!

Take a look at this amazing exhibit I visited today at the Armory. This enormous display of 650 (imagine, 650!) red and white American quilts is the collection owned by one woman who, for her 90th birthday, asked that she be able to see her quilts all on display in one place. It was SO visually exciting. Everyone was taking pictures with their camera phones.

There's no better word for it . . . it's schlepping.

Fifteen blocks into my walk home from shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond I came to a full understanding of the term my Boston friend, Anne, uses frequently -- schlepping.

Lugging my New York carry-all bag on my left shoulder, a shopping bag full of queen size bed sheets in my left hand, and a clumsy box containing a luggage rack for my guest room under my right arm, it came to me that there was no other word for it. . . I was schlepping. What a great word. . . defined as an "arduous journey or procedure," the word without the suffix means "to carry clumsily or with difficulty, to lug, to move slowly or laboriously." Yep, that's what I was doing, the New York Schlep. I then did something I'm not proud of. I found a bench, removed the luggage rack from it's big box with all the thick packaging and discarded it next to a trash can on the sidewalk. Nobody knows me in New York, yet.

Ash Wednesday

This is where Paul and I went for Ash Wednesday services last night. The Church of the Incarnation is an Episcopal church built in 1824 and has a famous Tifany stained glass window plus other amazing art work. We were there in the huge setting with about 20 other people for the half-hour long service which consisted of just reading from the prayer book, getting ashes on our forehead, and receiving communion.

A pitcher of chocolate!

This is me pouring melted Belgium dark chocolate into a cereal bowl of steamed milk. It's what I got when I ordered hot chocolate at a little French boulangerie (bakery) on 50th and 3rd. Most people were speaking French and looking quite stylish. I wanted to work there! Maybe I will!

By the way, there was no handle so I had to drink it using both hands. It cost $5, and after I had sat a while, the chocolate I hadn't poured into the pitcher began to harden. I resisted scraping it out with my spoon onto my plate and eating it like candy. It was tough, though.

Today's topic is the view. . . again.

I promise to make this my last topic of the view from our apartment, but honestly, I can hardly believe I get to see this every day! There are some apartments close by, but not so close that we're staring into someone's living room. I have been cooking in for dinner most nights even though the nearby restaurants are so tempting. It's just a joy to sit at our dining table and marvel at the site in front of us.

Nice people. . .

Yesterday, Paul was using his one Metro card for the two of us to get through the subway. On our way home, he passed the card through -- I went through, then he passed his card through for himself -- and it didn't take the card. He'd run out of money. So I waited on the other side of the heavy bars while he tried to put more money on the card on his side. Turns out none of the 3 machines were working! So he told me he'd go to the other side of the street and try the machines there, when a woman saw our predicament and let him use her card. Of course, Paul gave her $3 for the $2.50 it cost her even though she protested.

View from the top of the rock

You really get a feel for how large Manhattan is when you' re viewing it from this vantage point, on top of Rockefeller Center. On a map, getting from one point to another seems easy, but the numbered blocks are big and the distance between avenues even bigger.

This morning I took a 45-minute walk while Paul ran his planned 6 miles. I discovered that just 10 blocks south of our place is a movie theatre and a going-0ut-of-business Borders. Also, if we like, we can visit lots and lots of delis, coffee shops, or dry cleaners -- they're everywhere! Quite prevalent are psychic shops -- most of whom have their business on the 2nd floor above the aforementioned businesses. There are psychics on every block in our neighborhood! Who could have predicted that?

We hear you but we can't see you.

The most interesting thing Paul and I did yesterday was experience a tour of the artwork at Rockefeller Center. When I saw how small the group was going to be I was happy, because one can hardly hear your own thoughts on NY streets let alone the voice of a guide barking out data. But guess what, we were handed earphones that plugged into our own remote listening device which we hung onto our pockets. So it didn't matter if there were 5 other tour groups around us or 10 taxis honking, we heard every word our guide spoke! In fact, there were a few times when Paul and I lost him in the crowd as he was probably a half block ahead of us. But we didn't miss a word. It was great! The tour lasted 1 1/2 hours. Our guide was awesome and answered lots of questions off the cuff as if he'd just looked it up last night. Has anyone reading this ever taken this tour? What did you think?

View from the 26th Floor

The reason this apartment was THE ONE is mostly because of the view! From my living room I can watch river traffic on the East River, plus there is a tiny island right in the middle where long-winged white birds make nests in the one tiny tree. Also, the historic Tutors apartment complex with its concrete statues of horned creatures and winged lions contrasts with the United Nations building directly behind it. Does anyone know the name of those creatures, by chance?