Saturday, November 7, 2015

Florence: File Under "Sometimes Other Places"


One of the things one goes to Italy for is to eat - and also to look at things to eat...


Herewith my first hot chocolate at Milan Station - with all the frisson of 'being abroad'.


The first day we wandered through the market near via de Macci and saw porcini mushrooms


and clementines


and pomegranates


and glittering fish.


Not to mention persimmons....


and artichokes.


On the other side of the Arno I had another hot chocolate.

More Italy photos here elizabethwix.co


Monday, October 12, 2015

A Round Up of Trivia on Columbus Day



First a photograph without a single leaf in it. Quintessentially New York - a  brilliant blue sky without a cloud in it. I think the grim looking buildings on the lower left are going to be either demolished (probably) or else refurbished. So much building going on all over the place - here on 7th Avenue. 



Seasonal thoughts... dahlia perfection


heirloom tomatoes looking picturesque



a winesap - with leaf...


moonflower pods on the roof


the beginning of berries.


The macaroon shop on 23rd Street is thinking about Halloween - the skeleton looking cadaverously chic.


We walked to the Ear Inn yesterday


one of my husband's favorite places. A man at the bar kept trying to make conversation with the taciturn bar man - kept asking if there were ghosts in the very old building. The barman finally said that there were odd things but did not elaborate. Was he just trying to please his customer? 


Anyway, the light was falling slantwise making the things on the tablecloth resemble things we painted in art school.


Monochrome and yet not monochrome - a puzzle to be solved.

On the way home we walked in St Luke's garden on Hudson Street and saw


a vast fall of Michaelmas daisies.


This last photo was taken in my friend Margaret's place - the very antithesis of the little jug picture above - and how nice to like both charming clutter and simplicity at the same time...





Tuesday, September 29, 2015

What's Been Going On...





Quite a lot -  since I have been neglecting this blog... anyway


Pope Francis came to New York and made a lot of people very happy.


They lined up for the mass at Madison Square Garden and the line went on for miles and miles. Though I am not a Roman Catholic, I admire Francis' message of love for to the poor and needy and dispossessed. 


More lovely effects of light.



This morning on 24th Street....extra urban.


A truck on 23rd Street...


Hooray -  at last the sunflower I planted outside the building decided to flower in almost-October.


I bought a little white pumpkin at Union Square


and admired dahlias  at the little Saturday market on 23rd Street.

Last Saturday was the flea market behind London Terrace.  Of course I wandered through it even though I don't really like old stuff.


I don't need the singers  - (see the notice over the shoulder of the chap on the left)


or Ms Supercilious either.











Friday, September 11, 2015

Tour Guide Mode



I never really explore the city except when we have guests -


So this week I headed north on The High Line for the first time this year and was astounded at the amount of construction going on in the upper 20's and 30's. So much activity - so much glass. This was about 8 in the morning on a very hot day.


I felt like Walt Whitman admiring the energy of the city and thought how many people must have good jobs doing the construction.


Roger is rather a keen walker and strode ahead in his Panama hat.


We stopped on the southern part for coffee in Chelsea Market before all the tourists arrived.


Rather a lot of yellow lately...


Having visitors means going out for swanky drinks at The Campbell Apartment at Grand Central Station...


Then a very good burger at the Shake Shack which I've known about for years but never actually got to. And yes - it was delicious.


Returning to my normal lovely dull life, I discover it's dahlia season at Union Square.





Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Metropolitan Museum and Knickerbocker Hotel




What a painter, what energy, what verve - how very theatrical!


How the contemporary onlookers look so deadly dull.


A splendid Henry James afternoon in Venice. How the figures are disposed in light and dark.


Most of the visitors were between sixty and death


and fun to observe.

 

Nice to see lots of the paintings that are so famous gathered together in one place. I enjoyed this show more even than the over the top wonderful Chinese fashion one.

We had been waiting for The Knickerbocker Hotel to reopen on 42nd Street. Times Square is not really the part of New York I most enjoy  - tacky and touristy. However the hotel is wonderfully situated


to look down from the roof bar on the crowds below.


Then the bright lights come on


and the sun sets over New Jersey.


Indoors the bar is very chic and luxe.







Monday, August 17, 2015

Annual Robert Moses Beach Post



What celestial blues!


What a perfect day for the beach.



The water was ripply and delicious.


The life guards were suitably watchful.


The surfers were out


but the children had shallower bits to paddle in too.


Even the changing room was rather picturesque.


Again with more splendid blues, our friends Caitlin and Samuel Dowe-Sandes house in Morocco with their own tiles - and one of Robert's paintings in the dining room. In September's Elle Decor. See below.