In case you didn't know....

it is snowing in New York City..... some of us are happier about it than others.

• The booties are for the salt, since it burns her feet,
• The sweater makes ME feel better, though I doubt she really needs it...
• The leash is required so I can pull her up from a snowdrift when she gets in over her head.
• The expression on her face? Priceless ... 
• She is giving me the "Whose IDEA was THIS getup?" Look.
• Frosty.

ok, I am among the missing at the moment

I am wanting to revamp the blog, I am waiting for snow...... fat chance just cold .... but I will be back.  I am thinking that the first of the year is a good day to start again, so look for me then.    See you soon..

OK, so I have done the Cloisters

But somehow I always have missed seeing her. Didn't shoot the identifier info, but isn't she wonderful.

She looks like she belongs in a book by Jane Austen, doesn't she?

I have VISITORS

And I have been doing this:

and many versions of this:

Till I felt like doing THIS:

But I didn't. Folks, we are walking our legs off and sometimes we just have to sit and stare at the views. A long list of where we have been and where we have EATEN!!! is coming, and different versions of what you can see here. Because some of us are better about blogging daily than others.

The BridgeHenge Sunset Night

New York Voted today -- Sort of

I went to vote today and I was absolutely embarrassed about the state of voting in New York City..   Going to the polls I had to wade through about 10 people who were trying to shove campaign literature into my hands.  If I had not made up my mind, what was I doing there was the big question, but not to them.  so I found the "table" for my precinct and was told to sit down to have the ballot explained to me.  Ballot was awful, rows of names grouped vaguely into groups but you really had to look to see who went with which office.

That, however was the least of the problems,   I was sent to a table with wings so that in theory no one could see what I was doing. I was instructed to mark the circles very darkly with a pen.  I did that.   The ballot was about 8 inches by 16 inches, not a tiny thing, and once the marks were made they were visible as I looked around for what to DO with the ballot.  I finally walked back to the table and saw the same woman who sent me to someone else, all the while I was trailing a totally visible ballot.

The next woman had a file folder into which she inserted my ballot after perusing it to be sure I had filled the dots in dark enough... so much for private ballots.  Then we went on a walk to another part of the building where there was a scanning station.  Only one for at least 4 voting precincts!  I got to flap my ballot around again but at 1 pm I was the 202nd voter, so not much was going on.  If there had been a lot of people voting this process would have taken at least an hour.   Then I get to feed the ballot into a scanner and stand there to wait to see if it had been accepted.

This was, without question, the DUMBEST thing I have ever participated in. Something has to be done -- if this is the wave of the future we are doomed.  No voting of consequence could take place with this process. OK,  rant over, we shall see if this is going to continue to the "real" election since this was a primary.  Anyone want to place a bet?  I think we are stuck til after the November election no matter how stupid this is.

Normal Sunset behind the GWB

Tabla

When I get to Madison Square Park I usually go to the Shake Shack.  But the other day I sprang for Tabla. It was a real treat.  This place always amazes me because somehow I forget how good it is between visits.  I LOVE Tabla.

The Cloisters

I went to The Cloisters last week and took a million pictures (more or less).  Most of them were design focused and I am posting a half million of them over on the photo blog because I don't want to lose track of them.  I had never really looked this way before at The Cloisters and I love it even  more now.  I think it is partly because it is just up the hill from me that has made me sort of ignore it, but not any more.  I won't bother you here with the million pics, but if you want to see them take a look at the photo blog.  I am going to do them one a day, so they will be entertaining over there for a while.

As for the bench .. they are scattered throughout the museum and are such a perfect fit for the place that I can't resist them.  

September 11, 2010

Etaly Humor

This was the only picture I could take that showed anything of the interior of Eataly, but it does give you an idea of the "flavor" of the place.  Any other picture would just have been wall to wall people.

Eataly Opened in Manhattan this weekend

This was the line to get into Eataly on Saturday. I went in for a bit when there was NO line outside but the lines for food inside were HUGE already . I can't imagine what it was like in there with all these people. Is it worth the hype? I think so. There were a lot of brands of food I haven't seen elsewhere here, the food being served looked great and Mario rarely disappoints so I will bet it tasted as good as it looked. However, my next trip is going to be in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week. At least until the new wears off.

Look!!!!!

A public toilet on the streets of New York near Madison Square Park. Who Knew????

version two of the last print

again, the difference is the inking -- both the color and the distribution of the ink accross the plate. I think I prefer this one, at least at this moment in time, but that can change minute to minute. I am left with another problem of where to "display" at least a few of these prints. Those of you who have followed me for a while know that wall space is limited. hmmmmmmmmmmm suggestions?

Last plate/print from the class

Most of the others are over on my photo blog, but the ones from the final class are here, so that I can talk about them a little. This is bigger, 8" by 10" and I also printed this one two ways so tomorrow you get to see the other inking. The plate was created from a collage of several pieces of transparency. I really liked the effect and also the off centeredness of it with the tape that held the whole thing together showing in the right had margin. Again, not sure where this is all going, but this class was great.

He might be a little creepy

or not. I am not sure. I made this plate several years ago but it was a 5" X 7" plate and there was a lot of context that meant nothing to anyone. SO while I was printing and had access to a wonderful guillotine I chopped him up. Actually, I chopped several of my old plates up to a square format. He is the only one I printed, however. I like a square format. I am not sure what I am going to do with these plates, but something will occur, I hope.

version two

I would be interested to hear which one you find more interesting, yesterday's version or today's version? I waffle. Hell, lately I AM a waffle, since they sent me home from the brunch on Sunday with a week's worth of leftover waffles and I am loving toasting them up and eating them. But I digress. Often.

today and tomorrow

I am showing you two versions of this print. The only difference is the inking, but I find them really different. I know enough now to be able to make plates from a lot of images, photos, collage, drawing etc etc etc. Where I feel at sea still is how to ink the plates to best effect. It is an itereative process, once you have explored how to ink the plates you can go back and explore how to make the plates better so they can be inked better, I think. Sigh, there is just so much to explore and the rabbit hole just goes on forever it seems.

yes, the clock is backwards

I still like the effect, despite the basic oops that resulted in the clock being backwards. Maybe I can play with this print some more, and I can make another plate with the clock the "correct" way, but in a way it is sort of down the rabbit hole with the clock reversed.

Remember the huge stairs?

They are trying to make them more.........attractive? It is going to take a lot more than pretty posters to get me to hike up all those stairs.

I made my bed this morning

I make it every morning.  Later, around noon,  I wandered into the bedroom.  Do you think Sienna is trying to tell me something?

The Wall Street Bull

This big statue of a bull is right in the middle of Wall Street. People like to be photographed sitting on it.

They like the horns and the powerful expression on his face.

Some of us, however, are interested in different parts of the bull.

Look! a bus full on nuns!

Well, not exactly, it was raining, and I know the second pic is blurry but don't they all look like a bunch of nuns?

I love New York

The other day I was at Times Square just wandering around and what should appear but a fashion show?

There is a long row of these mannikins just marching down the street where Mayor Bloomberg has managed, despite opposition, to create a pedestrian mall.

These pedestrian areas are full of benches and places to sit, but this is the first time I have seen them populated by Street Art figures.

I think what I love best about them is that despite my continual perusal of the news and blogs etc, the first I knew about them was when I happened on them. So much going on here, so little time to see it all!