i took the train up to new york early yesterday morning and had the best day. i dropped my bag off at the hotel and went to the whitney where i saw calder's circus. it just makes me so happy. they had the film of calder in paris running in the background. the circus is beautiful just as it is..but when calder makes his creations perform, you can truly see his genius. it took me a few years of hunting, but i found the video and gave it to mummy for christmas a few years ago. i'll have to see if i can figure out where she put it and ask maura to burn it to a dvd for me.
after i left the whitney, it was a short walk to the met. i ran in and peeked at the things that i wanted to see and then went off to barney's to look at the christmas windows. it isn't their best year...but they still do the best christmas windows in new york.
from barney's i walked down to grand central station where i found a spot against the wall in the grand hall and stared at the beautiful ceiling. when i first moved to new york, the ceiling was almost black. i had no idea at the time that it was dirty. jacqueline kennedy was an incredible advocate for the preservation and restoration of grand central and sometime in the mid 90's it was painstakingly restored. the ceiling was cleaned and the night sky is actually much closer to a tiffany blue than to the black that greeted me when i moved to the city in 1990. i like to just stand quietly and look at the ceiling while new yorkers rush by me.
from there, i took the subway to union square and then walked over to the west village. i had a (very) late lunch at benny's burritos and did a little shopping at mxyplyzyk down the street.
after that, i was off to kate's paperie, my favorite stationery store.
from there, i wandered around and ultimately ended up back in midtown and turned in for the night. this morning i woke up and went to my favorite camera store, b&h photo, and treated myself to a new lens and an external power pack for my battery hungry flashes.
i treated myself to a ride home on the high speed train and now i am packed, tucked into mummy's bed and ready to turn in so i can get up for an early flight tomorrow.
aside from the very difficult thanksgiving day, i have been happy this week. i have had a very restful vacation and i have been surrounded by people i love or alone with things that mummy and i loved to share. it was a really good visit.
i thought, before i turned in, that i would upload some pictures from my very happy saturday with magee, buzzy, maura, liam, seamus and missy at the zoo.
how could you not be happy when you get to wake up to those faces?
