Unexpected Sunshine!

Omg, omg, gorgonzola mashed potatoes, omg! And black angus ribeye. And delicious shallot and red wine sauce. Yum-diddly-um! And Washington Merlot (forgot to write down the name! blast!)

What an absolutely delightful day I had! Love art. Saw so much art today. Walked so much today. Conversed so much today. And with such wonderful company! Sabine and Arjan are a delight, Sabine is darling as always, and Arjan is very nice. It's such a pleasure to have them stay here.

Started off with a nice breakfast together, then off to MoMA for so many hours and so many floors, and so many ideas bobbing around in my head and chock full o'inspiration. Oppenheim, de Kooning, Picasso, Flavin, Miro, Oldenburg, Giacometti, Dali, Mondrian, Matisse, de Chirico, Magritte, Duchamp, Boccioni, van Gogh, Goldin, Walker, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I've ever had such an appreciation for "modern art" as I did today. It's about bloody time! I always knew this time would come, just like the time when I overcame my museum boredom at Pratt and it was like a light turned on. Maybe it was because the last time I was at MoMA I was bitter, distracted, had a migraine, and wasn't allowed to photograph the Manets. The first time I went was with Eric and Jeff, and I definitely enjoyed it then. I don't know. Maybe this time I couldn't help but recognize nearly every name I looked at, nearly every room had at least one work of art I had studied in my art history classes, and just knowing that I knew what the hell I was looking at and knew something about it before I even had to read the bloody info card was a heady feeling indeed. It feels delicious. (And I found a Cindy Sherman poster on sale, score!)

Off to picnic lunch in Central Park, crazy crazy animals. I don't know what was up, but that squirrel and that little bird were NOT afraid of us, and kept coming back time after time. Nutters!

Then a walk downtown, Broadway was blocked for pedestrians, which was super sweet, chairs set up and live music playing. Off to Chelsea, a rest in a playground, my "type" at seventeen sitting on the bench next to me (Arjan, "do you want to go back?" kidder!), wander round for galleries, more Flavin, interesting video installation (wide open space, many films at once, on the same topic, from different cameras and spaced at different times, showing different frames of thought).

Ambled through the High Line, what a treat! I wish they would carry that to the actual streets of the city! Mother and child asleep, a diaper on the child's head. Cobble stones below peaking through the asphalt. No rain (unlike weather predicted), blue skies, rays of sunshine streaming between distant clouds across the Hudson.

A meander to find Gay St. It was a lot less gay than I recall. I don't know why, but I remembered cobble stones. Cobble stones there were none. Houses not as cute in the daylight. Poo-poo! But I found it, my navigation skills at least are good.

Busy restaurants, adorable inns, a party of elderly ladies at Lips. Meander, meander, and finally the Cornelia Street Cafe, getting there just in time to snag the last available table. Bottle of wine, conversation, steaks all around. Deelish. And, to top off the wonderful day, a group of men singing 'Duke of Earl' on Bleecker. Priceless!