Autumn in New York

Chihuly in the New York Botanical Garden

Halloween in Greenwich Village

Boat @ the NYBG's Chihuly exhibit.

After being house-bound by the pain caused by my herniated cervical disc from late July until past mid-September [I could neither drive nor ride as a passenger in a motor vehicle without excruciating pain.], we have finally broken loose and have been doing things around town.

This past week alone we went to two museums, the New York Botanical Garden, and five shows.

We also tried something different: We stayed overnight in Manhattan in a one-night rental instead of going home and returning the next day. We traveled light; everything fit into Sarah's pocketbook. [It's large.]

On Tuesday, we visited the Museum of Art and Design and enjoyed their Simply Droog exhibit. Droog is the next step after 'Danish Modern.' Later we saw La Boheme at Lincoln Center and after coffee at Barnes and Noble with friends, Sarah and I retired to our two bedroom apartment a half block from Lincoln Center. [Actually, we've been retired for ten years.]

After a night's rest and breakfast at our apartment, we strolled down the avenues browsing and buying until it was time for our matinée of SubUrbia. Afterwards, we strolled some more and relaxed in a park until show time for Mimi Le Duck. Before and between the shows, we browsed menus for our dining pleasure and to find a suitable place for dinner with the children on Friday. We gave up on dining pleasure and opted for stuffing our faces at an all-you-can -eat Indian buffet.

Sarah and Allen admire the 'flowers' @ NYBG

On Thursday, we went to the New York Botanical Garden. The special exhibit of innovative blown-glass sculptures by world-renown artist Dale Chihuly was bright and colorful. We had never seen so many of his creations in one place. As you can see by the photos (above and below), even the placement itself is often artistic. [If you'd like to see more of my photos of this exhibit, let me know and I'll send you a link to my photo collection.]

On Friday night we went to the theatre again; this time with all six of the children to see Evil Dead: The Musical. We all enjoyed the show and, although close to the stage, were not close enough to get splattered by the copious amounts of 'blood' spurting from the actors' punctured or severed body parts. [Before the performance began, there was an announcement of seat-change opportunities for those sitting near the stage who didn't want to get doused.]

On Saturday we saw The Treatment. This intense drama takes place in a psychiatrist's office. We were seated in front-row center. If we had been any closer, I'd have been on the couch getting analyzed instead of Dylan McDermott. That's not a comfortable idea for me...I don't want to talk about it.

Sarah initially had trouble following the dialog because she was so close to a good-looking young actor; she was too busy looking at him to pay attention to his words. She got used to it, but later, when he was in his tighty-whities, another attention lapse occurred.

The other museum that we visited during the week (Friday) was the Dahesh Museum of Art which is currently showing 'Napoleon in Egypt.' When Napoleon invaded Egypt at the end of the 18th century, he brought a troop of scientists with him to document the flora, fauna, architecture, etc of the region. This collection displays etchings from the twenty volume encyclopedia that the French produced over several decades. Also displayed are artifacts, political items of the era, and paintings from and about the era. Some of the historical drawings are especially important because the sites that they record have been completely destroyed. One ancient village, for example, was replaced by a sugar refinery.

I learned a lot from this exhibit.

During the previous week, in addition to several shows, we also visited the International Center of Photography which was founded by Cornell Capa to honor the work of his brother, the celebrated photographer Robert Capa, who was killed in Indochina while on assignment. Capa was the first war correspondent to die on the battlefield.

I asked museum staff if this was the same Robert Capa who was born 'Friedmann' and was told "no." I checked the internet: He was born Andre Friedmann in Budapest to Jewish-Hungarian parents as was his brother Cornell Capa, who created the museum. I did not find this information on the museum's web site.

The current exhibit, Ecotopia, portrays ecological issues. We watched a short film in Slavic (subtitled) which showed the killing of invasive crows in an Eastern European town and the reactions of the local people. The keynote photograph of the exhibit was models of extinct dodos photographed in the dodo's natural habitat on the island of Mauritius. You can see this photograph by clicking the phrase 'Ecotopia' at the beginning of this paragraph.

Additional photos of NYBG's Chihuly exhibit are below as well as a link to the next post, Halloween in Greenwich Village.

Macchia Forest

The Sun

Ferns

Flowers on the ceiling

Halloween in Greenwich Village

To see the next post, Halloween in Greenwich Village, click here.