SUMMER-FALL-WINTER-SPRING

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SUMMER

New York City

On the afternoon of August 31st, I trekked around the city
till way past dark, visiting
Carnegie Hall
to pick up an affordable (second row box) seat
for this December concert,

thinking ahead

"Pink Martini"

The lyrics of Sympathique freely draw on Guillaume Apollinaire's
poem "Hôtel" from Le guetteur mélancolique.

HOTEL

A new arrival

Pays by the month

The boss is doubtful

Whether you’ll pay

Like a top

I spin on the way

The traffic noise

My neighbour gross

Who puffs an acrid

English smoke

O La Vallière

Who limps and smiles

In my prayers

The bedside table

And all the company in this hotel

know the languages of Babel

Let’s shut our doors

With a double lock

And each adore

his lonely love

Skirted along the edges of Central Park

Heading East across 59th Street

"Peace" leads the way

"The real estate capital of the world"

sports pigeons living rent free

Here's a horse with a job,

and only hay for pay

One woman complaining that she's still waiting for her new furniture!
Her friend commiserating about unreliable deliveries,
and merchants who make promises they can't keep.

I continued down Fifth Avenue by bus

Past the New York Public Library
to East 38th Street  

Lord and Taylor

 When I was a child, my Aunt Pauline took me on a Christmas-gift trip every December.  I was instructed to point to what I liked in clothes and toys, while she, discretely whispered to salespeople along the way.  Later, we picked up mystery packages at the gift wrap desk that I was not to open till the 25th.  

Before taking the train home we supped at the

Horn and Hardart Automat

A double treat for me as a devotee of

The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour

Beginning in 1927, Horn & Hardart sponsored a radio program,  a variety show with a cast of children (including some who later as adults became well-known performers), It was broadcast on NBC Radio in New York during the 1940s and 1950s.

 Turning East Once More

Across the street from the Morgan

The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland

Jan Karski

Resistance hero, here depicted playing chess,

the metaphor of war 

Then across to the
Morgan Museum

I spent some time in the library reading titles behind the glass of this amazing bibliophiles delight, and noted that many, many copies of the same texts were available there.  Though it's not a lending library, I've heard rumor that scholars and members might obtain a closer view.

It was all dark polished wood and red velvet upholstered, with many smaller rooms, and vaults with the kind of elaborate metal bank locks you only see in old movies.
Useful, I suppose,  if you're a banker, or a person with the sort of things that require home vaults

The huge fireplace above, one of three,  had an opening large enough for two or three people to sit within it
A  section of one mantlepiece

I examined other artifacts
on view from the extensive collection
J. Pierpont 
amassed in his long career of accumulating art,
books, gems, ancient fragments, real estate, railroads, political influence, people, and enormous wealth

Dynastic Egyptian figures

 Ritual for the observance of eclipses

 St. Elizabeth holding a book

The life mask of George Washington

Free Film Screening

"Einstein On The Beach

The Changing Image of Opera"

Mark Obenhaus 1984 film of interviews with Phillip Glass and Robert Wilson, and clips from the rehearsals for the original production, which will have a revival
this September in Brooklyn:

Einstein On The Beach

 These two wonderful young musicians played beautifully
in the central Atrium for two hours!

nestled amidst Elsworth Kelly sculptures

Traveling home on foot, and by bus, I got a few glimpses of the full moon, but was too weary, full of images, impressions and thoughts, to summon energy to go the extra distance
for an East river view

A salt soak for my feet, and a quiet evening's end awaited me three flights up

Blue Moon Photographs
From the wide wide world
 
FALL
preview

WINTER
memory

VISIT SPRING

Just Starting in Australia