A Couple of Weeks in May (2010)

Boys after Saturday Market, in the fountain.

This has been a busy month. It started with Mother's Day, on May 9, 2010. We went to Elaine's. We had Chinese food from Mar's Meadows, a place we went a lot when I was a teenager. Caver was out of town, in Arizona, with Lisa...Mom didn't want to cook...everyone knows I don't cook. Mar's was yummy!! Helen Bernhardt's cake and ice cream for dessert. We got about 10 different dishes...dad was home for Mother's Day but went to the hospital shortly after.

Granny with her sons-in-law on Mother's Day

Finn, Granny, Tuck, Cade

About a week later, Saturday May 15, Caver had us over for dinner...she grilled and made yummy food. It was so nice. The boys played and had a great time!! Granny came for a while too.

On Sunday the 16th, there was a Sunday Parkways event that went right through my mom's neighborhood (Concordia) that we were going to attend but we decided not to go. It was raining in the morning and by the time it cleared up, the boys preferred Caver's idea of going to Saturday Market. We met her, Cade, and Tucker there. They had pizza and elephant ears and couldn't have been happier.
All four boys bought cute glass necklaces. It was so much fun. I haven't been there in years. Saw Portland's Elvis even. He was really sweet, giving me a big hug...After we broke off from Caver and her boys, my boys decided they wanted to go in the fountain. I carefully took off their shoes and rolled up their pants, telling them to get their feet wet. They ended up getting their entire bodies wet, which blew me away. Why would I take the time to take off shoes and roll up pants if they were going to do that?!? I just don't get it.

On May 21st, Finn had a great activity at school. For six weeks or so, his class studied insects. Finn told me a few weeks ago that he was a bee. I didn't get it, but that's what he was. Shortly after that, his teacher sent out an email informing us that the students were assigned an insect that they were supposed to study and become experts on. He also had two pupas that he was watching and studying in class...one of his pupas rotted, but the other turned into a beetle. Pretty cool.

Finn on far right

Grasshoppers

Mantids

The insect study culminated in "Insect Interviews", that the kids participated in, with all their parents watching. There were six categories of insect (ants, grasshoppers, mantids, butterflies, ladybugs, and bees). They all made costumes in class in the morning. In the afternoon, the parents came and interviewed them, asking them questions about what they eat; where they live; who their predators are; how honeycomb is made; how far they can jump; etc. The kids had so much information and were so darling, sharing everything they learned. Loved it.

Finn's field day was on May 24th...I volunteered to help. I was assigned to the exciting Marble Pick Up game. It was interesting. It was marbles in a barrel with water. The kids had to take off their shoes and pick up as many marbles as they could with their feet in 45 seconds. It was a somewhat cold day. Totally entertaining to watch them. Finn did most of the activities. He did another water game as well (pic to the left), where he had to fill up a container faster than other kids. It was all fun stuff like that, ending with parachute games and popsicles. The kids had a good time.

Busy May....

New York City, Day IV, 25.Apr.2010

Luggage display (of those who came through Ellis Island)

I loved my fourth day in Manhattan. It was a lazy day, but I loved every minute of it. The four of us had tickets to go to Ellis Island, but I decided to bag it. I was not up for a ferry ride. I was not up for being on a tour/event that was a minimum of four hours. I wanted to just wing it and have some alone time. I love my travel mates as much as anyone I could have traveled with. I just liked the idea of exploring New York a little bit on my own.

Janet & Elaine at Ellis Island at the very center of this pic

Here are some of the Ellis Island pics that Dennis took.

I slept in...

I walked from our hotel at W. 75th & Broadway Streets to the NBA Store, at 52nd and 5th. I included a map here. It gives you some perspective of the distance, and also notes a FEW of the cool things I walked past in a 20 minute walk. You can really walk from one end of Manhattan to another fairly easily. (The borough of Manhattan, that is. Even the island itself is only about the length of a half marathon. Manhattan borough, though, is very walkable) I enjoy walking in NYC, too, so it's actually fun to me.

The NBA Store is very, very impressive...even for an average fan like me. Check out the picture of just the cool entry. I spent over an hour in there by myself, then another 1/2 hour or so in there with Dennis the next day when we went back together...I just loved all the cool things for the boys there. Yes, I bought myself a Knicks tee shirt (or two), but it was the boys who really scored!!!

On the way to the NBA Store I walked right by the Museum of Modern Art, not on purpose. It was Sunday, remember, so it was absolutely packed. Probably 1000 people (I'm bad at estimating...but it was at least the amount of space - probably more - as the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR, and that holds 1000 people.) in the lobby alone!!! Waiting to buy tickets; sitting; gathering; who knows what/why...it was as if they were using it as a meeting/hanging out space. I just was glad this was NOT the day we chose to actually go through the museum as visitors. I was by myself, and just shopping. I bought some cool gifts for people and went on my way. More on this museum for day five's post!!
Walking back to the hotel, I walked by the Jekyll and Hyde Club, which was (coincidentally) on the list of things I wanted to see. I really just wanted to see the building. Make these pictures bigger. Imagine this, just walking down the street, in between regular office buildings. See the Starbucks next door. Trump Tower a block away. Just a strange, strange site. I should have gone in (and would have had the kids been with me), but just took pictures.

We had dinner at Arte Cafe, on W. 73rd, near Columbus. What a treat. Dennis and I saw it on one of our walks, and noted we wanted to go there at some point. It was in the bottom of a building. It was so darling...nice actually. It had pictures of Italians everywhere. Looked to be strictly locals in there. A family. A mom with her daughter. Just very low key. Somewhat out of the way. Just the best. Elaine's mussels were delicious, as was my pasta. The dessert of creme broulee was superb as well . Again, about a 7.0-7.5 on a scale of 1-10 (the creme broulee was a 10!!!) , but well executed. Just not extraordinary.

That's the end of the pleasantly mellow (for me!) day four. Day five soon!! I'm sure these are boring to anyone reading them...mostly my own travel journal. ; )

ELAINE & DENNIS, PROBABLY IN HEATED DISCUSSION!!

creme broulee
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JANET AND I, HAPPILY NOT IN HEATED DISCUSSION!!

New York City, Day III, 24.Apr.2010

Day three in New York City was as entertaining and great as the first two days. Here is our itinerary for the day, Saturday:

1. Elaine (my mom) and Janet (Dennis' mom) took the Downtown Manhattan Bus Tour...on the touristy double-decker ones
2. Dennis & I go to Tenement Museum downtown
3. Shopped on Spring Street on the way to the Tenement Museum
4. Ate at Katz's Deli, while waiting for our tour time to be called at the museum
5. Saw the Sondheim on Sondheim Broadway musical...at Roundabout Theater, which used to be Studio 54
6. Angelo's (between 53rd and 54th on Broadway, next door to the Ed Sullivan Theater/David Letterman Show) for a late night (11:00ish) dinner after the show.

Janet had never been to New York, so she wanted to do a bus tour one of the days we were there. She wanted to see as much as possible, and a double-decker bus tour is a great way to see a lot in a brief time. They are sort of fun too. I loved it the time I did it. We did both the downtown and uptown loops. It's exactly that: I felt like I saw everything without spending a ton of time. You can get off and on the bus where you would like. Janet and Elaine didn't do that, because they went on a Saturday tour. It was packed. They said if they got off, they may have had to wait for awhile to find a spot on another bus.

Dennis and I started off our journey to the Tenement Museum getting off the subway about a mile from there. We walked down Spring Street, in SoHo, to get there. Great, great shopping - many smallish, local stores, along with chain stores (anthropologie, Pink Berry, Diesel). We found a cool science store (The Evolution Store). It had the greatest stuff!! Everything from skulls to full human skeletons to mounted butterflies to edible bugs to animal teeth...It was a fun way to start the day and a nice entertaining way to walk. I could have spent all day AND my life savings in those stores!!! (the picture on the right is graffiti on Spring Street)

Dennis and I missed the Tenement Museum on Thursday. We had to get Letterman tickets. It also took forever to get to the city from the airport because bridges were closed off for the President's visit.

We made it back there this day, Saturday. We knew the tours would still have the same issue and be at set times, but we had time that day to wait and figure it out. Please don't let that detour you from visiting there!! It's so, so worth it. **Go here to buy advance tickets: Tenement Museum online tickets** You can look up the times online. They change every day. We ended up doing "The Moores: An Irish Family in America" Tour, at 3:45 p.m. From their website: We've carefully restored 6 apartments, including our newest one: the home of the Moores, Irish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard in 1869. 1869?!? Incredible. I learned so much. Our tour guide was wonderful too.

There is so much to say about this place I don't know where to begin. Making one of the many long stories short - the woman who founded the museum bought the building in 1988 for $700,000 (a run down, uninhabited except for the storefronts, gutted building in Lower Manhattan when it wasn't that cool yet). She just bought another building to add to the museum last year. (from their website: We will continue to grow. In 2007, the Museum purchased 103 Orchard Street, which will serve as a flagship building for our Visitors Center, exhibitions and classrooms.). It's also run down and needs work...there ARE people living on three floors of it (who they are going to accommodate and move up to the top floors), but she wants it because much of it is historically accurate, and she will most certainly find (tenement) artifacts again, as they did in the first building...she paid $10 million for this building...unbelievable! Quite a difference from 1988. Downtown is cool, hip, and desirable now.
We killed time waiting for our tour at Katz's Deli. Wonderful. I love pastrami sandwiches, and I love New York "lore" and places I've heard about and that people talk about. They just had a "Food Wars" on The Travel Channel the day before I came to New York about the best Pastrami in NYC - it was between Katz's and 2nd Avenue - Katz's won. I wanted to see if that was indeed true, but I would not have time on this trip to the city. I would need to sample a couple of others, at least, to form a respectable opinion. 2nd Avenue and Carnegie Deli...Well, I did a very scientific poll instead: I asked the New Yorker who shared our table at Katz's. She told me she lived in Uptown Manhattan. I asked her if Katz's was really the best. She said: "I've tried them all, Katz, Carnegie; and Katz is the best." I said what about 2nd Avenue Deli? She said Katz is the best. So there you have it: it really is. It was delicious.

This is Katz's Men's Room. Check it out and check out the walls and the stuff around it. Quite an interesting place. Not a clean place as my new best friend (who shared our table) also pointed out, but a great, great sand. And jam-packed. A line out the door to get in.

We took the subway back to the hotel. We were seeing Sondheim on Sondheim. We decided we weren't hungry before the show...that half pastrami sandwich filled me up for hours!!...so, we ended up eating after the show. Sondheim was wonderful. It was at the location of the old Studio 54, so it was cool to get to see that piece of New York history. It was a great production, that I can't even explain - lots of video and not much else. Vanessa Williams is very talented and was perfect in this. Dennis is a new found fan of her's. He always thought she was beautiful, but now he's a fan of her talent too. It's hard to get him to be a fan sometimes.

We ate at Angelo's. There are pics of my calamari here. The pic of Janet and Elaine is also from Angelo's. It was a good place. It was a nice, late after show dinner. The cannoli there was delicious as well...but there was no restaurant where I ate in New York that was even close to some of my favorites in Portland. I didn't seek out really good restaurants really...but I like the quaint local places we chose. I liked Arte's Cafe the best, which is in the next blog. :) Day IV.

End of Day Three!!

New York City, Day II, 23.Apr.2010

Our trip to the best place on earth continued on day two, Friday, April 23, 2010. The activities for day two were the following:

1. Walk Central Park, eventually getting to the Whitney Museum
2. Unexpected visit with the lovely Zola and the wisteria
3. Walk back to hotel through the Park
4. Dinner with Wynelle (Elaine's long-time friend, who lives in Harlem)
5. Subway to see The Addams Family musical on Broadway
6. Subway back to the Beacon Hotel
7. Stop at Gray's Papaya for a late night snack

First let me say that I have spent lots of time at this place - Fairway Market - when I visit NYC. It's where we get supplies, mostly food and drink. It really is the best grocery store on earth. I don't even know how to describe it. The closest thing I know to it, and this is only going to reach a niche audience as well, is the old Nature's Grocery Store in PDX, before it was bought by Wild Oats and Whole Foods.
(Photo Credit: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/d-SMgF3Q-Asc7N2SdR-M4Q)

The gang (my mom, Elaine, my mother-in-law, Janet, & Dennis) always woke before me. That is par for the course. Luckily, they were eating bagels from Fairway and coffee from Starbucks both nearby, so they enjoyed just "waking up in New York"...as my mom would say. They would have happily jaunted off without me and left my sleeping a** there, if they wanted to. :)

This day started with a walk through Central Park to get to our respective museums. We showed Dennis' mom the Dakota Apartments and Strawberry Fields along the way. Dennis and Janet were going to Guggenheim and my mom and I were heading to the Whitney Museum of American Art for the day.







On the way to the park, we met Zola, who I described in detail here...Love her. See these pics of she and my mom and the "spectacle" of a wisteria she went out of her way to show us.

It was the Whitney's 75th Biennial (this links to images/information about the art in the biennial itself - it was all art done in the last two years), and I had already visited the Guggenheim, where Dennis and his mom were going. I'm not a huge art person, but it's that old cliche': I know what I like. I do enjoy museums, but there are very specific ones I want to visit and things I want to see. I am so surprised I waited so long to visit the Whitney. Whenever I am in the city, I have a person in my party who goes to the Whitney, but I choose not to. How disappointing that I have waited this long! I really, really loved that place. I cannot believe how interested I was in each piece there. Thankfully, it's relatively small, so I could easily get through it and spend as much time as I wanted.

I don't even know where to start with the Whitney and I don't intend to go into detail about my favorite things at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) later, because I could take pictures of them and I can post them here so that you can make your judgment as to why I liked it. The Whitney allowed no photography of the exhibits/art.

The Whitney was started by a Vanderbilt as a place to show living American artists. Obviously, museums don't tend to show many living artists or American ones. Much more so now...especially with the popularity of small local galleries..but not in the 30's when Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney started this one.

I loved some of the more "regular" art like Edward Hopper's Early Sunday Morning. But I also liked (maybe not liked, but was intrigued by and glad I saw) some of the different stuff, like the 10 foot or so (in circumference) sculpture made out of African-American hair...and the vinyl, life-sized, toilet.

The most poignant installation was about 12 photos hung on a white wall around two halves of a room. Women...horribly mutilated...I won't go into detail, but some of them so badly, they didn't look human. I don't typically like "shock art" (for lack of a better term - I admit I don't know art/terminology), but I think this was just something people need to see to slap them into reality of what is going on around the world...and especially in these extreme circumstances.

O.k. enough said about the depressing stuff...but incredible. Check out the yummy sandwich (Applewood-smoked Turkey & Gouda). I had it at their cool cafe. I love the Whitney!!

My mom is the cutest thing ever: she doesn't love walking. She's like me and will walk more in NYC than anywhere, but still doesn't love to walk. She asked me to take a cab home with her. I hailed her one, and decided to walk through the park by myself. Damn, I LOVE that park. It really is incredible.

We met up at the hotel with Dennis' mom and Dennis. They loved the Guggenheim. I was disappointed that they didn't get to see the huge canvas of dead flies. It was about 8 x 8 and was black. When mom & I saw it there, I thought we were walking up to a black canvas, until we smelled the smell a few feet away. As we got closer, we realized it was a black matte of dead flies. So sad they missed that experience. Wish I did!! I digress...

We went to dinner with a dear friend of my mom's named Wynelle, who we all love and who always takes us around whenever we visit. I was so neglectful in that I didn't take a picture of her at all this time!!! How lame am I?!? Anyway, I love that lady. Dennis' mom even commented how gracious and giving she is. She takes the subway to our hotel; takes us around; rides with us to make sure we get to our show on time; and, then turns around and rides the subway back home (to Harlem)!! She's darling as she can be, too!!

We went to see The Addams Family Musical. It was definitely fun and entertaining. It is what you would expect it to be. I'd give it a B grade. We had fun. Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane on Broadway: I had to see that once in life. :)














After the show, we shopped on Broadway and bought tacky souvenirs at the tourist junk shops. Subway back to the hotel...walking there, we needed a snack. Another thing I had to cross off my list was right off the subway stop (W. 72nd and Broadway): Gray's Papaya Hot Dogs. I'd seen it on t.v. before, including this Anthony Bourdain episode. Molly told me I had to try it as well...I must say I LOVE hot dogs. They were good - as good as the "everyday New York" ones on the cart. Unlike the traditional NYC cart hot dogs, I like that Gray's are grilled and have char marks on them. This was the perfect night/time for it. One a.m. on Friday night after a show. What a great first two days & nights. More to come.