The Year Ends in Darien (And A Day Trip to NYC)

Waiting for the Subway

Undulating Sheets Hanging From the Rafters

Swings

Enjoying the Moment

A View From A Supine Position

Marisa

The View From the Gallery

Supine and Wonderful

Up early again, the first up, and I made the coffee before sitting down to read my email, browse Facebook, then write my blog.  It's just beginning to lighten outside, 30º, and we may have some snow today, but not much.  As for December 31st, my sister Ellen's birthday, "to make an end is to make a beginning." T.S. Eliot  A nice way to think about change.

Yesterday was a full day in the largest sense, as we spent a good part of it in NYC.  We took the train in from Darien, leaving about 10:45, on a very cold, windy, day.  The train was surprisingly crowded for a Sunday but others must have had the same idea, to visit the city for a day.  Our first stop was at the famous Katz's Delicatessen. A destination place for both locals and tourists, we had to wait in a line of at least fifty people for about twenty minutes and the line was still there when we left.  When you get inside, it's pure chaos, twenty or thirty people waiting for a table, guys passing out tickets for each adult, and a long counter, with ten to fifteen guys making sandwiches and other delights.  You basically push yourself in line at the counter, order your food and then head to the back of the restaurant for any tables that are free.  All the help appeared to be minorities, and the only thing Jewish about the place was the name.  We had the usuals, pastrami, rueben and corned beef sandwiches and matzo ball soup.  Not a quiet place, it was filled with talk, carts going by with huge sides of corned beef, dishes, or other accoutrement's.  The place goes non stop until it closes, at 2:30 AM on Fridays and Saturdays, 10:30 on Sundays.  It was an experience, the food was worth it and I would go back in a minute, to try something else.

Chaos at Katz's

Making Sandwichs

After Katz's, we split up and Tyler went off to a guitar story, to test and play various guitars, Mitch and Rami went to a couple of skateboard stores, and Beth, Marisa, Evie and I just walked around Soho, stopping in various shops when we found something interesting.  It's hard not to have a destination because you don't know what's available and just wonder and walk too much.  We did stop in a cool place called BAGS, and they were giving a way hats, as you can see from Evie's picture below.

Evie's New Hat

A Cutie

We ended up meeting at a bakery around 4:00, for coffee and Rami had gotten some cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, a nice rest before our trip to the exhibition.  We  then hailed two cabs and went to the Armory at 66th and Park, a huge open space, able to accommodate at least eight full size basketball courts, with one hundred foot ceilings.  It's a great place for an exhibition like this.  Basically, as you walk in, you see swathes of white cloth,  hanging from the ceiling, long sheets of whiteness, slowly moving up and down and sideways, creating all sorts of Caspar the ghost type of shapes.  Moving these sheets are swings, which hang from the ceiling, about twenty on each side of the sheets.  Adults and children are sitting on the swings, gliding slowly back and forth, while spectators stand around and watch and wait.  I

It's a peaceful atmosphere, quiet and introspective, as the swings move back and forth silently, suspended on chains from the one hundred foot ceiling, and the vertical sheets move in unison to the swings.  The kids loved the glide on the swing, as did all of us, and we took two or three turns on them, as others were waiting.  The other experience was to lie on the floor, beneath the undulating sheets, like  the robes of Lawrence of Arabia, and gaze upward and watch the whiteness move.  At least a hundred and fifty people were lying supine across the  length of the wooden floor, relaxing and enjoying the motion.  The most bizarre aspect, however, was taking place at either end of the Armory.  As we walked in, there was a large table with perhaps twenty individually caged pigeons.  Sitting at the table were two women, reading from a long ream of paper into a microphone.  At the other end of the Armory sat another women at a table, with a spotlight on her, a round mirror in front, writing poetry. Both of these framed the swings and hanging sheets, leading in and out of the swings and curtains.  We also met Rami's sister Lettie there and stayed for close to two hours before taking the subway back to Grand Central, and the train home to Darien.  It was a great way to spend the day and the Armory was a fitting climax.  We were all glad we went.

We got home around 7:30, hungry from our day, and ordered pizza from Tyler's favorite place, Anthony's Coal Fired pizza.  We had it last time we here and because the crust was burnt, Evie called them up to complain, only to be told that's the way it's supposed to be.  We devoured the pizzas, as well as some unique coal fired wings, baked with loads of onions.  They were quite tasty and different from the usual hot wings.

After dinner, Rami and I watched the Washington and Dallas game, the rest watched The Truman Show.  After a long day, we did not get to bed till 11:30 or later.  As I finish this, it's now 8:00 and I am still the only one up.