Notes from Hell's Kitchen

I know I waited a whole week before sharing - it's just been busy since I got home... but I have to admit I had a fantastic trip!  We saw every California cliche - from the traffic jams, the roadside shootings (no kidding), the hippies in San Francisco.... just about it all.  The highlight of our trip was Stonescape.  The Stones were such a lovely and lively couple - and to have not only a private gallery in a cave but a James Turrel Skyspace in the center of a pool - WOW!!  Bruno and I were blown away.  Again,  the slideshow is here:

Stonescape and San Francisco

Bruno and I hope to be invited to return - we met a lot of fantastic people!

We're heading to San Francisco this weekend!!  The itenerary is set :

-- We're having an evening with our friend Larry Rinder to catch up on his latest life changes.
-- We're having a lunch/dinner at the French Laundry to taste the beauty of Thomas Keller's culinary expertise.
-- We're visiting the private collection of Norman and Norah Stone in Napa Valley or an opening of their amazing collection of art.
-- We're road tripping around Napa Valley to see the countryside, and breweries.  (Wineries?  Boring!  Give me the beer!)
-- We're having dinner at Cyrus in Napa Valley.

.... and all of this becaus Bruno is covering the Stonescape art collection for his magazine. I have to love that!! So we're booked for an amazing weekend away!  Adios, amigos!!!

In case you didn't know already, despite all the preparation and despite passing the ever-famous American civics exam, my husband was rejected for citizenship for yet another month.  Apparently it is suspicious that someone who already has a 10 year permanant resident visa to desire for citizenship.  He knew all the answers to American history and government structure, he speaks and writes English fluently, we've provided them with all the money and papers required, but we'll need to provide just a few more next month. 

The civics exam misses a few things.  They don't care that we're madly in love with each other - they don't ask what about the USA makes you wish for citizenship even when you are allowed to live here with a green card.  The immigration people were very concerned with how many times he travelled outside the USA - but it is that what we saw here in the country is what makes him wish to become a citizen.  They should ask him about the tumbleweeds of California, or the 'Wonder Spot' in Wisconsin.  My husband has experienced what it's like to sleep in the basement of an Iowa farmhouse, has seen the sunset over the cornfields in Kansas, he's watched the sunrise in the middle of the Utah desert, and has met people of all walks of life in our wanderings across 38 of the 50 states in the past 4 1/2 years of marriage. 

He's had the pride of hearing my whole family (all 4 brothers, 4 sisters, parents and random nieces and nephews) saying the Pledge of Allegiance for him one hot Oklahoma evening... and believe me he's proud to know that he's been made not only a part of a family, but he's being adopted by that family's country.  He'll be bringing the final round of 'proof' on July 28th, 4 days after his birthday.  He'll be going back and he'll be taking the oath.  In my heart he's already a citizen.

 

(The photos above were taken after his civics exam.  The benches and park are outside the immigration offices - taken from the window.  The rest are random shots as we walked home throught New York city.)

We found Mike Tyson at the flea market.

He asked us where we were heading and we told him that we were going to the Metropolitan Museum.  He said 'Hey, I like that culture thing!  Can I come, too?'

So we hopped onto a bus and went to the Metropolitan Museum.

There were booths and booths of art outside on the sidewalk.  'Yo! I like culture!' said Mike.

Mike hung out on the roof with the Jeff Koons sculptures

But his favorite part of the museum was the Asian art - the Buddhas were so COOL!

Who would have thought that Mike Tyson would have so much fun in a museum?  He's pretty darn cultured even if he's been punched a lot in the head!

Of course, I naturally acted like a trapped animal when I first received the summons from the New York City criminal court to appear for Jury Duty.  Maybe it was because I've never lived in one location long enough to have a permanent address to be noticed by the government, or maybe it was because I got lucky... but I'd never had to serve jury duty my whole life. 

I had been called to serve ages ago when I was a young, starving college student for the county courthouse.  But it was easy to provide them with proof that I didn't live in the county in question since I had moved.  Not so easy this time - I definitely live in Manhattan.  I figured I'd suck it up and serve my time. Anyhow, it probably wouldn't be THAT bad.... would it?

Now that I look back at the whole thing, it seems like going to jail.  In actuality, the prisoners in jail are given more rights than jurors.  We're not allowed to leave - they're not allowed to leave.  We're not supposed to talk on cellphones while in the jury room - they don't have cellphones, but often have a pay phone in the cellblock.  We're allowed 1 hour for lunch, but not provided with any means to feed ourselves nor do we have a refrigerator or anything to bring our own lunches - prisoners get fed three square meals a day.  We're given a daily stipend that is a joke - it costs more to get lunch than what they provide - OK, prisoners don't get a penny but they get free healthcare and college.  SO... 'serving time' as a juror is an appropriate phrase.  It's a punishment for merely being an American who cannot prove residency in another state, county, planet...

The 'jury pool' room is a large room with about 150 chairs and 200 people fighting over said 100 chairs.  It has narrow slits for windows that have half-functioning air-conditioners shoved in the only space that could provide any view or natural light.  When I got in there the first day (early, thank goodness, so I got a chair), they made us all sit through a Speilberg-style production movie on how 'JURY DUTY IS YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY'.  Complete with bad re-enactments of midievel witch hunts. They explained the process that all of us had our names in a lottery-style box and it was the luck of the draw to be called in for an interview to possibly sit on a trial.

After the movie came the silence... and the waiting.  It was numbing.  They provided a room with pre-historic laptops that had internet provided by a squirrel running in a wheel.  They had been banged around so much by previous desperate jurors that it was difficult to get them to recognize any typing.  The security program on them was pre-disposed to drop you off on courthouse sites that explain that YOU ARE SERVING YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY. 

There was no eating, drinking, or cell phones in the big jury pool room.  They were kind enough to provide a small room with 10 chairs around 3 tables with 4 huge vending machines stocked with every kind of calorie known to man.  But there wasn't any trash receptacle - just some recycling which seemed to confuse most jurors.

Then came the 'lottery' - after waiting all morning and into the afternoon on day one.  They decided we needed to go to a trial for interviews.  Lucky me, I won!  I got to go from a big room full of bored people with some sort of ability to read, draw or bead (for me...) to a freezing cold court room where the judge banned cellphones and all reading material.  We were expected to sit in this room on hard pews and wait for our names to be called to be interviewed.  This, of course, took four hours - 80 people were called and they had 10 minute interviews with each individual then 20 minutes of questioning from the attorneys.  Lucky me, my name wasn't drawn all of day one so those of us who had to sit through ALL the interviews had to come back today to continue the torture. 

This is what I noticed - Manhattan is full of all kinds of people.  More diverse than anything I've ever seen.  There was a woman from Puerto Rico who has lived in NYC for 40 years and doesn't speak a word of English.  There was a Chinese guy who thought he DID speak English, but was very confused.  There was lawyers, artists, waiters, students, dishwashers, dancers... everything.  One thing I did notice - and maybe it was because they all were trying to avoid being chosen to serve on the jury - there were a lot of freaks.  Normal on the outside but Ohmygosh!  Opinionated, mean freaks.

When I finally got called I sat next to a guy who's 'hobby' was to shoot his registered handgun.  I told them I was freaked out by guns - the same way some people don't like needles or snakes, I don't like guns.  He asked me (when we were dismissed) "You hate me because I have a gun?"  WHAT?!?  I hate you because you're a freak.  (I didn't say that.)  I felt terribly sorry for one girl - when I called to ask about this whole Jury torture thing, they said it lasts 3 days and that's it.  She probably was told the same thing.  The judge then said the trial would run over Wednesday of next week - more than 3 days.  She asked the judge about it and told her she had a flight scheduled on Wednesday.  The judge made her go and reschedule her jury duty for a later date AFTER sitting through the whole torture of yesterday and this morning.  I would have cried.  (And I'm glad I didn't mention I needed to attend Bruno's naturalization on Wednesday...)

I was dismissed, sat in the huge room with too few chairs a few more hours and they let us all go free.  YAY!  We cannot be called for another 4 years now.  Needless to say I learned a lot on this - I learned I will do anything to keep from being called again.  I will get a doctor's notice, move to Kathmandu, cry...ANYTHING to keep from going through this pain again.  It's not that I'm not patriotic... it's just I'm not meant to be a juror.

It started with David Byrne.  Yes... David Byrne of the Talking Heads.  He made an installation out at the Maritime Building called 'Playing the Building'.  We met up with my former boss Christiane to see this work - it was really interesting. This old organ was re-wired to go to different parts of the building to knock a pillar, or maybe tap on a radiator, or blow air through a pipe... overall it was a surreal symphony of sound.  The building is fantastic, too - it's an old ferry terminal that simply was lovely to look at.

The ferry terminal also happened to house the ferry that goes to Governor's Island.  We figured since we were already at the terminal, we may as well go check out Governor's Island.  

Despite the 90 degree weather in the City, we caught a lovely breeze off the ocean out in Governor's Island.  It was a strange place - being something like a small colonial suburb more than a part of New York City.  It's in the center - Brooklyn is to one side, Manhattan to another, and Staten Island off to the distance behind the Statue of Liberty.  We walked around and checked out the sites- no businesses there.  Nothing but a few art installations and abandoned millitary buildings.  NICE abandoned millitary buildings.  There were a few houses there I would have happily lived in.

We caught the ferry back and walked to the World Financial Center to have Sangria and dinner at the Southwest NY Restaurant.  By the time we all stumbled onto the subway and headed home, we were overheated and tired.  What a great day, though!

Cyn (http://wingedneedle.blogspot.com) tagged me on this - apparently a 'meme' is when you have to answer questions about yourself.  SO...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago I was living in Minnesota waiting tables at a dive bar-slash-restaurant.

2. What are 5 things on my TO-DO list for today?

It's late in the day...

• Finish this beer
• Burn a few beads in the studio
• Stitch a few beads onto my doll
• Let my husband know I love him
• Sleep

3. Snacks I enjoy:

• Fois Grois on toasted bread
• Baked Brie en croute with fruit
• Sour cream and cheddar potato chips with extra sour cream and cheddar dip

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Collect art & donate art to small town museums
• Create a scholarship fund for middle-class children (whos parents earn too much, but too little to help them through school)
• Help with basic amenities like water or human rights for countries like Sri Lanka or Morocco
• Travel the world to see art
• Donate to conserve art and architectual sites throughout the world
• Buy a Frank Lloyd Wright house (or two) in Michigan for my family (aunts, uncles, parents) to restore & create a museum

5. Places I have lived:

• Ohio
• Illinois
• Oklahoma
• Minnesota
• New York City

6. Jobs I have had:

• Limousine chauffeur
• Muralist for a renovation company
• Waitress
• Massage Therapist
• Software Tester
• Quality Assurance Manager
• Global Project Manager for Banking and Finance

7. Bloggers I am tagging for this MEME:

• The Lone Beader: http://blog.thelonebeader.com/
• Coach Bob: http://wienerfest.multiply.com/journal
• Dulcey Heller: http://www.dulceyheller.com/

... to be honest I can't think of anyone else.  I've become such a non-computer-head...

Just clicking around the news today I stumbled upon this story:

Drinking Cuts Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk

Since sarcoid, the lovely disease that I seem to wear, is just a step beyond basic rheumatoid arthritis, it is logical to think that maybe drinking is helpful for keeping my flares at bay.  HECK, I am all for a little excuse for occasional drunkenness!  Nothing outrageous - just a bit tipsiness that brings on a nice, long sleep-filled night.  So I had to celebrate my good fortune!  A FUN cure!  YAY!! 

I know most of my friends are being hit by the gas prices really bad - mainly because they have to drive everywhere they go.  I rely mostly on public transportation being in New York City - mostly I catch a bus, subway or ferry wherever I need to go.  But I've been thinking - what about those taxi drivers?  They must be really hurting!  They've been required to start taking credit cards - which takes a 5% cut of all sales.  Then they have a huge increase in gas prices.  I can't imagine hoe bad they're scraping by. 

Still, I walk - 'tis the nature of this city.  I did pick up a new pair of shoes today which I hope will get a lot of mileage.  Bruno has two pairs of shoes in total - I've got six.  I would probably be run out of most women's social clubs, but Bruno still thinks I own way too many shoes.  (Flip flops for pool and home, hiking sandals for comfortable summer days, boots for cold winter days, dressy sandals for special occasions, tennis shoes that can double as dress shoes, and mary-janes that also are a bit dressy.  All black.  It's all I wear...)  So it's a fashion faux-pas, but he's a guy..  I at least can walk 4 miles in any pair of shoes I own.

Which brings me to what we did today after work.  Walked.  We stopped at the Blind Tiger for a beer again, and walked all the way to 23rd before I started begging to find a subway.  (Hell!  It was after a full day of work! I got worn out!)  Maybe I should feel a bit guilty that I didn't hail a taxi. 

We've been keeping ourselves busy.  Thursday, Bruno and I headed down to the Villiage to pick up a book at the Strand.  We took a detour through a pub called the Blind Tiger and after a few beers walked down this private street off of West 4th.  It looks like something out of Italy!  Crazy!  So, speaking of Italian, we went out for Piola Pizza. 

Then last night we decided to check out a New York-style Texas Roadhouse.  The decor was correct- lots of wood with a ton of crap all over the walls that say 'Cowboys' or has a Texas liscence.  But it seemed the waitresses were trying too hard to be Texas rough.  Sorry, chicks!  You sorta need to look like an aged cigarette with a voice that could stop a freight train, have frosted hair and wear a ton of black eye makeup to be a correct Texas Roadhouse waitress.  Your tight little shirts and obnoxious yelling don't hack it.  Smoke a few more cigarettes.  ANYHOW... at least the prices are similar to the ones down in Dallas - we had four margaritas on the rocks with a stuffed chilli pepper for $35.  Bruno's hurting today.

Junior (the super) is installing lights in our back yard so we can have ambience at night.  Bruno's been tired and sorta ill from four margaritas... so it's been a stay-at-home day.  I burned a few beads.  No amazing New York adventures this week!  Unless the Italian street and Texas Roadhouse count...

What better place to spend Memorial Day Weekend than in New York City?

OK.  I admit Saturday was busily spent purchasing supplies to clean up the back yard from Home Depot.  We were actually going to clean the space, but got too distracted.

Bruno was asked to cover the Olafur Eliasson exhibition at the MoMA and PS1 so we made a day of that on Sunday.  The show itself had the appeal of a 7th grade science fair with a few pieces that actually had some strength on their own, but most were not very successful.  Still, it was a bright sunny day and a good day to wander museums.  The evening was well spent with friends having a lovely dinner. 

Sunday was an adventure!  We met up with a friend who happens to live across the street from us, and we piled into the subway to see Coney Island.  The amusement park is run down and much like a ghetto-version of the Tulsa State Fair on crack.  Since this is the official 'last year' of Coney Island, we thought it may be a good idea to go down and photograph it while it still stands.  We then went out to Brighton Beach to check out 'Little Odessa', have lunch and pick up some caviar. We ended up eating at this place called Restaurant Tatiana on the boardwalk and WOW!  What amazing food! Sipping Russian beer and eating Russian food was a perfect way of passing the afternoon. 

By the time we got home, we were exhausted.  Too much sun this weekend.  I'm hoping for a nice, quiet, relaxing evening at home with the husband.  Tomorrow we're back to work!

It all seems strange coming from New York city.  Not to mention having traveled around Spain, France, Italy and Sri Lanka in the past 6 months.  We booked flights to Kansas City (which were almost as expensive as going to Spain), rented a car and road tripped across the cornfields to Oklahoma for my family reunion.

The drive across Kansas wasn't so pleasant since Bruno and I seemed to be constantly at each other's throats.  We stopped for Mexican at Fort Scott where they served Bruno an amazing Margarita the size of his head.  We were happier after that.  We arrived late Wednesday night and chatted at my parents' house with my brothers Ron and James while my parents sorta sat around and smiled.  We booked ourselves into a last-minute hot-tub hotel room.

Alexis and Tom (niece and nephew-in-law) got married Thursday.  She looked lovely, and the ceremony was short but sweet.  It was historic in the fact it was the first time since 1978 that all the LeMieux children were in the same room at the same time.  We wrapped up at a bar downtown that had 100 beers on tap (McNellie's).  Bruno and I suffered two kinds of sticker shock- one that we had a tab feeding appetizers and drinks to 10+ people that was a total of $100 (dinner for two in NYC is that much!); the second when we saw the waitress tipped herself $50 on above said $100 tab.  (She was good, but not THAT good.)

We drove out to the parents' house for more family stuff later.  It all sorta blurs together here for me - we spent a lot of time going over all the little tortures we had for each other growing up, the bad habits, and the songs.  Although all of us were only around in whole for 2 days, they were good days.  I don't think we could have stood to be around each other longer than that.  It was a teary good bye - we all suspect this is the last time we'll all be together.  It took 30 years to get to this point, there's really not 30 more years left to organize a second reuion.  To have 9 children in one room is much like nailing jello to the wall - not to mention 9 adult children.  Funny, the only ones who seemed unaffected by the farewells were my parents.

Bruno and I road tripped back across the grand cornfields of Kansas back to Kansas City Saturday after a final breakfast with Richard, a farewell to Mark at the bike shop, and a quick visit to Mother & Daddy (with Ron & Susan in attendance.)  We stayed with my friend Mark and his significant other James in Kansas City - what a glorious day!  We hit the Nelson-Atkins Museum, shopped, and ate total (cheap compared to NY) feasts. 

I am still a little shellshocked having returned to work on Monday.  Anyhow, if you are curious, here's the slideshow:

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/New_york_city/LeMieux/?albumview=slideshow

This one is a quick note since my brother is here visiting and I figured I'd upload this.  Click Here!!!

... apparently I'm a published photographer!  My photos from the Bowery were published in an article released in Spanish newspaper magazines.  My friend Elena was the author.  I can't tell you what it says since it's in Spanish, but it looks like it's good.  (I'm not the only photographer featured in it, so don't oooh and ahhh over the first page - I'm mostly page 2.)

 

For a quiet weekend, it actually was pretty action-packed.   It's beautiful out in NYC right now - the sun has finally come out for good and the weather is a balmy shade of spring.  It's even a little cool out - just right in my book!  So Sunday we decided on a detour to the East Side to check out the Sotheby's auction preview.

There's really not much I can say about the art - it appears that the Nashers decided to hold a garage sale and get rid of their non-sculptural lesser works.  A parade of bad plastic surgery and botox-injected New York wealthy patrons wandered the galleries for our entertainment.  The coffee we had out on the terrace was probably the highlight of my visit.  (OK.  I take that back, there was a lovely piece by Carl Andre which made Bruno and I happy.)

We hopped a bus to go back to the West Side, but decided to abandon the bus when a long line of elderly tourists decided to try out the New York transit system at Central Park.  We walked across the part instead.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day! 

So... what do you do on the end of a beautiful day?  You drink.  We started at the Valhalla bar with gourmet beer, and ended up at a new little wine bar called Casellula (and a nice bottle of wine.) 

So by the time I got home I wasn't really in the mood to post any news, and this morning I spent nursing a mild hangover.  That's not the only reason I'm remiss on posting... I have been preparing for what I'm beginning to feel is an upcoming week from hell.  My niece's wedding and family reunion is coming quickly.  Bruno meets my oldest brother Richard at the airport tomorrow so he can stay with us.  We've been cleaning up the place, and I've been a bit fretting on all the goings on.  My friends Dot and Cyn are also coming this weekend so Chez LeMieux-Ruibal seems to be booked solid.  WHEW! 

So if there's no posts for a while, there's a reason! 

... or 'How did I spend MY Sunday?'

Bruno and I fought the 'stay at home blahs' and actually hopped onto a subway out to Brooklyn to see the Murakami show.   The show itself wasn't as impressive as the gift shop,  but we did have a random celebrity sighting by running into the guy from Supersize Me, his wife and their son on the stairwell connecting the galleries.  (Cute family!  I liked how he was coaxing his son to catch up with mom...)  Anyhow, we left on the super-slow 2 train which was re-routed to make local stops and go up the East Side, so we got off on Bowling Green and decided to wander.

We ended up going to Southwest NY for a few drinks and appetizers, and walked up Tribeca.  I hadn't really explored Tribeca before, so we walked over to Greenwich and walked up through Soho, the Villiage and landed ourselves in Chelsea.  Of course, I snapped photos of everything that made me think.  Apparently, the walk was 3 miles - pretty cool! 

I have to say, I love New York.

I'm a natural blonde.  You know the type- I have to literally draw my eyebrows on every morning and if I don't use mascara, I don't have defined eyes.  (Come to think of it, I barely have lips, too...)

Anyhow, remember the weekend before last when MizCt was here and we went to get a manicure, pedicure and Miz had her eyebrows threaded?  Here's a lovely instructional video of how it's done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK-QzPLgUTo

So- it seemed to be so zip-zip-zip and Miz came out with perfectly beautiful arched eyebrows.  I thought that it would work lovely on my mustachio.  (OK, for some reason I grow a little bit of hair on my upper lip... but it's blonde and mostly people don't see it but it's annoying to me...) 

WELL, Bruno and I went for a couple of beers tonight at the local pub, Landsdowne Road.  We had a couple of beers in us, and we discussed an upcoming trip to see the Stonescape private collection of Norah & Norman Stone in Napa Valley.  It's an exclusive invitation to a private collection merely because Bruno will be covering it for his magazine.  In the collection, there is a James Turrell piece that you need to swim to.  Bruno was thinking it may not be seemly to *ahem* have himself made more 'aerodynamic' with a little waxing.  So... I suggested he check out the services of the new spa down the street where Miz had her lovely threading. Conversation turns and I decided that maybe I should try their services out myself for my own threading of my mustachio. 

WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING???  They actually package the 'threading' with both the upper lip and eyebrows.  For the cheap price of only six dollars, I get to sit in a chair and suffer sheer torture while some Chinese woman plucks out my facial hair one-by-one using a small bit of thread held in her hands and mouth.  I was amazed - I barely HAVE any hair.  I joke that I have to draw my eyebrows on every morning!   (Hmmmm....Do I want to be surprised, sad or angry today?)  Somehow this woman found hair where there never was any.  After the first eyebrow, I was crying so hard I had to take a breather.  I was convinced that there must have been blood streaming down my face from the amount of pain. 

THEN she attacked the upper lip.  Can I say ouch?  Wait - I think I've already been SAYING ouch - along with a few other choice explicatives.  It seemed like sheer torture while she slowly and methodologically pulled each.and.every.one of my lip hairs (which I admit I had) from my face.  I felt my skin swelling in protest. 

... and it was all done.  I looked in the mirror and to my surprise, there was no blood.  My skin was barely red - and somehow my upper lip was smooth and eyebrows (from what I could see - they ARE blonde) were finely shaped.  I paid the torturer my $6 and ducked out the door. 

I have been following the news on the case of waterboarding. Although people define it as a torture, it's up for debate in congress for some reason.  I'd like to offer the interrogators of Guantanamo bay another solution - threading.  I would confess to just about anything to get that woman to stop - it may be the key to world peace if all men had to deal with a little hair-removal in an ancient Chinese manner as well as having us women suffer a little pilo-extraction. 

Two beers weren't enough for tonight.  I'm now eyeing my handsome husband's eyebrows... they could use a little shaping....

 

It was a strange thing.  Elena (a friend who is a writer in Spain) needed some photographs for an article over the gentrification of the Bowery.  So she asked if we could send some - and I spent yesterday after work snapping all these images of the Bowrey.  I admit, I really was enjoying my 'assignment'.  They wouldn't let me snap shots inside the old CBGB's but I took a ton of images of the street outside, the buildings, the building that used to house CBGB (which looked oddly clean...) and people on the street.  Once the sun went down, we walked back towards the West Villiage and stopped at the Blind Tiger for a couple of gourmet beers and some taramosalata  (they call it 'Mediterranian seafood spread'.) 

So now that I'm being paid for a few photographs, does that make me a 'professional' photographer?

Guest stars at Chez LeMieux-Ruibal this weekend were my niece and nephew-in-law-to-be Alexis and Tom. We've been doing more of the New York scene - Chinatown, Union Square and Soho Saturday, and today it was the Museum of Natural History and the Upper West Side. I have to admit, I really liked the museum for all the wrong reasons. I found the archaic 're-creations' of ancient cultures using antiquated dark rooms in a fishbowl effect with diorama dummies and accessories to be hysterical. I imagine the educational benefit of these taxidermized dusty animals were much better back in the 19th century than they are today with the advent of internet and globalization. It was interesting seeing an Indian woman in a Sari staring in at her ‘ancestor’ in ‘ceremonial’ gear – the ghost behind the glass. But then there were the dinosaurs. HOW FUN! We had a fantastic time exploring the skeletons, fossils and minerals… then went back to Harriet’s Kitchen for dinner. (Twice in as many weeks! WOW!)

I have to admit I really enjoy it when cool relatives visit.

My friend Miz CT came down and stayed the night Saturday night.  Sadly, I had to work both Saturday and Sunday morning.  Saturday was interesting - the fog was so dense around the ferry on my way to New Jersey that we couldn't see either shore.  Then we hit something.  I looked over the railing and saw a few gallons of oil spill into the *pristine* waters of the Hudson and the boat was dead in the water.  It was eerie.  We couldn't see anything.  Just sit there, dead in the water.  The capitain managed to get the boat to limp back to the Midtown pier and we had to get on a replacement boat.  Needless to say, I was late.

I met up Miz after work in the Fashion District.  We checked out a few trimming shops on the way home to my apartment where we dropped off her bags and went straight back out to explore the 25th street flea market.  No Ethiopian crosses this time although the guys running the African booth saw me coming a mile away.  I didn't want to spend any money without Bruno.  Miz did purchase a few very heavy but super cool things which she lugged around with her as we walked down (slowly) to Union Square to see the farmer's market and street artists.  We then wandered into Piola which just happened to be in the neighborhood (how did THAT happen?!) and we had some pizza and pasta. 

We were limping by the time we got home so we visited the neighborhood manicure/pedicure girls and Miz got her eyebrows threaded at a new spa next door to my regular nail salon. 

I had to work again Sunday morning but no ferry wreck this time.  The work was like watching a train wreck, though.  I got a bit frustrated with it all and we decided to go live on one fix, and back out of fix #2.  I met Miz and Bruno back on the Manhattan side of the Ferry and we went to the Upper West Side flea market.  Believe it or not we found lovely silk pillowcases at 4 for $10!  STEAL!  I now have new covers on many of my throw pillows. 

We took Miz up to Harriet's Kitchen where some of the best burgers in New York are made - the place only has two tables inside to sit and eat, but the burgers are SOoooooOOoo good!  Cheap, too!  We walked off the excess food by going down to Alice's Teacup and picking up some tea for Miz (she SAID mango was one of her favorites!)

Again, by the time we got home we were sore and tired and that mango tea tasted LOVELY.  Miz asked Bruno and I our favorite parts of the weekend and I couldn't think of any one particular part.  Maybe because it was all a very good weekend.  Maybe because I had one of my best friends here with me.  It's been a good weekend.  A favorite. 

Well, it's more of a "happening".  It appears that there are protests near the Chinese consulate again over the situation in Tibet and the choice to hold the Olympics in Beijing.  I photographed a little bit - I always respect a peaceful protest.  You can see in the photo of the police horses the not-so-peaceful protest remnants from while we were still in Sri Lanka.  The glass brick along the consulate have broken panes and someone shot red paint onto the wall.  I like the way it looks like an arc of blood - it's a fine statement. 

Things are getting much more interesting than just my Falun Gong friends (who still do their little dance daily come rain or shine...)