New York, New York, Is Everything They Say

Alan and I just got back from NYC. Alan was there for the V-Tach Summit conference and invited me to tag along. It was such a great trip! Someone asked me to recommend favorites, so here are the best of the best things we did:

1. AMAZING Broadway shows twice. We supported the arts by investing in really great seats and a hotel just a block away from both theaters.

2. A day with Marcie Keller! The Whitney Museum, lunch at the Chelsea shops, walking The High Line and ending at The Vessel, followed by an arduous walk back up through Times Square to the hotel.

3. A scrumptious vegan dinner followed by the temple. Alan visited with a doctor he knew from Wilford Hall Medical Center during our time in Texas, and we are always so pleased to find a pocket of peace and light protected right there in the middle of Manhattan.

4. A day on my own with my own agenda! The big NYC public library. Tacos. The Guggenheim. Central Park. The American Museum of Natural History.

5. Church in Manhattan. It is always wonderful. This time several people reflected on the talks that meant the most to them during conference for 2-3 minutes each, and the organist directed us to sing How Great Thou Art with a gradual crescendo over the four verses, culminating in standing and singing with full spirit the fourth verse. He accompanied on the piano with great drama. What a glorious Sabbath!

Here are more details and pictures:

We wandered Times Square after each show. People are there in droves. And lights! And traffic! And street performers! And always people selling things.

Manhattan skyline

Our Cuban dinner at Victor's: Black beans, rice and  ropa vieja for Alan. I had salmon and veggies cooked to perfection.

Tostones with a vinegar garlic sauce

Beautiful heart of palm salad

Churros with three sauces

Getting ready for The Music Man on Broadway

Aaaaah!  They did such a great job! We had so much fun!

It was especially nostalgic and fun for me because I knew every line from being a dancer in it as a teenager. The changes they made to the lines were mostly great.

Two things surprised me at the Whitney: paintings by Man Ray and E E Cummings.

Baptism in Kansas. So compelling!

Thomas Hart Benton, famous Kansas Citian represented well

This was the featured exhibit. A film in 8 episodes. Two lizards as people in NYC during the pandemic. Google it if you are interested. It first aired on Instagram and is strangely compelling and insightful, although rated R for langauge.

I got a whole day with Marcie Keller! She is wonderful.

Posing on the High Line

Interior of The Vessel

I was trying to talk Marcie into moving, against instructions.

Alan and I walked to Le Botaniste, which is a WFPB restaurant very close to the temple. It was amazing!

Butternut squash soup, brownie with cashew cream

Chile with brown rice, coconut ceviche, vegan sushi

I loved these ladies of faith in their colorful robes being so modest and yet so flashy as they carried their bags from Victoria's Secret.

Drinking fountain at the New York Public Library. Celebrating 125 years

A reading room with portraits of original donors.

Third floor restroom was awesome.

Periodicals reading room

Cactus and chicken tacos from Los Tacos No. 1. Delish.

The spiral inside the Guggenheim was closed because they are getting ready for a Katz exhibit.

The iconic spiral (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright).  If you have 25 extra minutes, listen to this.

Between the grand spiral and the very cool triangular staircase no one talks about are wedged single, tiny bathrooms on each floor. Sitting on the toilet, my knees almost touched the wall.

One of the sights of NYC that soothed my soul. Monet!

So much iconic art! Much of it was collected in real time in the early 1900's. Picasso, Monet, Rousseau, Degas--I love the impressionists!

Exhibit of Eva Hesse's final work: Expansion. There was a film about the curators trying to keep her vision for it even though the work is decaying. The vinyl on the cheesecloth is stiffening and browning. It started as a pale yellow when she first showed it in the late 1960's.

The triangular staircase--with triangular light fixtures!

Another soothing sight of NYC: talking to Mariah, Buddy and Juliet on a bench in Central Park!

American Museum of Natural History. Their spheric theater and spiral staircase explaining what is thought to have happened at the Big Bang and since were worth the price of admission. So great!

Lasagne Bolognese at Azalea's

Alan's lobster ravioli.

MJ was outstanding! What an amazing piece of art! And we got to see it with the youngest Tony winner ever, Myles Frost, playing the lead. They found him on YouTube when the originally cast MJ left during production.

We got home to our own house and our two youngest kids with Doug Wimmer in tow. Today is Dick's birthday and the brother's Chief's game. Griffin and Eve did so well without us I wasn't sure they even missed us. Mallory Sheldon watched them and they want her to come back!

This kitty needed a lot of lap naps last week.

Eve still fits without dragging her legs on the floor. Barely.

Look how tall she is getting!

This is how I imagine Mariah's baby girl to be sleeping within her.

Crazy hair day...

...and crazy sock day. The SAME DAY!

Just feed them grilled cheese and tomato soup for best results!