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Sara Reynolds, our wonderful guide through the Met, gave us a close look at Consuelo Vanderbilt.

One of the dozen or so paintings Van Gogh did of shoes. Sara poses questions to the kids she takes through the museum: "Whose shoes are they?" "Are these shoes of a rich person?" "What can you tell about a person by their shoes?"

One amazing lamp shade.

Arabic calligraphy, beautifully mounted.

The genie comes extra.

Today we were met by Sara Reynolds in Manhattan for a ‘behind the scenes tour’ of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The only thing that might have compromised such a wonderful event was an eratic camera…yup, I had one…no, I had two. What are the odds? All I can think of is that I had the menu screen open and hit a combination of buttons that changed settings. Arrrgggghhhhh!

Actually, since this was the Monday after a holiday, the Met was partially open to the public. The Impressionist collection was roped off, however, and that was the principal collection we wanted to see.

The other thing we had read about was the opening of the Islamic Art section – 15 years in the making. How tasteful and spare. How beautiful.

We stayed with Sara for a couple of intense hours and then went for coffee with her.

Thoroughly satisfying day at the museum.

Looking like she does this every week, Meredith and friend from the publishing world, Margaret, finish wrapping the huge salmon steaks in parchment.

Neighbors Diane and daughter and Ann and Mario anticipate the feed that is about to begin.

A selected few of the Amari family.

Spooky house a few blocks from Meredith & Richard's place.

There was massive chopping and prepping in the morning hours and even some Easter egg dyeing as more and younger relatives arrived. The anticipation and volume curves were running close as the feast was finally delivered. What a feast for 24 it was!

Appetizers o’plenty, lasagna and amazing salmon, veggies, desserts, etc. The wine flowed along with the conversation from: Meredith, Richard and both sets of parents, both brothers and sister and families, one of Richard’s band members, some from the publishing world, friends and neighbors.

After dessert, some of us took a brisk walk up the street to see this huge, aging, neglected house that looked as if it might be on the way to being haunted.

By ones and fours, the people drifted away as the afternoon ended – some down the hall, down the street and others to Philadelphia, Boston, Manhattan and into central New Jersey.

Happy Easter!

As evidenced above, there is nothing wacky about Richard’s family…especially the ones from Philly.

We walked to the Twin Cities Marketto in Jersey City this morning to pick up the salmon steaks for Easter dinner. Meredith and Richard have invited 24+ for this intimate gathering. We walked back with two collapsible shopping cart things laden with food, wine and beer to the point that the carts nearly did collapse. Did it cost a fortune? Did the plastic nearly melt? Don’t ask…we can always eat the leftovers.

Upon return, we got out sheets and towels for the overnight guests, made up the pull-out couch, and around 3 p.m. Jerry, Anne, Nell, and Will arrived from Philadelphia. Jerry and Anne are both creative professionals from advertising and publishing respectively. Nell and Will are just darn nice kids – smart, creative, unusually nice kids.

Food prep was in full swing, but we did allow time to visit, drink a little wine and to order pizza.

One of the jobs that were sandwiched in between Arizona and New York was for the Arts Business Education Consortium. Joyce Robinson, one of the founding members and head of the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation after an earlier career in art education is the point source for the program that Malcolm McCollum and I put together for the annual luncheon, the only visible production of the ABE. The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation supports young artists and is based in Colorado Springs and New York City. Their main office was in Trebeca before 9/11, but has now moved into new digs in DUMBO which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. DUMBO was a decaying warehouse district in Brooklyn before the artists moved in. Like lots of other places, DUMBO is now very trendy and ‘the place to be’.

While working on the ABE Program, Joyce and I talked about DUMBO, and she persuaded us to visit the carousel. She described how the wife of a VERY wealthy couple in New York found this old beat up carousel in Ohio, was going to buy a couple of horses but ended buying the whole shebang, bringing it to Brooklyn, building a spit of land out into the East River and restoring this gorgeous piece of history inside a glass box the size of a small Safeway. http://janescarousel.com/

It is beautiful; it is significant. Go to DUMBO and check it out for yourself.

After our morning at the carousel, we tried to eat at Bubbies, but the waiting list was too long, so we went to Miso’s across the street for some great sushi and tempura followed by some great coffee at Starbucks to wash the taste of tea out of one of our mouths.

All of DUMBO seemed to be part of a movie set today. Everywhere we walked, we were halted or redirected over lighting equipment and scenic displays. We learned this is not all that unusual. Wonder what movie they were shooting?

In the late afternoon we made it to Meredith’s jeweler to see the sketches and partial design of her new wedding ring. We loved the place and the jeweler, Bill, in SoHo and the newly adopted dog, A.J. named for Annie and Joe. Bill showed us his tramp art frames collected from all over the world and the repurposed art throughout the shop.

By the time we were finished with the jeweler, one of us was in serious need of a bathroom break and after too much walking we found a Bloomingdales that fit the need perfectly. I thought I might pick up a few shirts while I was there owing to my good fortune at Macy’s. Yikes!! A crummy used looking T-shirt was $300!!! We beat a hasty retreat and thanked them for the use of the facilities.

We walked and cabbed to El Toro, the home of the best burritos in New York. We picked up four to go and headed for the PATH (along with about a million other folks).

We ate with Richard about 10 p.m. which has become the norm. We are adjusting. Normal is normal.

We got off the PATH at 34th St. and were soon at the Macy’s famous Flower Show, however, due to all the interior construction Macy’s held the show in a big white tent out in the street. It was much smaller this year, but still spectacular AND they gave us a 10% store voucher on the way out.

Since we were there, we thought we’d cut through the store on our way to B&H Photo. I found a belt I liked, but it was $40 until the clerk started applying discounts. First came the voucher, then a big chunk because it was on sale, then she asked me if I was from out of town! I was shocked, because I felt quite disguised as a local New Yorker. She smiled and sent me for and out-of-town pass. Anyhow, when she totaled the bill, my $40 belt cost me $11.30. I love this town.

Speaking of being from out of town, after 9 days in New York City I did not see one other human wearing a Tilley. What’s that all about? Do you suppose this was one of the clues that led the clerk to surmise I was from someplace else?

B&H Cameras; 420 9th Ave. at 34th St., was our next destination. I have done business with B&H over the years and have always wanted to see the New York store. My picture of it didn’t even come close. I swear this store must be the ultimate internship for every Hasidic Jew who ever looked through a viewfinder. (http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/hasidic-jew-vs-orthodox-jew/) Wow, do they know cameras! I was there to potentially buy 3 cameras for 3 very different shooters. They knew exactly how to help.

Cath’s requirement: easy use, light, small pocket sized, cheap, fast recovery not necessary, most prints not over 4″ x 6″.
Meredith wanted a camera with:  sharp focus, good color, fast recovery, good battery life, middle sized like her old Canon A530.
Me:  small pocket camera to replace my G9, good low light response, able to shoot RAW, good glass, good zoom, lightning recovery, good battery life, rugged.

They nailed 2 out of 3: an entry level real tiny Nikon 5100 for Cathy; a Nikon 8200 with lots of features for Meredith, and the old pro behind the counter told me to get happy with what I have. Dang. The newer models up through the G12 have added few features for the money and the G series is the only one that shoots RAW and has a viewfinder.

Our timing was great, too, since Passover began only hours away, and their whole operation closes for over a week. Their in-store system is a study in efficiency: make your selection, go down a floor and pay per the bar-coded slip you got upstairs, while you were paying, the clerk bar-coded your order to the stock rooms further upstairs, other clerks load your purchase into green buckets which come down via roller ramps, another bar-code checks you out and makes sure you have the right purchase! Very impressive.

We caught some quick Golden Dragon Chinese across the street before meeting Meredith, her boss, Cindy and co-worker Bill for the Hunger Games movie at the AMC Lowes right around the corner. We loved it and can’t wait for the next one.

Meredith and Richard were off to work relatively early and we hung back opting for a slower morning. I fixed the clock which had a broken escapement fork. I brought a small torch from home that might have been perfect for the job if I’d have remembered to bring some flux. I was worried about TSA, but by reading pages of regs on the Internet I discovered I could pack the torch in my luggage if I’d carry on the butane in a BIC lighter which has been legal since 2007. The boys and girls of TSA were confiscating 22,000 lighters a day before that and storage was becoming a problem for them!

After lunch we took the PATH train into Manhattan and went first to the International Center for Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street (www.icp.org) to see the WeeGee exhibit. WeeGee (real name Arthur Felig) was an amazing photographer, showman, promoter of the 1930’s and 40’s whose business card read “Murder Is My Business”! He was maybe the first photographer to have a police radio in his car, a fold out table with typewriter in his trunk along with nearly a whole darkroom stuffed in there. He would often beat the cops to a murder scene and have all these bloody tabloid images on the way to the newspapers before the on-site investigation even got started. Quite the character. This is a WONDERFUL museum for photographers.

We then hiked over to Grand Central Station primarily to see the new Apple Store. What an inspired idea to feature your product for touching and using around half the second level of this busiest of places! While I was drooling over the new iPad and more, Cathy was down by the clock trying to get herself arrested. She was in the midst of a middle school flash mob of girls in uniform doing the Macarena in full formation to the tune coming from a boom box. Some guy came running up to Cath and told her to “stop this immediately or he was going to call the cops!!” By the time she started to explain she had nothing to do with it, the kids had scattered!

We met Richard first and then Meredith at Tom & Jerry’s, a neighborhood bar on Elizabeth St. in NoHo. We had a couple, rested our feet, and then were off on a search for BBQ.

Just outside of Tom & Jerry’s was the tree pointing at the moon and this  casket, complete with wine…only in NYC. Now, if I just told you about these images you would think I’d had too many “Fred & Gingers”. So, here’s the proof. BTW, when Richard first found this bar the lady bartender persuaded him to try one of her new concoctions with bourbon and fresh ginger. She was trying to come up with a name for it. He said just to call it Fred. No, she said, “it has to be Fred & Ginger”!! A new drink was born.

The barbeque was found at Georgia’s, a narrow-but-deep venue between Houston and Stanton. A bit of a wait, but well worth it!

I love this city.

Breakfast at the Crown Plaza was pleasant, but the weather was not. There was an inch of wet, slushy snow on the car, and it was still coming down.

We slipped and slid to the USA Parking lot, had to wake up the shuttle driver, transferred our bags and made it to the airport.

As I took off my shoes and belt and was emptying my pockets into the tub, I realized I had forgotten to leave my pocket knife at home! The tubs came through the x-ray machine, and Cath thought they hadn’t noticed. Of course, they were waiting to see who would come to pick it up, which I did with a sheepish smile and handed it to the TSA dude who was smiling back at me. I apologized, explained it was a cheap Chinese knife, and no, I didn’t care to go back through security and mail it home. I laughed. He laughed. We got on the train.

As we left our train at DIA, the monitors showed our flight on time. By the time we got to our gate there was a 10-minute delay…then a 30 minute delay…then 2 hours, etc. We later learned that our flight coming with a full load from Salt Lake City couldn’t land because of weather. It circled the airport for an hour and then low on fuel was turned back to SLC.

Finally, 2+ hours later it arrived with a “fuze that had popped out” which took nearly another hour to “pop back in”, and finally we were off to be deiced and flying. Weather everywhere else in the country was beautiful. C’mon. April Fool’s Day has passed.

Anyhow, it was a long, but safe flight to Newark, the A-1 taxi FINALLY arrived, and we were smiling with Richard and Meredith as if this was just another day.

Richard fixed us absolutely delicious chicken burgers at 10 p.m.

It was a gray day, but we were moving too fast to notice.

I burned the CD with the final changes to the last job and delivered it to the printer, stopped by the bank on the way home, deposited a fistful of Wasson High School Reunion checks (did I tell you I caved in and am in charge of that now?), withdrew some traveling cash, packed the bag to bursting (including Swaby’s photo padded with a week’s supply of underwear), checked the house for the fifth time, and got out of the driveway only an hour late on our schedule.

Tonight we had dinner with Chelsea, Neal and the kids at a very nice Italian restaurant on Logan after the first two choices failed the criteria.The kids are growing and great.

Later, we checked into the Crown Plaza… without me emitting too many low growling noises.

Cathy had an idea. A very good idea. Since we are flying from Denver to New Jersey to spend Easter with Meredith and Richard this week, we should get a motel near the airport the night before (tomorrow), see the Gilmours, cut down on the stress and enjoy.

We were both feeling great, anticipating the trip and almost caught up with our ton of commitments. I fired up the iPad, and feeling like a pro with Priceline now, booked us a room at the Crown Plaza, right on the edge of the Denver airport.

“Oops. My fat finger hit the wrong date. I’ll just call them and switch to the right date – it’s only been 3 seconds since I made the mistake.”

Not so bloody fast and easy, bucko. This is April Fool’s Day!

Two+ hours later, my good mood was shattered. I was so mad I couldn’t even explain to Cath what happened. Priceline FINED me $25 and threatened to force me to pay for two night’s lodging. The fine print (24 pages of it?) gives them these rights and MUCH more.

I fumed, I threatened, I pouted…but I paid. This IS April Fool’s Day!

I’m blazing through another crazy chicken week. Short notations will have to do.

The layout jobs went through their various stages: 1. Me to client: “We have a deadline at the end of the week; we should have been done by now; what do you mean you don’t have all the material yet”??? 2. Next day…Client to me: “We have a deadline at the end of the week; is it done yet?” 3. Next day…Me to client: “Here is the first rough draft; still missing pages 3, 8, 11 and the calendar of coming events.” Client back to me: “Sorry, I thought I’d already sent you all of that. Here are 4 pages of corrections and I don’t understand the graphics you chose.” Me to client: Here is round two. All changes have been made and I’m still missing two photos, the President’s Corner, p. 11 and the calendar.” Client to me: Sorry, I’m sure I sent that to you earlier. I’ll see if I can find it. Could you put in an ad for the dry cleaners? I think they had an ad last year or maybe two years ago…? Yada Yada Ya. Time passes, rounds three, four and five get exchanged and it HAS TO be at the printer Monday. Client to me Saturday morning: “Could we switch the article on p. 6 and make it the lead? I know you don’t have any space left, but I forgot two ads that just HAVE to be in this issue…I promised!” Sunday night we are still doing the dance…almost every job every month goes this way. I loved this job even when I was making money at it. I still love it now that it’s pro bono. What’s the matter with me???

We passed on a NODA vigil on Sunday night, and the patient died on Monday. I went to the commo meeting on Monday night and Cath had lunch with her retired divas.

Tuesday, Gene celebrated his REAL birthday, I had coffee with my rowdy bunch at the Dogtooth Cafe right up the street from where our drawing group was to meet at 9:30, but Judy Judy (the hostess) had a meeting in Denver, so we hung it up for another month. Do you think we will all forget how to draw? In the evening we had a wonderful get together over wine with the Agnews, and besides the normal red, we did our best to demolish a bottle of chocolate wine!! I know, it doesn’t sound right, but you should try it. YUM!

In addition to juggling the three jobs and keeping the pressure on all the social engagements, I’ve been data-basing all the tax info for our lovely tax lady. Today was that deadline, and we survived another long session hoping I’d not missed many significant numbers that might come back to bite us in the ass later. She missed one last year and had to file an amended return. It bounced in our direction, so that was jolly. In the afternoon I met with the new sprinkling system dude. I like him, and he has lots of good ideas for how to bring our system up to speed…almost as fast as Cathy and her gardeners come  up with new uses for the water…almost.

Thursday was the hospital gig in the morning, chiropractor in the afternoon (ouch), and a Mac User Group board meeting in the afternoon. Cath busy all day with therapies, et al. This evening we had tickets for Itzhak Perlman. OMG. The guy plays a smokin’ violin!!!

Friday was my haircut, winding down the jobs (by now there is mostly peace in the valley), and in the evening we went to see Gods, Guns and Pancakes at the Millibo Theater. This was an incredible one man show, written, directed and starring Jim Johnson (owner) about his journey from being an engineering student to becoming a clown in the circus. Excellent…sometimes painful, but excellent.

Today, Bill Haffey had a birthday “HB, Bill!” With great trepidation we went to pick up the tax returns, and then with wide smiles decided we could afford to go out to lunch for some tasty Chinese. Life is good. Then we came home and dug up the vegetable garden and made plans for its return to life this summer.

That’s it, folks. Not much room for TV or goofing around. Next week is another adventure.