Then and Now

Above, April 3. Yes, April 3, 2011. Snow on my garden. Underneath, little seedlings grew despite the weather. And now...

Ta Da! Check out the progress over the last 8 weeks:

The pea shoots reach up about 9 inches, almost to the netting. The lettuces are fully grown and I've begun to harvest them. Charles prefers a crunchier salad, but for me these tender baby leaves are divine.

Below, the spinach and Swiss chard. The spinach loves all the rain we've been getting, so it's going gangbusters. The chard took an incredible amount of time to germinate, but now things seem to be moving ahead. Slowly. Those plants are about the size of a quarter, so there's a ways to go before we'll be eating chard with dinner.

Salad, anyone? Purple leaves, speckled leaves, green leaves, I got whatever you like. Except crunchy. If I planted Romaine seeds I can't find them now. Oh, well.

Overheard

9:53: "Oh my word! I have too much work to do."

From his darkened bedroom, almost 2 hours after bedtime.

And 3 minutes later: "BETTY BOOP!"

Whew!

Clouds wrapped around the skyscrapers on Thursday afternoon.

Saturday morning we rose, cleaned the apartments, gathered our luggage, chatted with the landlady, and sallied forth for brekkie.

Then the group split into three. My colleague led some people down to the Brooklyn Bridge while I peeled off two students for a walk to the Museum of Natural History. We trekked across the Park to Strawberry Fields and the Dakota, turned right up Central Park West, and popped into the darkest, coolest part of the trip. At some point, one student wondered about the A/C bill - it must be a whopper.

We enjoyed a planetarium show, toured the mineral exhibit and giggled at the fattie walrus in the room devoted to sea life. The Museum of Natural History is a bizarre place. Half of it appears to have been preserved in amber: placards under the minerals identified origins such as "USSR" and "West Germany." Uh...

But other parts (the planetarium, for instance) look brand-new. So maybe they're preserving the older exhibits for retro fun. In any case, it was great fun and (most importantly) very, very cool.

After that we caught a cab over to Butterfield's, bought snacks, and returned to the apartment to catch the Supershuttle.

JFK. All I have to say about that is that it will haunt my dreams until I die. The end.

But we made it back in one piece, sent all our charges home to a warm welcome from Mom and Dad, swam home through the rain, and collapsed into bed. It was a great trip, but of course I'm glad to be home.

New York, Next-To-Last-Day (5?)

Can't I just go to sleep and awake at home? I'm sooooo tired. BUT!

Yesterday we visited Ellis Island, walked by the New York Stock Exchange, drove past Ground Zero, ate lunch in SoHo, and dined at the Gramercy Tavern.*

Today we trekked to MoMA**, lunched at The Modern, visited with my old, old friend Joel, rose to the Top of the Rock, walked down to Grand Central Station (bought a chocolate croissant from a place called - I kid you not - "Hot and Crusty"), popped into Vosges chocolate for some chocolate-covered bacon, slurped a Frostee at 7-11, then ordered Indian food into the apartment and watched a Men in Black marathon. Other groups went to Strawberry fields and the Dakota, shopped (more), and ordered sushi OR went to a Mets game and ate foot-long Nathan's hot dogs.

Whew! One more day. One more day. One more day.


* Party of five, round table, middle of the room. A truly spectacular experience, and big props to the Gramercy Tavern for treating a group of 17-year-olds with the respect any client deserves. When I explained that we could not order any alcohol, the captain offered me a full menu of non-alcoholic cocktails, cider, and beer. So my students thoroughly enjoyed having proper drinks before dinner.

We ate an amuse (a goat cheese puff), then the spring tasting menu (vegetarian for one young man). It included soft-shell crab, rabbit, venison, and trout. We shared a cheese platter with five cheeses - Italian, French, English and two American (one from New York, the other from Vermont). There was a dessert amuse as well, a tiny evocation of strawberry shortcake. Then we chose dessert from a French toast option and a chocolate banana option. After that, mignonettes (chocolate truffles, tiny chocolate mousse tarts, and weensy teensy macarons with black cherry filling), coffee and tea, and as a last (last) gift little bags of cinnamon coffee cake "for breakfast."

The only hilarious bit was the whenever we asked about the bathroom, someone insisted on leading us to it rather than telling us where it was. I went last, and I said "Will you take me to The Room That Cannot Be Named?" Our captain hardly blinked. He just said, "Of course, Madam."

** I'd just like to say that the photography exhibit at MoMA is extremely disturbing.

New York, Day 3(ish)

Today we visited the Tenement Museum. It's on Orchard Street, but here's a tip: when you cross Allen and get to Orchard: turn left. Not right. Right will result in walking an extra six blocks, desperately trying to call for directions (busy signal!) and hoping they don't cancel your reservation.

BUT, once you finally locate the correct place...the tour's great. Just as interesting as I remember from our half-day there in 2009. I think the students enjoyed themselves, but next time I'll know not to feed them an amazing lunch in Chinatown right before the tour. Zzzzzz....

[Wok-fried short ribs with sauteed garlic chips!!!]


Also, but earlier, we visited St. Pat's. Who could resist student demands to shop? Not me. But who wants to shop in mid-town? Not me.

Solution: the grownups basked in the cool, dark pleasures of the cathedral.

Tomorrow morning: Ellis Island. And after that, anything's possible. Maybe SoHo, maybe MoMA, maybe an outing where all four letters are capitalized.

And today, the Met

I've never been to the Metropolitan Museum before.

I know. Family from New York, numerous trips to New York for pleasure and business, many opportunities to visit and even one moment when I walked into the lobby with Dr. Culver yet I never closed the deal.

So today, with the help of my students, I finally managed to visit the Met. The girls joined me (we had a long lunch) and we passed the boys on the way out. They recommended we visit the third/fourth floor of the American wing to see the colonial rooms. Apparently, my taller student bonked his head (more than once) on the ceiling. It's low.

I also managed to get a nice, fuzzy cell-phone shot of a Tiffany window. That was one of the more colorful, and larger items on display. Like the British Museum, the building basically holds a bizarre mixture of ancient Babylonian textile fragments, jewel-encrusted snuff boxes, masks from Cameroon, and shiny portraits of women wearing elaborate dresses.

I liked it.

There's a ladies room on the ground floor of the American Wing. I overheard one young woman saying to another, "Like, I hate it when my highlights get all, like, brassy." Indeed.

New Yawk!

While Iain splashed around at the texture table (and endured yet another biting incident), I escorted 13 students to New York with two of my colleagues.

And aside from a little snafu with the transportation from JFK to the UES, it's been a great success. A lovely brownstone to stay in, a hearty meal (no, really: burgers, fries, onion rings, and for the male students cheesecake. Just roll me back to the apartment...), a bouquet of flowers and bagels for tomorrow.

See you at the Met!