A Faerie Village…

We thought it would be best to see the Faerie Village exhibit at the Florence Griswold Museum before Hurricane Sandy hit the area.  The museum is situated in Old Lyme CT on a river and the exhibit is outdoors.  Two days before the storm landed it was sunny and unseasonably warm and you wouldn’t know there was any threat.  I felt bad about not having the grandchildren with us, especially when I saw children dressed as fairies for the  Faerie parade, but they never would have had the patience that Mr O had with my photo taking.    There were over thirty houses to take photos of!

Today I had a chance to return with the children on the last day of the exhibit.  It was a much chillier day but it was sunny and there were less people.  It was nice to see that the storm did little damage and now I have even more photos to edit.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from my first visit.

The Japanese Teahouse…

The Flightingale Infirmary…where wings are repaired:)

A  Faerie meeting place…

Drifter’s Cove…where the tides of the river are controlled by Ebb and Flo…

Shelli’s Seaside Shanty…

Nevergreen Caverns for the faerie of tree stumps and dead wood…surely busy after Hurricane Sandy….

Autumnal Fortress…

Marsh Light Manor…

Dewdrop Inn…

 

River Valley Farm…

A Fringe Faerie house high in the rafters…

Barney’s Benevolent Boneyard and Cemetery…

Walnut Walks…Faeries working with black walnuts…

Water Pearl Palace had outbuildings on the other side of a stream…

Branch Ranch was one of the more colorful houses…

Airborne Cottages…

Faerie laundry…

Another favorite of mine was Dappled Downs, an homage to the architect Phillip Johnson..

After resting with Lyme sugar cookies and hot cider we could agree that it was a magical day…

Our Puerto Rico Vacation…Day 1

I’m not sure why it is so difficult to get back into the routine of posting after I return from a vacation but it is.  It is almost as difficult as planning the vacation to begin with…  Because we are not good planners and because we decided to go away rather late and because we read about this Puerto Rico trip involving hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, and swimming in a bioluminescent bay we decided to try a  group trip with Road Scholars.  I am certain we did far more in our one week stay than we would have if we were on our own .

Arriving early in  San Juan we had time to go to the beach and then to the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.  Our hotel just happened to be a couple of blocks away from this little gem of a museum.  

What we didn’t see on the first day we went back to see on our last day.  The building was beautiful, the gardens were lush, and the exhibitions were delightful. 

I wish I took more photos inside but there were signs requesting no cameras…and I didn’t care to be the ugly tourist.  Outside I took plenty…

It was a good way to start a vacation.

A Whirlwind Trip to NYC…

Last weekend Mr O and I visited family in Westchester Co and took the train into NYC two days in a r0w.  We fit more into those two days than I would have thought possible…and everyone kindly let me see everything that I wanted to…

The Chelsea Market was our first stop.    Originally the National Biscuit Company complex it is now a foodie paradise just lined with shops and restaurants and lots and lots of people.  The photographer in me also enjoyed all the photos by Dave Mead of Magnificent Specimens of mustached men throughout the building.  Incredible…and fun. 

A walk on the High Line Park from end to end was next…

I had read a lot about this park that opened one year ago and I just love the idea of the community action which made this park possible. 

Originally an elevated train track it is now an elevated garden…

Views from the park include buildings by Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel …

…and balconies overlooking the walk.

It really was too hot to sit and relax for long.

CLAUDE MONET
Nymphéas, 1906
Oil on canvas

Next we went gallery hopping in Chelsea.   There was a Monet show at the Gagosian gallery which was free and fabulous…rooms full of variations of the lily pond and the bridge in his garden…

 

We bopped in and out of several galleries in the same area of Chelsea…I don’t remember all the gallery names but I do remember one photography exhibit at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery that I particularly loved.

“…to walk without destination and to see only to see” is the title of Uta Barth’s exhibit of diptychs and triptychs.

“My primary project has always been in finding ways to make the viewer aware of their own activity of looking at something (or in some instances, someone.) ...” Uta Barth

On the way to our last stop of the day my sister in law was sharp eyed enough to notice two of the statues included in Event Horizon.  Thirty one of these life size statues can be found around Madison Square Park but we only spotted these two.

By the time we finished a visit to the Morgan Library and Museum to see a show on the architect Palladio I was running out of steam and camera batteries….and slept most of the train ride back.