While we were in New York City we stumbled upon an illustration at the NYC Public Library, this one matter of fact, that Cam said was very familiar to him.

The more I looked online through illustrations by Harry Clarke, I couldn't help but be a little chilled up my spine.

This is from the Tell-Tale Heart by Poe. Just look at that simper on the murderer.

Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was born in Dublin, Ireland. During his career he illustrated editions of works by Hans Christian Anderson, Perrault (Cinderella's author), Edgar Allen Poe, and Goethe's Faust. He designed stained glass windows as well.

Look at how lovely these are! And as fall and harvest and Halloween approach, they just seemed too appropriate not to post.

Wow.

New York City is an old Grande Dame of a lady that can't quite keep up with her upkeep.
The first thing that Cameron and I had to face on our second trip (just two nights this time) to New York City was this extremely long, broken-down escalator. We just finished climbing up and thought it very picture worthy. We arrived Friday evening and had just enough time to check in, change and take the subway to here:

The cast was great, most making their Broadway debut. Tony was marvelous and Maria was lovely. The whole cast was full of energy and fun. My only complaint: they substituted a lot of the songs' regular lyrics with Spanish a LOT.

I had my first cannoli after the show.

These are some sites on the way back to our hotel. St. Patrick's Cathedral at night.Saturday morning we dropped by Grand Central Station. HUGE place!
We went to the official (the original, right?) New York City Library. It was mostly covered up by renovations, but at least the lions were on display. It was awesome inside and I love how they grouped their poetry section. I even helped out by re-shelving a misplaced collection of Auden poems. Yes, I am a serious library nerd.
Warning: if you take pictures inside TURN OFF THE FLASH!!! A fellow tourist snapped a photo with a flash and two guards from different areas of the same level converged on the poor soul peppering them with angry "No flash! No flash!" calls.

We hung out at Bryant Park while we waited for the library to open. Happy Anniversary to us!This is William Cullen Bryant for whom the park is named. He was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.

After switching hotels to the, ahem, Waldorf-Astoria (I can now be thankful that Cam was a frequent traveller) for our second night we went to the American Natural History Museum and Rose Center for Earth and Space. Cam soaked up this place like I did with the Met last year. He didn't want to leave. We watched an IMAX with images from the Hubble and saw the regular planetarium show. Very interesting.

Check out this bad boy meteorite.

I'm more of a history girl than space and the future type, so I was really happy with the dinosaur section. There were more types of skulls and skeletons than we'd ever seen before. The variety was amazing. Here's a T-Rex The parasaurolophus is a long time family favorite (mainly because we learned to pronounce it), but this was one of many amazing crested/horned dinos. I loved these.I missed the kids a lot here. There was so much that they would have loved.

Nothing beats eating on the streets of NYC.

Saturday night we headed over to the Lincoln Center for the Perfoming Arts to watch a Met opera out of doors. Then Cam said "There's Moroni!" He saw the reflection of the temple in a window before we realized the Manhattan Temple was right there. I'm glad we at least got to walk by.

A view of the screen we watched Tosca on. The Metropolitain Opera House is just behind it.

Here are a few images of the amazing soprano that played Floria Tosca.

Both of us were so moved by the performances. Even though we hadn't been familiar with the music, it was our favorite experience for this trip.My trip to New York wouldn't be complete without another visit to the Metropolitian Museum of Art. Like Claudia from From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler I could really live here.

The more I see of Van Gogh, the more I love him. Look at how thick that paint is!Seurat There was an odd creation on the roof called The Big Bambú. We weren't too interested, but look at the view! A sea of Central Park with the sky-scraping mountains behind. Gorgeous medieval limestone sculpture.

Our kids were fascinated by this box when we told them that it had an actual mummified falcon inside. (This was part of the expansive Egyptian section)

"Here comes the train again" Eurythmics style...sing with me!

We rather like taking the subway.

What a fancy place this was! There is a dress code after 6 PM. I felt like we had to sneak in quickly after our long day out in our casual wear so we wouldn't be kicked out! If you look carefully, you can see the Chrysler Building just above the word Astoria.

We headed back to Penn Station (and on to Newark Airport) right after this photo was taken, having just finished a huge Reuben sandwich at a great luncheonette. Yum! Now that was a bite!

Oh, I love New York!

I hope everyone's Christmas Season is going well so far.

Isn't Art Deco fun? The images are so unique and fanciful.

Rachel, this is for you so you see what I mean.Flourishes, fantasy...This one's for me. I'm pretty sure it's a sheet music cover.Not Art Deco, but isn't she lovely? She's a favorite of mine. Name her and you get...5 points!

Not emotionally, no. I'm doing quite well.
No, I'm drowning literally.

I'm having some irritating health and wellness issues that I wouldn't even discuss were bamboo shoots thrust under my fingernails, but I decided that, for starters, I would begin drinking those infamously recommended eight glasses of drinking water daily.
After four days...YIKES! I don't think I've spent so much time with the porcelain throne since I was pregnant with Dane and losing my lunch every two hours. Bring on the health! Can I get some clear skin out of this as well?
Anyway, I suppose it helps for me to go so often as Bryce is still in the middle of potty-training (and still doing excellently, BTW). We lead by example don't we?

I am one water-logged woman.

Here's a peek into my brain. May be I'll invent crayon therapy (turns out I'm too late!). All I know is that it was a lot of fun to scribble with my kids. I was trying to help Bryce. Anyway, I highly recommend that you go and grab a box of crayons and a blank piece of paper and begin having fun. Coloring can be amazingly relaxing AND you might even create something that someone might pay half a million bucks for 100 years from now.

Cam's mom just called and wondered if Dane still liked dragons and such.

Here is one of his smaller, scan-able versions.