It was an incredibly beautiful day yesterday and I desperately wanted to avoid that raucous parade so I chose the edge of nowhere. The upper west side. Way out of my comfort zone and a food wasteland!
I went to see the beautifully done Stephen Jones hat exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center, 4 floors of everything from antique hats (as old as the 1500's!) to wacky modern ones each in cases separated by style, or by inspiration. There was a case devoted to floral inspirations, animal inspirations, tri-cornered 18th century men's hats, 19th century top hats...In each case was the main inspiration piece and the modern adaptations. I was drawn more to the old hats, I thought some of the modern ones were a bit silly and therefore making fun of women-which I never approve of. I began to play a game with myself, could I pick out the antiques in each case?? In most cases I was right! I enjoyed myself immensely.
Again, in a bid avoid the tumultuous St. Patrick's Day Parade, because I hate being squashed in large groups but large groups of drunken suburban teenagers is hardly appealing. I needed lunch and wandered down Columbus Avenue. I ate in a very nice Thai restaurant, Tale, having papaya salad and chicken/shrimp dumplings (yes, both were mushed up inside). I was so happy they didn't have dessert as I found a Pinkberry a few blocks down! Pinkberry is my favorite! I wandered down Columbus Avenue and memory lane as my husband and I used to go there to wander pretty often... I remembered our favorite restaurants and shops... which are no longer there though have been replaced by other restaurants and shops...When I got to The Time Warner Center I wandered inside and talked to a friend for a bit...we decided together that there was nothing very interesting on 6 or 7th Avenues between 59th St and 14th St and I COULD NOT go onto 5th or Madison!!! So I took the train to 14th St and wandered around meat pakcing and into the west village. I stopped into the Apple Store to buy a case for my brand new iPhone. It's very chic and urban, all black runner with a shiny band of black plastic across the bottom.
I stopped into Charles Nolan, which has beautiful things-modern and vintage, some lovely jewelry, clothes and tabletop...The candelsticks I really loved, had their design roots in the 19th Century but had been stripped of their baroque decorativeness and were just glass silhouettes-very graceful and elegant but exciting-and much too heavy to carry around. I'll have to go back one day with a car. Wandering down Hudson St I came across a magnificent shop full of glasses of every size, color, shape, and century-though, I coveted much, tragically I could buy NOTHING! Nothing was less than $28 a glass and when I buy these things at flea markets they are under $10 a glass. Even though spending money is my hobby I just could not justify such an outrageous purchase and who can buy one glass? As often as I entertain I need at least 4 as I can always mix and match with other pieces but 6 or 8 is better...
I found a shop that had gorgeous opague glass glasses/vases/votive holders-you could use them for any of those things... I really didn't want to buy one but had spent charming time chatting with the sales people and really do like them (trust me, if I TRULY didn't want to buy one nothing could guilt me into doing that), but since I always err on the side of black, that's the one I chose. And, I have many things at home it will go with. A block or two furthur I found an antique pottery shop, Leo Designs. I had a hard time choosing what to buy there as there were many exquisite pieces. I fell in love with a McCoy (late 19th and early 20th Century pottery) vase for my mother for Mother's Day but knew I could never part with it so I bought a second piece to give her! What fun! I'll take pictures tonight and put them up in the next few days...
I also wandered into Hudson River Flowers which is a shop that opened just before Sept 11. In August of 2011, in that shop was the first time I had ever seen cranberry calla lillies and I was determined to go back for them for a Thanksgiving arrangement in November of 2001, which I did (requiring a great deal of effort as in those days as not all the trains were back to running yet) and it was spectacular. I wandered in with nostaliga, but there are differnet owners now and I didn't love the flowers as much.
I walked down to Spring St, then across to the 6 train to stop at Grand Central for fish from Wild Edibles (the best!!) then walked up Lexington Ave towards my husband. I had effectively avoided the parade until this moment but there were bands of tourist families, and drunken teenagers all over the street. I saw that Jean Louis David had a sale-blowouts for $25 so I sought and found refuge. When I left it was only about 10 minutes before I had to meet my husband...
I had a lovely day and then cooked dinner for us-a date in the dining room with cocktails is always a perfect way to finish a day and begin an evening.
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