Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

 Wednesday morning I had a very early training session at the gym and then found myself on the street before even the grocery store was open so I took a stroll. the sun was shining on the Jefferson Market Library. Isn't it beautiful? It's been closed for the past three years to build an accessible entrance. The old door stood at the top of five steep stairs, which made it difficult if not impossible for people with strollers and wheelchairs to enter.  The new way in is this beautiful ramp to what was a window, now a door, into a brightly lit white room thoughtfully furnished with a drinking fountain, and some wit,   this door to nowhere is marked "Mystery!"  You're greeted by    three gracious ladies,  I think they're the muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science and the arts. There's a link to read about the project in Time Out's July 14 issue. Next to the library is a beautiful garden where the Women's House of Detention once stoo...

 I made a mistake and this week's post will come at 7:15 this evening.  So Sorry!

 Last week the refrigerator and the vacuum cleaner broke down irrevocably and a leak sprung in the bathtub which will necessitate tearing out all the tiles to investigate and then reseal whatever it is.  I realize this is a first world problem; I'm grateful to have a home with  two bathrooms;  since the children moved out Arthur and I have had the luxury of a private bath each.  So please forget I even said anything. It seems that it's not the whole fridge, just the ice maker, so I was thinking how am I going to get ice?  Those bags they sell are so heavy will I have to lug them home? and Arthur said, we have ice cube trays, you know. Can I really complain about having to make my own ice?  As I said, please forget I said anything. Sam just reminded me that this bathroom disaster happened about twenty years ago--I had totally forgotten.  Our apartment is a loft; we bought a big room with a kitchen and a bathroom in what was once a warehouse and we ...

 When I call my work on the Houses of Blue a work in progress I have to say progress is a relative term. I'm proceeding very carefully, afraid to make a wrong move that would be irrevocable as I work in ink.  I often can find a way to work around a false move or mistake, and sometimes they lead to a revelation but I prefer to have no mistakes.  I keep thinking of Casey Stengel speaking of the newborn Mets; "We're coming along slow but fast." So here's the latest. When it's all finished I'll get a better shot. One reason things are going slowly is that, as I said in my post of July 7, I'm back at my Alma Mater, my artistic home, where it all began for me--the Art Students League.  I showed you two new plates ...   and now I've printed them so....Ta Daaa! these are not finished works but raw material for future collages.  Now they'll sit in the flat file while I court the Muse!  I'll keep in mind what someone once said; "the Muse doesn...