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We pulled into New York right on time. Here is Greg contemplating The Big City — someone out there must know the name of that bridge, right? A quick stop at our hotel, then off to a late power lunch with Greg’s agent, Richard Curtis, and Greg’s new editor, DongWan Song of Orbit.
That stylish chalkboard is at Five Napkin Burger, which has very good burgers indeed, even if the meat hooks hanging from the ceiling are a little alarming. I actually didn’t have a burger, but a plate of the cutest tiny tacos ever, since I knew dinner was coming pretty soon.
And what a dinner it was! Lisa, AKA Tsock Tsarina was kind enough to come in to mid-town Manhattan from the wilds of Long Island with her sweetie, TheBoy ™ in tow. We decided that since Pigalle , the restaurant in the hotel, offered Cassoulet with Duck Confit for a very reasonable price, it was worth a try as well as an easy transition from meeting in the lobby. Then, upstairs for Show and Tell with better light. Lisa did some spindling
while I fondled the sample socks from last year’s Flock Sock Club. I also got a preview of the first sock for this year’s club, the magnificent Fearful Symmetry, which is burning brightly on the far right.
The next day, a trip to the Morgan Library, then another power lunch that I didn’t get pictures of, with Roger Cooper , publisher of Vanguard Press. Following that, a stroll down to the Flatiron Building, home of Tor Books. The Flatiron Building, by the way, really does look just the version brilliantly done in Legos here (scroll down a bit).
We chatted with publisher Tom Doherty, who has what must be one of the coolest office in NYC, in the very tip of the Flatiron Building.
Then we whisked our back uptown via subway to rest up for our evening get-together with members of The Gunroom. John, Katherine, and Hugh joined us for a peripatetic evening that included beer at the Blind Tiger Alehouse, dinner at Excellent Dumpling, take-away cannoli from an Italian place that I can’t find the name of, and a brisk walk out onto the Brooklyn Bridge, where Hugh pointed out various sites associated with George Washington and the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. We do like a little history with our food.
Katherine is another knitter extraordinaire, and brought along the socks she has knitted from my yarn. I do love seeing how the yarns knit up!
The next day we had time for a quick trip to MOMA, which had this interesting installation of braided roving in the window.
All too soon it was time to dash back to the hotel in the light snow to pick up our bags and head to the airport.
New York has theaters! Note to self: next visit, make time to take in a show.
We had a lovely time on our quick trip back east. Boskone was grand, a nice-sized SF convention of the old school, with enough people that you weren’t always seeing the same faces at every event, yet not so big that you couldn’t count on running into everyone you knew.
The Knit-A-Long with the Boskone yarn I dyed went very well. We first met on Saturday, and folks could buy yarn if they wanted — and boy, did they! I brought the 12 skeins of Boskone yarn and about 12 more skeins of other colorways, and the money was flying fast and furious. As Greg put it, “They were shoving $20 bills at you and you weren’t even taking your clothes off!” But then it settled down and we started knitting.
Here are Priscilla and Edie casting on for Calorimetry and Lisa looks on as she winds her sock yarn into a ball. By Sunday,Edie had finished
and Lisa had knitted quite a lot of a toe-up. no-purl Monkey sock!
Saturday also featured the book launch (with dessert!) for Volume 1 of NESFA Press’ new anthology of my father’s short work, titled Call Me Joe, as well as the first two volumes of their Roger Zelazny anthologies.
Here we are with some of the editorial and production staff.
Monday morning found us on the train to New York. What a great way to travel! We had a good view of the Coast Guard sailing barque Eagle as we passed through New London, Connecticut — I just love that they still have sail training. Not even the Navy does that anymore.
More later . . .
My cousin asked me come to Washington, DC week before last to help her out with childcare while her husband was out for town for a family emergency. Thanks to my hoard of Alaska Airlines miles I was able to do it for a whopping $5. fee for the tickets. So while I had to leave on the Sunday before the Inauguration, I was able to soak up the mood and note the sights of the moment.
Who would have thought that an Inaugural counted as an emergency?
Hungry for change?
Look no further!
A little something to drink with that?
It’s all about choice.
Change begins at home.
Hoping for a glass of Pepsi.
Hoping for taxation with representation.
How sweet it is!
Always good advice when confronted with a pile of spiky wood, don’t you think?
Final pictures! I took lots more, but don’t want to make you suffer from travelogue fatigue.
Look!
Look! It’s the Eiffel Tower!
And finally, some fiber arts content:
Circular knitting is not so new
The Musée d’Orsay very kindly lets you take pictures as long as you don’t use flash. This and the painting below are both by Millet, who painted quite a few scenes of women at work in the fiber arts. I love her air of quiet concentration.
Multi-tasking
This shepherdess is giving her feet a break, yet still at work. Note the curious goat to the left. Is it going to come over and butt her in the back, or nibble the fiber? Is she spinning wool, or goat hair? Does she know the knitter above? So many questions . . .
And finally, one last shop window.
Helpful sheep
This was a maternity shop, although none of the mannequins seemed to be knitting baby things.
Assorted shop windows . . .
Mmm . . . buttercream . . .
I do love a pastry shop!
Mmmm . . . mushrooms. . .
Does anyone know what the pale tubers in the box to the right are? They looked crisp.
Mmm . . . meat . . .
I don’t know if you have to pluck your own pheasant and pigeon, or if they do it for you.
Not edible!
Isn’t that purse an interesting use of multicolored amber?
