A Packed Day in Manhattan

Returned to the World Trade Center site this morning, to see the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site (last time I was there was shortly after the bombing). It was wicked crowded on a Saturday morning, but still very moving. I so wish I could be here next month for the opening of the actual memorial.

In the afternoon, we went to the Morgan Library, where I almost stepped on the Xu Bing installation in Renzo Piano's atrium - whew! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and husband Bill were leaving as we entered. His vegan diet looks healthy on him. I wanted to see the Piano wing, especially since I missed the Jaume Plensa exhibit by days (that was a disappointment).

I also wanted to see the stunning "Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands" exhibit - if you're in NYC by 4 September, it's definitely worth seeing. Of course, Pierpont Morgan's study and library are also beautiful. My husband said the study looked like a room in a European castle, and I said it looked like he raided several castles. I guess he really did - even the ceiling was cut out of a palazzo and re-assembled in his study!.

Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live

My daughter recommended this little book, by Akiko Busch, and what a joy it's been to read!

Like Tracy Kidder in House, Akiko wrote of how simple architectural details develop a history within each of us. I'm only half-way through, but her chapters on the Front Door, the Kitchen, and the Home Office all set me off on long daydreams of homes and rooms I grew up with.

In the chapter Dining Room, she discussed our (still current a decade later) obsession with specialty cuisines, dishware, etc.: "Ritual, like religion, it seems, doesn't necessarily have to have a connection with cultural heritage; it's just another personal choice."

The author's dry recitation of facts about the Laundry reminded me of tawdry romance novels. Just the facts, but aren't they fun?

I can't wait to finish the second half.

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!!!

Yes, according to J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter is 29 today. Hard to believe. To celebrate, I took the Twitter "Which Harry Potter Girl Are You?" quiz. . . Hermione Granger, no surprise.

And what a wonderful day it was in Chicago! To celebrate my last official day of summer vacation, I took the Parkways Foundation's fundraising tour of the control house of Buckingham Fountain, where we each got to turn the seahorses on or off. I visited the main Chicago Public Library's new YOUmedia room for teens to tell them how much I love the "Not What You Think" campaign. I checked out the Chicago Model City at Chicago Architecture Foundation, and I shopped a little, too.

Finished off the day with my first visit to the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute. The art was fascinating, and the galleries showcased it perfectly; the gauzy natural light on the third floor is divine. My only complaint: the northeast corner of the third floor is a perfect vantage point to view Millennium Park's Lurie Garden, but the shades are closed until dark. Kathryn Gustafson and Piet Oudolf designed their "sunny plate" with a tilt toward the southeast sun, so this is the ONLY building with a perfect view of their lovely plantings. Surely just one shade open to the north wouldn't damage the collection? Shouldn't that view be considered a unique display for their Architecture and Design collection? No other museum has it, and they've blocked it.

Photos to come...

Fallingwater

Spent last week in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Talk about a cellular dead zone! I couldn't post or Twitter for days. But it was a wonderful week despite (or perhaps because of) that. I had never seen Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater before, so I finally took a side trip to tour it. A beautiful day to walk around in the Laurel Highlands, and to tour a home that makes the outdoor environment such a feature of the indoor environment.


Then my daughter made me an omelette with fresh eggs we bought from a neighbor that day, and the sorrel we weeded from my grandfather's overgrown garden. For dessert: she made a flaky, buttery pie crust with cherry-rhubarb filling, as fast as I could cut rhubarb from the garden. Food is never as good anywhere, as it is in the mountains!



I took Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan, along to read, but I confess I read a trashy romance novel instead. That's what summer away from school is for, isn't it? I promise to read Loving Frank next week.

ALA Chicago another day

A new BBYA list, Teen Programs Under $100: there was so much to see and do on Sunday, that I had to take a long nap afterward!

I stood in line for Sarah Dessen's Along For The Ride and Joe Meno's Demons in the Spring.

I couldn't resist the Parade of Bookmobiles, even though my teen companion sighed over my geekiness, and my adult companions went back to the Exhibit floor for more serious pursuits. Yes, I toured almost every one of the 15 bookmobiles.

They filled me with nostalgia (regular Bookmobile visits fired my childhood interest in reading); they fed my automotive love for big trucks; and they piqued my architectural fascination with outfitting them. Racks and cubbies and reading benches and wheelchair lifts behind secret-panel-doors, oh my!

And, speaking of fun, the Library Book Cart Drill Team Championship was about as much fun as you can have with library equipment. Check out NPR's report. My camera didn't do the Baraboo Bookers justice in the semi-dark ballroom.