visiting vermeers

 

i went to the frick museum today to see the two vermeers visiting from dublin and amsterdam, woman writing a letter with her maid, from the national gallery of ireland; and the love letter, from the rijksmuseum. the frick doesn't permit photography in the picture galleries, so i couldn't take any photos. i did buy a few nice postcards, however, and can take a photo of them in the morning to include here.

here they are: (they were so beautiful to see)

the love letter (rijksmuseum)

woman writing a letter with her maid (national gallery of ireland)

and this one is part of the frick's permanent collection: mistress and maid

they have a very pretty inner courtyard and also two garden areas which, sadly, weren't open to the public.

afterwards, i walked along madison avenue to 86th street, and then east to third avenue and 87th street . . 

to visit barnes and noble.

i love seeing all the classic books lined up on the shelves in their handsome bindings.

a special table for "how the world works."

and a section for record albums! 

waiting to check out . .

my purchase! neither my library nor strand books had this edition which i wanted for the four short stories titled "old new york" and her memoir "a backward glance." 

back downtown . . (i caught the bus along fifth avenue and worked on my sock knitting until 10th street - surprisingly, there was no traffic! i'm not sure if that was because everyone is still away for august vacation time, or because they're keeping the bus lanes clear).

it was such a beautiful and comfortable 80 degree day.

a break from the humidity

 
it was less hazy and cooler today (photo from greg while at work) and i opened all the windows for a nice breeze from the river to pass through.

i walked to mcnally jackson in soho to put in an order for a book i can't get from my library (in my mother's footsteps by mona halaby).

on the way home i passed this group of people. i thought first they were a tour group, but then noticed the rack of clothing on the sidewalk . . so maybe they were filming a movie?

hungry cats in the kitchen . . 

korrina's ishbel (an ysolda teague design) that she recently started (she had knitted a beautiful red one years ago when a teen, but it's been misplaced) . . 

and her yarn purchase from east hampton's local yarn shop . . 

(also:

a sweater she recently finished with fantastic pockets.)

sunday afternoon walk

greg and i rode the citibikes downtown and then walked around the area he works in . . where he showed me his favorite haunts (all the different places he likes to have coffee in the morning and lunch in the afternoon). when we first began our walk, i noticed this couple each taking a video of the area with their phones, ending with filming each other . . 

and then they compared notes. i thought they were very sweet together.

we stopped at the mcnally jackson bookstore . . 

and at the restaurant where we ate with morgana in december of last year.

----

and in the evening . . 

victoria got ready for her trip . . 

and sent a photo of when she arrived home just in time for sunset (3 pm).

at mcnally's

i walked into soho today to meet greg after work and see the new mcnally jackson bookstore location . .

on prince street between west broadway and wooster streets.

it's beautiful inside, very spacious with an iron stairwell leading to a second floor along the west side of the store. it actually felt like waterstones on king's road in london and even piccadilly, even though piccadilly is much larger.

 

loooking at this photo now i realize that it's nothing like the vastness of piccadilly; it just feels that way because i don't go into many large spaces in nyc.

walking home again . . 

where we stopped at gandhi restaurant because greg was hungry . .