June | 2013 | VARIETY . SPICE . LIFE

Monthly Archives: June 2013

A Plaza Hotel Memory

Posted on June 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

I came across this snapshot I took during a visit to New York City a year or so ago, and it reminded me of a long ago moment.

So, my friend Joanne and I decide to join the crowd in front of the Plaza on the off chance that we can see the Beatles as they arrive. TV reporter and cameraman part the crowd where we are, maybe because we are not shrieking and flinging ourselves about, and ask Joanne if she is a devoted Beatles fan. She says something like, “sure.”

Reporter ups the ante by asking “what would you do if a Beatle actually touched you?” Joanne Wolfe, wherever you are, I will never forget the moment. Without even a pause you said, “it depends where.”

Reporter and cameraman quickly move on. And like naive idiots we run home to see if we’ll be on TV.

Beatles arrive at JFK Airport

Part of the the crowd outside the Plaza Hotel, 1964.

Central Park: The Gates

Posted on June 7, 2013 | 1 comment

Remembering a visit to the spectacular Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation, The Gates. There were a few people walking around inconspicuously except they held canes. If you knew to ask — info passed by word of mouth — they would reach into a bag and give you a swatch of the actual fabric.

[This post came about because I found this swatch of The Gates fabric, quite wrinkled, in the bottom of a purse I had not used in a while.]

The time I spent there was really delightful. Late winter and still chilly, but the park was comfortably full of people of all ages, colors, mobilities, single, pairs, groups, strolling, smiling, chatting. All being themselves, but also somehow aware of being living parts of something monumental, unique, entertaining, and profoundly beautiful.

Photos do it only so much justice, because the installation was so pervasive that views and vistas shifted with the breeze, a turn in the path, the movement of clouds, the time of day. It really was poetic, and everyone felt that in some way that slowed things down a bit and quieted things just a bit as well. Everyone was looking and thinking, as well as talking and moving.