Birthday Celebration

Two years ago we drove into New York City and walked around on my birthday. We were still very much stuck in a pandemic. I wanted to see New York to be able to remember what it was like when everything shut down. I decided what I wanted was lunch at a nice restaurant. As we were walking around the Meatpacking District we saw a restaurant overflowing with outdoor dining -- at the time, New York City had not reopened indoor dining, the vaccine was still a few months away. We stumbled upon Pastis, a restaurant overflowing with outdoor dining. Unfortunately, they did not have any openings. I turned to the hostess and said "but, it's my birthday" and gave a sad face. She asked me to wait 15 minutes to see if there was a no-show. 

Fortunately there was.

While there, I stepped inside to use the Ladies Room. I immediately felt transformed back to Paris. I wanted to return and dine inside. Last year, we did just that after we went to the Van Gogh exhibit. Unfortunately by going later in the day they were out of quiche, so I had to find something else to savor. It truly was not hard.

This year we planned the day around Pastis. I enjoyed my Quiche Florentine. It was just as incredible as I remembered -- light and airy, full of flavors, and onions sautéed to perfection. Don had a chicken sandwich that included and avocado -- a first for him. He is still on the fence about avocados. We topped off lunch with a chocolate mousse dessert. Heavenly.

We made reservations to visit The Morgan Library & Museum after lunch. The weather was perfect so we walked along the High Line and took our time. We arrived 20 minutes early. I'm not convinced we had to make a reservation, but they are strongly encouraged. They let us in early. It was not crowded.

I first learned about the Morgan Library while reading The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, an historical fiction novel based on J. Pierpont Morgan's librarian (Bella de Costa Greene) who acquired most of his treasures in the early 20th century. She was passing for white and lived in fear of being found out. On a tiny plaque inside a temporary exhibit, it said JP Morgan knew her father (who was a black activist), and likely knew she was black. 

I'm glad my friend Nancy told me about the audio tour. Otherwise, I would not have noticed the QR code tucked on a sign in the first room. It had links to learn more about virtually everything in the rooms -- including the hidden staircase and the vault.

According to one of the links, JP Morgan had approximately 14,000 volumes. When I was cleaning out Honey Bunny's books someone estimated she had between 3,000 and 5,000 books. Too bad I could not find a place willing to take her collection as a whole and I certainly was not willing to create a library around it and charge admission to visit her mid-century home in need of repairs.

The museum had a couple of other exhibits taking place. One was about building the library: Building the Bookman's Paradise. Another was on the 100th anniversary of James Joyce's Ulysses. As part of this exhibit, they have a record of him reading his book (must be excerpts, or reading something else) -- a book on record long before audio books caught on. There was a link to listen to part of it on your own device.

Don really enjoyed Rick Barton's pen and ink sketches in Writing a Chrysanthemum. I enjoyed talking to the guard in the room. She loves her job. When the museum is quiet, she walks around and reads everything and studies the art. She is using the opportunity to learn.

The other exhibit was on Ray Johnson's photography. Of note, there were a couple of pictures we identified as from downtown Princeton. Don was attracted to his photo booth art -- reminded us of a subplot in Amelie. He photographed "real life" near his home in Long Island, NY. Between 1992-1994 he used 137 disposable cameras to capture images. He committed suicide in 1995 leaving behind hundreds of envelopes with developed film in them.

From there we walked to Central Park, then back to the theater district for dinner and to get ready to see Beetlejuice. As I paid for dinner and the show, those are considered my birthday treats to myself, rather than a gift. The best part of working is having my own income. This year I opened my own bank accounts and acquired my own credit card. About time I did some adulting.