Gordo the Wacko

This painting is by Steven Hannock and is called "The Oxbow." It's huge...and all over it he has written memories from his childhood, like this one, over on the right:

"This is where Gordo the Wacko almost blew Jimmy's head off with an M-80."

This is "Madame X" by John Singer Sargent. I couldn't wait to see this painting because I just read the book about the woman in the picture. It was stunning. Here is a picture of the park from the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And here is a map of Central Park for those of you who haven't been to New York...so you can see how vast it is. Columbia is on the Upper West Side of the park in the Morningside Heights neighborhood. This next picture really caught me by surprise...we were on a tour of the Chinese exhibit when we walked by a courtyard - a courtyard completely redone by an architect from Suzhou. I recognized the garden immediately - "Garden of the Nets"- which I saw last summer. It was almost an exact replica. Suzhou is a beautiful city that hosts many classical gardens, none of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

It started to rain while we were in the museum, but guess what...I came prepared. I've been caught in New York rain before, so I carry an umbrella in my bag at all times. Which is something I don't do in Seattle. Seattle rain has nothing on New York rain. NY rain is a deluge! Everyone runs for cover underneath an awning. I happened to share my awning with a guy from Seattle, where of course we discussed rain. A bunch of us were planning to see the Philharmonic in Central Park, but the rain changed our plans. Instead we went on another walking/subway tour until midnight, and had way too much fun for me to write about at this time, since I have class in just an hour. Maybe later!