The Cloisters, Washington Heights, New York City, Part 2

This continues our visit to the glorious Cloisters museum in Upper Manhattan. Read Part 1 here. The museum, owned and maintained by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is simply beautiful. The artifacts are breath-taking, but my favorite part was the building itself and the park surrounding the area. Fort Tryon Park is one of the [...]

The Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Cave, NY

While we were in Schoharie County, rambling through the deep, mysterious recesses of the subterranean (Howe Caverns!), I discovered another attraction nearby: Iroquois Indian Museum. I grew up in New York State, ancient land of the Iroquois Nations, so their history has been drilled into my skull endlessly since my school years. As a homeschooling [...]

The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY

I’ve visited some amazing museums in my time — the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the New York State Museum — the Adirondack Museum in the central Adirondack region is perhaps one of the largest museums in Upstate New York. It certainly ranks as one of the most interesting and enjoyable. [...]

The Open Studio in Catskill, NY

We were merely strolling up and down Main Street in this quirky little town, looking for a restaurant. Every cafe or eatery that we tried was closed. AT least we got to stretch our legs after the long 2 hour drive from home, and at least we got to see the Cat-n-Around cats of Catskill, [...]

The Quirky Main Street Cats of Catskill, NY

Is something in the air of this tiny little riverside town? Catskill, NY, just seems to exude creativity and whimsy. Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle supposedly slept in this region; Samuel Wilson, the butcher who later became known as Uncle Sam, was born here. The Hudson River School artists were based here. And the region [...]

Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

The Hudson River School of art has been my favorite fine art genre since I studied founder Thomas Cole’s stunning Voyage of Life paintings as a young art major in school. Such deep, dramatic, and luminous paintings these artists produced in the mid to late 19th century! As a matter of fact, their paintings were [...]

Stunning LEGO Art Coming to Rochester

I love this guy’s art! He’s Nathan Sawaya and he does some amazing things with LEGO bricks. I did a post on him on my other blog, Freaky Frugalite. Sawaya is touring the U.S. and he’s making a stop in Rochester, NY, at the Strong National Museum of Play. The exhibit is

Dubai: Eastern Hemisphere’s Wondrous City

Ever since the kids and I saw the astonishing Toothpick City in Syracuse, which showcased some of the world’s most beautiful buildings and skyscrapers all built from toothpicks (!), we’ve had an interest in world architecture. The architecture of the Far East (China, India, and the Middle East) is very strange and unusual to us. [...]

James Tissot Exhibition at Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum will be hosting a spectacular exhibition of the watercolor paintings of the illustrious 19th century French painter, James Tissot (1836-1902). It looks marvelous! The exhibition is “The Life of Christ,” and will include 124 of Tissot’s watercolors. Tissot was a remarkable painter– in an era when French painters were still dabbling in [...]

Travel in Absolute Style

Can you imagine traveling in one of these gorgeously painted cars? The cars themselves are works of art, but the paintings are breathtaking!

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