Saturdays- in NY .......

The big one is taking a writing class in NYC on Saturday mornings. This has proven to be very interesting fodder for my blog.
The first week that we took public transportation we chose to go up the westside. There on the bus we met (well we did nit actually meet- we viewed the following encounter) Dee and Esther. Both had foot problems so  when Dee entered the bus Esther (who was already on the bus) commiserated about the foot issues. They began talking by exchanging names and Esther explained all about Queenn Esther's role in Judaism. As Esther departed the bus the two women, strangers now friends, agreed to meet at Dees church the next morning.
After dropping off the  big one- I went to hang out at Barnes and Noble. I grabbed some coffee in the cafe and started leafing through some magazines. I immediately noticed 2 tables near me where there were students and teachers learning languages and collaborating in projects using these languages. I was much more fascinated by the woman who sat down 2 tables away. An older woman - but very cool, was joined shortly by a young man and an asian woman. He introduced the 2 women to each other. At first I thought this might be her son but B&N is an odd place to introduce your mom to your girlfriend. It came to be that she was a type of wedding planner (maybe more) and was walking them through planning this wedding. (It appeared to have some issues being that they came from different backgrounds) yet she walked them through many plans. After about an hour they seemed to have some good ideas on how to proceed.
There was also a dad there with his young kids who appeared to be fraternal twins, watching the interaction was fascinating. The little girl  appeared to be cranky and moody while the little boy laughed it all off. Watching the dad work through all this was wonderful.
Another couple sat down and discussed among other things their upcoming trip to India. While that was happening I checked my Facebook and a friend had posted that they had a great business and personal concierge in India. I almost mentioned it to the couple but the big one was with me at this point and would have died from embarrassment.

Graduation gift

The last 2 weekends were so cool because as we got off the bus, much to my pleasure I noticed that Crafts on Columbus was taking place- How lucky was I.  The first weekend the big one had her whole 2 hour class and had not finished the 4 block walk yet. There were fabulous vendors there. The first vendor that we both loved was Jewels by Atlantis there we picked out some holiday gifts as well as a graduation gift for a friend who had just started NYU that we were meeting for dinner that evening.

I also found Kathleen of KEM designs, a woman whose work I had been intrigued with years before on CapeCod. I had seen it at the end of a weekend  and short on $ I just passed it up. I was happy to find her at the fair. She creates jewelry from beach stones.

Made from Optical lens

Another very unique vendor was Laurie from Olefson Designs. She makes Jewelry from recycled items. I liked a lot of it but my favorite were her pendants made from old optical lenses like the eye doctor uses to test your vision.

There were so many wonderful merchants you can see why 4 blocks took 2 hours....

I almost walked right by Erin The Hair Jeweler. She has the most unique, comfortable, easy to use (once you see her do it) and beautiful hair clips. You need to see her website to see how they work and some of her many, many designs. I brought them into Sunday AM Knitting and everyone loved them. Here is "R" demonstrating one.
 Being a knitter and appreciating texture I was totally blown away when I came upon Paz. She has the most amazing jewelry designed from fine lace. She takes it and creates designs, colors them and creates exquisite designs- just soooooo creative. While her work is not inexpensive, the lace itself is imported from countries like Austria and then other than designing the pieces- I think it is painstaking work to cut the lace perfectly to make this gorgeous jewelry.

I am really enjoying my Saturdays in the city- Maybe even more than the big one enjoys the writing class...