John is Two: 5

It's Party Time!!!

Two years ago on this day, April 23, 2006, Alice & I got the surprise of our life when Kathy called to say that we were grandparents. Not that we weren't expecting it, it was just that John decided not to wait until the Doctors said he was ready, no sir, he came when he thought he was ready!

We went into Manhattan early in the day by Express Bus. We visited the American Folk Art Museum in mid-town. It was a small museum and we figured we could do it and still be at John's school for his party.

I must confess, of all the New York Museums I have been in, I thought this one was not worth the time/effort/trouble or money. Perhaps it was because of my mis-perceptions, perhaps it was because of the exhibit they were featuring.

Whatever, I went expecting to see a collection of weather vanes, primitive paintings, etc. and instead, I got two floors of something called "Dargerism." There were a few wooden sculptures a good craftsman, Asa Ames, including one that they had borrowed out of the collection of the Huntington Museum of Art, and one from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller collection in Williamsburg, that I thought worthy of display. But most of their exhibit space, almost 2 floors worth, was turned over to an "artist" (I use the term reluctantly) who lived a hermit's life in Chicago, wrote a 15,000 page book that was never published, and then did "drawings" to illustrate it. The drawings were a combination of crude copies of American Comic Book characters, and a weird rendition of child figures, many of who were naked females with the male member drawn in. Anyway, they also had work by other "artists," some of who had promise and had done the traditional study thing, who had been "inspired" by this guy. Needless to say, I wasn't.

And so, I gratefully left the museum and went up to John's school and had a party!

Now, for a more complete shot of the party, I invite those of you reading to check out "my grandson's blog." Here he is the birthday boy with cupcake in hand, and his Mommy handing a cupcake to his friend Max.

After the party, we left and went home with Mommy and John on the Metro North train to Riverdale. Again, those of you who want to see a picture of the actual train ride, I direct you to John's blog.