Rebekah’s Studio

The colors of New York are black and bling, except when it’s raining. Then out pops an array of umbrellas, as colorful as the corner flower stands and fruit wagons.


I find the street scene more liberating than the museum scene (apologies for odd segue).

My hubby Pete likes to go to museums, and after a few minutes I often say, “I’ll meet you in the museum gift shop.”

The Museum of Modern Art a few steps across the street from our hotel was far too crowded for me to see the exhibits at leisure or at all.

They all want to see “The Starry Night” painted by Vincent Van Gogh

The 9/11 Museum guided tour at the World Trade Center—although excellently designed, informative, and emotionally moving—left me so sad. I wondered how our tour guide could deliver all the terrible information day after day. I supposed that when the events of September 11, 2001, occurred, she was too young to have fully understood or be affected by the news.

The names of the deceased are engraved around the pools where the towers stood.

“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” A quote from Virgil amidst a sea of blue tiles each representing a person who died on Sept. 11, 2001, when the twin towers collapsed from terrorist acts.

Luckily we found some very cool music for a change in mood at the Iridium jazz club at 1650 Broadway between West 50th and 51st streets. The Ed Palermo Big Band had its CD release party. It was jazz. It was rock’n’roll. It was oldies. It was loud. It was great.

Big band playing tight. Wow!