Snow in Manhattan.

A few days ago all news station started predicting this. Every channel would show the map with arrows towards NY. Regular broadcast was often interrupted by sadden announcements. No, I am not talking about possible terrorist attack (God Forbid) and NOT about Tiger Wood mistress #122. Not about health reform (which honestly is quite boring).

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

The force of nature, snow storm was coming...

The excitement of upcoming snow storm was overwhelming!!

But it still came kind of suddenly and out of nowhere….Well, it usually comes out of nowhere.

Simply because SNOW is just another state and form of water-and water is everywhere and nowhere.

I found definitions of snow very intriguing.

SNOW by http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/snow

Noun

1.	Meteorology. a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air. Compare ice crystals, snow grains, snow pellets.

2.	these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.

3

the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall Here is another interesting definition by http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Snow SNOW-n.

:

1. Frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes. 2. A falling of snow; a snowstorm. 3. Something resembling snow, as: a. The white specks on a television screen resulting from weak reception. b. Slang Cocaine. c. Slang Heroin. I sat on the floor beside the glass terrace door with my morning cup of coffee and observed the incredible transformation-sugary muffing heads on everything- a result of last night snow falling over Manhattan. and while looking through the window at the objects snow created out of pots and outside furniture made me think how much as a water sign I must be relevant to the state of water: sometimes foggy, steamy, raining, pouring, puddle uncomfortable; and sometimes: strikingly/powdery/sugary/sparkly/fluffy substance, that makes absolutely everything beautiful at least for a little while….SNOW! P.S. I cooked (photos above)hearty beans soup and meat with barley-that's the must food this moment!!

Structural Catabolism by Eric P. Laverty

Has it ever come to your attention, that buildings that are abandoned or being out of use for years, might have secrets of their own???
Buildings of the past are meaningful for us as witnesses of life that passed them by and gone into history books. Those buildings used to be destroyed to give way for new ones (not necessarily well esthetically define ones).
It happened a lot; in fact it happened way too often in the USA.
It’s time to recognize that there’s a significance of the old structures of New World. It’s time to see the beauty of them, and it’s time to transform old structures in order to save not only what seems to be bunch of bricks, but ourselves from the ignorance and numbness of our souls…
Eric P. Laverty is ONE big believer of savers of old buildings,to the extent that he invented a new term- Structural Catabolism...
Eric spent hours, which in total could be enough for space voyage in observing old buildings with his camera.
He made thousands of photographs, hours and hours in communication with something some people never notice, in order for us to see their hidden charm.
Eric’s photographs are history that gone through his artistic heart, and like projector in the dark night hit the clouds and shows us the images of new beginning. To see the possible future - bright future in incorporating old decaying walls into our life.


Please come see Eric P. Laverty solo exhibition at DLG Gallery:
143 West 29th street 7th floor, New York, NY 10001
The reception for the artist to be held at DLG Gallery on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 – 6-9pm.
please visit artist web site: www.lavertystudio.com

One horrible Departure from New York.

terrifying events that occurred to me at the departure - Delta refused to check in my luggage-so I was pushed to make a choice to ether fly without it or NOT at all.

5 minutes decided almost everything. Just 5 minutes… 3 days of chaotic packing, going over and over with feeling of hesitation about what shall ONE need for a trip-eliminating something just to add another pile of clothes. Struggle between the desire to have outfits for every occasion for 7+ weeks trip overseas and a common sense, whispering in my ears against too many choices.

I tried to write a list of categories: outwear, everyday wear, special occasion wear, country house wear, evening wear, etc. It didn’t help my out-sized imagination; if anything it’s complicated the packing process even more.

The truth is I don’t know how to pack for myself.

I’ve done packing for other people and they seemed to be grateful for that.

When it comes down to packing for myself I am indecisive, over imaginative, and I have to try everything before putting it in the suitcase. It makes the process of packing as complicated as a science project…

And even when something is tried on and approved, the chance of elimination is still possible, simply because I somehow accumulated a huge collection of clothes - combination of different tops, bottoms; multiplies the variety of choices and makes the packing going bizarre…

I always think of what if: -one of my girlfriends is going to get married-or there’s a birthday bash-or a black tie event-or a party for whatever reason?, etc. So I try to pack the outfits for all these occasions, then there’s always my love for the opera-I try to go to the Kiev opera house at least twice a week – can you imagine the number of little black dresses I’ve got to have available, and the little purses, and all the accessories ?

I end up having to huge suitcases and honestly still felt like I forgot something.

When I left apartment (in ruins: with clothes and shoes everywhere) for JFK everything that was supposed to be going smoothly started going the opposite way.

First, I discovered that one of my suitcases handles is stuck inside and would not pop up, which made it very difficult to roll, F train took forever to arrive on 63^rd street- then escalator on E train wasn’t running up and we waited 15 minutes for the elevator, air train was fast, but too many stops!!… Verbal accompaniment by Evgueni ,who was kind enough to help me out, BUT merciless with his predictions…His “I told you so” were so frequent that, when we got to the terminal and noticed that it was no crowd; his final “I told you so” was almost unbearable…

The agent which we approached with my 2 huge suitcases + carry on + back pack + purse, looked surprised:

Agent:”Are you flying to Amsterdam?”- with a facial expression like it was some kind of a joke.

I:”yes.”-despite being scared I tried to sound strong and in charge…

Agent:” at 3:50?”-she looked at the clock.

I:” yes”-trying NOT to look at the clock.

Agent:” you’re late…5 minute late for check in”-then she started typing something without glimpse at my printed itinerary .

I:”…………”-honestly I was speechless and got cold sweat dripping down my back

Agent:” you can try to make it, if you go right now without your baggage…you might be able to get on the plane”- I wish I could say that she looked sympathetic….instead she looked a little curious and vindictive.

I turned to my 2 heavily pregnant suitcases, which contained all my clothes for the trip and at that moment – the moment of no return-I nodded without nagging and took the boarding pass in my cold fingered hands.

Evgueni looked like he was partly satisfied with being right (another silent “I told you so”), and partly shocked because he had to bring those TWO back to the apartment…

I opened one suitcase and in a split second took a pair of jeans, a tee shirt and white down jacket out of it.

My carry on was filled with bunch of shoes: boots and pumps –the back pack had computer in its belly...

I walked away promptly, holding tears in my eyes…

The moment of truth…the moment of decision…the moment that felt like something physically was pulled out of me. I was going for 7.5 weeks trip to Europe wardrobe-less!!!!!!

Should I mention that plane left an hour behind the schedule?…And then, after waiting for 6 hours for my flight to Kiev in Amsterdam’s airport, I was asked to check in my carry on right before getting on the plane…I hesitated for a moment, the flight attendant’s professional smile kindly assured me it will be on the plane, I thought that there’s NO CHANCE that something more could happen….just to find out that my carry on was lost!!! It took me another 2 days to get it!!!

Now I have to learn to live without choice of what to wear...Will I survive???