United Nations visit

Yesterday Ryan and I left the country and we didn't even need a passport. As we entered international territory at the United Nations, the only thing required was to pass through a security checkpoint.

Once on the grounds of the UN, Ryan's interest was soon piqued when he noticed a statue of a gun with a knot in its barrel. After entering the building, we quickly signed up for a guided tour and then used the hour until our tour started to visit the exhibits in the lobby and check out the gift shop and bookstore in the basement. The lobby exhibits were devoted to explaining the mission of the UN and were done in a way that appealed to all ages.

The guided tour lasted about an hour and started out by explaining the UN's history, and we then viewed gifts received by the UN from member nations. In the next section of the tour, the eight Millennium Development Goals of the UN were explained which were 1)End Poverty and Hunger 2)Universal Education 3)Gender Equality 4)Child Health 5)Maternal Health 6)Combat HIV/AIDS 7) Environmental Sustainability and 8)Global Partnership.

After an exhibit on disarmament and humanitarian aid provided by the UN, we visited the General Assembly Hall where the 192 members of the organization come to discuss global issues. The members were in session when we visited and it was interesting to hear and see them at work.

Both Ryan and I enjoyed our tour and found it fascinating to hear about why the UN was founded and also to learn about their on going efforts to bring about global peace.

Museum of Modern Art

See that kid wearing the white hoodie sitting in the middle of the couch in the picture above? Well that is Ryan hanging out waiting for Mike and I to finish our tour of the Museum of Modern Art after having decided he really doesn't like modern art.

Not even the beautiful colors of Monet could dissuade him.

Though he did rally a bit when viewing Ron Arad's "No Discipline" gallery of unusual chairs and other futuristic designs.

Luckily for us, we took advantage of the High 5 Tix offerings which offer low price museum and theatre tickets to teens in order to expose them to the arts. Through this program we only paid $2.50 to gain Ryan's admission to the musuem (or the comfy couch he retreated to).

All was not lost though. I have found Ryan discussing many of the things he saw at the musuem that day. He seemed particularly fond of an all black painting that really upon closer inspection holds other colors. Viewing the painting requires patience, a slowness in order to really see all of the picture. A call to slow down I suppose.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Another beautiful day in the city. We arrived at the Met before most of the crowds and had the place almost to ourselves for the first few hours.

We made our way through most of the galleries and were amazed at how the descriptions of each artifact, painting, or sculpture was done in a very interesting way that made each piece come to life.

From the African art...

to the rooftop garden sculpture...

to a marble sarcophagus,

to the Starbucks logo...

Equestrian armor...and much, much more. Too much to mention. We will be sure to go back soon.

We ended our day with a stop at the Grand Central terminal.

Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

As summer shifts into fall, the weather around here has been perfect for sightseeing. Nothing like a sunny, 75 degree day to get you out and walking around the city. The use of only my feet and public transportation to get me around makes me feel good that I am making less of an impact in my travels. Yesterday, Mike, Ryan and I headed over to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum to check out the sites. Obviously, many other people had the same idea because the place was packed. Luckily, we were able to use our Chicago Field Museum membership to go right to the head of the line and get in as though we were members.

Along with touring the aircraft carrier Intrepid, we also were able to tour the Concorde airplane, lots of other aircraft positioned on the flight deck of the Intrepid, and a submarine called the Growler. The Intrepid was used in WWII and many interactive exhibits are available on the hanger deck. We found the multi-media show called "Kamikaze: Day of Darkness" especially moving. While you are able to tour many parts of the ship, there is just too much to see in one day. We will have to come back at another time in order to cover it all.

The Concorde made the fastest Atlantic crossing by airplane ever, accomplishing the trip in just over 2 hours and at a cost of around $7,000 per trip, British Airways soon went out of business. It took a lot of fuel to travel at those speeds and for that reason, I am glad they are no longer flying.

Not liking tight confined spaces, especially those located under water, I decided to skip the tour of the submarine. Mike and Ryan did the tour and and enjoyed being able to check out the interior of the sub- something that the typical person doesn't ususally get to do.

Unfortunately we had to head back through Times Square to catch the subway to get home. Packed with tourists and difficult to navigate, I am always amazed at the sheer number of people visiting that gritty, neon infused area. Why do tourists seek out this place when there are much better sightseeing options available in the city?

American Museum of Natural History and East Village

Ryan and I met my niece and brother-in-law at the American Museum of Natural History on Friday. What a great place- four floors of fantastic exhibits that you could spend hours and hours visiting! While I thought the permanent exhibits like the Origin of Man and the dinosaur displays were done extremely well, I was a little disappointed with the traveling exhibits such as Extreme Mammals and Chorus of Frogs. The quality seemed to be lacking compared to the Chicago Field Museum's current Pirate exhibit or the King Tut exhibit offered a few years ago.

We ended up skipping most of the 2nd and 3rd floor in order to head up to the 4th floor to see the dinosaurs. Not only was the exhibit fantastic, the docent on that floor offered up lots of his knowledge which made everything come to life for us.

With plans to meet my husband for dinner in the East Village, we all hopped on the subway and headed downtown. I am starting to get to know the subway system fairly well, but still get confused at times. I am amazed at the kindness offered up by all New Yorkers when they sense I am lost.

We ended up walking through Greenwich Village and the area around the NYU campus before coming to East Village. Some pretty cool areas with lots of great restaurants and shops.

Later, after dinner, while heading back to the subway, we passed lots of unusual shops that opened up onto the street. I took the picture above as I was strolling along the sidewalk and we passed many shops that sold their wares by putting their goods right out onto the street like this.

Here is our crew, along with our waiter, enjoying dinner outside on the patio at the Yaffa Cafe on St. Mark's street. I am so glad that Ryan is having an opportunity to experience NYC. It is just so different from Chicago. There is more diversity amongst people, a wider range of experiences to explore. Hope we can get it all done before we have to move again. I suspect that is an impossible wish...

From Within Outward, Homeschooling NYC

Yesterday the boys and I headed over to the Guggenheim to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit called "From Within Outward". The exhibition is being held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the museum which was designed by Wright. Containing scale models and blueprints of his work, the exhibit showcases Wright's design philosophy of creating a building from within, then outward. Wright designed his buildings by first considering how the building was to be used and making sure the interior spaces blended function with aesthetics. He then worked outward to create the exterior space. Prior to this point in time, building design considered exteriors first and interiors last, resulting in unimaginative boxlike rooms within the building. Wright felt, "The solution of every problem is contained within itself." These words of his really struck me later that day as I gazed upon the many gaudy billboards of Times Square.

The hundreds of people filling the square were clearly captivated with the billboards of bright lights in every direction, caught up in a haze similar to what one feels when under the spell of an advertiser. "Be this, do this, buy this" the signs shouted with their lights, focusing on the external parts of ourselves, distracting us from what is within. Remembering Wright's words from earlier in the day, that the solution to every problem is found within, I felt that his wisdom could be useful in how we approach the environmental crisis that we face today. If we could look inside ourselves and see that life isn't about what is outside us, but what is inside. Looking within and focusing on our relationships with others or our love of this planet which provides for us could be part of the solution. Making external choices, and the drain it makes on our resources no longer matter. From within, outward.

One Mile Barn Project

Standing on a busy corner near my son's middle school, the barn above most reminds me of the barns I played in as a child. Slowly deteriorating, fading, not long for this world. My childhood barns are long gone, victims of urban sprawl as I suppose this barn will soon be too.

It makes me sad to think of losing barns because I have a special fondness for them due to my many years playing in barns as a child. They remind me of a connectedness to not only the land I knew growing up but also to those people I shared those times with. My parents and siblings, my friends, grandparents, and cousins. A time so obviously gone by, but also still very much here in the memories I retrieve each time I pass a barn in my life today.

Because of the connections and memories that barns invoke for many people, I believe that they are a valuable resource that should be protected. One day last week I decided to see exactly how many barns there were in a one mile radius of my home and I was surprised to discover there were thirteen. Upon further investigation, I discovered a fantastic book called "Built for Farming: A Guide to the Historic Rural Architecture of Kane County" which is a survey of all the rural structures in my county conducted as part of the county's historic preservation plan.

Obviously I am not alone in wanting to preserve my rural heritage. Kane County recognizes the pressures development is putting on rural structures and has a historic preservation plan in place that will hopefully minimize the negative impacts of growth upon them. So that not only I, but future generations can continue to find connections to this land we now live on.