Ode to Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Byron's friend Melanie from Ohio was in this weekend, and right before we took her to LaGuardia, we went to see "the gates" of Central Park.

I love art for art's sake; I'm not one of those people who got all huffy about the money spent that could have gone to other places. Let the rich, crazy-haired European artists have their fun. Melanie and I walked around the Park yesterday for a while (while Byron got lost, but that's another story!).

Everyone who sees them has an opinion, so here's mine: they're really pretty. This time of year there's hardly any color in the park except for the bright orange, excuse me, "saffron" gates with flags waving from them. If it was in the spring or summer, I think they'd be really ugly. Now, it's kind of cool. If I had my druthers, though, I'd have done them in pink. (If I ever get to be really rich and artsy, I'll spend $20 million to wrap the White House in pink plastic wrap).

But whatever. I found more "art" in the people. Nearly everyone was enthralled with them. Folks were pointing them out to each other (even though they're all over and you can't miss them), lots of people were taking pictures (they lend themselves to great photographs). While we were there, the sun was just starting to get lower. It would filter through a flag and make everything behind it glow a romantic sort of warm. A few people offered to take our picture for us. I think it made almost everyone feel good, and it brought them "together". It's a nice thought to know that I'm looking at something literally millions of other people have looked at, and felt something about. This was my favorite part.

You know how I feel about that "community feeling".