There is a 5th Avenue bus in New York City. Many of the passengers creak up the stairs and ask if the bus goes down 5th Avenue. It does, and so welcome aboard. This is the Sexy at Seventy Single Senior Party Bus!! Yep, if you swipe a White Metro Card then you likely have a mane to match. Is it fair that they get reduced fare even though they’ve been left a handsome inheritance? For sure. Whatever we can do to make these wittle wittle widows smile, why not? These are good folks, who’ve been dealt a mean blow. I can’t imagine having a life partner, and then that life partner checking out of the game.

For a lot of of these born-again singles, the most sensible thing to do is move to Manhattan, to the Museum District. I concur. The ‘Museum Mile” features at least a dozen world class houses of the holy. If you want to check out any one of them, though, I recommend placing a call and then speaking to the helper on the other end. Sometimes a museum is partially closed. Such was the case at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. I had budgeted $15 and several hours to soak in some inspiration from the great engineers and designers. Alas, at admission, I learned the cost was just $7 — because renovations closed all but 2 exhibits!

The first was the Campana Brothers Collection, where 2 Brazilian brothers selected items from the General Collection, thus offering variety but only insofar as these items fit into the fellas’ theme. A theme which was not defined in a tangible, specific sense..

Highlights:(italics are my comments)
* Rugbeater Armchair by Daniel Mack 1991
“… my chairs are transcripts of a conversation between a person and a tree.”

Yeah, yeah right. That can be said of most anything. But this chair was terrific.

* necklace and bracelets made of dyed horsehair 1836

Interesting to see that hair jewelry was a global phenomenon.

* book, A floral Fantasy in Old English Garden.

Trippy shapes, characters emerge from / are composed of floral elements.

* Kata-gami
Japanese printing stencils.

Awesome patterns. Check out this paper stencil technique.

* Print. Lion and Hare Composed of Ornamental Leaf Work 1698 German
Wolfgang von Bommel

Impressive degree of abstraction, similar to the Floral Garden in its use of natural components to erect human, animal figures.

* Sidewall, Artcraft Wallpaper Company

I don’t recall why I made this note. I think it was a unique design, that made me realize that wallpaper can be decorative in a good way.

The second exhibit was downstairs, about Sampling. It featured product samples books and sketches, for the fabric industry. Some of the patterns were neat. I noted Henry Glass and Company, of New York, as an innovator.

I was the only person in this (one of two) exhibits, for 40 minutes. Ah, New York City certainly does have places to be alone. And for the widow, loneliness must be avoided at all reduced costs. So if you want to meet and mingle, stay Above Ground, and bring your Metro Card. Next stop: American Museum of Natural History.