Surface tension

(Some of what's going in the penultimate pic may be guttation)

Cloistered

Uptown happenings

Risen!

Sought the living among the dead, at the Cloisters - this Carolingian

ivory carving, with its splendid empty tomb, is from ca. 870 CE! But

this floral celebration in next door Fort Tryon Park is from right now.

Weight of the world

At the Met Cloisters today I was once again captivated by Tilman Riemen-schneider's carving of three helper saints (c. 1500-1504). Likely once part of the left side of an altar, with Eustace and Erasmus looking toward the center, Christopher looks out. Or is that his holy charge has lost his head?

On the prowl

This is, apparently, a panther as imagined in 11th century France, and the pretty curls are the sweet-smelling breath with which it attracts prey. It resides now at The Cloisters (a coda to our trip, en route to returning the rental car), where one can feel an illusion of safety from the panthers of our time.

Upper upper west

Went to visit some of our new neighbors sixty-odd blocks to the north.