sarah in nyc

  I was planning to write my next post about more of our train travels. However this weekend I learned some news that I really need to write about. I was probably nine or ten the first time I met Lisa Fliegel. She went to Solomon Schechter along with some of my friends who had recently transferred to my school, I lived in a universe where one had to be contained and follow the rules. Lisa was a giant presence. I had never met a girl my age who was THAT funny, THAT outrageous. You just knew that if Lisa showed up in a room the PAR-TY had arrived.  I knew that Lisa's mother had died when Lisa was in elementary school --and despite that  Lisa was always the most fun person in the room. Lisa went to high school and was involved with Young Judaea with my closest friends. We attended some of the same parties. We hung out in the some of the same living rooms. She was the most essential friend of some of my dear friends. When I went to college and during those early weeks when yo...

 I know that I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.  A few things made posting difficult. One, was that it is actually difficult to compost a post on my phone. It's time consuming and more than a little difficult. Another issue was that my camera's battery died and I hadn't brought the charger with me. My phone takes OK, not great photos. I am so used to taking photos with my camera. My camera is an extension of my brain. I had to adjust to not having that tool available. So, enough with the excuses. Our plan was to take the train from Chicago to San Francisco. We decided that given that it was a trip for a special occasion, and also given the reality that we both get up at night to use the bathroom, that it made sense to go first class and spring for a roomette with it's own bathroom and shower. We tend to be budget travelers and it was lovely to get first class service. You are instructed to arrive at Union Station early It's just a beautiful space. Inside th...

 My husband suggested that we walk into the former Marshall Fields, now Macy's. Why not??  The first stretch of the store looked like any other old fancy department store. We of course walked through the makeup department. Soon we saw that the store was organized around a central court. Then we looked up.  If I had any less self control I would have lay down on the floor to just take in the ceiling. We took the elevator upstairs and admired the ceiling some more and took more photos.   We continued on with our day and saw lots of other truly wonderful buildings. Before we headed back to our hotel we decided to visit the Tiffany ceiling one more time. We went back to the store to admire the ceiling again. A salesman from one of the makeup counters asked us if we wanted to see the mosaic ceiling closer up. He pointed us to an elevator bank and told us that we could view the mosaics from the top level of the store. We followed his directions. We were rewarded with and e...