Brooklyn

On this day we are back at the San Diego airport, headed to New York, or rather Brooklyn. The funny thing that happened was we met this lady in the Sky Lounge, she had casually mentioned that lately she seemed to be living in airport lounges and was having trouble keeping track of where she was. As it turns out, she was a professional pet nanny. What is a pet nanny you ask? The short answer is you accompany pets on planes as they are transported from location to location. 

She said that's the easy part, the hard part is dealing with the government regulations for bringing pets into the country. I asked if she had any celebrity clients and she said she had transported for Demi Moore's daughter, Lena Dunham and Paris Jackson - Michael's daughter.

She is also a breeder of Chihuahuas so if you're ever interested, we have her contact information. One of her dogs won 'Best of Breed' at Westminster in 2020. Unfortunately, Covid hit and she wasn't able to capitalize on breeding him which led to her becoming a nanny.

I asked her opinion about the type of dog that might suit us. She suggested a Chinese Crested or a King Charles Cavalier. The Crested wasn't for me, so we honed in on the Cavalier. She said that their coats only require weekly brushing but no trimming (unlike poodles and poodle mixes). 

By this time it was time to walk to our gate, we promised when we were ready to get a dog we would reach out to her. She was a big promoter of dog owner education. I can't disagree with that.

Meanwhile, in New York, Ira's client Benjamin Keating picked us up at the airport. I included the link to his website if you're interested. He is an artist by trade and a bonsai enthusiast. His art is littered all over the outdoor space and the main floor of his townhouse

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Ben wanted Ira to elevate the bonsai to match the level of his sculpture. Ira worked on two projects over a day and a half. Below is the Eastern White Cedar that Ben previously potted before Ira wired and styled it.

This is the complete composition, including the tumbling blocks into the water basin. The blocks spell out the word 'NOTHING'.

While Ira was busy working, I was making friends with the family chihuahua, Nugget. When we arrived the night before, he barked up a storm, but today he seemed willing to socialize. He was really sweet once he realized we were okay.

That evening Ben invited us to have dinner with the whole family. He made chicken parmigiana with spaghetti and salad. His wife Melissa is a nurse manager and they have three teenage kids. 

The next day, Ira had a new project. Here is the sculpture before.

And after they potted this pine into it.

Ira can speak more to this, but typically when designing a bonsai, you would design it with a front in mind. But as a sculptor, Ben said it should be viewable from all sides. He was very excited to find that both projects were interesting to look at from many different angles.

After they wrapped up, we were milling around the living room when I asked about this piece. The lighting hadn't been working, but Ben realized that the rumbling from the subway probably moved it from the connection, so after a bit of fiddling we were able to see the lit piece.

I'm not sure what he calls this piece, but I like "From Death Comes Light". He even cast the fine little roots of the dead bonsai.

Since we finished early this day, we joined Ben to pick up his youngest from school. On the way he dropped us off at the bank and then we met him at a pizza joint he wanted us to try, F&F Pizzeria. He made an art piece for the owner and so he gets free pizza whenever he wants.

This was a portrait of the previous owner of the building, commissioned by Frank, the current owner. Apparently, it was a condition of the purchase.  Frank told us that he also owns property in Sicily and is growing olives and making Frankie's brand olive oil. If the timing is right, perhaps we'll visit when we're back in Italy. I don't know about his olive oil, but what I do know is his pizza is yummy. I had one slice of the Partanna Pizza which was red onion, mozzarella, pecorino romano, calabrian chili, orange blossom honey and sicilian oregano. Interesting combination, right? Maybe we can try to recreate when we're back.

That's all for now! Stay tuned, Washington D.C. is up next.

A dopo!