The Last Hurrah - Sissinghurst

It looks quiet from up here on the tower parapet

but actually it was very busy

as people took advantage of another beautiful Saturday

to visit Sissinghurst before it closes for the winter.

Back home I brought in the last of the Cosmos

in anticipation of the Arctic blast being  excitedly flagged up

by the tabloids for the end of the week.

The clocks go back, the days contract

and I have taken delivery of a new chair.

(I'll show it to you later.)

I see more sitting in my future.

There has not been much of that of late.

Places to find some peace and (relative) quiet

Turtle spotting in Central Park.

A trip on the tramway (actually a cable car) 

over the East River to Roosevelt Island.

Very little to do there

but a stroll to the Four Freedoms Park

was pleasant enough and completely deserted.

The outright winner for tranquility was the Met Cloisters.

Monarch butterflies in the Conservatory Garden.

Purl Soho. A pilgrimage to see the knitting shop of online fame.

It was certainly quiet in there. Somnolent even.

I had to ask someone to help me 

because nothing is labelled for brand, composition or price.

After a short discussion and vague hand waving at the shelves,

 the young woman turned away, as I thought, 

to show me a pattern but to my consternation

fell into another assistant's arms for a prolonged embrace, 

much back stroking and murmurs of consolation.

I stood behind her wondering what I had done to trigger this collapse.

Eventually she straightened and wandered over to the rack. 

I came away empty-handed.

Holiday slides - New York

So much to see in a five day trip to New York.

But first stop every time - The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Grennevilliers 1893 -

Gustave Caillebotte 

a possible design for his dining room doors.

Want.

 Still Life with Flowers and Prickly Pears -

Auguste Renoir.

Bouquet of Chrysanthemums - 

Auguste Renoir.

A woman seated beside a Vase of Flowers - 

Edgar Degas.

She gazes, as the caption says, distractedly to the right.

I amuse myself by trying to guess what she is thinking about.

"Y aura-t-il assez de pommes de terres si Edgar vient dîner ce soir?"

"Cela prendra-t-il beaucoup de temps?"

"Je vais éternuer." *

And finally October in the Marshes -

John Frederick Kensett.

He was painting right up to his death in December 1872

and this series known as "Last Summer's Work"

is of meadows and salt marshes near Contentment Island Connecticut.

*"Will there be enough potatoes if Edgar comes to dine tonight?"

"Will this take much longer?"

"I'm going to sneeze."

My thanks, if it's correct, to Google translate for

helping out my schoolgirl French.