Blue Satin Sashes

{New York. Part Two}

Photos from Saturday June 9th,

the day of Willard's celebration of life.

Friends and family took turns telling stories about Willard and their

experiences with him.

Most of them were funny and it was great to get to know him in a new way through

the eyes of others who loved him too.

Johanna, Mom's childhood friend

André and me with Lady Lib.
We were taking a break from the barge- the waves were a bit much at times...

Removing the artwork at the end of the day.

Afterwards, we headed over to our friend's {penthouse!} apartment

for dinner.

The view was absolutely stunning.

{still dreaming of the view of the New York skyline}

The blurry bit up at the top of the left corner were giant red dragonflies that were zooming around during dinner.

The O' San Fran Gang.

The Hudson River at sunset.

{Pre-New York}

For the celebration of life/memorial service, I helped Mom with the slide show that she was putting together of his life.

Out of the many, many, many photos that I scanned,

these are

some of my favorites

Playing around during his art school days at Pratt Institute in New York.

The photos below were taken for Life Magazine-

it's his studio in the decommissioned synagogue in N. Y. where Mom grew up.

Mom's on the swing with Nanna.

The rooftop patio

I love these photos of Mom as a little girl!

This was the weekend that I was born-

he was in Southern California for an art opening and he came up to visit.

He couldn't resist putting on his tux again.

Baby André with 6' 3" Grandad.

At 6'2" {and growing!}, André without a doubt has his frame.

{Note: the photo is taken in the same yard- but what a difference after four years!}

Wow. Okay, so I thought that maybe I could do two posts for New York... but alas, I took way to many pictures and we did a ton while we were there for ten days. So I'm not quite sure how many I will actually post, but two just isn't going to cut it- as our N.Y. trip was a pretty significant aspect of our summer, so bare with me.

As some of you may know, my family had a pretty terrible spring with the passing of two grandparents... This post {and the ones to follow} will be about Grandad and our trip to New York in July to celebrate his life with friends and family.

By the way, here is the link to his New York Times obituary.
He would have loved, loved that he was in the NY Times.
Would have been tickled beyond belief!

the New York skyline from the airport

Brooklyn Heights, where Lois lives

the boyz on a walk in Brooklyn Heights

Lois and Mom discovered the WaterFront Museum, which was the perfect location to host the party/celebration.

It's a 100 year-old barge that a family bought in the 80's and restored.

Not only is is a museum and event space, but they actually live on the barge!

Their kitchen is on the main floor and their living quarters are underneath...

They've even raised two children there!!!

Could you imagine growing up on a barge? Nope, I for one, did get a little seasick, so I am crossing off living on a barge from my lifestyle idea-list.

The best part of this family, though, was that when asked about the TRAPEZE that was hanging from the ceiling, David {the dad} responded... "Oh yes, I was in the circus at one point, had a trapeze act- my daughter also has a trapeze act."

WHA-WHAT?

Living on a barge and in the circus. I was amazed.

The whole barge was just filled with knick-knacks and amazing things

{like a kinetic, sound sculpture...}

We went that Friday to set up for the celebration the following Saturday: