Maidin os cionn Nua-Eabhrac

Chonaic mé an péinteáil hiontach seo suas nuair ag cur cuairt Coláiste Vassar faoi deireanach. Phéinteáil Charles Herbert Moore "Maidin os cionn Nua-Eabhrac" i 1859-1860. Bhí maith liom an seo is fearr ina múseam níos scoth sin ann.

Chuaigh Léna, Niall agus mise go Stáit Nua-Eabhrac riamh an stoirm mhór "Sandy" ach mar a bhuail an gaoithe mór, an "nor'easter," go luath ina dhiadh. Bhí muid t-ádh ansin, go fírinne. Chaith muid ag dul mar sin go raibh an agallamh Niall ar an Coláiste na mBhaird.

Shiúil mé an mhaidin dár gcionn ó dheas ar an mBóthar an Réimse in aice leis Baird, ag teorainn ina straidbhaile na Milan. Fhán muid ina teach-óstán beag ag imeall lochán. Shíúil mé ar aghaidh agus ar mar sin gach radharc go raibh álainn: an sciobhál d'aois dearg, coillte tirim tanaí, móinéir leis "cattails," agus lochán eile leis an scardaun bídeach.

Thiomaint muid chugainn triú fhéirmeachtaí d'aois agus bailte an-sean i Connecticut go músaem eile, ó Norman Rockwell ina Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Fhás an aer fuar agus an lá liath. Chuig ar ais ar an Cathair Nua-Eabhrac.

Thug muid cuairt ar an triú agus an ceathrú. D'fhoglaim muid faoi an teaghlach ó Seosamh P. agus Bríd Ó Mordha ina Músaem Tenement agus an oibrithe Giúdach na "sweatshop"; amharc muid an gníomhaígh agus an ghriangraf na saol ar an stráideannái Londáin agus Nua Eabhrac ina Músaem na gCathair fós. Ar ndoígh, d'ith agus ól go maith freisin, shiúil mé na Bowery, bhí amharc agam i oíche toghcháin isteach Sean-Teach Tabhairne na Leann Mhic Somhairle--agus glacadh Niall níos deanaí.

Morning over New York

I saw this wonderful painting above when visiting Vassar College recently. Charles Herbert Moore painted "Morning over New York" in 1859-1860. I liked this best in that wonderful museum.

Layne, Niall, and myself went to New York State after the Superstorm Sandy but as the great wind, the "nor'easter," hit soon afterwards. We were lucky, truly. We had to go because Niall had an interview at Bard College.

I walked the next morning south on Field Road near Bard, on the outskirts of the village of Milan. We stayed in a hotel-house [b+b] on the edge of a pond. I walked on and on and each view was lovely: an old red barn, thin dry woods, meadows of "cat tails" and another pond with a tiny waterfall.

We drove next through old farms and very old towns in Connecticut to another museum, of Norman Rockwell in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The air grew chilly and the day gray. We returned to New York City.

We visited a third and fourth. We learned about the family of Joseph P. and Bridget Moore at the Tenement Museum and about the Jewish sweatshop workers; we viewed many activists and photos of the street life of London and New York in that City Museum too. Of course, we ate and drank well too, I peered into McSorley's Old Ale Tavern, I walked the Bowery election night--and later Niall was accepted. (Painting/Péinteáil: "Morning over New York/ Maidin os cionn Nua-Eabhrac")