What a glorious day for the Cambridge River Festival.  As outdoor festivals go, this was a good one — not too big to be unmanageable, great music that you can dance to, and by the river.   I caught a few of the bands — Obbini Tumbao,  Maya Azucena and Forro In the Dark — all of which had a world music or jazz flair to them.  They were all good but Obbini Tumbao was easily the favorite with their lively set that had the crowd begging for more.

It was a bright but brisk Saturday in NYC and we thought we’d head up to Central Park to check out Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005 (the official title of the installation).  Apparently most of the rest of NYC thought the same thing as evidenced by the throngs of people walking about.  Still, it was wonderful to be there, walking through these countless, anomalous orange gates, taking in the scene.  The horse-drawn carriage guys, hotdog vendors and street musicians were also having a banner day.  (yuck, yuck…pun intended) 

Dara and I went to the Westminster Dog Show on Monday, in what is sort of now a Valentine’s Day tradition.  As usual, the best part of the event is that any ticketholder can go ‘backstage’ to the benching area where all of the handlers prep their dogs.  It seems very much like the scene portrayed in the brilliant Christopher Guest movie, Best in Show, which I highly recommend, with backstage whisperings, politics and intrigue.  You could see how nervous some of them were before it was their turn to take the floor, while the disappointment of others was hard to miss.  Sadly, many of the dogs, sensing their owners’ disappointment, had long faces.  It goes without saying that the prepping of the dogs is taken very seriously, which is what this picture tries to capture.   

Finally, who knew that there was a breed of dog that has dreadlocks as part of its standard feature set?