Day 81 August 2

Al's Injury, Sally Explores Medieval Art

By Al
Today I was scheduled to walk dogs at Manhattan Animal Care and Control at 1 PM. It is in Harlem and the nearest Popeye's Chicken is in Harlem not far from the shelter. In a city of great restaurants, I still like my Popeye's chicken. I rode my bike there, had lunch and rode to the shelter. I walked four great dogs without incident. However, in the afternoon they also allow people in to see the dogs for possible adoption. The people are not chaperoned, so they put up chains in the hallways to keep people out of the non-public areas. Unfortunately, when we take dogs out for a walk, we have to go into those areas to get to the elevator. So, they have one of the chains attached to a stop sign with a small opening between the sign and the wall to squeeze through. The dogs are usually pulling at the leash to get outside. When you bring the dog back, you have to squeeze through the same opening with a dog that doesn't necessarily want to go back to his or her cage.

So, today I was bringing my fifth dog back. The stop sign had been moved much closer to the wall than normal. It was a tight squeeze. Also, other employees were unloading boxes from a cart on the other side of the stop sign. Something about this spooked the dog and he did a perfect leg sweep on my left leg. This caused be to land with all of my weight on my left knee. It really hurt. One employee came to help me up and see if I was okay. The other employees stopped to watch, but then went back to unloading the cart. I could hardly walk and soon found that I could not weight bear on my leg when it was bent. That meant that I could not use the leg to walk down or up steps. I tried to find someplace to get an ice pack, but nobody seemed to know where to find one or really care why I needed one. The exception was the same employee who came to my aid. He found an ice pack for me. I iced my knee for a while and finally left. I don't know if I will be able to go back. I will not go back until I am confident of my knee. I am also a little put off by the lack of concern by people at the shelter. Generally, the employees at the shelter seem to view the volunteers as being in the way.  They are definately not friendly.   However, the dogs still need me; so I will probably go back when I can.

As long as I don't put weight on my bent knee, I could bend it. So, I was able to ride home by pushing the right pedal and just moving my left leg on the pedal without pushing. I didn't do much the rest of the day but ice and elevate my leg.

Sally's Day

I returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for about the 10th time.  I joined a tour of medieval art-  a period of art I typically wouldn't explore.

I saw this sign while walking to the museum.  I think it is a bit outdated.

This 5th century mosaic reminded me of those dolls with big eyes- I think they are Bratz. 

This is the largest silver plate in a set of seven depicitng the life of David.  This plate shows his fight with Goliath.  The detail doesn't show well- in person, you can see little blades of grass.

These are 13th Century aquamaniles.  They are pitchers for water which were placed on the table to wash hands during a meal.  People ate using bread to pick up their food, and needed to wash them between courses.  We didn't see any towels; perhaps they wiped their hands on their clothes. 

This is my favorite piece in the medieval section.  I think it is from France, 15th Century, Claus de Werve.  Mary and Jesus look like a real mom and baby.  In the earlier statues, Jesus looks like a little man.

Jesus is pointing at a book.  He seems to be saying "Mom, look at this, look at this" like any toddler would do.

Another aquamanile.

Sally