Feeling Those Pistol Squats!

I skipped the gym Friday to go with a friend to see the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the New York Botanic Gardens. At least it wasn't raining like it is today! But it's certainly a lot chillier than I would've imagined for May. Mid-40s is not daytime Spring temps for the Northeast. There's a reason I used to take the train into the City when I worked down there. And it's called Traffic. Maybe it should be called Other Drivers.

It was stressful driving down to the Bronx, but we got decent parking and the gardens weren't too crowded. We did get stuck in horrible traffic on the way back though because by this time we'd hit the dreaded "Rush Hour — Weekend's Just Beginning" traffic... which resulted in travel time of over an hour and a half, white knuckles and stiff knees. It'd only taken us 40 minutes to drive down in the morning!

We did see a lot of wonderful flowers on our walk to the Conservatory where tropical species native to Hawaii have been arranged. The actual paintings are housed across campus in the grand LuEsther T. Mertz Library art gallery. I'm glad museums and galleries no longer forbid you from taking photos, like they did when I was a child. I admit I was a tad disappointed in the arrangement for two reasons. One, I didn't think the paintings were lit very well. I'm used to seeing O'Keeffes glow with a pureness of color that only oils can transmit. Two, we (the general audience) were promised a way to compare her actual subjects with her paintings. But the plants were in the Conservatory, and the art was in the Art Gallery. So, yes, if you managed to take a lot of photos and then cross-reference between them, you'll get what was promised.

It was too windy and cold for us to want to stand around outside for the all the Hawaiian craft demonstrations like making kapa (plant bark cloth), or leis. And even though we took the tram to get a semi-guided tour of what's currently in bloom, we still walked quite a bit. My glutes were noticeably sore, which doesn't normally bother me. Must've been all those pistol squats! By the last reps, I found myself concentrating hard on pushing myself up off the bent leg. It wasn't the quad clutching as much as a weirdly-focused stomp upward. My glutes are sore even today! Monday I have a late morning appointment with my primary care physician for those pre-surgical tests that allow hospitals off the hook for any issues they might have when they anesthetize you. Ugh. I'm hoping to at least get some cardio in before the appointment...