In the case of Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe, you can pretty much tell a book by its cover. Yes, it’s about heroic knights in the Middle Ages just as Christopher notices when he first picks up the book in his English class. Of course, there’s a bit more pizazz to the story of Ivanhoe, especially if you’ve […]
Unfortunately, I can’t include a picture of Mr. Cook splitting his pants because it doesn’t exist. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen, however. When I was Christopher’s age, my own English teacher, who went by the same name as Mr. Cook in Central Park Story Book One, split his pants in front of the […]
As I was walking in front of Belvedere Castle one lazy afternoon, I happened to see two medieval knight duking it out in the same spot where Christopher sees King Jagiello riding his horse in Central Park Story Book One. As luck would have it, I forgot to bring my camera, so I missed taking […]
It took some searching, but I finally discovered some images of cockatrices–ones that are sure to send shivers down your spine as they did to mine… Link to this post!
The last time I visited Belvedere Castle, I tried climbing the tower staircase all the way to the top where Christopher spots a cockatrice in Central Park Story Book One. Naturally, I wanted to investigate–and, who knows, maybe even find a cockatrice feather! When I finally got there, what I ran into was this (see […]
One of my least fond memories from adolescence was being asked ‘How was school today?” Didn’t my parents (in my case my single mom) realize that discussing school was off limits? Apparently not. Something like this must have crossed Christopher’s mind when his aunt asked him the same question in Central Park Story Book One. […]
In the 19th Century, there simply was no profession called Landscape Architecture. Law, Business, and Medicine–yes. Landscaping, however, fell under the auspices of horticulture, while architecture was a profession unto itself. Given that it had to be created out of thin air, it’s no wonder it took some time for Frederick Law Olmsted to discover […]
In Central Park Story Book One, Christopher Middleton, the main character, is convinced that his great aunt is crazy, especially when she starts talking about the dolls in her collection as if they were alive. But if you’ve ever seen a real doll house, you could easily imagine their tiny occupants walking around and enjoying […]
When someone mentions ‘the gates of Central Park’ the first thing that probably comes to mind is the Vanderbilt Gate in front of the Conservatory Gardens (see pic to right) or the installation that was on display throughout the park called ‘the Gates’ (see picture below). But the real gates aren’t nearly as impressive. In […]
The Ramble is so famous it’s spelled with a capital ‘T’. There’s only one of them in the world and it amounts to a walk on the wild side of New York. Olmsted intended it to be an escape from the busy horse and carriage trails, and a sort of flight of fancy with its […]
