Last night we went to an opening for an exhibition of Thomas Nozkowski (see last -number- of entries. Last night Cathy (Catherine Murphy) and I stayed at the Hampton Inn, on 24th Street. It was reasonably priced and a nice hotel, though the mattress was too hard but not as truly uncomfortably hard as the Savoy Chelsea, which we stayed in after Cathy's show last week. We had breakfast in our room — an egg sandwich from the deli on the corner and coffee and tea from Starbucks. We left the hotel at about 11:00 am and went first to Tom's (Thomas Nozkowski) show so we could see it in a less noisy and crowded manner than the opening last night - which was fun and good to see people not seen for a long time. We went to have lunch at the Sullivan Bakery on 9th and 25th Street. There was a spot right out front. Getting good parking spots always puts me in a better mood. The restaurant was crowded and we probably would have gotten sandwiches to eat in the car. But a woman (Donya Dickenson) called over to Cathy and told her they were going to leave soon, and she should take a seat. So Cathy sat with Donya, her son Everett Adkins and Daughter Diora Adkins while I got change and went back out to put money in the Muni Meter. I ordered our lunch and we chatted with Donya and her two wonderful children. They were sweet and open and talkative and affectionate. The couple at the next table, especially the young woman were swept into our conversation by the children. It was all very relaxed and, in some ways, tender. They all left, and we finished our lunch and then headed out to see other shows. Byron Kim at the James Cohan Gallery. An exhibition of small paintings of the sky with diary notes written on the paintings. Not surprising that I would feel connected to these works. After seeing a few more shows in Chelsea, we headed to the lower East side to see the Biala show and the Jamian Juliana-Villain. At the very end of the day, we had just enough time to stop off at the Peter Freeman Gallery so Cathy could get a quick peek at her show. It turns out that the Adkins/Dickerson family, from the Sullivan Street Bakery had gone to the show and when they came in Everett walked behind the desk and asked Matthew if Catherine Murphy was in the gallery. See the following entry.