40+ Style Comes to New York

40+ Style, is an encyclopedic and constantly updated style bible written by Sylvia (no last name, like us, Madonna, and Cher).  If you're not already familiar with it, click on our link now, so you can see the vast array of topics of interest that Sylvia covers. Among her most popular articles, she said, are Best Shoes with Arch Support and How to Hide Your Belly, with links on 40+Style's home page.)  Based in Singapore, Sylvia is doing something of  a grand tour at the moment, having already visited Europe, the West Coast (where she did a blogger meet-up in Vancouver), and now New York, where she will convne a meeting of New York area bloggers.  (Is that sort of like herding cats?)  We were most delighted to meet her ourselves this past weekend.  Her reputation preceded her.

Sylvia was introduced to us via email by another fellow blogger, the gorgeous Judith Boyd, aka Style Crone, who assured us that we would love Sylvia and have a great time with her.  She was right on both counts.

We had the additional bonus of meeting her photographer, Denton Taylor, one of whose projects closest to our hearts is Silver-Haired Beauties, a catalogue of 40+ women who embrace the natural color of their hair.

We met at one of our favorite restaurants, B Bar, where the food and service are great, the ceilings are high, the light is natural (from skylights), the atmosphere casual/hip, and the noise level is hushed, so real conversations can take place.

Before we left the restaurant, we were stopped by Barbara (left) and (another) Sylvia.  Older women have a way of gravitating toward one another, as if we are members of a secret club with a secret handshake.  Sylvia, who was there with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, approached us at the table. It turns out that her friend Barbara is friends with one of our pals, Helen Uffner. Small world.

Sylvia (the Sylvia of 40+ Style) had asked if she could take a few pictures of us that day, so after breakfast we took them to some places with great visuals.  Have a peek here at one of them, along with other mementos of her visit to New York, on Sylvia's Instagram account.

On our way for some location shooting, we ran into this woman on Houston Street who had just come from Whole Foods.  There is an expression 'drape oneself in the American flag', and this is about as close as one can come to just that.  We had to share her with you.

We stopped for pictures in a local community garden.

The Liz Chrystie Garden on Houston Street at Second Avenue features wonderful flowers and trees, comfortable benches, and a fish pond!

We stopped for photo ops at several other places we won't show you just now, until the weather got the best of us.  To completely turn the Edward Bulwer-Lytton opening sentence on its head, it was a bright and muggy day - the kind that brings up talk of frying eggs on sidewalks, and persuades adults to open fire hydrants for the relief and fun of the children.  We made a short trip to Fabulous Fanny's to see if we could bring Sylvia into the sisterhood of hat lovers (no, but we'll keep trying - see Sylvia's Instagram for Debra Rapoport's more successful effort), and then by unanimous agreement we stopped at Van Leeuwen's Artisan Ice Cream for a treat and more conversation (in a far less hushed atmosphere).

Here, long after the ice cream was gone, we imposed on a stranger (as we so often do) to memorialize  our meeting, before going our separate ways.

If you would like to participate in Sylvia's 40+ Style blogger meet-up in New York, here's a link.  Maybe we'll see you there!