to be in the City, when most everyone has gone elsewhere, because it is an official holiday. How it manifests is the following: no one else on public transportation all day Saturday and Sunday [well almost no one]. In Trader Joe’s at noon and can count all of us shopping there on both hands and feet. Walking down the street with the flowers leaning out of the top my shopping bag, there is room for them and me and the bag to pass others without any of the above getting bent, shoved or even brushed. Taxis. You could have one waiting for you outside of whatever shop you are in, because they are looking for fares. It is wonderful to enjoy the more peace and quiet on a long weekend. And the weather is not raining or too sunny. A delight.
Subway Art – Continued
Doors
Every city has fine examples. But do we notice? These drew my attention this week.
The Bird is Back
Well, since the communique that the other bird was morte, I have to believe this bird is a new one. Wrapped up in plastic against the wind and the possible rain, there it hangs in the same cage, tweeting above the tomatoes and garlic scapes.
Hope Springs Eternal
4 for $1. Seed packets of forget-me-nots. Couldn’t resist and have now sown them in the four pots on my fire escape. 15-24 days germination. It’s wet and rainy now…expecting a full-blanketing ground cover.
A Street is just a Street
Exited the subway at Lexington, and although I knew the traffic flow was South, could not immediately get my bearings. And I needed a quick answer. So I took in the people around me on the crowded corner, waiting for the lights to change. The mother with child was my choice. I asked her “what is the next street over?”. Her immediate reply ” you mean Avenue?”. Yes I said with a moment’s hesitation. Her reply caught me by surprise, because I meant the next over piece of asphalt where cars drive that is identified as a road. She meant the term used by those that live there, which delineates Avenues from Streets. Once again, lookin’likeatourist.
The Whitney
Apparently shunned by its upscale neighbors due to their dislike of its architecture, it is nonetheless a bastion of modern American art. Currently the exhibit is the Whitney Biennial 2012. But the exterior, composed entirely of cement does resemble a building that might have applied for the job of fortress. It was progressive and innovative at the time, just in the wrong place. The large blackness in the photos above, is the cement caught in the shade, with a 4th floor window visible, the only window on the front facade. However, below is a photo of the view from the inside out. You see the window frames the view.
Pushy
She is small, but not frail. Gray, frizzy hair. Could be 68-78. No telling. And she is pushing, shoving, wheeling, manipulating in front of her a walker. She has no sooner boarded the bus than she yells out,’ May I have that seat please’. She takes a moment to put her fare card in the slot and then calls out again, as she takes a few steps down the aisle,’That seat please’. I have been watching her and realize suddenly, she is looking at me. Can’t be. But she is, because as I point to myself, she says “Yes”. So with the full bus watching, of course I get up and she, hardly giving me time or space, maneuvers herself and her ‘car’ into the seat on which I had been sitting. How do I feel about that?! I’ll let you know.
Inviting!
Today the Market in Union Square. A bright, Friday with the
weekend ahead, the sun shinning and since it is around noon, a light smattering of people. And what you can purchase: bread, wine, cider, cut flowers, plants. vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, fish meat, turkey, pork from the flying pig farm, baked goods, the list is quite endless.
It Can Happen To Anyone
It did make me chuckle. You see the Limo, you see the driver beside the limo, you notice the driver looking into the interior through the window, and then you watch him with a coat hanger, trying to unlock the door.