New York decided to skip April and head straight for late May these last two days (more of the same tomorrow) but no worries, they say we will be back to late March by Thursday. However, as these are the first two days of warm weather folks have been rocking the parks. Lets go to Central Park, shall we?
That was yesterday. Today I went to Riverside Park and these two gentlemen asked me to take their picture. Their friends photo bombed it.
Before this I had, of course taken a walk down the Hudson.
“Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire.”
- Virgil
My parents and I went to see the musical Once last night. Really well done and highly recommended if you come to the city. What does that have to do with this blog? Nothing, just a public service announcement.
It was Friday so I headed down to the Hudson. The weather had finally turned to passable so the park was jammed.
This girl was posing for a friend so I thought I would shoot her from a different angle.
It was a beautiful summer day. True it is only April but I don’t know what else you could call a sunny day with temps in the mid/high 80′s. So as the day’s work ended I headed down to South Ferry and Battery Park.
Walk with me. I started at South Ferry (the transit station where you pick up the Staten Island Ferry) and walked Northwest up to the World Financial Center and back.
So… (anyone else noticed that I am starting to write a lot of these as if I was a stand-up comic?)
All winter (using that term technically and not to describe the weather we actually have had), I have been sneezing and hacking. (Very pleasant, right?).
I went to the doctor who told me I had a sinus infection – gave me some antibiotics, – the modern doctor’s version of chicken soup – the over prescribing of which (not to mention our feeding it to all the meat crop and thus to the top of the food chain – yup that’s us!) will get us in trouble very soon. The pills stopped things for a week or so. But soon…sneeze, hack, sneeze, hack. Went to a different doctor who suggested I had allergies and got me tested.
Indeed I do!
Dust mites (I thought everyone was allergic to them) – not much to do about that.
Box Elder Trees - Very popular tree in the Northeast and South – especially loves lowlands and river banks (This could be problematic…)
CATS! - Dios mio! I have lived with cats since I was 18. I am not stopping now (not to mention Abigail would kill me if we got rid of the beasty)
After that I had to hit the park and river (damned if you do…damned if you don’t)
First thing I saw was this little guy. I didn’t have the right lens but decided to show him to you anyway…remember that if you click the pic (once, twice) it fills the screen -
Then I walked down into the park (I really should have brought my zoom lens)…
…then I went down to the river. We have had an explosion of ducks in the past week. In 30 minutes I saw 14 pairs…
Double Date
Of course those first dates can be awkward with all kinds of misunderstandings and missed signals.
I've never been so insulted!
xxx
and speaking of insulting…I don’t care what side of the culture war you are on. Can we all agree that Rush Limbaugh is a grotesque example of a human being? I hope that if you, your mother, your sister, your daughter, your friend or any woman you know has ever used contraception to prevent pregnancy or for any of the many other medical needs address by the pill that you agree. Five advertisers have already pulled their ads. I hope they all do.
Just had time late this afternoon to duck into the southern end of Morningside Park for a few minutes. I went past this building on Cathedral Parkway and looked up. I’ve been walking by for years but don’t know if I ever really looked at it before…
I got to the park, sunshine, teenage boys out playing baseball and basketball (school vacation this week)…
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Pretty but wrong.
Little kids feeding ducks and geese…
I am not sure who was more surprised – the kid or the goose – Grandad was the only one who did not seem perturbed…
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. ~Buddha
Today was fun. I needed to go downtown so I took the river walk. I hadn’t been all the way down to the water for almost 5 days and it felt wonderful. Settles me right down.
The only downside? I have been averaging 15-20 shots a day. Today I took 111. It is extremely difficult to choose the contenders for the blog and then “work” them and then select just one picture in under a day (at least it is if you have any life at all and are not getting paid to do it!)…
So I didn’t…Choose that is…
“Time, time, time, see what’s become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter” – Paul Simon
Of course to get to the river I first have to go through Riverside Park…
Lots of animals by the river today…I am sure there would have been more except for this one.
Clay Court Cat
Lots of beasts on and above the river too…
“Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say, but if your hope should pass away
It’s simply pretend
That you can build them again”
Today I decided to take a short 40 minute run out of town, to Nyack, NY on the Tappan Zee across the river from 4-7-11 Visit to Tarrytown. I have previously skipped over it but today it was time. I only had a brief travel window and it is conveniently located just a few miles north of Piermont off of Rt 9W. In checking out maps and google, I had a choice of Nyack Beach State Park or Memorial Park for river access. After I iPhone mapping it and Memorial Park won and off I went. I do need to get to Nyack Beach soon however.
To be blunt, Memorial Park is a bit run down with too much parking lot and not enough green space, but the Village has plans to change that. On the south side of the park, Nyack Creek empties into the Hudson and there is an abandoned boat ramp. On the north side is an inlet that seems to be duck homeland and just across that is the Nyack marina and The River Club.
I am trying something new today. When I do slide shows I get comments from people that they can’t expand the pictures. When I do galleries, I get comments from other people that it doesn’t flow easily. Today we will try both. Remember to click the thumbnail to expand the shot
“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.”
The Hudson has many locations where pipes bring “water runoff” – or sewage if you prefer – to the river and dump it. This only occurs in rainy weather -god willin’ and the creek don’t rise…- the rest of the time the concrete containment shafts make a great place to sit and look at the river. This young man was doing a sketch of the Jersey Shoreline, on the shaft just south of this one, “yoga man” was working on his laptop before beginning his daily Sun Salutation. Below that a young couple were just hanging…
Of course, some of the locals prefer a closer view…
Almost dead low tide on the river and this artifact was heading downstream at a good clip. If it didn’t make it to the harbor before the tide turned…I expect I may see it again.
Abigail thinks ducks look really cute…stupid but cute… so in her honor I put this in.
Last night I wrote and saved as a draft blog, a long post about Japan and Libya and Bahrain, dithering and denial, natural disasters versus man-made ones, the NPR report Chernobyl and its wildlife – surprise!, and that businessmen and politicians all over the US are assuring us that “It can’t happen here” regarding all of our aging and antique nuclear plants including the one 30 odd miles from midtown Manhattan just up the Hudson River, Indian Point, which has been problem plagued for 40 years, has just been awarded the ranking of #1 on US Nuke Plants ranked by quake risk and yet is still expecting to renew its license.
