Friday, April 25, 2008

Day 265 - Cherry Blossoms & Pantaloons at Conservatory Garden


I spent the afternoon with my friends from Metro Metro wandering around Conservatory Garden in Central Park. They were preparing for their annual Metropolitan Odyssey scavenger hunt. I was following along for a radio piece I am hoping to do on the hunt. But what a treat to see all the cherry trees in full bloom. Even better to find a couple in full bloom themselves. The only thing that fascinated me more than the decorated, sinewy cherry branches where the purple and lavender pants worn by a sweet old couple I spied. Take a peek. Click to begin the slideshow, again to enlarge.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Day 258 - TriBeCa Graffiti

From along a single stretch of Lispenard St., in TriBeCa. Some great details in here for those stopping to gaze long enough.

Click the slideshow above to play. Click again to enlarge.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Day 256 - Phylacteries In The Park


I was reminded this afternoon, as I often am, how incredibly spoiled I am, being a New Yorker. I was killing a few minutes in Washington Square Park late this afternoon before attending an event nearby, when I looked up from my book and saw the man above--a rabbi, I presume--roving around the benches, looking for Jews with whom to spend a few minutes praying. He approached the family a few seats down, suggested prayer to the young father, and proceeded to wrap his arms and head with traditional phylacteries, or tefillin, in an encounter that lasted last than three minutes before he moved on.

While I'm not a historian, nor a philosopher, I know there were ancient cities that were as or more open and multi-cultural than New York through the ages. But short of Paris, or perhaps London, I'd be hard pressed to want to be living anywhere else but a city in which the prayerful and the playful get to exist, side-by-side, in relative peace.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Day 252 - Ridgewood Reservoir Redux

A few of us walked up the terminal moraine that runs along the spine of Brooklyn and Queens to see Ridgewood Reservoir. It was the first time I had been back since October. But this time the leaves were off the trees and we wanted to see how much we could see from the tippy top without the canopies blocking our view.

Along the way, we saw some of Queens' many cemeteries, including a Jewish cemetery with lots of stone tree trunks as headstones (see above). Fascinating.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Day 245 - Elmhurst, of Noodles and Signs

Been spending a lot of time in Elmhurst lately. It's hard not to want to. There is a ridiculous amount of phenomenally tasty food that costs next to nothing. Among my latest pre-occupations has been a hand-drawn noodle place on 45th Ave, about a block away from the subway at Elmhurst Ave.



It took too long to get to this point, so cut to the chase (when they actually start getting drawn into noodle-looking things)...



My friend Grace, some of her friends, and I were wandering around there today though and taking in some of the market scenes and the really terrific hand-drawn signs that can be found around...