Union Square and Blogging

 

When I got off the bus by Madison Park, I thought of Reya.

There I was, large as life, reflected in a garbage can.

Reya always has lovely distorted images and a dog.

More of that later.

I met Bonbon Oiseau because we had to discuss Morocco and India.

She has lived in the latter which I recently visited -- and vice versa.

Lots to discuss over tea in ABC Carpet....

which is right by Union Square Green Market.

It was late afternoon so one cannot blame the stall-holder

 having a nap in his splendid red truck.

 

This plump, scruffy dog was sitting patiently near an apple stall -- 

Which brings us to thoughts of dogs. Much scanning of Petfinder.com lately.

Applications put in. Are we fit to be allowed to adopt a dog? Will we be rejected out of hand?

Vet references needed. Luckily our previous dog lived to be 16 and the cat 18.

But even so..... I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, bleeding hearts, pansies and herbs.

A Visit to Tappan

What a sucker I am for garden centers. Bee wrote recently about the same passion.

Books and flowers -- can never have enough of them. At least it isn't crack.

Since we don't have a garden, we choose things for  our son and daughter in law's garden.

Here primulas. We also got snapdragons and cineraria.

Even the names are a delight.

Once old cars get really decrepit, they pass beyond the totally ugly stage

and morph into something approaching art. Well, maybe.

As we returned to the city down the Pallisades in the late afternoon

a curious thing happened. The roads, the woods, 

everything -- was swathed in  a thick, blanketing,

 all engulfing fog the like of which I haven't seen for many years. 

Magical and foggy and not really springlike at all.

Shadow Shot Sunday/Spring Almost

Spring has sprung -- at least in Macy's Windows.

34th Street and 7th Avenue.

On Saturday afternoon I went looking for shadow to join Heyharriet and the gang.

Starbcks at 8th Avenue and 19th Street.

A pretty townhouse between 8th and 9th Avenues in Chelsea.

Down at Chelsea Market, they are re-doing the big space that used to be a florist.

Something exciting going on with the floor.

The macaroons at the new French patisserie on 23rd Street

are wearing spring dresses.

Quiet New York

There is so much going on in New York

 and so many people rushing about  doing important things.

In the late afternoon Susanna and I reached the relative calm of

the beginning of the Central Park. 

These serene faux-medieval maidens haunt 53rd Street....

...looking very peaceful indeed.

Climbing a staircase at Moma -- 

where a gazillion people eagerly drink in art.

The models in Bergdorf Goodman's windows who

 inhabit a rarified world of elegance and butterflies.

New York Again

Odd to be back. So very many little square windows.

Park Avenue and 38th Street.

The Metlife Building meets the Leprechaun Bus.

Dramatic sky:  looking down 8th Avenue  at 18th Street.

So very many people rushing about outside Penn Station very early in the morning.

Things on a smaller scale seem attractive like clean glasses in the window at Mare.

New herbs for the windowsill in a brand new cab.

London Details

We ate a lot of salad in London, since we had been too nervous to eat it in India.

The vegetables there were wonderful, but we only ate them cooked.

In London, a brisk wind batted the clouds through a blue sky.

(Tottenhan Court Road opposite M&S.)

A white on white window near Great Ormond Street.

I was walking to the Persephone Bookshop on Lamb's Conduit Street

where I bought four books, even though I'm rather fierce about carrying heavy luggage.

I particularly recommend Tea with Mr.Rochester by Frances Towers.

If you don't know Persephone Books, go there now.

What a door! Window frame, railings, fanlight, side alley.

The very apotheosis of door-ness.

This doorway with primroses and black plastic bin-bag looks as if someone lives there.

Transitions/London

After India , London was cool and subdued. 

Here the Gerhardt Richter show at The national Portrait Gallery.

Much tea was needed to counteract jet-lag.

And steak and kidney pie in a pub.

They had done too-clever-by-half things with the window

 through which you can see Nelson wavering on top of his column

and an old fashioned phone box.

Because it is spring people are determined to drink outside pubs

even though it's pretty chilly.

Pale daffodils (99 pence) from Marks and Spencer's.

Last India Post

 A sort of round-up and mixture of things I will remember about India.

Needless to say, there are about a zillion more snaps which I won't bore you with.

We travelled about 2,000 miles,  so quite a lot of memories are to do with the road.

Here a family wait for the train to pass by.

Note how crisp and white the men's shirts are.

This is the bar of an enormous palace in Kota

 which was built in 1905 and designed by the fellow whose photo sits above the fireplace. 

Our bedroom had 20ft ceilings and was bigger than our whole apartment in New York. 

There were very few other guests though the food was wonderful. 

The billiard room was full of the heads of animals 

carelessly killed in the earlier part of the last century.

A petrol station and the Toyota we travelled round in. 

The upper fort in Jaipur -- above the Golden Fort. It dominates the hilltop.

Ramesh was particularly keen to see the fort which had the biggest gun in the world. 

Elephants would bring water from the lake to the left.

My memories will contain forts and palaces....

...but most of all people. Here families relax behind the Taj Mahal...

 ... or recline on the cool, white marble.

Yes, we did see the Taj Mahal and it was wonderful. 

See how it dwarfs the ant people in its majesty.

 I liked the quiet gaze of the little boy on the bus too.

More Animals and Birds/India

Dogs are everywhere.

As are monkeys.

The first elephant  we saw was a hardworking character.

The second more decorative.

The third wore a splendid pink robe.

 Lots of decorative fowl near Pushkar.

Including a splendid rooster.

The only tiger I saw lived in a glass case and had a very chewed up ear.

Real ones live in a nature preserve nearer Delhi.

This character made the mistake of sleeping under a car. 

His lower teeth are in quite  the wrong place. 

Despite this, he manages to charm people with his yellow

 eyes and looks quite well fed.

Hint: he likes brioche.

 

Ahhhhh...........

A camel vying with the traffic.

A decorated bullock cart ready to take us for a ride.