Fire

Lots of flashing lights and the street blocked off.

A real fire on 23rd Street!

 I'm pretty sure no one was injured. So, that worry out of the way,

 all the excitement of vast trucks,  complicated equipment....

 and lots of people hanging round being important and cheerful.

Some people do useful stuff like open the fire hydrant

and unload the truck. 

Henry (aged 19 months) would have been overjoyed to see it all.

In fact, provided nothing tragic occurs, it is rather thrilling.

I could stand and look at it for hours.

ps. A Fortunate Child, my novel, based on a true story, set in England and Germany in the last century is now available on Itunes here.  Such are the wonders of technology!

Long Island Postcards

My last post was sort of depressing, so I went to Long Island to visit a friend who gardens --when it's not too hot.....

collects china with a hint of pink

and other quirky old china....and lots of other things too.

We went to a garden center where they had one of my dreams: 

a teeny weeny barnyard with chickens

and a duck and a goat and so forth.

We bought some flowers to plant in her son's garden since we've handed the passion for flowers off onto the next generation.

ps My other, quirkier, New York blog is here.

Just Plain Nuts.....

All of us have little things we like to do.....

but some people take it further than others. 

It was horribly, revoltingly hot, but the 

collector of bottles and cans was hard at it. 

In a sort of way it was admirable, but in others, of course, rather sad. 

His artistic creation, I think.

A completely other form of craziness is the people who plant plants 

(here redwing begonias) and then don't bother to water them.....ever. 

Lunacy #3  may be observed in the sort of person 

who puts up notices about lunacy #2. Hm.........

How thrilled we were to see the lowering sky yesterday afternoon.....

and it still  didn't rain!

Monday morning. No rain yet and the sparrows are fed up ...

not to mention the humans.

Silly/Shadowshotsunday

Cannot think how the phone managed this........

Anyway the dog is visiting from the blog where he usually lives......
For all the other super shadowshots worldwide go here

We're Having a Heat Wave!

Gosh! It's much too hot.

A rather ominous looking Madison Square Park courtesy of Hipstematic

A cool looking restaurant.

Walking along Broadway......

...to Union Square.

I do love the funny effects you can get on the cell phone though I rather hate waiting for them to 'develop'. Just imagine how impatient I was in those dim distant days when you had to drop your film of and wait about a week......

Potatoes make a visit to the blog.....

Hard to be sensible in this heat.

Damn Artsy

Yesterday afternoon we went to the movies to escape the heat and saw Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, the most sorry piece of pretentious claptrap I have yet to encounter.

a bus under the scaffolding on London Terrace with art reflected in the windows

Gosh, Malick tells us: childhood is magical, our youths are endowed with a roseate glow.....everything inspires awe (swelling symphonic/operatic music!) Throw in the Book of Job....and a National Geographic special about dinosaurs, some retro furniture, various kitchen sinks...

the sky captured in buildings on 57th Street

Not to mention Sean Penn looking miserable and pensive amidst tall buildings with reflections. Oh my!

mural 21st Street,Chelsea

(This lovely has a teapot balanced on her head, I think.) Anyway, what was most depressing about the Malick movie was the waste of it all. Such talented designers, photographers. Such un-engaging characters. In short: it was dreadfully dull. See Anthony Lane's perceptive New Yorker review here

musicians at Columbus Circle

My thesis for this little rant is that we are much more interested in people than artsy intellectual posturing. 'Nuff  said.

Skate Park

Down at Chelsea Piers there is an alarming concrete playground for those

equipped with guts and kneepads and elbow pads and helmets

it's great fun to watch too

an adventure altogether

sort of like surfing on a very hard surface

you can even drop off the right angle in the middle......

When I think of all the totally unsuitable stuff we did as kids, this doesn't seem as alarming - in fact it looks like fun and I'm jealous. 

Shadowshot Sunday/Guest photographer

Years ago, when Shadowshot Sunday was just beginning, and we lived in Morocco where the sun is so bright that there are always lots of stunning shadows, Denise saw some of my daughter Claudia's photos.

So here are a couple more taken this month on an island in the India Ocean.

Gosh, we're world travellers in Blogland!

Apparently very friendly birds!

And a little lizard guy on the outdoor shower.

Guerilla Gardening....update

New York has been becoming a prettier place lately.  It's never going to be an English country village or anything like that--nor would one wish it to be. Luis Lugan  has adopted this bed on 9th Avenue by 25th Street.

Here are coneflowers and petunias and some remarkably huge zinnias which he grew from seed.

There is all sorts of construction going on the other side of the road, but people have been very respectful of his efforts and stop to admire them.

I was so taken with Luis' zinnias that we had to have them too --imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, or: monkey see: monkey do. Rather a jumble of stuff growing, and the past-it pink daisy about to get the heave ho.

In another bed, right next to the Escalade wheel, some golden gage, the zinnias, the only green nicotinias that weren't nicked and a potato vine on the rampage.

Question: Should the potato vine be cut back or allowed to smother all of Chelsea?

Shadow Shot Sunday/22nd Street

I have been rather neglectful of the  Shadowshot Sunday 

photo group of late which is a pity since I've missed lots of wonderful pictures. 

But this morning was so clear and bright that shadows abounded at an art gallery

and reflected in a parked car which, as luck would have it, a cyclist was passing.

The car was an unusual purple color.

For other shadowshots go here

Green Market: Friday

As I sat on the M23 heading East, I thought: Gosh I haven't used Hipstermatic for ages.

This is probably because Reya said it was hokey or cliched or overdone or something.

Well, anyway, when everyone else was playing with their cell phone, Kindle, I-pod, I-pad

nothing daunted, I took my phone out.

And voila! All the pretty flowers look prettier than ever.

So pretty they should be on a greeting card or not allowed or something.

Anyway, here they are.

Happy weekend.

Orange

Seeing Stars

Dusk comes rather late this time of year. This is about eight thirty

but the sky seems to be practicing for what is to come.

Luckily we have some patriotic cookies on hand

 (supplied by Kristina) and they weren't made in China

but right down the road from here.

Then we went up on to the roof and looked down at all the taxis

and all the throngs of people waiting to cross 8th Avenue.

Dear me! my camera is quite incapable of taking photos of fireworks --

however splendid they were.

Little puffs of smoke drifted though the air towards

the Empire State Building. Altogether a wonderful evening.