High Line Again/Saturday

We ascend in the great glass elevator ( a crack in the glass already)

to walk between the buildings with a large number

 of other people even though we have set out early.

Such a lovely day for November!

They are cleaning the building which will house Avenues a new swanky school.

This pediment is such a splendid shade of green !

People who have lived in this part of town for ever and ever must get quite bored with people looking into their windows. This is not a real person, but a poster. He looks a little like Mr.Bean

Piet Oudolf does grass so very well.

Henry is not much interested in grass.

Looking down to the street below.

A last gasp of summer flowers

and a leaf catching the sun.

Front and Back

After the excesses of Thanksgiving eating

something rather clear and clean.

They're washing the awning of the new restaurant in London Terrace on 23rd Street.

Behind 23rd Street --here backing on to 22nd --are gardens hidden away.

I think it must be bliss to own a garden in the city.

It's That Time of Year

when the buildings emerge from behind the trees

whose last leaves cling on.....

Night falls in the late afternoon.

The leaves are falling quickly now

but it's quite impossible to capture them in mid-flight

however hard one tries.

The diner is all set for Thanksgiving.

Chelsea on $150 0r Less

I'm often asked by English friends to be a sort of impromptu tour guide. What could one possibly do in New York without lashings of money?

Herewith some local suggestions.

1) Walk on the High Line --it really is a super way to see lots of New York sights without getting run over. And it's free!

You walk on an old railway line above the bustle of the street.

After that you will probably need a cup of tea...or coffee

2) so go to Bergamote on the corner of 9th Avenue and 20th street

and eat a wonderfully fattening cake.

After that......

you may need 

3) a dose of culture: 

(here the David Zwirner gallery on 19th Street and 10th Avenue)

 4) something to amuse you

and then

5) lunch or dinner at The Tipsy Parson

my latest favorite spot. 

Buster would like to follow Ms. Redjacket in but isn't allowed.

For all sorts of travel savings tips and vouchers go here

Waiting Room/shadowshot

We had to wait almost an hour for the train.

Nothing for it but to hang out in Dunkin' Dounuts

 by Syosset Railway station and take photos

in the November afternoon light.

For other shadowshots from all around the world go here

Metallica

Rather too much vegetation in this blog lately

so I ponder metal instead. Here in a gallery window on 22nd Street sort of metallic

 saran-wrap stuff to cover the window while a new show is being hung.

Something quite mind boggling and dizziness inducing from the Metropolitan Museum last week.

8th Avenue up by the Natural History Museum. Such child-friendly colors.

Redoing sidewalks. A concrete mixer and lots of  wet concrete. Hard to resist the urge to write something banal in the wet cement.....

A tangle of bicycles on 22nd Street

A window-dresser this morning in Chelsea Market. Metal in the nose and the hat. A work of art in himself.

Antique phonographs as part of his display.

I took this photo some weeks ago, thinking to write about Dot Harz who gave me the wonderful shovel/spoon. Then I realised that ET had invaded the handle.

James Lewicki

In 1990 we bought the wonderful house in Centerport, Long Island built by the artist, James Lewicki. In the process we became friends with his widow Lillian and daughter Lisa.

Lil died last year. Jim, from all the family say, was quite a character, a prolific artist probably best known for his illustrations for Life magazine.  Last weekend Lisa was selling some of his remaining  paintings. This one, probably from the 1930's, reminds me a lot of the work of Charles Burchfield. 

Not a very good photo of a photo of Jim and Lisa in the studio where Robert later worked.

Industrial landscape that manages to be arresting

My favorite --washing hanging outdoors.

Jim also had a long association with American Greetings cards. He would do a selection of watercolors and the company would choose which ones to publish. A sketch above. More in an old post here

A sketch on the left and the finished product on the right.

Hard to see these clearly --Then and Now ( except "now" is now fifty years ago!) Very charming and retro. 

For lots more information about the paintings and cards (some of which are available in reproduction) contact Lisa at  lisa_hermanson@verizon.net

Chelsea Windows

The perennial fascination of windows......

which I study on my walks. Here a tall austere one with serious white shutters

20th Street

here the original interior wooden shutters on the seminary block.

the window here as a mirror reflecting the yellow fall trees

only a teeny window ( top left) but nice viney stuff in the seminary railings.

20th Street

Penn South reflected in a very new building on 23rd Street

the last rays of the sun on 24th Street. 

Note the odd little window like an exclamation mark!

neither my camera nor I can manage night pictures....

I do so love rooms illuminated at dusk and imagining their mysterious inhabitants.