Ecclesiastical

Left Manhattan on a cloudy Thursday evening to go to Garden City for a wedding rehearsal where I'm doing a reading.

to the astounding gothic Cathedral which reminds me a lot of England.

Quite an interesting collection of characters in the stained glass.  Barac ( according to the Catholic encyclopedia) was: The deliverer of the Israelites from the power of the Chanaanites under the judgeship of Debbora. 

It really is most beautiful and impressive.

The inlaid floor

the organ loft

the carved stonework

and the steps leading down to the crypt.........

Sunday Walk on the High Line

The other day I was fiddling round with my little tree pit gardens in front of the building, when someone stopped and said,"Now that's a garden!.......Flowers and everything!" He had just come from The High Line which had disappointed him as it was mostly 'weeds'.

Of course tastes differ wildly, but I'm besotted with 'natural' plantings -- so utterly different from the 'Corporation Carpark' style  of my lost youth where everything was planted in straight lines. Red white and blue, red white and blue and so on.

Look at the fluffy grasses

and some sort of wild artichoke (I think!)

Bad photo but funny poster.

More of the wild artichoke and the Richard Meier Building.

This little bit of orphan rail line is in the West Village way below the gentrified bit of the  High Line.

We were heading South to Spring Street to have lunch at The Ear, a very scruffy pub with good food.

Mini-Vacation

We were in Sag Harbor for two nights last week (see previous post and here). Anyway, it is the most delightful town with a  very old 5c & 10c store.

The horse is enchanting.

Personally I'm not mad keen on boats --except to take pictures of!

But there are lots in Sag Harbor.

The beach, as everyone points out, is extra sweet in September.

What a nice sea-washed stone.

The season for fruit stands with grapes

and peaches 

and apples

and, sad but true, the first pumpkins.

This wonderful duck is a gift shop. You can read about it here. Since we were tourists we went in and bought stuff for the children.

Sag Harbor Windows

Totally awash in 19th century eye-candy!  Sag Harbor was wonderfully prosperous when most of Long Island was just a giant potato field. So I went round taking pictures of windows and gardens.

Lots of bees on the sedum.

California bright on the porch.

Elegantly antique......

but earlier yet .....the old custom house

on Main Street

Had never realized the subtle scent of Old Man's Beard.

My favorite ( I think) of the little old houses

A particularly lovely window.

Downtown

On Monday I had to go to Broad Street for a meeting and emerged at the World Trade Center subway stop. Lots of tourists bustling about and lots of business types too. As always, I was impressed by the progress on the new Freedom Tower with its dramatic reflections.

St. Paul's church, to me, is much lovelier --harking back to a very, very old New York --reminding me almost of England.

Foursquare and sturdy.

The graves look suitably aged and peaceful.  I thought (as I always do almost against my will) of how it was eleven years ago when the pile was still smoking and everything was awful. Then I walked through the busy, milling crowds to my meeting.

Post Season Beach

We all know that after Labor Day people go back to school or work or something -- but even so, it was odd to be almost alone on the beach.

The sign warned of some sort of sunken object.

Mr.BeadyEye was there eying our blueberry muffin

and we met an Indian couple enjoying the shore

other than a tanker rather far off

there was almost nobody there at all.

Rockaway Park. The end of the subway line.