First Robert Moses Beach Day of the Year

Finally got to the south shore of Long Island early in the morning on an overcast day.

The sea was gray.

Very few people were there - a father and son were fishing.

The dunes were looking battered and ratty - much worse, oddly, than after hurricane Sandy. Parts were taped off for birds' nests.

Much more darker sand was visible than usual.

The beach itself was much altered - a much more pronounced difference than in previous years. Nice to have a sand bar an an inlet for paddling.

Big ridges in the sand.

Lori heading back towards where we had left the picnic things.

By the time we left in early afternoon, things were looking much more normal.

Community Garden

The community garden belongs to people who live in the Penn South complex which our building is right next to but not part of.

 I have lots of friends with little vegetable plots in there, so am allowed in for picnics once in a while - like entering Eden.  I usually stand with my nose to the chain link fence. 

Looking East you can see the Empire State Building.

Looking west you can see London Terrace.

Amazing how wild such a little space can get. Here some yellow cosmos.

some lettuce

and fallen cherry leaves under the tree.

Corn flowers and a butterfly.

Shasta daisies  and hosta under the pergola.

An odd little bust by the parsley.

The barbecue in the distance and in front a good place to read.

Fun in Black and White

So it's the summer solstice and everything is lovely and bright and breezy.

Obviously the moment to go mopey and gloomy and black and white.

Here is the Flatiron Building yesterday morning looking grim.

Here it is without any filters....

Empire State Building from pretty much the same spot I took the Flatiron Building from.

This morning, on the way back from the dog run, I stopped at Intelligensia for a cup of tea. You buy coffee/tea from the back of a charming mobile van and dogs can sit in the outdoor space outside what was, rather briefly, the Desmond Tutu Conference Center and is now The Highline Hotel.

Dogs hoping for crumbs.

All this in the grounds of the Episcopal Seminary where the church is modeled after Magdalen College in Oxford

there are wonderful old trees

sturdy doorways

and sunlit lawns.

I met a well maintained old truck on the way home.

Union Square

 I haunt Union Square in the same way some people might go to pubs or car showrooms or department stores.

I pursue the natural and seasonal and things that won't last long like... 

the slightly tired peonies with their debutantes-after-the-dance limpness...

  the pretty field daisies

and the last-of-the-season lilacs.

Such pretty chive flowers! A long conversation with the chive farmer while sheltering with Frances from a sudden downpour. I said I thought you had to remove the flower heads. He said you should break them apart and sprinkle them like confetti on salads. Who knew?

Which brings me to the currently super-popular edible flowers.

To be honest, they photograph better than they taste. (Thanks to Lisa Lewicki Hermanson for telling me how pretty things look shot through plastic!) Can't remember what this is.

Or this  - though you can eat it.

Nasturtiums are peppery and a little goes a long way.

Years ago there were sugared real violets - here pansies.

Photogenic cilantro

and more pansies.

A little pansy print approximately life-size.