The Giant Puddle at the Beach

The Last Day of August. Sob. Where has this all-too-short summer gone? (Though September  beach days can be extra sweet).

Robert Moses, our favorite beach, had pretty wild surf last week, so it's fortunate that there is a super-giant puddle for the small fry to play in.

In Henry's case, leap in

and lie there luxuriating in the tepid water

a very happy starfish indeed.

There are shells in the puddle too.

and castles to build.

Ice cream is used as a bribe to encourage young people to leave the delights of the sea shore. It gets very melty and drippy.

All too soon the sundresses will be put away for the winter.

Campbell Apartment

I usually take photos of Penn Station which is crowded and grungy and dingy and altogether a mess - it's where we pass through to visit the children.

Grand Central is another experience altogether.

It is lofty and clean and altogether glorious. And

hidden away up near the Oyster Bar is an elevator that takes you up to the Campbell Apartment, a delightfully bizarre13th Italian Gothic retreat, once private office of the chap in charge of the railroad.

Here, in dimly lit grandeur, you can savor absurdly expensive cocktails, or meet, very discreetly, with...who knows who.

Anyway, it is rather a splendid treat

 and very picturesque.

High Line Update

 I hadn't been to The High Line for ages - mostly because when I go out for a walk I usually have the dog with me, and because the amazing popularity of the park has made it a major tourist attraction. I'm reminded of Yogi Berra's comment about something quite different -Nobody goes there any more - it's too crowded.
But I went this morning to check how Piet Oudolf's plantings initially from 2009 were holding up. (You can find all my High Line posts dating back to 2009 here).

Well, as ever, lots of charming contrasts

of shapes of foliage. However...

there is so much construction going on all around the High Line that the noise is astounding and, as someone wittily pointed out, one will soon need 'gro-lights' for the plantings.

These skeletons are about to become extremely expensive three and four bedroom apartments for masters and mistresses of the universe. Chelsea has been deemed family friendly and is a very nice place to live.

Needless to say, I quite liked it when it was sort of scruffy.

10th Avenue has all these amazing residential buildings.

so big they need industrial elevators for the workers.

Quite a nice contrast of  natural and industrial.

Moments of lyricism

and replenishment of plants.

Exquisite details

and cone flowers grown up near 16th St.

So, this morning's outing was very mixed. Yes, The High Line is wonderful, is wildly popular and has caused lots and lots of changes locally. A Garden Bridge is in the planning stages in London - I wonder how that will work out?

North Shore

The north shore of Long Island has pebbly beaches and a distant view of Connecticut.

This time of year the water is calm and beautifully warm and blissful for swimming.

The beach grasses are coarse and scratchy

intermingled with little patches of vetch.

More Black and White

I love taking pictures of people... but most people don't want their photo taken by a random person in a public place. One can hardly blame them.

So I resort to taking photos in very public places like the subway escalators...

Au Bon Pain on Penn Station.

and Penn Station itself...

For some reason black and white looks both romantic and gloomy - as in 'a rather colorless person' as against a 'colorful personality'. Anyway more and more building on 10th Avenue.

This hole in the hoarding allows you to glimpse what they're doing to the Lukoil Station that Vladimir Putin (!) opened only a few years ago - which is now being transformed into.....not sure what. Probably something artsy since it is right under the High Line.

Back to the subway with the ubiquitous cell phone - with me taking photos with mine.

Good to have a shoulder to lean on

or hands to hold.

I like this rather mysterious bicycle disappearing back into nature.