Summer's End

Labor Day....

The moment to hang on to the last joys of summer

and remember walking in the woods of Long Island

and the delights of diner food on the day of a flash flood.

Summer flowers from our son's garden.

The home to the city and thinking of next year's flowers. (A very old plate from Morocco with a beautiful glaze.)

And walking in Central Park where there were a large number of rats in The Ramble. Pied Piper needed soonest.

Some progress in my latest project - a tapestry from a photo of folk art  from a chicken seller.

And Union Square has cheerful flowers

sweet mini plums

and both yellow and white peaches.

HAPPY LABOR DAY

Contrasts and Summer Reading

I'm neglecting this blog in favor of another one - which I'm not posting on either...
 The impetus to blog waning in favor of instagram which is so immediate and fun. I'm biffwix for anyone who's interested.

But in New York news... the first proper beach outing of the year to Robert Moses on the south shore of Long Island. Rather a contrast to the city.

Overcast day, chilly water - blissful space.

A striped bass was caught - not by us - and was thrown back for being four inches too short. Hooray!

Beach wonderful.

Times Square not so wonderful.....

Lots of construction, Fox News on monitor. Cheery traffic person...Everything bright, shiny, tawdry...

and seemingly stripy. 

I continued up West 44 th Street through the theater district.

This serious, calm fellow was in

the hallway of the New York Bar Association. Very old school New York - ornate, heavy, built to last, frumpy, frowsy and so very much more to my taste than tacky Times Square.

Nearer home a slight disaster with one of our tree pits... an unfortunate U-turn by a truck.

 The flowers on the terrace are doing fine.

On the theme of contrasts, I've been lucky enough to live in all sorts of places - some of which I enjoyed more than others- and of course, I've written about most of them.

 I loved living in Morocco - would go back there in a flash if it wasn't for the grandchildren - so spent part of last cold winter uploading my notes from those days into a very small book The Little House on Derb Djedid available on Amazon or Kindle.

Rather a lot about cats and food... and what an adventure it was.

The very first place I lived in America - a very long time ago - was Los Angeles. I found California overwhelming and bizarre - and interesting. My little LA memoir is available here

So, if you need any light reading for the beach, both books are available in paperback or for Kindle.

Happy reading!

Beach Combing

 What is it about the seaside that renders architects whimsical and nautical?

Here a smile and an eye, and.....

lo and behold a complete ship!

Here is the Atlantic from high up

and more of the same.

How we must study the water on cool days and warm ones. This was a pretty chilly day. The young man on the right was a champions surfer who had broken his nose twice. What did your mother say? I asked. He just smiled.

How mesmerizing the water

paddling out

or merely watching

getting one's feet wet

and looking at the bright colors of wet stones.

Looking for shells

and little plants.

Abandoned structures loom through the mist

Then, finally, sunset on the water.

ps. I'm teaching a workshop called "The Need To Tell Stories" all weekend with Seth Apter and Roxanne Evans Stout at Little Bird Studios in New York. It should be fun....

Coney Island

One of the reasons for going to Coney Island is to eat all the stuff that's terrifically bad for you
 -- but miraculously has no calories when eaten in the fresh air.

You can wear whatever you want --even blend in with the scenery....

 You can buy all sorts of cool plastic stuff

 and show off your tats

wear extra special headgear when participating in the Mermaid Parade

and sit facing the boardwalk

and listen to music.

Robert' s pictures of the same event are here