Wet Day

This is what it actually looks like from the bus on a wet day. Wednesday was so very wet my boots were soaked through.

The bus was rather cosy...

...but the poor mother in the statue in Union Square must have been feeling pretty chilly.

Also the apple which had been knocked off the apple cart and was sitting in a puddle.

In the evening the ESB was swathed in mist and the top kept coming and going.

Richard C. Bray Photographer 1929-1993

Kim and David of Rescripted recently wrote to me and asked if I'd ever heard of  Richard C. Bray.

I never had, so  looked him up on their website, and discovered a most fascinating figure.

Born into wealth, he became a biochemist at Columbia University. 

An obsessive traveller with a 'reclusive disposition'. 

Well worth reading more about him.

Anyway, I was very taken with his photos which reveal a New York not completely dissimilar to the one I haunt. The commuters arriving........

The scruffy lower east side......

The languid cat, of course, reminds me of Morocco.

This last is almost certainly Coney Island.

Ugly

So much of what we see is not very pretty. But, having said it's ugly, I notice the pink metallic gleam near the beer can.

Whoever put up this tape has the same organizational skills as me. Bravo, we are loose in the world.

The person who designed this snack bar (on 7th Avenue and 23rd Street) had been to the Pre-School School of color choice. The people who work here are pretty cheerful anyway.

A close up of stuff you can buy. My new camera can capture things like this. 

Whether it should is another matter entirely. The shop is called CUTE TOONZ.

A long suffering old door on the eastside. On the left a dress of pure white.

Taking a Breather

Yesterday I took all the decorations off the tree.

I took the sparkly cloth off the table and washed lots of sheets and towels.

The apartment is bare again.

I washed the sea shells which live in the Moroccan bowl

and threw out some stale chocolate brownies.

Whew!

p.s my chum Maryam of My Marrakesh is runner up to get a prize. Go to her wonderful blog for a look at a most exotic world. I miss it a lot. (sigh).

People

Samuel Johnson famously said that if you are bored of London you are bored of life.

 The same applies to Manhattan. 

Never a dull moment -- which is rather nice if you are a quiet, boring person.

Everyone else is out and about doing things....

This mural is from last Friday's visit to East 9th Street.

Whacky haircuts can be had in the west 30's.

Food -  and lots of it  - available everywhere. Here on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street.

This is part of the wedding party alluded to yesterday. Seen on Saturday January 3rd.

An auspicious day -- our 33rd wedding anniversary.

Note the wonderful color of the dresses.

Purple the 'it' color this season.

A little putto, or angel, looks down on us all from above a door in the 30's.

At least I hope he does.......

Midtown/Shadowshot Sunday

Please go to Heyharriet

for more Shadowshots from around the world.

I always get a bit mopey the day people are leaving.

A brisk walk helps.

Fun to let others set the route. So we hiked up to 5th Avenue to look for stuff to put on Ugg boots.

Here on 7th Avenue the bright sun throws window shadows on buildings opposite.

Also on 7th Avenue, a curved window makes fun distortions.

A very tall building indeed. The Empire State Building from 5th Avenue. Lots of tourists waiting behind ropes in the cold.

Amidst the soullessness of concrete, a photographer awaits the arrival of a wedding party.

This last picture has nothing to do with anything except we went into a tourist gift shop to get something for A.'s nephew and Lady Liberty was dangling in the window. See Sponge Bob lower right. The real Lady Liberty always looks a bit fierce and masculine to me. This one has a cetain sweetness.

Street Philosophy

Went to East 9th Street yesterday in search of spiritual guidance. 

Also found the Eileen Fisher shop.

The east side has much more graffiti than the west.

Elizabeth Bunsen would love it. Come to New York, Eb!

Much to see on Second Avenue for someone who rarely leaves the west side.........

A few light snowflakes. Smell of  freshly ground coffee. Lunch at the Ukranian diner.

A dream indeed. 

Yellow Hat Weather/Celebration

It was beastly cold yesterday. In the afternoon we took a walk through Chelsea.

A. bought a hat on 9th Avenue --like the one on the left. Now he looks as if he is in the film Fargo. At least his head is warm.

This retro taxi was waiting for someone on 22nd Street.

Quite soon it will be my birthday, then R.'s, so we were taken out for dinner to a very lovely place where this cool dessert above arrived. Yum!

We had all eaten so much, we decided to walk home up 9th Avenue. 

A good opportunity to play with the new camera.

Magic Night

Thoughts About Long Island

Myers' Farm just off Woodbury Road. Note the John Deere tractor and inflatable snowman.

Towards the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway ponders Long Island "a fresh green breast of the New World".

Nowadays it tends to look more like the picture below.

This is Mineola railway station.

To get to Long Island you have the choice of driving along the LIE (Long Island Expressway) or taking the LIRR (Long Island Railroad).

Both have their drawbacks.

The people on the LIRR offer a constant challenge to bossy people like me.

They will not shut up.

Mostly they yak on cell phones. This man  --giving me the evil eye -- was pontificating about the state of the economy in a very loud voice to a real person. TMI (Too Much Information).

At least it was not his private life.(Shudder).

My revenge is taking photos.