Christmas in Bloggyland/AKA New York

 Bloggyland Christmas Tour today courtesy of the hardworking Muse Swings. 

Go to her super website for a list of participants.

A VerySeasonalHat seen on 22nd Street on Saturday morning....

 Cool seasonal earring too.

A complicated window display in the Meat Packing District. The child is turning off the alarm. 

The bandit deer is cracking the glass.

The snowmen have turned to the dark side.

The ladies in smart dresses inhabit another world entirely.  They are trying to ignore the infra dig antics of the others.

Setting out for a pub crawl through Chelsea on Saturday morning, these Santas were also collecting for a food bank.

Couldn't resist these two pictures of yesterday's dawn. Addiction to bare branch pictures proving hard to break.

Escape from New York or Shadow Shot Sunday

Looking back on New York from the Pallisades Parkway in New Jersey.

The west side of New York from the West Side Highway. The Empire State Building is oddly recognizable.
Shadow Shot Sunday.

See Heyharriet for details and more participants.

9am Sunday morning: a diner in New Jersey

More of the same....

7pm Saturday evening: a pizza parlor in New Jersey.

More of the same.

10:30 am Sunday morning. Safe back in Manhattan. West 42nd St. near 11th Avenue.

Department of Good Intentions

Yesterday I went to the main post office opposite Penn Station. It is an impressive building. Having posted my packages, I looked about me for photo opportunities.

Lo and behold, I discovered an annexe of Santa's workshop.......

......manned/womaned by nimble female elves.

 The  walls are decorated with these charming, vast pictures on canvas. Here Santa, in the form of the public, can choose letters from needy families to respond to. Some of the letters are very hopeful and ask for things like Nintendo Wii.........hmmmm.

Some are genuinely sad.

What if the people begging from Santa are utter crooks? We have to assume real criminals would be getting much better loot via hedge funds. Lots of people were chosing letters from all over the five boroughs. So, if you are passing by the James Farley Post Office on your way through Penn  Station, pop in.

A story: a family sent a goat to Africa. The family who recieved it couldn't afford to feed it. The goat ate the neighbors' crops and caused so much trouble the original family decided to eat it.

Such is life. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try at least.

Followed Susanna's example and went to look at Lord and Taylor's windows. The soldier's notice says, IMAGINATION IS THE BEST GIFT.

Children outside the Public Library climb on Aslan to soar who knows where.........

Meditation on Bare Trees

Went up to the Public Library at 42nd Street this morning to see the fascinating Yaddo exhibition.

The library didn't open until 11 am - who knew?

So spent the time looking at upwards.

 

Such very tall buildings in Midtown.

Two winter images from Pieter Breughel the Elder.

What biting cold. How damp the houses must have been.

How stunningly beautiful the northern winter.

Preparations

There has been a flurry of blogchat recently about preparations for the festive season.

Some people go into utter overdrive and, as a result, make the rest of us feel woefully inadequate. For some reason two copies of Better Homes and Gardens(AKA Better Homes than Yours)are delivered to us each month which is odd since I did not order it.

Since it's there, I read it:"For chef Michel Nischan, his wife Lori, and their five children, the holiday feast is an easygoing affair. Heirloom dishes and crystal come out of the cypboards, and everyone gets involved in the cooking, barely needing to refer anymore to keepsake cookbooks and handed down recipes. Fresh, seasonal and locally grown ingredients take only uncomplicated roasting,baking and pan frying. "This is our tradition," Michel says, "sustaining the family with good food and honoring the farmers who grow it."

Good for him. Be honest. This sounds much too good to be true.  When was Christmas ever easygoing? When did everyone get involved?Hah, I say to you, as per Stanley Kowlaski. Hah!

I spent yesterday trying to copy our friend Motisi's camels. Mine would have to go to a camel chiropractor or have camel acupuncture.

I have a book with images of winter. Isn't the skeletal tree bliss?

These girls were decorating the windows of the High School for Fashion Industries on 24th Street. They were doing an excellent job and having fun too.

This couple are ready for a winter ball. The suds are from the window washer.

Fortunately, they  kept the dangerous tree and the equally dangerous secretary firmly chained up.

PS. For stunning, not to be missed  photos of the window displays uptown go to Susanna's blog here.

Women Reading/Book Boost

Today I raided Google Images for pictures of women reading - believe me, there are a zillion. Go there and have fun. I'm a day late for my contributions to Sarah's Blogger Book Boost, however,  reading never has a time limit.

 

Here a woman in Iran reads reminding me of the illustrations in  Marjane Satrapi's  astounding Persepholis. This graphic novel -- an account of her life growing up in Iran --is very easy to read but deeply moving. Should make those of us whose youth was spent in Britain and the US very grateful indeed.

This poor woman looks as if reading is giving her a headache and she will shortly  reach for the Advil. She probably hasn't discovered Persephone books yet. I challenge you to fail to find  a perfect book for the reader in the house. (They should pay me for all this boosting........in books please.) Bee agrees with me. My latest favorite: Good Evening Mrs.Craven by Mollie Panter Downe.



This is a picture of me in my negligee and high heeled pointed slippers sitting by my Parisienne window enjoying The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah in which he describes all the dramas, disasters and joys of  refurbishing an old haunted house in Casablanca. Very funny, full of amazing stories. Arm chair travelling at its best. 

On a more serious note, I' m currently reading the gripping and saddening non-fiction Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker. The events leading up to the Second World war - little snippets of diaries, newspaper accounts from all over the world. 

Hope everyone gets at least one super read for the holidays..........

Exotic Costumes and Some Colors

This rather splendid get up was spotted on 8th Avenue around 15th Street where the wearer vanished down into the subway.

 I never saw his face.

Is he sending very mixed messages?

I admired the amazing attire of this artist at ABC Carpet. She was happy to have her photo taken --but could I buy her a cold drink? I did.

I don't actually live at ABC Carpet -- or only part of the time. My excuse is that it's on the way to the Green Market which, since it sells organic produce etc, counts as morally pure.....

 
This young person, dressed for the season, was as interested as I was.....

 

Would I want to live in a house where patterns abound? No. Are they splendid to look at? Obviously. Anthropologie, West Broadway and Spring Streets.

What a color for a floor! What toasty warm scarves. C.P Shades, Grand Street,Soho.

Gallery Hopping

A very cold Saturday afternoon. Icy wind off the Hudson, but a good afternoon to go looking at galleries in Chelsea.

Better yet, our friend Preston Trombly has an opening at The New Century Artists Gallery at 530 West 25th Street. The show is on until January 3rd. As well as painting, Preston is a presenter on Sirius Satellite Radio. 

My photos do a pitiful job capturing the exquisite color and textured richness of the pieces and the interplay of reality and shadow. You will have to go to see them in the flesh.

 As well as Preston's work, there were other pieces which caught the gallery-goers' attention.

Next door a gallerista ponders his inventory.

We walk home up 25th Street after night has fallen.

Shadow Shot Sunday/Abstract and a Face

Shadows and Reflections for Hey Harriet's splendid Shadow Shot Sunday. Go here for more participants.

Shadow Shots tend to be a bit abstracty. Here the Viceroy diner on 8th Avenue and 18th Street, rather early in the morning before anyone except one waiter was there.

The red window of the same.

Huge flag as one leaves Penn Station to go to Macy's, taken on the day a black-clad swat team with machines guns out was patrolling the station. Thought of asking if I could take a photo. Decided not to...

Gray and black legs in the City Bakery. So New York uniformish. In fact, there have been some exciting red coat sightings of late.........

You can buy all sorts of things at the Green Market.......decorative cabbages.....a Cabbage Patch Kid?

Rounded Shapes, Alas, and Evening Sights

A week of afternoon excursions. Here the waitress at Tea and Sympathy on Greenwich Avenue.

Sarah Laurence and I order tea and scones with cream. Yum.

We talk about books. 

Go to her site to see details of the Blogger Book Boost which seems a splendid idea.

All those long dark evenings to be filled with vicarious adventures.........

Here a chair in Tea and Sympathy -- a symphony in brown and sort of round. 

Here another symphony in brown. The pumpkin pie at City Bakery on 18th Street. More round shapes. I have a shot of hot chocolate -- the server thinks a whole cup would be too much. 

Even I have to agree.

To atone for my disgusting greed, I walk home both evenings.

The advantage of rain is that it reflects things.

Here 23rd Street opposite the Chelsea Hotel.

It might be quicker to bike.

Or hitch a ride on a truck on 8th Avenue.