Tuesday: People around Town

Sisters shopping in Macy's.

A sundress with the subway map on it!

I really wanted to take a picture of the uptown doorman with his swanky uniform.

Then this character said," What about me?"

Everyone wants their photo taken in Central Park.

And after Central Park, Bergdorf Goodman's windows.

What impossible elegance.

How one can gaze and gaze.

Celebrity Sightings

Michael Bloomberg outside Clement Moore Park.

 

Andre the Giant on 20th Street.

Oh,Well....

Waiting for the bus and walking the dog

are rather damp occupations lately.

This morning.

But yesterday afternoon the sky was blue

and there was a little hole in the cloud.

LilyHydrangea thinks it looks like an eye.

So then I thought of Keats:

When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
    Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.......

And Hamlet to Polonious:

 Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?

ps. maybe I should get a day job......

pss Lala's beautiful plate post from Spain is here.

Yellow and Bars/Shadow Shot Sunday

As ever, Tracy of Hey Harriet has the list of happy Shadowshotters.

Enjoy!

All of you who enjoy shadows go here to see amazing art done with shadows

Construction or renovation on 21st Street pretending

 to be an art installation.

The bliss of a totally blank sheet of paper.

Color coordinated bike and car...

A man leaves a building.

Upper West side

Lace curtain behind bars.

19th Street.

Plates

Like Charles Lamb, I like old china.

I like new china too.

Below is the cereal bowl I use every day.

 (Yes, I know it is a "rimmed soup bowl". )

I Meditate on Plates

they reap the corn two centuries ago

in  some hot european field

where two men stand bent slightly over sythes

and women stoop to gather what's been cut

it was ever thus

this rustic idyll

congealing under weetabix

in tasteful monochrome

villeroy and bosch

dishwasher safe

to grace a polished table

the sweat! the smell!

long hours under scalding sun

I'd hate to be a peasant then

broad-fingered ignorant

and numb to everything 

save aching back and shoulders' burn

I'd long to loll

in shade beside the cows

beneath the heavy trees

I wouldn't think that I looked charmant

wouldn't care to decorate a dish

my labor turned to prettiness.

Second string cereal bowl.

Below a partial list of bloggers who said they were posting about plates.

Please leave a comment or e-mail me if your name isn't here and it should be.

List:

Barrie Summy

Brenda Bryant 

Christina of Soul Aperture

Constance of Rochambeau

Lala of My Castle in Spain*

Paz of Paz's New York Minute

Willow of WillowManor

Cait O'Connor

Merisi*

Deb of BonBon Oiseau

Dale from Australia

Margaret Gosden

Weaver of Grass

Leslie

Poetikat

Karen of Artsortments

Lori of Jarvis House

The Kitchen Logic

Terry Rafferty

Frances City Views Countrydreams

Viv from Whitby

Juliet the Crafty Green Poet

Derrick at Melrose Musings

Caroline at Coastguard

Sue of The Armchair Traveller

Susannassketchebook

Back Valley Seasons

Bluecreekhome

* coming later

Simple Pleasures

Christina  hosted a "Simple pleasures" celebration yesterday.

My friends Constance and Tracy took part.

I'm late to the party but was happy to be invited!

 

A mother and her daughters on their way to school one drizzly morning.

My mother with her mother and my uncle. 1911

The sort of florist shop you see in your dreams.

Click on images to enlarge.

The tiny posy I took home.

Quite a few of us bloggers are posting about plates or dishes tomorrow.

Another of life's little pleasures.....

I will try to post a list of participants this afternoon or tomorrow

but EVERYONE is invited to play along.

Tuesday

After a night of thunderstorms, there was another torrential

downpour at about eight in the morning. I thought Judy would

 forgive me if I stayed home. I went out anyway and discovered

a new water feature/fountain in Penn Plaza.

It was really rather charming.

7th Avenue looking exactly as it always does.

Such lovely colors and chalk a nice respite from spray paint.

It really could be a picture.

(Construction site 23rd Street)

Last week I was handed a coupon book for MacDonalds.

So we went there for lunch. Needless to say, none of the

coupons applied to anything we wanted. We ate there

anyway and gave the coupon book to some Russians.

In the afternoon the dog found a large puddle to lie down in.

Urban and Domestic

Extremely useful and popular fruit stand on the corner.

Accessible snacks for all.

This is new. You can get a ride to Whole Foods in

 this nice little bicycle taxi. I chatted with Jack who was

really enthusiastic. He offered to take the dog too,

but I said they wouldn't let him in.

A traditional logo.  Poor Mr.Softee.

Dressed up so nice .

This flower, sprung from who knows where,

vies with cigarette butts, torn paper and who knows what

to bloom in a crack in the pavement.

Lime bloom. I picked this tiny sprig and

 inhaled its scent all day.

Sunday in the Park with Bloggers

Deb of Bonbonoiseau had a brilliant idea: a chicknic in the park.

The rain had stopped at last.

So we all agreed and offered to bring food.

McCarren Park in Brooklyn.

There was an excellent balance of things that are good for you

and morally pure like tomatoes, melon, fruit salad

and stuff that is wonderful like

vanilla pudding and stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon

and stuffed eggs and cake.

So we ate and ate, and then ate more and talked about weddings

and blogging and various other topics of burning interest to all.

Bloggers are pretty good at words, food and connecting.

We talked of farflung bloggers like Maryam and Janelle

and wished they were with us but wondered if we were too dull.

On the way home, an old lady thanked the young man who helped

her off the bus. A VERY GOOD DAY.

Uptown/Shadow Shot Sunday

For other Shadow Shots go here.

Uptown on the Subway for a birthday party.

Feel sort of bad taking pictures of people's faces on 

the subway so settle for feet.

Noisemakers to greet the unwitting honored guest.

Are surprise parties wonderful or cruel?

Hmm........

Early evening sun seen form the roof in theWest 90's

The birthday cake was excellent with ice cream

 and real cream and strawberries too.

Evening light hit the brownstones as we walk towards Central Park.