a sucker for mouldings

and other old architectural stuff.

i love seeing these old buildings...they're not well-maintained, or they've been poorly (from an aesthetic sense) "updated," yet they still have some vestiges of their original charm.

this chippy green moulding atop this boarded -up building is SO lovely...

60th St..I think between 13th & 14th Aves...Dyker Heights? Midwood? Somewhere? Somewhere?

shoot the freak

apparently when the season gets rolling, for $X, you can shoot a paintball gun at a well-padded human being. for no reason. and who's the freak??

only at coney island. word.

regrets...I've had a few...

like STILL not making it to Brooklyn Botanic Garden to photograph the cherry trees...and after this weekend (and today's) rain, I bet they ALL look like this!

the moral of this story is, "he who hesitates, photographs petals on the ground."

taken w my cell phone on 82nd St, Bay Ridge

remembering a sunny day

I do love a rainy day...it always feels like the perfect excuse to not go anywhere and just stay home in my nighty and piddle about. A little work, a little movie watching, some snacks...

but on this grey damp day I thought it would be nice to look back at a lovely sunny day. they're *also* nice  :-)

Sunset Park in Sunset Park, looking towards Manhattan. You can just see bits of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. With all the activity in the park that afternoon, I loved the guy in green curled up and napping in the middle of a lawn.

window treatment

now, HERE I KNOW I was in Williamsburg. I think. I'd just come over the bridge and don't think I'd turned and hadn't gone too far.

I've seen the torn-out fashion-magazine page as wallpaper, furniture coverings, and collage backgrounds, but I think this is the first time I've seen it as Window Treatment! I wonder if they've doubled-up so they have something interesting to look at on the inside, too.

I do see a lot of REALLY covered-up windows in Brooklyn...windows that look like they NEVER see the light of day. And they're not always street-level...which I GET. I wouldn't DO it, but I GET it. What is that, exactly??

the best of intentions

I had planned to go to Brooklyn Botanic Garden this Sunday to admire and photograph the cherry trees in full bloom...but I had an attack of conscience and decided that since I'd had a "play" day Saturday, I really should stick around the apartment and catch up on some work and cleaning. Sigh.

So, in lieu of carefully manicured and tended "park" trees, you're getting a Mermaid Ave, Coney Island street tree. Still a lovely display...and maybe even a little more appreciated than the "kept" trees.

The Good News is I finally sat down and forced myself to complete the financial aid forms for my daughter's college...and a bunch of other stuff that's been piling up (like dirty dishes!). I guess all's well that ends well, and hopefully next weekend I'll get to BBG and the showers we're expecting this week will not have knocked all the blossoms to the ground.

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air supply

I'm a b-a-a-a-a-d blogger  :-(  I keep forgetting to jot down where the heck I am when I take photos! I do a lot of random driving around looking for "where I will live next," and am not really clear on the borders between some areas. If I believed CraigsList apartment postings, I would *never* know where I was! Williambsurg, East Williamsburg, Bushwick/East Williamsburg?? Anything they can do to put Williamsburg in the location name! I need to find a map with *firm* boundaries w street names. In the meantime, forgive my CraigsList-like locations...because I really *don't* know when I've crossed from W'burg to B'wick (or other places. Basically, I NEVER know where I am anymore!).

So, here is a cool wall mural in mumblemumbleWilliamsburgorBushwickmumblemumble all about Asthma! I love how it appears many different artists worked on it yet it's such a cohesive overall picture.

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green thumb

I love coming across little community gardens all around Brooklyn...they're a delight to find in the midst of so much concrete. Most I've seen recently have been busy and blooming...so I was a little disappointed to see this one earlier this evening in (on?) Coney Island. I hope the residents spring into action soon and take advantage of the upcoming growing season and fix up this garden...because there's an opportunity here to have a really lovely space in the midst of...a not very pretty area.

deep blue sea darlin

i love a painted advertising wall. I really love the thing that looks like a mushroom. and the little red things that look fish swimming in the deep blue sea.

alm plumbing supply, 18th ave., bensonhurst

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they grows'em big in brooklyn

I got back to the Narrows Botanical Garden this afternoon...there were some charming tulip displays, and the roses look prematurely ready to do something...and there was cactus! But today what I found most fun were these giant metal butterflies...dancing in the air, backlit by the sunset over the _____ (whatever that water out there is called). I'll keep checking back as different things should be coming into bloom...

lost...but on my way

I feel like that could sorta be the title for my life right now...

My daughter and I had breakfast Saturday at Jacques Torres Chocolate Shop in DUMBO. They don't really have breakfast food. It didn't matter. We had thick rich hot chocolates (she classic, and me wicked, w chili pepper, yum) and some kind of sticky bun thing. Then we walked down Water St to Brooklyn Bridge Park. There was one of those...gosh, I don't know what they're called, but they put them up when they're doing construction on buildings, like a hallway, sort of. Anyway, all along the building inside the "hallway" was interesting graffiti. I enjoy graffiti. You know, the arty kind. Not so much the "destructive w no apparent message or purpose" kind.

I don't know if these items go together - the warrior girl and the "lost" message...but I like them together.

make like a tree and....

amazing that in just the last few days the trees have leafed out...I barely noticed the bud stage, there were just brown twigs, brown twigs, brown twigs, POOF, leaves! I love this time of year.

the child was home from college this past week and came in to brooklyn for a whopping 24-hours to visit her mom. sigh. yesterday we headed to DUMBO in the morning for breakfast and a stroll through Brooklyn Bridge Park (more pictures to follow), then to Red Hook for some plant shopping at Chelsea Garden Center...you'll have to visit http://365daysinmyhouse.blogspot.com/ to see the results.

Pas de Dogs in Sunset Park

So, FINALLY a reasonable commute home last night, like the "good old days" before the winter break in February. Home IN THE APARTMENT at 5:45. THAT'S what I'm talking about!

That gave us plenty of time to explore a new park - Sunset Park - the PARK, not the neighborhood. I'd never quite found it before. But yesterday all the planets were lined up just so and EVERYONE found it, cuz it was PACKED! Kids and families and bikes and dogs and balloons and ice cream push-carts, it was great :-)

I was really looking for the off-leash dog run...and when we first entered the park, veering out of the path of enthusiastic scoot-ers and kids flying by on bicycles, I could just make out a dog running Way Over There...so we made our way across...stopping to get a couple shots of the NYC skyline (always a lovely thing no matter how many times you've seen it), but that's for another time. We got to said dog, a large border collie type, with his owner putting him through his paces of frisbee, come, down, stay, etc. In typical border collie style, he was all attention and intentness. I felt bad interrupting them, but as I saw no entrance to the grassy hill they were on (alone), I asked.

Turns out the young man is a dog walker/trainer in the city and he showed me the "secret entrance" to the nice private area...pretty much enclosed by fence between it and the rest of the park, but "open" to the street side, but for a 5' or so drop to the sidewalk below. A dog would have to *really* want to get out of the area to jump down, and Caleb is so not a run-away-er that I felt comfortable being in there. BUT it was a little precarious getting in - I had to climb up onto a low narrow ledge, that got higher as you went along...Caleb trailing along behind me...and sort of sidled along til I could get to the opening in the fence.

Finally we were in (and alive, to boot! yay!), and Caleb and Logan (the border collie) got to play while Teo, the young man, and I chatted dogs. We stayed til the sun was almost down...and then we climbed back out (a little scarier than climbing in, but I'll do it for Caleb!) and headed home.

Teo told me about a doggie play group there some mornings...we'll try to make it back up there some weekend soon...and a beach somewhere along the Belt Parkway where dogs are allowed off-leash and can swim. Caleb would love that!

In all, a Two Thumbs Up Day!

botanical garden? not so much.

tonight we drove over to shore rd, to look for the Narrows Botanical Garden. We walked and walked and walked...made the hairpin turn right before the Verrazano Bridge...and walked some more. I THOUGHT the gardens were up at that end! I was SURE they were! We walked and walked. Past busses and empty lots and tennis courts and fallen trees and playgrounds and lawns. The closest thing I saw to a "garden" was these little clumps of daffodils on a hillside.

not EXACTLY the stuff that botanical gardens are made of  :-(  We kep walking...down, down down....seemed so nice...til I realized D'OH!!! EVENTUALLY we're gonna have to go back UP! We finally got to this LONNNNNNNG staircase curving back up to Shore Rd. I will forever think of it as Heart Attack Hill. The whole way up I was realizing I have STILL not made myself an emergency ID card to carry around...and I was hoping Caleb was clever enough that when I collapsed, clutching my chest, he would know to get the cell phone out of my back pocket and call 911.

Fortunately it didn't come to that. But I got to the top and realized I should have taken a picture of the staircase from the bottom...but there was No Way I was going back down for a picture - just to come back UP again. Sorry, I love taking pictures, but I'm not dying for my art. Not today.

PS - when I got home I looked up the Narrows Botanical Garden, and I was TOTALLY in the wrong spot! I'll save that for another day.

coney island

She lives! with the traffic flow (or the lack thereof) the way it's been for the past month, I should change the name of this blog to "Every Nine Days (or so) in Brooklyn." sheesh. but tonight, finally, I got home while it was still light enough to get the dog and get somewhere. and we chose to take a stroll on the Coney Island boardwalk. Til now, I've only seen it in its depressed winter state. But tonight there were rides open and running, and a couple open food concessions. I got a slice...Caleb was admired by the passersby...one woman even asked if it was alright to have her picture taken with him. He loves the attention. But more than that, he loved the Boardwalk! Or, I should say, all the FOOD dropped on the boardwalk! He was like a little canine bulldozer, walking along, nose to wood...snuffling up anything in his path - pizza crusts, matzohs, funnel cake remains. He thinks Coney Island is The Greatest Place on Earth!

Anyway...standing out on the Steeplechase Pier, looking back across the beach towards the Wonder Wheel and other rides...

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