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Summer Musings: Urban Waterfalls
Stumbled on a little urban oasis by Lincoln Center. It was a hot day and we wandered into a shaded area. The scene took me by surprise. These folks know how to do an urban summer, thanks to the courteous entity that still values open, public space. People lined their chairs up, backs faced to the rest of NYC, and were simply watching a man-made waterfall (aka water fountain). An endearing site. It’s how we do summer.
Once upon a Tree… Returns?
In October I blogged about the sadness of this tree pit near 59th Street-
how final its destiny looked all bricked up. But it looks like there might be some re-consideration? Here’s what the site looks like now…
Let’s see what ending this urban tree pit gets.
Street Cookie in Inwood
Another critter popped up from another dimension. Was sitting right under the exhaust of a parked car, autumn leaves falling through its open arms.
Lost Unicorn in the Heights
C-mixto submitted this photograph near Dyckman Street. It’s a poster looking for a Lost Unicorn, Unicornio Perdido… C-mixto, being a poet at heart and music fan, noticed it was printed on blue paper, and immediately wondered if the person who posted it is calling out for Silvio Rodriguez’s Unicornio. Ah C-mixto. Here are the lyrics in Spanish and English:
Once upon a tree
Columbus Circle Area, NYC October 2010
What does this remind you of? A tombstone for a tree? With all the storms we’ve had this year, I’ll say it again: It’s been a bad year for NYC trees. A bricked up tree pit is somewhat sad, no? Life was once there, but someone didn’t want it to ever return again.
If you’ve ever wondered…
Ever pass by a NYC garbage can and see something strange sitting in it? Things that leave you wondering what the story was that landed random objects in a public garbage bin? Well this weekend I had the privilege of witnessing the story behind one of the Twilight Zone activities of urban city living: Random Sh*t in the Garbage. It was like watching the tooth fairy actually deliver the money under my pillow, or catching Santa Claus leaving gifts under the tree.
A couple was having a very public fight, first in a restaurant (asked to leave), then up and down the streets, then in a bus (kicked out). Nobody probably knew what the heck was going on, because no-one probably understood the language. Agent Nova did, and between the man randomly drooling in between rants, he was in some sort of hot water that was going to cost him money he did not have. All of a sudden (either fed up with his stubbornness, his inebriation, his drugged up mind, his wrath) the woman takes his brand new suitcase and dumps it in the garbage and storms away. Seeing the perfectly fine looking suitcase dumped in there, handle extended out, would have provoked a “If you see something, say something” reflex in many a New Yorker who hadn’t seen the fight. I started wondering what was in the suitcase. Now I was in Pulp Fiction.
Eventually, they came back for the suitcase, but it was a 15 minute gamble; one person witnessing the spectacle already had their eyes on the can.
It was a very strange story to play out on the streets- the man was from another era and another continent, the woman too. They were so misplaced. And the suitcase looked so strange sitting alone in the garbage. I suppose it isn’t much of a surprise that Random Sh*t in an Urban Garbage usually has a Random Story behind it.
Other Random Sh*t in the Urban Garbage?
Street Cookie Portal
Manhattan Avenue, NYC September 2010
Believe I found the nesting ground for Street Cookies. Or a major portal for them in NYC. Or perhaps this is the portal for Puerto Rican Street Cookies.
Ads that just might work…?
Washington Heights, Fort Washington Avenue, August 2010.
This is how to get your message across. Remind people of the problem and what you would like them to do about it, with few words (since the piles of shit in the street are not enough to remind you that hmmm… shit on the floor is not a very pleasant thing.. Unless, of course, it’s being used as fertilizer and you’re going to get better plants.) And let’s make an art piece out of our message! Unfortunately, it was too direct for some people, as the ass of the dog and his little pile were blacked out by the obscenity squad shortly after. Oh, and New York City’s got nothing on this issue compared to Buenos Aires. Shit-kabobs for heels, anyone?
Urban Arbor-Based B-52 Acorn Operations
Since fall decided to make an August debut, us urban sidewalk pedestrians are getting an early treat that is usually reserved for September. We are referring to when trees, and the little furry demons that live in them, launch acorns from sky high, giving you a nice bonk on the head. Sometimes you get some warning beforehand: they explode on the concrete pavement just 2 steps ahead of you. Often though, like subway rainwater scum-b0mbs, they land directly on your head. This is not a hazard you’d normally assign to urban living. But we walk around a lot in New York City, and Urban Arbor-Based B-52 Acorn Operations are indeed a reality here. And if they don’t bonk you on the head, you’re not out of the woods yet: the rounder ones have a good spin to them if you step on them the wrong way.
When the Holy (Salsa) Spirit Leaves You… And Returns
Bianca and Nova have been in a bit of a salsa rut this past month. Not so much in sucking, but low in the spirit that beckons you to the dance floor and takes over your body with a partner. Which reminds me of Star Trek, The Next Generation Episode 166 when Doctor Crusher was regularly visited by an alien ghost that entered her body, and well, did delightful things to her from the inside out. But I digress slightly off topic.
The Holy Salsa Spirit had left us and I was prepared to lodge a complaint in the lost and found department of salsa dancing or go to a salsa church, consult the salsa priest, or perhaps consider giving up some of it (to an addict that means trimming down from three classes to one, plus going out once a week instead of maybe three), and whine here on this blog.
BUT THE HOLY SALSA SPIRIT HATH RETURNED. When the Holy (Salsa) Spirit Leaves You… And Returns – continue reading …
