Awake

Major Tom to ground control...

Hi there - I haven't written in my blog in so long!  For a while I was so tied up in writing something else, that I used up all the words in my head on that, and afterwards it seemed to me that I didn't have any new ideas to write about - I'd already stated everything of possible interest that I had ever thought, and now I was only thinking about myself and my immediate circle and who was up to what and why, and what I should be up to, and whether I ought to buy new running shoes, or practice my guitar, and so forth, which does not make for a very interesting blog, unless you're a confessional type.  I haven't even taken any nice photos (hence the non-photo above)!  But recently I've been thinking a bit about the blog and what I want to do with it, and since I'm taking a time-out from a creative project now, I thought I'd try using some of my writing time on this and see what happens. I started writing a rather long post today with a few thoughts re: politics and economics, because the world is missing out on my opinions, and I'll finish it and post it, but I thought I'd say 'hello' first and disclaim that I'm haven't really decided to write a political or economic blog, actually I haven't really decided anything at all, except to try writing here again for at least a little while!  So thank you to those of you who read me, and I hope I come up with a few things that are enjoyable or at least interesting.

Gardens

I've mentioned before that I like reading 19th century novels, and lately I've been rereading some favorites from my childhood and adolescence - most recently, Jane Eyre.  The amazing thing about a book like Jane Eyre is that while it provides a very detailed account of a world that does not exist any longer, the narrative voice, characterizations and emotions described are still absolutely relevant, revelatory and true.

But I do also enjoy the detailed account of the world that no longer exists - I think if I were to be a historian, I would be a cultural historian, as I'm endlessly curious about what people used to do / read/ eat / wear... and these books provide such a wealth of information about all of those things.  And one element that comes up again and again is walking and (in English novels) the English countryside. Reading about people walking for miles on a regular basis, among fields and rolling hills, can bring on bouts of the Manhattan-induced claustrophobia that I often complain of.

So the other day I went for out a walk, and I decided that while I had neither boundless countryside to explore, nor access to an estate with ample grounds and gardens, I could still enjoy some of the benefits of the latter by paying a visit to the conservancy gardens in Central Park on 5th Avenue and 105th Street.  It's the only formal garden in Central Park, and while there are a lot of weddings there during the weekends, on weekdays it's very quiet.  In fact there were only a few elderly people there, sitting on benches, and two other young women like me.  All three of us younger ladies were, amusingly enough, taking photographs of flowers with our digital cameras.  Maybe if we lived in the 19th century, we'd have brought our watercolors instead...

One of the things that I thank whoever landscapes these gardens for, is that they're allowed to be a bit unruly.  So, here are banks and banks of chrysanthemums that someday soon will be blooming - they're allowed to grow up tall, not just groomed into ice-cream scoops:

There are also pink dahlias that I find to be very spectacular in their shape and symmetry - they remind me of the flowers that are embroidered on asian fabrics

There were these strange, furry buds that I noticed a few weeks ago - they looked to me as though they might be a venus flytrap or otherwise scary plant...

But it turned out to be what I think is a rose of sharon, though I've never seen one in yellow.  Strange that a flower with such thin, fragile petals should require such an enormous bud!

So - those are the highlights of my garden tour.  I walked southwards from the garden into the rest of Central Park, where I found a muddy field, complete with construction equipment and plastic webbed fence that led me back to the 5th avenue sidewalk.  And there I was, back in the big city...

City Sky

Since I complained yesterday about not seeing the sky in Manhattan, I feel as though I should make amends to the big city by posting some of the pictures I took last night on the North side of the reservoir in Central Park (in the company of my husband and two friends, lest my mother worry).  I can hardly say that I didn't see some sky from there... the skyline was spectacular, with lights from the buildings illuminating low rain clouds as they blew away.  I couldn't do it justice on film.

Back to Summer

It definitely feels like summer again, and it's been so hot in my apartment I find it nearly impossible to get anything done.  The heat wears me out.  In fact, I'm supposed to be doing something else even as I write this... 

Last night my husband and I strolled into Central Park in search of a little bit of cool.  If anything, it turned out to be more humid in there, but the midtown skyline visible from the great lawn was stunning, and gave me another chance to experiment with the manual settings on my camera.  

Formal / Informal

I was thinking recently about the demise of formal address.  Everyone in the world suddenly seems to be on a first-name basis.  I understand that this is an international phenomenon (in France there's more and more "tu," in Germany "du," and so forth), but it seems to me that over the past year or two it's become especially pronounced.  I wonder if it has to do in part with all the new, fast and casual ways we communicate: e-mail, texting, tweets... and then social networking sites like Facebook, where we're all "friends," and we seem to care much less about keeping business and social spheres separate. 

Touch of fall

 

It's strange - it's only August 24th, and yet with the cool, cloudy weather over the past few days, you can almost feel that fall is on its way.  Even though I know that it will soon be hot, sunny, summer again.  But still...

It has been a busy couple of days for me, and so I don't have much to report...  I hope that you all enjoyed your weekends and that your weeks are starting well!

 

 

 

 

Hat!

I mentioned a while ago that I was in the market for a new hat.  Apparently, the day I mentioned it, I was having problems with my internet connection.  I'm afraid that I'm having them today as well, and by the time I was able to bring up this page (where I can type out this post) I was seething with frustration.  But I'm in the process of overcoming that, because I wanted to mention that last Saturday, I made up my mind and I finally bought a hat, pictured above.  It met my main criteria: it has a brim, it goes with a variety of clothes (not just shorts and summer dresses), and it is not a fedora, because very rebelliously I can't bring myself to jump onto the fedora bandwagon, especially two years into it.  I'm not sure what the sort of hat above, with a flat crown, is called.  I found it at a little store called Arth on Houston Street near West Broadway, where I've had success in the past at end-of-season sales.

Dirty Dishes

I have noticed that there are two kinds of households - the kind that rinses dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, and the kind that just scrapes the dishes and then puts them into the dishwasher unrinsed.*

I was brought up in the former, and so I was shocked a few years ago when we had house guests staying with us who consistently did not.  Sticky, greasy dishes, with bits of food still stuck to them, were quickly piled into the dishwasher, and I was absolutely horrified by this filthy practice.  And yet my (stubborn) guests insisted that it was the job of the dishwasher to clean the dishes, and what was the use of washing them twice?

I had no doubt that I was right, and they were wrong, and so I did a bit of research on the internet, the source of all well-vetted and reliable information, and it turns out that I am actually mistaken. 

literary appetites

Forgive me for the silly title, but do you ever find that when you're reading a novel, you start to crave the sorts of foods that the people in the novel are eating?

For me this is invariably the case, to the extent that if I'm in a phase where I'm reading a lot, I'm constantly overcome by food cravings.  A while ago I read a book that took place in Hong Kong during and after World War II, and I didn't like the novel but I developed such a craving for Dim Sum that I had to indulge it that very evening (I also longed for XO sauce, though I've never cooked with it and am not certain what it tastes like).  When I'm on a 19th century British novel kick, I want to have tea and cold meats (which they're always eating on picnics).  Even kippers, though I've never had one and they look kind of scary.  And of course 20th century American novels leave me craving traditional diner fare, cups of filter coffee and slices of pie.

model sailboats

Nothing announces mid-summer in Central Park as much as when the model sailboats are out in the boat basin.  I took this photo while strolling in the park on Saturday, and when I had a chance to see a larger version of the photo I was amused to find that the model boats look almost like real ones.

I have absolutely nothing to report from the weekend - nice and lazy and relaxing.  I did not go to the market at Union Square, or cook any new foods.  There wasn't even any yoga involved, or exercise, for that matter, unless you count strolling in the neighborhood or dancing around my apartment to greatest-hits dance numbers.  Today, though, I managed to cut the pad of one of my fingers while housecleaning (yes, I was cleaning, really!).  I've been typing away all day in spite of it, but it is just starting to sting uncomfortably so... signing off for now in hopes of happier typing tomorrow!  Hope your weeks are all starting well...