Chess Benches at Central Park

It's Good to Live it Again

Not much needs to be said here, the landscape speaks for itself.  It's that wonderful time of year, where the colors start to peek through, the air cools down, and the moon at night seems to shine brighter.  We've arrived, to autumn in New York...

Autumn in New York

Autumn is just starting and we are being graced by some exceptionally nice weather.  It was a beautiful walk through Central Park this afternoon.  Can't wait to see the rest of this fall, and hope you are enjoying it as much as I am!

Also - this is my 400th post!  Crazy time!

A Visit from Momma!

August came and we had our yearly mom visit!  These photos will be a bit out of order...and I am not sure why I'm telling you that, because there's no way you would ever know otherwise.  Well anyway, one of the things I wanted to do while mom was in town was go to MoMA to see the "Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000" exhibit that they had going on.  I won't lie - the main reason I wanted to go is that I had seen that part of the exhibit would include pieces from Pee Wee's playhouse!  Unfortunately they didn't allow any photography in the exhibit, only at the "display" out front.  Don't we just look look like kids?



We also decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well.  We had a nice walk though Central Park and then enjoyed a nice air conditioned visit in the museum.  Mom was excited to have an opportunity to see George...George Washington that is!  She'd always wanted to see the painting of George Washington crossing the Potomac, but for a long time it was not on display.


Here's mom and George.

While walking around we happened on a stairwell that had an Armenian Khatchar.  This particular one was carved between 1100-1200 AD.


We went up to the rooftop exhibit, Cloud City by Tomas Saraceno.







A walk through Central Park.





We had a really nice visit, to so many museums, dinners out and dinners in.  and of course we had our annual visit to Coney Island for a Brooklyn Cyclones game.  It was as always a good game, although there was a VERY rowdy group of kids behind us...I suppose par for the course at a minor league game.  We had a really great time, but ended up having to leave at the seventh inning, a crazy storm was approaching.





And then, as always the time came for mom to return home.  We're just looking forward to the next time we get to have her come visit.  Love that lady!!!

The Most Enjoyable Commute in the World

Strolling through the park in the early evening.

What can I say, I just cannot stay away from Central Park at this time of year.  So many subtle, yet colorful changes. And the way the dusk sets in, the atmosphere is indescribable...maybe if I were a more eloquent person, a poet perhaps I could write something that would do it justice.  The best I can do is offer you snapshots of the beauty I get to see on my "commute" home.

Felipe and I had an opera to go to last night (Il Trovatore - an excellent MET production), and walked to the opera house through the park.  This is one of the best advantages of working on the East Side.




I love this particular path, in the early evening when the lights just come on.  it's just below 59th street, but seems like such a quiet, peaceful and inviting place to sit on a bench.


And then there was this little guy.  Of course we did not pause too long to say hello to him, given the history of rabid racoons in the park...but just a little peak of his face gave us a bit of a smile.

It's autumn in New York - It's good to live it again

Sunny blue skies, and a crisp 55 degrees - it was a beautiful afternoon, a proper autumn afternoon in NYC.  Felipe and I took a wonderful stroll through Central Park.  The tourists and locals were all out in full, stollers and dogs, saxophonists, bucket drummers, bubble makers and runners.  The whole gamut was out today, and I can't blame them!  The weather is the kind of perfect fall afternoon that everyone hopes for.

Welcome to Summer - Central Park

The late afternoon sunlight painted a beautiful green landscape yesterday in Central Park.  It has to be one of my favorite settings/scenes in the park.  I love the shadows in this photo, and how the leaves on the Gingko tree look like painted brush strokes.


A slight angle on my favorite spot.




I love the way the light makes the leaves glow.  Beautiful!

Central Park - A Scent of Spring

Felipe among the lilacs.

The past few days of spring here in New York City have been rainy and cool. Today was particularly blustery in the morning, but it had cleared a bit by the end of the workday. I decided to walk home, and Felipe joined me, meeting me at Lexington Avenue and 66th Street - our rendezvous spot when we decide to walk home together. One of my main motivators for walking home is the lilacs. I love lilacs, the smell - the look, it's among my favorite flowers. Just by the Sheep's Meadow there is a grouping of lilac trees and bushes, that when in bloom, perfume the entire surrounding area. I wish I could put a sample of the beautiful smell onto my blog...but we haven't perfected that technology yet! Right now the lilacs are in their early blooms, and so it's a perfect time.








A few people enjoying the cool evening.

I love springtime in Central Park. I mean, I suppose I love all season in Central Park - but it happens to be spring now and so it's right at the forefront. We've had a very mild, sometimes summer-like spring so far (even as far back as February!) so I've had a lot of time to enjoy evening walks home through the park. Here are a couple of photos I took back in mid-March of the cherry blossoms.

A Beautiful Morning Walk in the Park (11.11.11)

The colors, the shadows, the trees and the people in this scene reminded me of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Seurat (not saying my photo is as good as his painting - just trying to describe how picturesque the park was at that time in the morning!).

Yesterday I got up a bit early and left for work with enough time to allow myself a walk through Central Park. Because I pass through the park every day, I see the colors changing through out the season, and this week we've had amazingly clear weather and I just knew I had to see the leaves as they seem to be at their peak. Fortunately we've not had a lot of rain, and so the leaves haven't been beaten off the trees like they were last year. It was a beautiful morning, full of joggers and people out walking their dogs....much more serene than on a weekend day when the park is crowded. I hope you enjoy the shots as much as I enjoyed the live scene!






I can't tell you how amazing this spot was - with this blanket of red leaves covering the path, and the ducks in the pond...

Mom Time!

Cheers - a cool glass of white wine at the Central Park Boathouse

So right after we got back from Grand Cayman we had a really nice week long visit with my mom. I wish it had been longer! (especially since I was tired from the previous week). She arrived Saturday while we were still in Grand Cayman and we got home on Sunday, it was nice to have her here when we arrived.

We spent most of the time just hanging out, at home or out for drinks or dinner. We always try to stop at the Boathouse for a drink after work while my mom is in town. It's hard not to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere, with the light reflecting onto the ceiling off of the water.


Felipe and I

I took the Tuesday off of work, because it was my birthday and I wanted to spend it with her and not at my desk! Mom and I had a nice day walking around window shopping and then decided to head home so we could change and freshen up for dinner. It was super hot that day (although nothing compared to what was to come...but more on that in another post). We ended up meeting Felipe after work and went to Le Relais de Venise (L'Entrecote) - a super yummy french restaurant that has only one menu item - Steak and Frites, with their amazing special secret sauce. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meal (it was as good as it was in Paris).


I swear - it was a different black dress ;)

On Friday night we did our big event for the week - we went to a Cyclones Minor League Baseball game at Coney Island. We did this last year, and super enjoyed it, so we came back again! Since we all went directly from work (except for mom!) we stopped at Nathan's for a bit to eat before the game. Delightfully yummy, awfully messy and not super healthy, but a must go.


Mom and Felipe enjoyed their hot dogs, while I had chicken fingers - if only I liked hot dogs...





Then we rushed off to the game (I think we missed the first inning - but that's what happens when the game starts at 6:30 and the train takes an hour and fifteen minutes to get there). Loved our seats! We were definitely within the foul ball fly away zone behind home plate - and Felipe almost caught one too. Maybe he'll get it next time.






After the game they had the fireworks again, but this time instead of watching them from the boardwalk we watched them from inside the stadium. It's no Fourth of July fireworks display, but it is enjoyable after a good game (the Cyclones won 10-4).



The bright ball of light on the right hand side is the moon! It was a crazy beautiful full moon that night. The photo below is as it was as taken - no photoshop.



All in all we had a terrific time with mom here in town. As I mentioned before I just wish I hadn't been so tired from the weeks leading up to her visit, or that we'd had more time, but we'll take what we can get! Next year we'll have to have her come out for her usual ten days instead of seven...that extra weekend time makes such a difference! Thanks mom for a wonderful time!